Tues, Aug 24, Nicole Kidman

West Covina’s Nicole Kidman (a.k.a. Jon Barba) makes gritty, confessional electro-pop that sounds like he spent the last five years in his mom’s basement hunched over a keyboard, wallowing in laments of unrequited love. His pain, your gain? Depends if you’re into tormented, love songs with a drum-machine kick. With lyrics like “I feel like I’m dying ’cause I just can’t stop crying” you would think Barba’s been spending too much time with his Dashboard Confessional collection. But musically, he delivers organlike keyboard riffs, smooth acoustic strumming, distorted vocals and head-bopping melodies that balance out the darkness of his lyrical style. 2904 Franklin Boulevard, www.myspace.com/jonbarba.