FRIDAY 3/22

MAGMA FEST: LIÉ, KOBAN, BLACK HAT, BARDO:BASHO, DANIEL SHUMAN

Vancouver, BC, is having a bit of a musical outbreak, and tonight's show features two bands from our prolific neighbors to the north. Lié are making some solid post-punk stompers, staying danceable while taking cues from their '80s gothic brethren. Time to riot ecstatic to these jams! Similarly, Canadian act Koban also stems from the post-punk family tree, adding a touch of coldwave electro-ice to the night. While the music generally hits its mark, referring to oneself as †∆†∆†∆Kōban†∆†∆†∆ also bridges into the territory of the lamentably trendy upside-down-cross-core/witch-haus/whatever craze presently embarrassing darker music. Daniel Shuman (Sabbath Assembly) will also be performing a solo set, and he'll be joined by local experimental electronic acts Black Hat and Bardo:Basho, whose droned-out, world-music-injected beats may inspire some inadvertent plane-shifting. Heartland, 8 pm.

THEE SAMEDI, ELCH, SETH ENGLE/JOHN WHITE, SUPERPROJECTION, THAT'S CASHED

Eastside newcomers Thee Samedi froth out ramshackle, gristly proto-punk with tendons showing and livers writhing on the floor. And lucky you, bored Eastside teens—tonight is the release party for their first tape! Judging from their bone-trashing two-track demo, Thee Samedi may just fulfill the promise of their Cramps-ian primitive garage punk. With Elch, Seth Engle/John White, Superprojection, and the decidedly 420-friendly That's Cashed. Sallal Grange Hall, North Bend, 7 pm, $6–$8.

SATURDAY 3/23

THRONES, MIDLIFE VACATION, MUTANT VIDEO, TOTAL LIFE

In Thrones, Joe Preston (formerly of the Melvins and Earth) disrupts devastatingly bass-centric sludge metal with abrasively weird sound collage, and then coils programmed drums beneath. The result is an exercise in ruin, with lumbering riffs rooted only to be chainsawed abruptly by this would-be lumberjack. But it's the sort of ruin one wants to experience, and at very high volumes. There's even more doom and gloom where that came from: Seattle duo Midlife Vacation's brooding synth-grunge pairs lingering riffs with keyboard sweeps and gurgles, while Mutant Video will similarly inspire the freaks with their drone-sludge. Tonight also marks the release show for Total Life's new LP on Debacle Records, Bender/Drifter, which is 32 minutes of catatonic drones for staring at the ceiling, or perhaps at a sky that isn't punishing us all with gray mist. Heartland, 8 pm.