.Electric Insects

There are certain bands in our time that aren’t quite of our time. I’m not referring to bands like the Detroit Cobras or Fleshtones, who are obviously in a garage/R&B time warp (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Bands whose approach is more 1967 or 1972 than 2007 yet carry no overt retro/nostalgic baggage are Scotland’s Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura and Brooklyn’s Ladybug Transistor. Ladybug T has an approach paralleling that of those venerable Scots, projecting an aura of autumnal melancholia and production and arrangements evoking Burt Bacharach circa his Dionne Warwick glory daze or Jeff Lynne circa ELO’s On the Third Day, albeit having only one-fifth their budget to work with. Gary Olson’s smooth, introspective with-a-wee-touch-of-tartness baritone appeals to the anxious, yearning tenth grader lurking deep within us all, and the band’s guitars twang as crisply as did those on Fleetwood Mac and Beach Boys’ Surf’s Up. Pull on a coat of fog and get cozy with Ladybug Transistor 10 p.m. Friday, June 15 at Bottom of the Hill in SF. Bright Lights and Papercuts also perform. $10, all ages. BottomoftheHill.com