Wednesday 1/30

Specters, Seacats, Palisades

(Chop Suey) Seacats is a great name for a band: You just can't help picturing a soggy cat with some seaweed weighing its grumpy little head down. The band itself is also quite pleasing. Hailing all the way from Kelso, Washington (home of the best Taco Time in the state; I'm serious), brothers Mike and Josh Davis (with help from a rotating cast of bandmates) make sunny, enthusiastic quirk-pop that takes cues from the most lovable parts of the Rentals, Modest Mouse, and the Postal Service. If you can't make the show because both your legs are broken, their website/blog also offers hot Seacats gossip and videos to keep you entertained and up-to-date. EMILY NOKES

Experience the Beatles with Rain

(Moore) Since the lead singer of the Beatles, Davy Jones, died a year ago (RIP), it has, sadly, been impossible to experience their ever-inspiring catalog of perfect pop songs live. And that's a goddamn shame. But thanks to the magic of wigs, makeup, and perfectly constructed costumes, fans can journey through every decade of the band's 50-plus years of existence with Experience the Beatles with Rain, a stage show so well executed that, if you squint your eyes during the show, you might not be able to tell the difference as Rain take you on a journey from one of the foursome's very first hits, "Last Train to Clarksville," to deeper, later cuts like "Oh My My" and "As We Go Along." MEGAN SELING

Piano Starts Here: The Music of Sun Ra

(Royal Room) Local pianists Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb, Steve Moore, Michael Owcharuk, Sumi Tonooka, and Tim Kennedy will assay the music of avant-garde jazz eccentric Sun Ra—solo, not together. Seems like a daunting task to capture Sun Ra's essence on one instrument when his Arkestra contained so many different moving parts, but it should be interesting to witness the attempt on a Steinway B grand piano. This is part of the Royal Room's series spotlighting the music of history's most prodigious and skilled composers on the piano. Kennedy and Horvitz will interview former Sun Ra trombonist Julian Priester before the performance. DAVE SEGAL

Thursday 1/31

Kid Smpl, Djao, Black Hat

(Parnassus Cafe) See Underage.

Touch!: DMH, Marcell Marias, Subaqueous

(Re-bar) See Data Breaker.

Experience the Beatles with Rain

(Moore) See Wednesday.

Dr. John

(Jazz Alley) Judging from his 2010 Seattle performance, Dr. John will not be exhuming his swampadelic classics from Gris-Gris, Remedies, or The Sun, Moon & Herbs. Maybe this New Orleans musical legend just can't get back into that dank headspace anymore, can't summon that ominous libidinal pressure at this late date. It happens. That being said, Doc's latest album, Locked Down, finds him receiving a filthy, robust boost from a group of younger cats, including the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach—who produced, sang backing vocals, and played guitar on it. The record sounds vital and politically engaged for a 72-year-old magus—the funkiest he's been in decades. Those players won't be joining Mac Rebennack for this four-night stand at Jazz Alley, but trust him to hire a band that'll nail Locked Down's punchy grooves and triumph-over-adversity melodies. DAVE SEGAL

Tomten, Shenandoah Davis, Seven Colors

(Barboza) Oh, Tomten, you dreamy dreamboats, you. While something like this might not usually be my bag—my bag being a somewhat shabby one filled with Lisa Frank stickers and glitter, while their bag seems more likely to be made of antique velvet and filled with perfectly smooth opals—I admit to being a little swept away. The Seattle quartet makes intricate pop that's nostalgic for decades past and wears a little Union Jack pin on its paisley jacket—the complex arrangements, sugary jangles, and mellow vocals will keep your ears company on these grayest of winter days. EMILY NOKES

Thousands, Neighbors, Lori Goldston

(Columbia City Theater) Allow me to quote something I have no recollection of writing online, because I totally agree with myself here: "Neighbors are all over the place, and that's just fine with me. Sometimes there are fuzzy garage guitars, horns (really good horns), manic vocals, and extended jams. Other times there are pop hooks with sunny muffled keyboards and sweet melodies. Singing, yelling, talking, explaining... the lyrics remind me of a good friend telling you all about their day, their plans, their coworkers, their love life, and how they got too drunk the night before—all in one funny phone call that keeps cutting out." Neighbors will be sharing a bill with the magnificent Lori Goldston, who describes herself as "classically trained, rigorously de-trained, [and] semi-feral," and who won a Stranger Genius Award last year because she is a damn genius. EMILY NOKES

Messiaen's Turangalîla

(Benaroya) This is very cool. It's the Seattle Symphony's first-ever performance of Messiaen's monumental "love song," written in the 1940s, which incorporates one of the earliest electronic musical instruments (the ondes Martenot, invented in 1928). Influenced by the classical Javanese orchestra, the gamelan, and taking its title from two Sanskrit words, the piece will be introduced by a preshow lobby performance by the local Gamelan Pacifica and a behind-the-scenes tour of what you're about to hear by conductor Ludovic Morlot, guest pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and ondes Martenot specialist Cynthia Millar. Then comes 80 minutes of awesome. Through February 2. JEN GRAVES

C'est la Mort, Blue Light Curtain, Jupe Jupe, Golden Gardens

(Comet) The Comet should be Anglophile-music central tonight. It'll go something like this: Blue Light Curtain's majestic, melodious, male/female-vocalized post-punk dramas; Golden Gardens' sinewy shoegaze reveries (think Julee Cruise serendipitously sighing over Slowdive's Souvlaki); C'est la Mort's surging, sweetly haunting rock Ă  la the Church and Comsat Angels; and Jupe Jupe's coolly campy, exquisitely wrought electro pop. I was going to end this blurb with a pun involving British slang, but every attempt turned out to be a load of bollocks, mate. DAVE SEGAL

Friday 2/1

Experience the Beatles with Rain

(Moore) See Wednesday.

Dr. John

(Jazz Alley) See Thursday.

Gateway: John Tejada, Pezzner, Nordic Soul, Recess

(Q) See Data Breaker.

The Grizzled Mighty, Kithkin, Rose Windows, River Giant

(Neumos) Can you make room in your harried life for one more blues-rock duo? This is the last time I'll ask... probably. Seattle's the Grizzled Mighty give the game away with their name, but that's okay. Mystique isn't necessary here; guitarist/vocalist Ryan Granger and drummer Whitney Petty's songs sound massive, raw, and as ornery as the Old Testament. They may not have the hook-mongering skills of the White Stripes, but they're closer to approaching Led Zeppelin's gravid Delta stomp and raunchy crunch than Jack White's ever come. And, like Zep, the Grizzled Mighty have their gentle acoustic moments, too. But they're at their best when grinding with maximum torque and vengefulness. DAVE SEGAL

Ken Stringfellow, the Maldives, Curtains for You

(Tractor) While I adore damn near everything the Posies have ever done (I still rock Frosting on the Beater and Amazing Disgrace a couple of times a month, at least), I've yet to be completely mesmerized by singer Ken Stringfellow's solo efforts. His latest, Danzig in the Moonlight, might just be the album to break that trend. With vaudevillian, waltzy rhythms, much of the album feels like it was ripped from a big production stage show. Songs like "Drop Your Pride," laced with horns and slithering woodwinds, make me picture synchronized dancers in glitzy flapper dresses. To bring the songs to life, Stringfellow will be performing with the Maldives as his backing band, and it will probably be quite magical. Curtains for You open tonight's show, and tomorrow's bill features Star Anna, the local alt-country crooner with the perfectly heartbreaking voice. MEGAN SELING

Saturday 2/2

Walking Papers, Wayfinders, Daniel G. Harmann

(Sunset Tavern) See preview.

Dr. John

(Jazz Alley) See Thursday.

Experience the Beatles with Rain

(Moore) See Thursday.

The Maldives, Ken Stringfellow, Star Anna

(Tractor) See Friday.

The Sonics, Mudhoney

(Showbox at the Market) If you want to experience the epitome of Northwestern rock ruggedness from a world-historical perspective, you can't do better right now than the Sonics and Mudhoney. The former blueprinted a particularly fierce form of garage rock that still resonates with a caustic kick today. Clips of recent gigs show that the Sonics have lost only a little of their raucous pugnacity over the last five decades. Mudhoney remain gr*ng*'s reigning, reluctant kings. The last quarter-century has barely diminished the quartet's feral power and stinging wit in the live arena. Making this sold-out show even more attractive is the probability of hearing cuts from their forthcoming Sub Pop album, Vanishing Point. Mudhoney are doing this music thing right, on their terms, and, as a result, we all win. DAVE SEGAL

Black Breath, Sandrider, Occult SS, Nite Nurse

(Crocodile) The funny thing about Sandrider is that they weren't really supposed to be a real band. Sort of. Good to Die Records released their stellar stoner-rock-inspired album in 2011, but that batch of songs had actually been sitting on a shelf for years. Matt Bayles recorded them in 2009, and the dudes (Jon Weisnewski and Nat Damm of Akimbo and Jesse Roberts of the Ruby Doe) were label-less at the time and never got around to releasing them. WHAT?! That is a crime! We should've blown out our eardrums with that shit years ago! But better late than never, as the saying goes, and the record got such a supportive response that this spring they'll go into the studio (with Bayles, again) to record a follow-up. It better not take two years for this one to see the light of day. MEGAN SELING

D.R.I., the Insurgence, SuperNothing, Misuse of Power, Toxic Reign

(El Corazón) It's funny how everything changes (smartphones, Zipcars, Spotify), yet at the same time, NOTHING changes (antibiotics, the telescope, D.R.I. fans). The cult of kids following D.R.I., aka the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, seems essentially the same as when I was in high school—still smoking cigs, wearing baseball hats with the brim flipped up, and using a homemade spray-paint stencil to decorate the world with the D.R.I. skanker man logo. This is the band's 30th anniversary, with the original '80s lineup of Kurt Brecht, Spike Cassidy, Rob Rampy, and Harald Oimoen. While I'm too old to "thrash the pit" (shit, I might break a hip!), it's always gratifying to see the new guard do the same stomp, all fists and fury, just like nothing in the world ever needs to change—at least not for them. KELLY O

Sunday 2/3

Experience the Beatles with Rain

(Moore) See Thursday.

Dr. John

(Jazz Alley) See Thursday.

Monday 2/4

Cody ChesnuTT, Built to Spill

(Neptune) See preview.

Ben Folds Five, Nataly Dawn

(Showbox at the Market) So! Ben Folds Five are coming to town, and opening for them is one half of Pomplamoose. [Pause] Okay, I had to take a minute to go get in a real-life argument with someone close to me about the perils of being yourself versus the perils of trying to play along with the Kool Kids Music Klub. It was decided that I should say the following sentence, even if it makes people think I'm a doofus: I totally don't hate Pomplamoose. I thought those videos were funny, Nataly Dawn's voice is fine, and haters can go drink Haterade or whatever. Ben Folds is a crazy genius and one time someone played me a BF song on their grandma's piano and it made me laugh-cry. The Five haven't put out an album since 19-fucking-99. I think this show will be nice. ANNA MINARD

Ellie Goulding, St. Lucia

(Showbox Sodo) Ohhhh, Ellie Goulding! I have seen her hair everywhere these days. Painted on buildings, on our website, in store windows. I just found out that she and Skrillex used to date, which makes me sooooooo happy, because it makes me think maybe their haircuts were just dating and they had to play along? Like, if you were a conjoined twin, and your twin really fell for someone, you'd have to sit through their coffee chats and makeout sessions. That's probably what Skrillex and Goulding were doing, so you should respect them for making the sacrifice. As for her music—and it does not escape me that I spent a paragraph talking about a female musician's hair, but I'M SORRY, that's just the way this one worked out—it doesn't make me feel one single feeling. Maybe confusion. I think everyone thinks she's really smart because she has a British accent, but that's not a real thing, you guys. It just sounds like regular pop to me. ANNA MINARD

Tuesday 2/5

Your City Sleeps, Qeluga

(White Rabbit) See Data Breaker.

Big Freedia, Don't Talk to the Cops!

(Neumos) Hot off a 2012 that saw the release of four singles—including the awesome/ridiculous RuPaul collaboration "Peanut Butter" (as in, "She spreads like...")—New Orleans bounce music royalty Big Freedia (the second "i" is silent) returns to Seattle to burn down Neumos and make you scream until you can scream no more. Helping to make this night a must-see: awesome/ridiculous openers Don't Talk to the Cops! It is physically impossible for a Tuesday night to be any more fun than this. DAVID SCHMADER