MIGALA, FOR STARS, TREASURE STATE
(Crocodile) For some reason, I've been having a hard time distinguishing between my dreams and real life lately, which draws me to the music of Migala and for stars. Both bands have one foot firmly on the ground and one in the netherworld, occupying that fragile zone between cognizance and fantasy, between real and imagined. The music is spooky in the most beautiful way possible, and is gorgeously disorienting. Truly cinematic. On its Sub Pop debut, Spain's Migala often comes across like Leonard Cohen sleepwalking through the Arizona desert. Shades of the Tindersticks and Ennio Morricone tint the landscape a gorgeous sepia tone. San Francisco's for stars weaves a similar sort of spell, putting its own spin on modern Americana. The band's latest album, we are all beautiful people, is its most dynamic yet. The music heaves and sighs, cresting through a series of gentle lullabies. BARBARA MITCHELL

SWORDS PROJECT, HYPATIA LAKE, THE SWEET SCIENCE
(Graceland) Seattle's the Sweet Science is a very talented band. Though the trio won't flip your wig in a traditional rock sense--especially if you're of the impatient chat-and-swill-booze variety of showgoer--the band has musicianship to burn, and a few killer songs to boot. Well-suited to perform with the Swords Project and Hypatia Lake, the Sweet Science makes slow-cooking, mathy atmospherics on standup bass, drums, and guitar. Two of the players sing, and both have lovely voices. As with any rock band, there are also grand moments where the trio ratchets up the intensity and truly rocks out. But those moments are rare, and never cheap. Which is what you should expect from a group of musicians' musicians. JEFF DeROCHE

THE HELIO SEQUENCE, MONO, NEO, WONDERFUL
(I-Spy) Oregon's the Helio Sequence, an excellent duo with blissed-out, spastic live shows, is reason enough to head down to I-Spy tonight. Instrumental Japanese quartet Mono, though, is the icing on the cake. Mono's songs begin gently, often with just one guitar making noise. The players look down at the floor a lot. Maybe they don't want to watch you watching them. Maybe they hate you. Maybe they're wicked shoegazers. You'll never know. The other musicians begin to layer the sound, coming in over the lone guitar one by one. Slowly the sound builds... and builds... until a gigantic, spaced-out rock and roll onslaught has taken over the showroom, and your senses. Still the players refuse to look at you. Are they shy or angry? Are they on drugs? You don't say or do much. You just listen. If you like rock and roll, you're feeling pretty good. JEFF DeROCHE

ALIEN CRIME SYNDICATE (CD RELEASE), POST STARDOM DEPRESSION, M SET
(Crocodile) Although the band's frontman, Joe Reineke, has been around for a long time (he used to front San Francisco power-pop band the Meices), Alien Crime Syndicate is now set to take the world by storm with its arena-style rock. There's even a new deal with V2 records. Tonight ACS celebrates the release of XL from Coast to Coast, which debuts on the Control Group, then hits the charts three weeks from now on the new label. Alien Crime Syndicate crackles with unabashed rock-star energy; if that offends you, go elsewhere. The rest of us will be at Graceland tonight, yelling our heads off in appreciation of all that is fun and overblown about rock and roll. KATHLEEN WILSON

THE BRIEFS, THE EPOXIES
(Graceland) With bleached blond hair, skinny ties, and Back to the Future II sunglasses handed out at Pizza Huts circa 1989, the Briefs are essentially a kitsch band. I could easily dismiss them as such, but the music is so fuckin' good. Somehow, they have captured the boiling energy of the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" and ejaculated it all over their songs. The Briefs may seem like a lofty punk band that is cemented in the classic sound of punk's heyday and don't want to do a damn thing to change it. But underneath all that retro new-wave shtick there are four pissed-off hardcore kids fighting to get out, and their live shows are the inner-children's release. Songs like "Poor and Weird" and "Where Did He Go?" are meant to be played with that fanatic, peppy, pill-poppin' drive that gets the girls and the guys all hot at the front of the stage. To hear only the record is to know only half of what the band is capable of, so get off your lazy indie-rock asses and get to this show. BRYAN BINGOLD

LOVE BATTERY, UNDERRIDE, ALTA MAY
(Graceland) To hear some tell it, Love Battery is the greatest band to come out of Seattle's pre-grunge heyday. To hear others tell it, Love Battery is a mediocre band that unsuccessfully attempted to hitch a ride on grunge's coattails. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, but here's the history for those who (like me) weren't around back in the day: The band, founded by Jason Finn and Ron Nine, blended metal with garage rock and released a few albums on Sub Pop. A major label took notice in the early '90s, an EP and an album came out and fizzled, Finn joined the Presidents of the United States of America, and the rest is history. Tonight, another chapter. KATHLEEN WILSON

ANDY CALDWELL, JOAQUIN GARCIA, JEROMY NAIL
(Baltic Room) Andy Caldwell is one of the jewels in San Francisco label Om Records' crown. He's made his presence felt both from the studio--producing and remixing tracks with big-time names like Kevin Yost and Fila Brazilia--and as a DJ in the clubs. He was a founding member of Soulstice, the electronica collective whose 2001 debut Illusion was such an inspiration of downtempo grooviness that it had to be remixed by a handful of other producers, and six months later Mixed Illusions was released. His house is beat-heavy, but has a calm and cool vibe that is never abrasive. BRIAN GOEDDE

ERIC BURDON & THE NEW ANIMALS
(EMP) Remember when the Beach Boys got back together and made that awesome song "Kokomo"? Best song ever, right? They all looked so sexy in that video too, and the composition itself was fucking brilliant. Likewise, I'm super excited about this Eric Burdon & the "New" Animals show at EMP. Mostly I'm excited because Eric Burdon (who once fronted the "Old" Animals) is the subject of one of my all-time favorite VH1 Behind the Music episodes. The story is great: rock and roll guy in San Francisco who got all fucked up and wrote all these cool songs. There's even a bit in the documentary where VH1 takes the viewer to New Orleans, to the actual "House of the Rising Sun," about which the Animals classic was written. It's killer. Speaking of which, I saw Tracy Chapman perform "House of the Rising Sun" at one of her early concerts. It was actually really beautiful. Whatever happened to Chapman? Did she come out with a new album recently, or did she sort of just realize that her career was finished and graciously step back out of the music game? I once liked her a good deal, so on her behalf I'm going to say a little prayer that she chose the latter. JEFF DeROCHE

John Marianne Connie Stuart Rebecca

THE CHARMING SNAKES, KAITO, THE INTELLIGENCE
(Sit & Spin) Norwich, England's Kaito's extremely danceable, fuzzy pop music is the kind of special treasure you get when you cross distorted guitars with cheerleader-ecstatic vocals. With a messy wall of effects that sound like lasers and the noise from cheap toys (but are actually guitars), the sweetly exuberant voice of Nikki Colk warbles and twitches over Kaito's spacey, creative pop songs. She practically screams, she sounds so excited to be making music, and none of that delight is lost on the audience. Live, the band expresses the same uninhibited joy, and you'll find yourself shaking that ass like you're 15, wiggling and hollering and shaking your fist. If you like to have fun, don't miss it. JULIANNE SHEPHERD

DEAD LOW TIDE, PLEASURE FOREVER, DJ CHERRY CANOE
(Graceland) Leslie headed back to the Motor City. Dann DJs and plays with friends. Derek founded Pretty Girls Make Graves. And now Spencer, Coady, Nate, and former godheadSilo bassist Mike Kunka are lifting the veil on their new project, Dead Low Tide. Word has it that bass "enthusiast" Kunka plays through a machine originally built by Boeing; the apparatus was used to vibrate plane parts as a means of testing their ability to hold together under extreme stress. Lord knows what it can do for the low end! Don't forget that tonight's show will take place in the Graceland's lounge, so bring your earplugs and a shoehorn to wedge yourself into prime listening position... about as far to the rear as you can get, if godheadSilo shows were any indication. KATHLEEN WILSON

THA LIKS, LIVING LEGENDS, DEFARI, COOL NUTZ, DJ B MELLOW
(Showbox) Tha Liks' J-ro and Tash are MCs in the heroic mode: They never express any doubts about their lives or personalities, nor do they entertain such notions as mixed feelings or ambivalence. Instead, they only proclaim their lyrical greatness, romantic abilities, and their appetite for intoxication--which is also heroic, by the average man's standards. Both have a penchant for ending pairs of lines by rhyming rather prosaic, two-syllable words with each other: "I'm so cool I drink 40 ounces of Freon/you'll never see me on/stage with a peon" (J-ro, from "Last Call"), and "I'm too hot to handle, got more soul in my pinky/than a nigga pickin' his Afro in a leopard skin dashiki" (Tash, from "Likwit"). By surrounding their egotism with straight-faced goofiness--ignoring the paradox--they strengthen the force of their braggadocio. Rapping is a battle (at least in the MC's mind), and great MCs must be psychologically centered in this way or else they will fail. In this occupation that is typically fraught with utter gravity, Tha Liks border on silliness while shamelessly professing that they are the best (at everything). They show a disregard for outside opinion, evincing a wholeness of self. Hence, they are unstoppable. RAPHAEL GINSBERG

BLING BLING: PURE HIPHOP w/MC QUEEN LUCKY
(Backdoor Ultra Lounge) See Stranger Suggests.

GUIDED BY VOICES, VISQUEEN
(Crocodile) Before I ended my career in the alcohol and blackout arts, I had a hard time enjoying Guided by Voices in the live realm. Though one would expect the opposite to be true, I thought the drunken, shambling shows were annoying in much the same way my high-school guidance counselor must have regarded my grades in reference to my test scores. Maybe it was last year's beauteous "How's My Drinking?" that finally clicked into position my ability to enjoy the band wholly. Or maybe removing the fear of becoming a middle-aged drunk allowed me to see there are some bands that manage to stay quite good despite playing while sloppy drunk. Or maybe it's just impossible to possess anything but undying admiration and respect for a band that can beautifully belt out 50 songs and an encore, as GBV did at its last Seattle performance. I don't know... I hear Bob Pollard requests Miller Lite on his rider these days.... KATHLEEN WILSON

GHIDRA, NOGGIN, RICK BISHOP
(Re-bar) If you wanna name yourself after the giant, lo-fi cinematic creature Ghidra, you better have a big, chunky sound. This way-way-out jazz trio has it. Ghidra is anchored by Mike Peterson (also of Apes of Wrath), a stocky drummer with a wild mane who pounds on his skins so hard I sometimes wonder what'll give first--the thin membranes in my ears or the ones on his drums. On either side of him are Bill Horist, heavily armed with effect pedals and digitizing machines all somehow hooked together, and Wally Shoup, armed with his fiery alto sax. It's as scary to watch as it is funny. Opening for Ghidra is Rick Bishop. Though tonight he's playing solo, he's better known as the guitarist for the Sun City Girls, a band that mixes garage rock, improv, and near-Eastern musics with a lavish dose of psychedelia. Bishop (also an owner of a bookstore in Belltown specializing in Egyptology, altered states, and mountaineering) will be opening with something he calls "Demonic Guitar Explorations." If you like Japanese noise bands, check out this night; it's the finest of the Northwest noise scene. KREG HASEGAWA

DANIEL JOHNSTON, THE MOLDY PEACHES, THE STRATFORD FOUR
(Crocodile) For Daniel Johnston, see Stranger Suggests; for Moldy Peaches, see preview this issue.