THURSDAY 4/27

EDITORS, STELLASTARR*, MONSTERS ARE WAITING
(Chop Suey) Editors' debut disc, The Back Room, arrived on American shelves only a month ago, but the UK-based band, already platinum back home, performs with a confidence that belies its slight discography. Ed Lay's drumrolls suggest he's using exclamation points for sticks, and singer Tom Smith enunciates urgently, as if he's communicating deathbed directions. An arena-caliber light show punctuates the group's climactic choruses and pulses in tandem with their robust rhythms. Smith's chiming riffs merge with Chris Urbanowicz's jagged leads like symmetrical knife serrations, though he occasionally unholsters the ax to engage in endearingly spastic choreography. ANDREW MILLER

ROTTEN APPLES, THE HEAVY HEARTS, WE WROTE THE BOOK ON CONNECTORS,
(Crocodile) With a new name and a new dual-bass attack, the band formerly known as Triple XXX Audio have found their true sound as their latest incarnation—the Heavy Hearts. Mixing equal parts My Bloody Valentine, Mclusky, and Pixies, the Heavy Hearts are dark, chaotic, and intense—just what you'd expect from members of such seminal Northwest noise bands as Engine Kid and the Bali Girls. Live, the Hearts pull you into their punishing world, leaving you pleasantly dazed and confused when it's all over. BRENT COLE

ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER
(Jazz Alley) Musical styles are always slipping in and out of vogue, but few carry the eternal kiss of death of the dreaded "New Age" tag. Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider was a comparative New Age superstar throughout the '80s, and you have to give the man credit for sticking to his guns. Vollenweider's musical cocktail is an occasionally transcendent mix of pan flutes, downtempo "soft funk," and, of course, harps galore! Tonight begins Vollenweider's four-day stint at Jazz Alley. JOSH BLANCHARD

SOULFLY, MANNTIS, INCITE
(El Corazón) Max Cavalera generated profound goodwill while fronting Brazilian death-metal titans Sepultura from 1984–1996. His next group, Soulfly, nearly exhausted that camel's hump, testing fans with monotonous grooves and a Fred Durst duet. However, Soulfly resurged with last year's savage thrashterpiece Dark Ages. Cavalera has merged world music with metal for more than a decade, and while he continues to incorporate tribal rhythms on Dark Ages, the old-school shredding makes the international influence less polarizing than on previous releases. As long as they're given galloping-steed drums, high-speed guitar solos, and vintage scorched-throat Cavalera screams, Soulfly fans don't mind a little experimentation. ANDREW MILLER

FRIDAY 4/28

THE HIGH VIOLETS, C'EST LA MORT, BENJAMIN STARSHINE, STEVE KRAKOW SOLO
(Comet) Unlike a lot of their shoegazing brethren, Portland's the High Violets don't sacrifice substance for style. Their new album is a stunner—nine gorgeous, hazy songs that are as memorable as they are atmospheric. Singer Kaitlyn ni Donovan's voice is a perfect foil—it practically floats above the music and makes you think that this is what Lush could've sounded like if they'd gotten less caught up in hype and been more serious about their songwriting. Whether slowing things down to a breathtaking quiet or building to a crashing crescendo, the High Violets are always captivating. BARBARA MITCHELL

JAMES HOLDEN, SCOTT KEITH
(Element) While progressive trance has evolved about as much as rap-metal or intelligent design, James Holden's steady ear for it has weathered the last five years better than it had a right to. On At the Controls, his latest mix double LP, Holden distances himself from the genre's thousand-yard stare with a nervous build of Boards of Canada, Death in Vegas, Nathan Fake, and Aphex Twin, letting it sink into an overcast atmosphere of minimal house and more obscure variants. You'll be bored if you listen too closely, but Holden pulls it together and rescues his reputation from a career of encouraging the ordinary. GUY FAWKES

TRWST, THE PURRS, GARY REYNOLDS AND THE BRIDES OF OBSCURITY
(High Dive) The Purrs are part of a new breed of rock-and-roll Anglophiles that seem to skip the obligatory British Invasion history lesson and go straight to American groups like the Dandy Warhols or Of Montreal for inspiration. The quartet's forays into heroin-chic swagger fall a bit short of convincing, but they have a great knack for sleepy, shoegazer day trips. Gary Reynolds and the Brides of Obscurity grasp at the same heartstrings that Paul McCartney or Hunky Dory–era Bowie pulled so beautifully 40 years ago. Reynolds and company are at times a bit too slick for their own good, but overall they serve up a satisfying slice of nostalgia-laced piano pop. JOSH BLANCHARD

BILLY CHILDISH
(Sunset) See Stranger Suggests.

DERRICK CARTER, WESLEY HOLMES
(War Room) See Data Breaker.

SATURDAY 4/29

THE WITHHOLDERS
(Comet) See Border Radio.

GLOVEBOX, VOYAGER ONE, CLIMBER
(High Dive) See Data Breaker.

ROCK LOTTERY
(Neumo's) Rock Lottery takes 25 local and very talented musicians who've never worked together before, splits 'em into five groups of five, locks the groups in a room for a day, and forces 'em to form a new band. Many hours later, the kidnapped are released and thrown onstage, where they have to perform their original songs in front of an audience. It sounds messy and awful, but it's actually a once-in-a-lifetime show with fun and surprisingly entertaining results. This year's contestant roster features Reggie Watts, James Bertram, Dave Bazan, Heather Duby, and Shane Tutmarc, along with members of The Emergency, The Holy Ghost Revival, Mon Frere, The Young Sportsmen, Slender Means, and Harvey Danger. More info at www.rocklottery.com. MEGAN SELING

KRONOS QUARTET
(Paramount) The Kronos Quartet more or less invented the idea of a badass string quartet. Renowned for their adventurous and eclectic taste in collaborators, the group have commissioned and performed works by arch-composers Terry Riley, Philip Glass, John Zorn, and Morton Feldman, among others. Founded in 1973, the group are perhaps best known for their work on film soundtracks like the crushingly bleak Requiem for a Dream score, and have won multiple Grammys, put out over 40 albums, and played some of the world's most prestigious classical venues, including Sesame Street. Tonight's show features works by Sonic Youth mentor Glenn Branca, Jim Thirlwell (AKA no-waver Foetus), and by Azerbaijani composer Rahman Asadollahi. SCOTT GOODWIN. See also Stranger Suggests.

ICE CUBE, THA DOGG POUND
(Showbox) See preview and My Philosophy.

SUNDAY 4/30

RIVER CITY SKATEPARK BENEFIT: THE RUBY DOE, BULLET CLUB, SENATE ARCADE (Neumo's)
See Underage.

4 O'CLOCK ROCK: DRAGSTRIP RIOT, HELL'S BELLES, NEUTRAL BOY, STOLI AND THE BEERS
(Sunset) Bar mistress/promoter Jenny Bendel is as whip-smart as she is ferociously foxy, but this alone is not what makes her worthy of such a hard-rocking afternoon. Having paid her dues in a myriad of fascinating manners (serving as Radiohead's publicist when they put out a little record called The Bends, for example), Bendel works her face off to bring attention to the new bands she books for her weekly 4 O'clock Rock shows. Today is the lovely lady's birthday, and the quadruple-threat bill of eardrum-shattering bands is the ideal way for such a committed rocker to celebrate one more year above ground. HANNAH LEVIN

MONDAY 5/1

PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, TIME MACHINE, GYM CLASS HEROES, PSALM 1
(Chop Suey) If it ain't broke... People Under the Stairs' Thes One and Double K have adhered to that maxim over four albums, churning out tracks that reaffirm old-school hiphop values with the reliability of a Dr. J dunk (you know PUTS would appreciate the '70s sports reference). Using the unimpeachable foundation of Meters-like funk and CTI Records-style jazz fusion, Thes and K keep heads nodding till the dawn of breaks [sic] and trade off wise, witty lyrics like best buds shootin' the breeze on the front porch. Time Machine rep a similar golden-age positivity that'll make your backpack bounce with glee. DAVE SEGAL

CAT POWER AND THE MEMPHIS RHYTHM BAND
(Showbox)See preview.

TUESDAY 5/2

CUTE IS WHAT WE AIM FOR
(El Corazón) It'd be absolutely killer if Cute Is What We Aim For was the name of a gang of crusty and spoiled hardcore dudes with beards and shirtless, sweaty chests all cut up from thrashing their guitars around like psychos, but tragically it's absolutely not that. Cute Is What We Aim For is a group of fancy New York boys trying to make a buck with their uninteresting and sensitive über-pop. They wear expensive jeans and ferociously styled hair that looks effortless, they have "adorable and silly" senses of humor (they list their genre on MySpace as "2-Step" and "jungle"—ha ha! Barf.), and their stupid music is not interesting, it's not innovative, and it's not even fucking cute! Cute may be what they aim for, but shit is what they hit. MEGAN SELING

ESSEX GREEN, IRVING, CAPILLARIES
(Crocodile) See preview.

WEDNESDAY 5/3

BENNY GOLSON
(Dimitriou's Jazz Alley) See The Score.

GRUFF MUMMIES, NOVILLERO
(Funhouse) If the universe wanted to prove it wasn't an entirely soulless and fucked-up place, it would right the wrong it made when the Gruff Mummies didn't get totally famous, rich, and loved by all the instant the band was created. Hailing from Bainbridge Island, Gruff Mummies got some mild recognition when their theatrical classic rock (think the Who's Tommy with the glam of Queen and Bowie) got 'em first place at EMP's Sound Off! competition last year, but they're worth so much more than that! They're fun! They're hilarious! They're totally awesome! Why aren't you in love with them yet?! MEGAN SELING

SIGUR RÓS
(Benaroya Hall) Benaroya Hall is designed with such acoustic carefulness and hi-fi sticklerhood that its balanced and well-contained sound can render some music rather bloodless. For pieces designed to rest like landscape paintings to be pored over and combed through, its capacity for detail is amazing, while for more chaotically dynamic/cathartic pieces it can mute their emotional range. Sigur Rós, whose cathedral-architectured music seeks no genre other than pure beauty, should do well in Benaroya's halcyon nest. Their unrelentingly epic compositions allude to beauty too great to speak of (which may be why they deal only in nonlanguage lyrics), and their grandly unfurling performances can elicit both brow-knitting boredom and waves of adult bawling. SAM MICKENS

ABYSSINIAN CREOLE, COMMON MARKET, CANCER RISING, macklemore
(CHOP SUEY) The hiphop trio Abyssinian Creole are at the center of two moments: one is musical and the other sociological. The musical moment includes Common Market, Blue Scholars, and Cancer Rising—it's one of the most impressive waves of local hiphop to appear on the shores of a scene that's been around since the mid-'80s. If melodic jazz was the sound of the movement that crested with K Records' Classic Elements and Vitamin D's Do the Math, and gothic cinema defined the sound that crested with Oldominion's One, then a globalized impressionism defines the sound of the present wave. Sociologically, the East African and West Indian rappers in Abyssinian Creole represent the current heavy flows of immigrants filling up South Seattle and transforming the area into an international center of commerce and culture. CHARLES MUDEDE

MORE

TV ON THE RADIO, CELEBRATION: Fri May 5, Showbox

BOY SETS FIRE, KANE HODDER, VERSUS THE MIRROR, THE FULLY DOWN: Sat May 6, El Corazón

RAINER MARIA, ALOHA, AMBULETTE, SEA NAVY: Sat May 6, Paradox

REGINA SPEKTOR, ONLY SON: Sun May 7, Chop Suey

THE AQUABATS, STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO, NO TRIGGER: Fri May 12, El Corazón

STARLIGHT MINTS, DIOS MALOS, THE OCTOPUS PROJECT: Fri May 12, Neumo's

MUTE MATH, THE LISTENING: Sat May 13, Crocodile

THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY, THE FEVER, GUESTS: Fri May 19, El Corazón

SMOKING POPES, LOVEDRUG: Mon May 22, Crocodile

SICK OF IT ALL, STRETCH ARM STRONG, FIRST BLOOD, THE VOWS: Tues May 23, El Corazón

MOGWAI, EARTH: Tues May 23, Showbox

THE NEW AMSTERDAMS, THE LASHES, THE LOOK: Tues May 23, Neumo's

MINISTRY, REVOLTING COCKS, PITBULL DAYCARE: Sun May 28, Showbox

ALKALINE TRIO, THE LAWRENCE ARMS, THE DRAFT: Tues May 30, Showbox