POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Bloc’s Funky Fusion Still’s a Mishmash

If you’ve ever wondered what Living Colour would sound like fronted by a female singer and with white boys playing that funky music, then you might be intrigued by Bloc. If not, well. . . .

The veteran Los Angeles club band has toned down its discordant, progressive-rock tendencies since signing a major-label deal last year, but the mix of funk, fusion and flashy instrumentation is still something of a mishmash.

At the Roxy on Tuesday, in the band’s first L.A. performance since the release of its debut album “In the Free Zone,” Bloc’s material was occasionally near-brilliant, more often bombastic and, perhaps worst of all, sometimes merely benign.

The interlocking guitar work of Nels Cline and Nicholas Kirgo was especially dynamic, calling to mind the intricacy of vintage Mahavishnu Orchestra. Singer Camille Henry seems to have trained at the same school of shout-sing as Mariah Carey and Patti LaBelle, but when she controls and shapes her vocals, as on a sultry treatment of Ann Peebles’ “I Can’t Stand the Rain,” the results are stunning.