SUNDAY 8/4

ODD OWL, THE GLORIA DARLINGS, SUSY SUN

On a recent Kickstarter video for her group Odd Owl, Carmen Caruso remarked that through music she feels like she can truly connect to people. It's not a startling admission for a musician to make, but on Odd Owl's handful of EPs, you can literally hear Caruso's best attempts at communicating with an inhibited outside world. The San Francisco group makes cozy and sage dance-pop music, sounding like Aimee Mann if she cut a record inside a miniature pinball machine, while Caruso's vocals effortlessly bounce around tales of relationship paralysis. My favorite songs of theirs include ones about comforting a broken-hearted psychic ("you should have seen this one coming") and telling someone off with a brisk "I need more than I'm proud of, and I want more than you can give." Even the dead aren't spared her anomie radar in a song called "Standards in Heaven." Local bluegrass duo the Gloria Darlings and elegant piano-pop songwriter Susy Sun round out tonight's bill. Crocodile, 7 pm, $7.

TUESDAY 8/6

KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS

After playing a 21-and-up show in early May, Kurt Vile is back in Seattle with an all-ages date. Wakin on a Pretty Daze, Vile's newest record, is a kingly and self-assured collection of songs that spreads easy like peanut butter, showcasing the Philly musician at the top of his leisurely psych-rock game. This album is ideal for melted afternoons when the sun never seems to set, and the Violators are masters at translating Vile's studio wizardry to a live setting. Showbox at the Market, 8 pm, $21.50.

THE LONE BELLOW

On the website for this year's Bumbershoot, the Lone Bellow are tagged as "Americana," "Family-friendly," "Monday," and "Music," which is a great inadvertent description of this shaggy Brooklyn band. Lone Bellow's rootsy and harmonious stompers might recall Mumford & Sons or Local Natives on the spectrum of polished acoustic rock, but their music also shows an equal indebtedness to crankier acts like Old Crow Medicine Show. Before their upcoming performance at Seattle's premier Labor Day weekend music festival, catch them tonight during a free in-store at Sonic Boom Records. Sonic Boom, 7 pm, free.