THURSDAY 11/2

DISMEMBERMENT PLAN
(Crocodile) The Dismemberment Plan continue in the tradition of great D.C. post-punk. Think Jawbox. Think Shudder to Think. Actually, listening to this band inspires a whole lot of thinking. It's the kind of music where odd time signatures collide with pop structures, where the precision of math-rock coexists with the no-frills honesty of emo-core. While that sounds convoluted in theory, it actually works quite well in practice. In fact, the band's latest album, Emergency and I, demands repeated listening as much for its musical complexity as for the simple thrill of memorable hooks. BARBARA MITCHELL

THE INTELLIGENCE
(Foxes) This Pho Bang features noisy newcomers the Intelligence, who are members of two other local bands, the fantastic A-Frames and the brown-suited, guitar-drum duo Double Fudge. While I've only heard the Intelligence once (and was impressed by their weird, noisy experimentation), I know the A-Frames do catchy, energetic, art-damage punk in a very good way. Lars, who stars in the Intelligence, makes the best sound ever as the A-Frames' drummer by banging a cymbal on top of a tom. Pho Bang's punk/drag cabaret-style combo is usually a lot of fun. ALLIE HOLLY-GOTTLIEB

IRAKERE
(Jazz Alley, through Sunday) Chucho Valdes may no longer be the pianist for Cuban supergroup Irakere, but his influence still looms over the band. Not only is he still Irakere's musical director, but his sister Mayra is now the group's lead vocalist as well. And although Chucho is a stunning player who fogged up the King Cat Theater like hot breath on glass the last time he was in Seattle, it was Mayra who stole the show that night. Look for her to once again shake her big voice and big bottom all over Irakere's supertight Afro-Cuban orchestral maneuvers. NATHAN THORNBURGH


FRIDAY 11/3

THE GOSSIP, BONFIRE MADIGAN, TWO TON BOA, SHOTGUN WON
(Crocodile) Rockrgrl music festival. See preview this issue. San Francisco's avant-rocker Bonfire Madigan (Madigan Shive) channels the ghost of Tom Cora with her impassioned cello-playing. Her wailing vocals almost bridge the distance between the Raincoats at their most anxious and early PJ Harvey. This Kill Rock Stars showcase demonstrates the diversity and adventurous spirit of the Northwest's female-powered bands. The Gossip are a knotty, guitar-riffing garage band with elemental chemistry that galvanizes audiences. They simply rearrange the energy in any given room until resistance seems futile and listeners find themselves moving. Their huge-voiced belter recalls '60s rhythm-and-blues singer Irma Thomas after a few drinks, or Janis Joplin minus a few drinks, in terms of raw, sonic power. The Gossip are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. NATE LIPPENS


SATURDAY 11/4

DAMON & NAOMI
(Showbox) Damon and Naomi play music that carves a small area out of our busy world, a place where we can relax and just watch grass grow if we want. Sounds like a sickening cliché, but it's true, and not as bad as it sounds. Although their newest release, With Ghost (Ghost is a well-respected Japanese psychedelic band), doesn't quite measure up to their previous efforts, it still retains the soothing, sedative, and cavernous qualities that make them a good antidote for the jagged impersonality of daily life. Live, they're worth catching for the joyous massage of Naomi Yang's voice alone, and since they play here about once every three years, you shouldn't miss it. MARK PINKOS

PENELOPE HOUSTON, KINDNESS, RAMONA THE PEST, ROBERTA DONNAY, PI
(Elysian) Rockrgrl music festival. See preview this issue. This Bay Area showcase features headliner Penelope Houston, the former firebrand leader of San Francisco's legendary punk outfit the Avengers (check out Died for Your Sins, their compilation of demos and field recordings out on Lookout! Records to see why). While history may best remember her as the sneering teenager hurling invective in songs like "The American in Me," Houston has created an impressive body of folk-rock and acquired a loyal following over the last two decades. On 1999's Tongue, Houston turned to serrated pop, with friends like Charlotte Caffey of the Go-Go's lending a hand. Her recent collection of rare and unreleased material, Once in a Blue Moon, shows her best side: incisive lyrics and understated songcraft with a flash of cool anger in its eye. NATE LIPPENS

EXENE CERVENKA'S ORIGINAL SINNERS, FABULOUS DISASTER, CANDY ASS, JANE JENSEN & THE DOLLS, NICOLE BLACKMAN
(Crocodile) Rockrgrl music festival. See preview this issue. Former X frontwoman and seminal Los Angeles punk icon Exene Cervenka brings her latest artistic incarnation to Seattle for the Rockrgrl festival. The Original Sinners are a dynamic amalgam of punk, country, and garage sound with the sharp and dark-humored lyrical content that has characterized all of Cervenka's output. New York's avenging angel-poet Nicole Blackman kicks off the night with her powerful spoken word that fuses fact and fantasy, dream and documentary, with a haunting intensity. Blackman collaborated with the Golden Palominos on Dead Inside, an album fueled by the cold fire of her pitch-perfect mesmerist's delivery. NATE LIPPENS

JOHN HIATT
(King Cat) Across his illustrious career, John Hiatt has had his compositions covered by Three Dog Night, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, and, most recently, Eric Clapton and B. B. King. But no one does them as well as the man himself. With his recent Crossing Muddy Waters, Hiatt has turned in some of his most powerful songwriting to date. The acoustic approach suits his country-blues well, with just guitars, tambourine, and foot-stomping behind his burnished voice. It is some of his most personal work; the title cut addresses the void left by his former wife's suicide. Hiatt is known for his high-energy, career-spanning performances, and on the strength of his new material this promises to be a great show. NATE LIPPENS

AMY RIGBY, MOE LOUGHRAN, ANNI MINOGUE, BLUE HOUSE, DEBORAH LEVOY
(Sit & Spin) Rockrgrl music festival. See preview this issue. Former member of the Last Roundup and the Shams, Amy Rigby has become the songwriter-laureate for aging hipsters, releasing three underappreciated albums: Diary of a Mod Housewife, Middlescence, and the latest, The Sugar Tree. Rigby writes perfectly crafted pop songs reminiscent of Marshall Crenshaw, with a folkier sensibility. Her subject matter is an exploration of the honest struggles of a single mother in her 40s, trying to have a romantic life, and measuring her losses against her longevity. It is not standard rock music content; these are the women rock and roll leaves behind and doesn't pay child support to. Rigby nails longing, lust, and frustration with an acute eye and impeccable humor. NATE LIPPENS

BT, HOOVERPHONIC
(DV8) People use words like "dreamscapes" and "journey" when talking about Brian Transeau's first two albums, trance/prog-house creations that seemed to glide beatifically between main-room frenzy and the chillout corner, caressing blissed-out ravers with synthy psilocybin fingers. 1995's Blue Skies, featuring the soaring echo-chamber vocals of Tori Amos, was a monster hit in that vein, but Transeau, evidently, is not content to rest on his dream-trance laurels. With his latest, he makes a bid for the whole musical kingdom: Movement in Still Life provides everything from Chemical Brothers-style bombast to double-tracked hiphop, soulful pop, and even crunchy, roaring rock (featuring of all people M. Doughty, frontman of now-defunct Soul Coughing). Thoroughly schizophrenic, absolutely calculated, only intermittently successful--you'll hate yourself for humming along. LEAH GREENBLATT


SUNDAY 11/5

ENEMYMINE, SWARMING HORDES, RAFT OF DEAD MONKEYS, EX BEST FRIEND
(Graceland) The new ENEMYMINE CD, The Ice in Me, is out on Up Records. It's icy, sure, on a lyrical level ("You won't see me laughing at you/You won't see me at your funeral"), but, like bass player/vocalist Mike Kunka's former band godheadSilo, ENEMYMINE is by no means a cold band. Given that they are a three-piece consisting of two bass guitars and a drum kit, one may expect the performance to be heavy-hitting and overwhelming on the low end, which is what makes anguished hardcore like ENEMYMINE so blissful to witness live. Arrive early to this show to see one of Seattle's many exciting young bands, Ex Best Friend. If their recent first show at Sit & Spin was any indication, the straightforward, angsty rock they play will be securing them headlining slots within a year. It's Sunday night. You should be very excited. JEFF DeROCHE


MONDAY 11/6

PALOALTO
(Crocodile) If Radiohead's Kid A left you more bewildered than bedazzled, here's the band for you. Paloalto are destined to be compared to Thom Yorke and company for several reasons: singer James Grundler's plaintive vocals, the epic nature of the music itself, and the inherent sense of longing. But this L.A. quintet's self-titled debut kicks ass over Kid A because Paloalto remember what Radiohead seem to have forgotten--that all the studio wizardry in the world is no substitute for actual songs. If you long for graceful, soulful music that wears its heart on its sleeve, you won't want to miss this band. BARBARA MITCHELL

COREY FELDMAN & THE TRUTH MOVEMENT, THE BAD APPLES, HAFACAT
(OK Hotel) Corey Feldman was the one who played the "loony's son" in Stand By Me, right? An old man stood at the fence and antagonized him: something like, "Your old man's a loony." Then he did that "you're crazy" thing where you spin your index finger about your ear, the universal sign for krackers. "Loooooony, loooooony, loooooony!" It was one of the ballsiest scenes in that whole movie. Feldman fell into a tear-stained rage that was evocative and powerful, even at so young an age. Let's hope that anguish can still carry. It's Monday night and there's plenty of room for a little nostalgia in your life. Watch a career reborn. JEFF DeROCHE


TUESDAY 11/7

THE HEROINE SHEIKS, RAFT OF DEAD MONKEYS
(Crocodile) It would be a shame to see such a good name wasted on a crappy band, so it comes as a relief that the Heroine Sheiks are actually good--and, as it turns out, pedigreed as well. Singer Shannon Selberg fronted AmRep terrorists the Cows, while guitarist Norman Westberg did hard time in the Swans. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Heroine Sheiks strut their monstrously heavy, rumbling, low-end groove stuff with style and confidence. Think of it as the intelligent version of big dumb rock. Subtle? Of course not. Will it rock your world? You bet your life. BARBARA MITCHELL


WEDNESDAY 11/8

FATBOY SLIM, SCANTY SANDWICH
(Showbox) Mr. Norman Cook said it best himself on You've Come a Long Way, Baby's "Acid 8000": "If this don't make your booty move/your booty must be dead." Indeed, even booties in critical condition have not been able to resist the ecstatic, relentless mix that is prime Slim: a balls-out blend of acid house breaks, beefy guitar bits, twisted disco biscuits, and many, many sample clearances. Thanks to serious media saturation (if Fatboy didn't exist, Mountain Dew and Nike would surely have invented him), even your mom has a soft spot for "Praise You," your little sister choreographs sassy dance routines in the basement to "Rockafeller Skank," and every weekend warrior starts his or her Friday night with "Going out of My Head." So, for all these mindless pleasures, we say simply, "Praise you, Normie." LEAH GREENBLATT

THE JULIANA THEORY, LONELY KINGS, ASHTRAY BABYHEAD, ACCEPTANCE
(Graceland) Although tonight's headliner, Western Pennsylvania's the Juliana Theory, may be there to pull on your overly distraught emo heartstrings, come down for Ashtray Babyhead. Despite the questionable cool in their name, this band oozes with yummy pop goodness. Slide in their recent gem, Radio, and find yourself instantly toe-tapping into a foot cramp. With a sound similar to Alien Crime Syndicate, their repertoire is more diverse than average--rock-out high-points neatly fused into lots of ear-candy fun. Come down to this show. You won't be disappointed. LISA GUNTER

K. D. LANG, SHELBY LYNNE
(Paramount) Turning a phrase for emphasis or dropping her voice to a sudden intimacy, k. d. lang is a first-rate crooner. Scrape away the barnacles of celebrity and public perception, and the listener discovers that the woman once dubbed the lesbian Elvis is a consummate performer with a magnificent voice. It's a classic pop instrument that draws on the lineage of Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee, and Rose Maddox. On her latest and strongest album, Invincible Summer, she explores the joys and first blush of new love against a gorgeous background. Shelby Lynne has her own incredible powerhouse voice that recalls Dusty Springfield Ă  la Dusty in Memphis, and she has a promising album called I Am Shelby Lynne. Arrive early to catch her tough and warm act. NATE LIPPENS