As if there wasn’t enough of the Troggs’ crushing riffs and junkyard stomp in Thee Oh Sees’ new album Help, “Meat Step Lively” features a bout of wavering flute. Yes, just like in “Wild Thing.” But that’s not to say John Dwyer’s ever-shifting San Francisco band – once known as OCS – doesn’t put its own surreal stamp on battered garage and bristling psych. Much more loaded with pop melodies and boy-girl harmonies than last year’s fierce The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In, the In The Red-released Help could almost be cuddly enough to score a crossover hit with folks who don’t know Vivian Girls from Black Lips. Touring with Jay Reatard can’t hurt either. When Reatard’s energized legions of fans show up to hear a preview of his upcoming platter Watch Me Fall – due August 18 on Matador – they may instead get a mouthful of overripe, effects-streaked delirium that easily does its heady forebears proud. With Idle Times.

Mon., June 15, 8 p.m., 2009