MARAZENE HEARTBEAT CLOCK, VOLTA DO MAR
(Crocodile) Put your smarty pants on, because what we have here in Volta Do Mar is not another At the Drive-In offshoot but a Chicago-based, prog-tinged, post-rock band. Half of the indie-rock-loving population cringes with chagrin while the other half swells with expectation at the reading of that last sentence, I'm sure. Complicated, chaotic, you know the drill. Mixing things up are headliners Marazene Heartbeat Clock, who have been likened to Eric Bachman's Crooked Fingers. KATHLEEN WILSON

THE FALL-OUTS, THE HENTCHMEN
(Chop Suey) See preview on page 42.

JOEL R. L. PHELPS AND THE DOWNER TRIO
(I-Spy) See Stranger Suggests on page 23.

WORMWOOD, CHRISTIAN REICH, BLACK BOX, SKARP
(Flop Haus) Imagine the soundtrack to a midnight movie influenced by Botch and Coalesce, set in the haunted halls of an ancient torture chamber, and you get an idea of what local act Wormwood sounds like. The band is so gothically influenced they might as well play graveyards, but on their latest CD, Requiescat, the group delicately layers classical piano and funeral-home organ passages between howling gales of monstrous vocals. Live, I can't imagine the piano fits into their set, so be prepared for demonic vocals oozing out of oppressively blackened industrial metal. JENNIFER MAERZ

THE GRANNIES, ALL AMERICAN PLAYBOYS, GUESTS
(Zak's) As if there won't be enough explosions on the Fourth, tonight will be a great big punk-rock explosion for those still looking for a party. But this won't be your ordinary punk show. San Francisco's the Grannies bring it on, in full (and frightening) grandmotherly regalia no less, and are here to assault your ears with something mean, something dirty, and something completely rock 'n' roll (but it's good, so it's worth any ounce of pain, emotional or otherwise, you may suffer). With song titles like "My Life Was Ruined by Rock 'N' Roll," "Taste the Walker," and "Grannies Gonna Get You," you should be afraid. Very afraid. MEGAN SELING

RADIO 4, HOT HOT HEAT
(Paradox) See preview on page 39.

THE WHO
(The Gorge) Anyway? Anyhow? Anywhere? Yes... with two fingers up and down with a handfulla speed, indeed. The Who have announced they're continuing their tour--in tribute, of course, to their unmovable Ox, John Entwistle, who died last week. Fucking weird, right? I really hope this turns out, but consider whether John and Roger would continue if there were no Pete. Anyway. Anyhow. Anywhere. After all? Evidently. MIKE NIPPER

FU MANCHU, SPEEDEALER, BRAND NEW SIN
(Crocodile) There are certain fiery spells that only pissed-off rock bands can breathe life into--the kind of moods where you want to tell everyone to fuck off with a wicked gleam in your eye, and you want a big loud band to flip a finger at the world with you. "Leave Me Alone" by Speedealer (who will always live on in my mind as "REO Speedealer," their original comical moniker) is a great song for those "who gave you the goddamn right?!" nights, as the song unleashes heavy melodies, tales of fire-breathing suns, and a screaming demand to stay away in a satisfyingly unhinged fury. The song is off the band's newest release, Second Sight--produced by ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted--an album that rocks speed, sludge, and doom metal into one hawkish blizzard that's capped with lines about this being the "season of aggression." With songs about wanting to "fucking die" and "Kill Myself Tonight," Speedealer aren't breaking any new ground on this third album, but their hatred comes off pure and unfiltered. Now if only Fu Manchu hadn't cleaned up their act so much.... JENNIFER MAERZ

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO
(EMP) There are precious few artists I go out of my way to catch, much less ones who cause me to rearrange travel plans and get to the venue hours early to make sure I don't miss a note. Alejandro Escovedo is one of them. His closing-night sets at South by Southwest were the perfect antidote for coming down from five days of industry schmooze overload--music so pure, direct, and real that it feels redemptive. Who else could rework Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" in such a way that it practically moans with longing? And that doesn't even come close to touching the life-affirming melancholy of heartbreaking originals like "I Was Drunk." ("I was drunk, I was down, I was wandering around my bed--I called out your name," Escovedo calls out to an absent lover.) His music is raw, unadulterated, perfectly delivered--only one example of the emotional bull's-eyes in store tonight. BARBARA MITCHELL

THE GRANNIES, OLD MAN SMITHERS, HUNG DICE
(Zak's) See Friday's listing.

ALL, WRETCH LIKE ME, SOMEDAY I, ARMSTRONG
(Graceland) If you're not familiar with the bands in tonight's lineup, allow me to shed some light for you. All is the band formed by former members of L.A. punk act the Descendents--drummer Bill Stevenson, guitarist Stephen Egerton, and bassist Karl Alvarez. While a number of lead singers have come and gone (both Dave Smalley and Scott Reynolds have taken the mic), Chad Price will be manning the position tonight. All play pure skate punk--guitar-driven and kinda poppy, with songs about relationships and broken dicks, which have garnered the band a cult following over their 14 years together. Colorado's Someday I have just released a new album, Ref 4 (which grows on me a bit more with each listen), on Owned and Operated Records. The record allows the melodic punk act to get intensely moody, and they pay homage to the great Jawbox--"I could write a love letter to Jawbox," sings lead man John Meredith (good taste, my friend). But don't even get me started on that band, I'll never shut up. MEGAN SELING

+/-, WHYSALL LANE
(Chop Suey) If the sleeping pills and late-night talk shows aren't the lullaby you're seeking, check out +/-, the new project from James Baluyut. His "digipop" act is so delicate it carries with it few pretensions of commanding much attention. The latest +/- eponymous record blends unassuming low-fi beats and bits of piano with lilting vocals, a mixture of white noise and sparse instruments that's pretty in places, but overall way too precious and sleepy to be anything but heavy-lidded pop. JENNIFER MAERZ

ROCKY VOTOLATO, THE CASKET LOTTERY, THE PROM, GREAT AMERICAN GATSBY
(Graceland) With longer days and the summer heat, it's easy to grow progressively grumpier and crankier. What you need to do is to purge all those buried and built-up emotions and start fresh. This show is the ticket--you'll feel wonderfully rejuvenated, much like you do after following up a trip to the sauna with a plunge into freezing cold water. The Prom will get you warmed up as you dance and sway a little with their sometimes poppy, sometimes melancholy (but always thoughtful) lush prettiness. Then the Casket Lottery will supply the darker rock, the perfect accompaniment while you search the deeper, angrier crevices of your heart. Rocky Votolato will bring it all home, singing sweet, sad acoustic songs that will make you cry like a baby if you don't fight it. And why fight it? This is, after all, the cheapest therapy session around. Afterward, you'll walk out of the Paradox emotionally refreshed and ready to face the week with a clean slate. MEGAN SELING

Tift Merritt
(Tractor Tavern) See preview on page 43.

THE NO-NO'S, THE QUAILS
(Crocodile) For some genres, things never change. Girl-fronted bands even vaguely sharing a mid-'90s Olympia connection will always sound sassy, sing "yeah-yeah" a lot, and display a musicianship as stripped down and brittle as possible. The No-No's feature Heather Dunn (ex-Tiger Trap, Bangs) and Ralf Youtz (Halo Benders, ex-Built to Spill) among the lineup. C'mon, even if you've never heard them before, you know exactly how it's going to sound. KATHLEEN WILSON

NEIL FINN, ED HARCOURT
(Showbox) Early this year, ex-Split Endz/Crowded House singer Neil Finn put out a live album (7 Worlds Collide) recorded over five nights at Aukland's St. James Theatre when he sang with such notables as Eddie Vedder, Lisa Germano, Johnny Marr, and Radiohead's Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway. While I have never heard a more useless rendition of the Smith's "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," the album does feature some lovely work from Vedder, who sings Split Endz's "Take a Walk," and Germano, who performs her own "Paper Doll." Finn's latest album, One All, actually came out two years ago everywhere but in the U.S., so what seems like new material to anyone who purchased the live record is now fully brought to light. KATHLEEN WILSON

TUATARA
(Crocodile) Every time I listen to Tuatara I think of one of those imported '60s flicks where a stylish couple in an impossibly small European car chugs along narrow, twisty roads through some sun-baked Mediterranean town. Or where the impeccably tailored super-spy slinks down a shadowy corridor to surprise the bad guys with his sophisticated weaponry and sharp wit. It's likely that ringleader Barrett Martin and his Tuatara collective--including Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Joe Cripps, and others--will attempt to cast similarly cinematic spells on you with their enthralling mix of free-jazz, noirish atmospherics and a veritable World Cup of percussion instruments (Brazilian atabaques! Senegalese sabars!). Expert musicianship is sure to abound, sans the sort of pomposity that can derail many an instrumental combo. Look for the cast of musical characters to reconfigure themselves throughout the evening as the Minus 5, Wayward Shamans, and the backing band for 75-year-old Delta bluesman CeDell Davis. MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG

DISSECTING THE ROBOT: FLAMING LIPS LISTENING PARTY
(Showbox) Aside from Built to Spill and Sonic Youth, few veteran punk-minded bands have a supportive major label behind them that lets them indulge and explore every artistic whim that strikes their creative fancy. After nearly a decade with Warner Brothers, the Flaming Lips have given their employer only one hit single (1993's "She Don't Use Jelly") and unblinkingly handed in a four-CD set that required the listener to play all the discs simultaneously to digest the finished product (1997's Zaireeka). Now the label is funding frontman Wayne Coyne's first film, theoretically entitled Christmas on Mars, an endeavor that is just as weird and charming as it sounds. Tonight's video valentine from Coyne will allow fans to hear more about the movie and the Lips' forthcoming CD, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, a relatively guitar-free body of work that continues the style nurtured by producer Dave Fridmann on 1999's Soft Bulletin. Aside from the fact that it will cost you nothing to get in the door, the Lips are giving their fans a chance to win a spot as an extra on the film--so you're as crazy as those suits at Warner Brothers if you don't attend. HANNAH LEVIN

MOTH, ALIEN CRIME SYNDICATE
(Graceland) Founded by Brad Stenz and Bob Gayol, Moth plays heavy power pop that sounds like it could have been created in the post-grunge mid '90s. Honestly, doesn't all power pop created since alternative radio became mainstream sound exactly the same? Souped-up guitars, barreling choruses, heavy-handed production? On a side note, Moth features Rocket from the Crypt's Atom on drums. KATHLEEN WILSON