Jesse Malin: Troubadour, Los Angeles, March 6th

GOTHAM HAS BEEN re-christened New Rock City due to its current vogue of garage rock acts and assorted weirdo ensembles straight outta Brooklyn, to incongruously quote forgotten Spike Lee manqué Matty Rich. Thus far, these ears are solely enamoured of that solitary retronuevo mook from Queens with the rock 'n' roll hair: Artemis artist Jesse Malin. Malin may ape his producer/soul mate Ryan Adams with the Rod Stewart haircut and swirl equal cups of Neil Young and Lou Reed into his metropolitan mix but he's far less self-consciously modern than the poseurs in The Strokes, Interpol et al