Some acts to catch at music fest

It's been 10 years, and a lot has changed -- just not the Las Vegas Shakedown.

A decade has passed since the wild-eyed rock 'n' roll fest last helped Sin City live up to its name, but with its return this weekend, the Shakedown is offering much of the same: three days of greasy, booze-powered jams, spanning rockabilly, R&B and punk, this time spread out over two venues downtown: the Beauty Bar and the Las Vegas Country Saloon.

With 50 bands playing, there's a lot to take in (see the full lineup at lasvegasshakedown.com), but here are five you don't want to miss:

Electric Frankenstein, Friday, Beauty Bar. Underground rock lifers if ever there were any, the dudes in Electric Frankenstein are nearly as impossible as their namesake: They keep going, going, going until the trend of the moment is gone. Think a really ace jukebox in some filthy rock 'n' roll roadhouse come to life, a hard drinking, harder swinging hybrid of The Dead Boys, AC/DC and The Stooges all rolled into one head-spinning stogie. Inhale deeply.

The Humpers, Saturday, Beauty Bar. Despite hailing from SoCal, The Humpers don't really sound like it: They're much more suggestive of dark bars than sunny beaches, though their raw-throated, whiskey snortin' garage punk caterwaul does pack the grit of two tons of sand. The band was signed to Epitaph Records for a time in the late '90s when the label was diversifying its roster with fellow punk boundary pushers such as the New Bomb Turks, the Red Aunts and Clawhammer, and it says a lot that The Humpers deserve to be mentioned in the same beer-soaked breath as those cats.

Clorox Girls, Saturday, Beauty Bar. Fast and not-so-furious Portland trio the Clorox Girls channel Buddy Holley by way of a gallon drum of methamphetamine. The band's pulse-quickening pop whizzes by like melodic gunfire, all hooks and heartache. Duck and cover, dudes.

The Bellrays, Sunday, Beauty Bar. If the ladies will be a little underrepresented on the Shakedown stages, Bellrays singer Lisa Kekaula is more than enough woman to fill any gender gap with toughness, 'tude and a set of pipes that could drown out a mufflerless hot rod. The females may lack numbers this weekend, but with Kekaula in the house, they won't lack presence.

Andre Williams, Sunday, Las Vegas Country Saloon. He got his nickname, "Mr. Rhythm," from Redd Foxx, and Andre Williams' free-range funk was every bit as sharp and fierce as that notoriously randy comedian's tongue. Over the course of six decades, Williams co-wrote Stevie Wonder's first tune, penned a hit for Ike and Tina Turner and dropped some of the most raucous R&B records ever sweated out for storied Chicago label Chess Records. Catch him while you still can.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.