WILLIE VLAUTIN
(Liquid Lounge) Still waters run deepest, and perhaps it's an expression such as this that best describes Willie Vlautin. As frontman for Portland's Richmond Fontaine, Vlautin has written three albums bursting with pared-down literary brilliance set to punk and Americana-informed musical urgency. As a solo artist, his genuinely friendly and somewhat shy, shrugging demeanor is in direct contrast to the callousness exhibited by his songs' tormented characters, making their stories all the more powerfully resonant. Fans of Raymond Carver and William Kennedy will especially find much to love about Vlautin, as his lyrics have been compared to both of those writers. KATHLEEN WILSON

TRANSMARINE, POSEUR, BASTINADO
(I-Spy) Bastinado is former 30.06 guitarist Dave Blunk's latest project. In keeping with his former band, Bastinado features expertly timed change-ups and alternately restrained and released energy, making for densely textured post-punk that favors fun over staunch statement. KATHLEEN WILSON

SEMISONIC, PETE YORN
(Showbox) Pegged by critics to become adult-rock royalty, it should surprise no one that Yorn is rumored to currently be romantically linked to the solo-musician/band-frontman's greatest marketing tool, Winona Ryder. His love life aside, Yorn is a richly talented singer/songwriter, although his ability to emulate just about every successful artist of the genre (Bob Dylan, Jakob Dylan, Neil Young, and even Radiohead's Thom York) is a minor irritant. KATHLEEN WILSON

JOHN CALE, MOUNT ANALOG
(EMP) Schooled in experimental and classical music, John Cale formed a semi-influential band called the Velvet Underground with a guy named Lou Reed, playing bass, keyboards, and viola to create the band's droning sound. Then he left the band in '68 to embark upon a solo career and take work as an in-house producer for Warner/Reprise. He went on through three decades to record pop records, rock records, classical records, and all sorts of crazy experimental stuff on his own, as well as to produce records by tiny, unsuccessful acts like the Stooges and Patti Smith. Cale's one and only shining moment, however, happened in the late '70s, when he killed a chicken on stage and prompted his disgusted band to quit. JEFF DeROCHE

ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT, THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY, THE EXPLOSION
(Graceland) The (International) Noise Conspiracy is a garagey quintet from Umeå, Sweden. Though the lyrics are self-consciously political, the band's angry guitar and soulful, '70s-rock-inflected sound justifies whatever excess the band puts forth, as on the sexy "Smash It Up," which goes: "I want to smash it up for all the workers who spent hours into nothing.... I want to smash it up in every way I can and right now I think I want to be your man." Formed in 1998, the band has released a slew of great 7-inches, as well as two LPs. With members (or former members) of five different bands, the (International) Noise Conspiracy features lead singer Dennis Lyxzèn, formerly of Refused, and singer/guitarist Lars Strömberg, who also plays in a Umeå-based punk trio called Separation. Crazy-assed Rocket from the Crypt is headlining, so wear diapers--you're in for a bumpy ride. JEFF DeROCHE

RICHARD BUCKNER, JOEL R. L. PHELPS, TREASURE STATE
(Crocodile) The music that moves me the most, from George Jones to Kurt Cobain, shares a sort of ambiguity, a stubborn refusal to give up secrets without a struggle. My favorite alt-country singer-songwriter, Richard Buckner, is the natural heir to this tradition of sorrow and confusion. Choked on sharp emotions, his dry drawl wanders wearily through a desert of oblique lyrics that swirl around him like a dust storm. At his live shows, the ragged catch in his voice sounds even more torn, even more tear-soaked. I wouldn't miss this for love nor money. I'll be right up front, searching for something to finally solve the mystery of meaning that Buckner buries at the heart of his gorgeous songs. TAMARA PARIS

AK 1200, DIESELBOY, DJ DARA
(Club FX) The inevitable demise of drum and bass was challenged last year by America's top three breakbeat wizards who together packaged the aptly named Planet of the Drums tour. The success of the tour earned the triad an encore and a stay of execution for an electronic genre quickly becoming formulaic. While Irish expatriate DJ Dara demonstrates the virtues of the form through his chilly, abstract production on albums like last year's From Here to There, his live sets jump with a frenetic mix of funk, hiphop, and dark jungle. America's favorite tech-step wunderkind Dieselboy (Pennsylvania's Damian Higgins) prefers to amaze with his unrelenting collision of hissing snares, dissonant effects, and warped low-end bass. While Dieselboy's technical mastery makes him the household name of the group, drum and bass aficionados may tell you that AK 1200 (a.k.a. Dave Minner) is the best damn jungle DJ in the country. His reputation for throwing everything from reggae to porn soundtracks into the mix at least makes him the most versatile turntablist of the three. DAVID SLATTON

GAS HUFFER, RIGHT ON!
(Sit & Spin) Coming out of a long-term (three-album) relationship with Epitaph in a mutual agreement to be just "friends," Gas Huffer has been busy polishing off a new disc with local guru Jack Endino (which he says is "excellent!") and will be shopping it around in short order. In the meantime, we can check out the band's new offerings tonight as this decade-plus and going strong local institution brings its dirty undies down to the Sit & Spin for a wash. Show nothing but respect for a band that boasts members of now defunct groups called Cat Butt and Butt Sweat. NATE LEVIN

ZODIAC KILLERS, THE REDS, the bad girls, Tyco Party
(Sunset Tavern) Don't laugh, I live in Ballard. I know, I know... say whatcha like about LERVIN' the life of the Ballards, I'm not convinced.... However, it's nights like THESE, at the Sunset Tavern, which ease my worried mind! Right, we gettin', BOTH, the Zodiac Killers AND the Reds. SKEW-LA-LA! Okay, so the ZKs are from the Bay Area, with at least one member sportin' quite the pedigree, and they rock the cynical-punk-sing-along-chorus-type "garage"... er, a bit like the Angry Samoans. And the Reds, they're from the Texas, and well, folks say they're like Jaypan's Registrators. Nice. So... there you go, an honest to GOD reason not to leave Ballard on a Fry-day-fuckin'-night! MIKE NIPPER

JON HYDE BAND, MARC OLSEN, THE DROP
(Tractor Tavern) Marc Olsen has worked with an exhaustive list of local musicians--everyone from drummer John Vallier, who eventually joined Swell, to string-centric chanteuse Anne Marie Ruljancich. But he has finally found solid and balanced buoyancy in his current backing band. Formerly known as Eureka Farm, Olsen's bandmates are technically proficient and highly intuitive about leaving just the right amount of room for Olsen's distinctive, Ennio Morricone-toned guitar and regretful, smoke-saturated laments, which come through gracefully unfettered. While the leader of the Jon Hyde Band is easily apparent from the name, what is pleasantly surprising is the presence of drummer Tucker Martine, a local producer whose skillful knob-twiddlin' has shaped the work of dozens of noteworthy acts, including the Sick Bees and Modest Mouse. HANNAH LEVIN

HANA, NO FUTURO, DJ MISS KICK
(Crocodile) I've never heard an angel sing, but I imagine it would sound a lot like Anisa Romero in Hana--soulful, soothing, and unearthly (not completely...). Hana, the former Sky Cries Mary co-vocalist's collaboration with experimental soundscapist Jeff Greinke, has evolved from a loose, part-time venture into a fully realized partnership, with more tightly structured, beautiful songs to prove it. Tonight's show is a celebration of the release of Hana's new album, and features an eclectic mix of music, including Roderick Romero's post-Sky Cries Mary outfit, No Futuro, as well as topnotch DJ Miss Kick. BARBARA MITCHELL

ST. BUSHMILL'S CHOIR, THE PINKOS, THE DIRTY BIRDS
(Breakroom) Vanessa Veselka and Steve Moriarty, Violent Femme-like acoustic duo the Pinkos, are some of the hardest-working bonafide punks in Seattle. They both run their own record labels, book their own tours, and have consistently stayed off the shallow scenester radar by choice. Veselka possesses a voluptuous, warm voice that embodies equal parts Joan Jett's antagonistic attitude and Stevie Nicks' weary wisdom; Moriarty is the perfect foil, brimming over with exuberant tom poundings and flippantly good-humored accents. And if Shane MacGowan irritated you with his inebriated oblivion a few weeks back, St. Bushmill's Choir (also featuring Moriarty) will take your hangover away with a like-minded shot of Pogues-flavored jubilation. HANNAH LEVIN

COVENANT, AND ONE, Noxious Emotion
(Catwalk) The popularity of these two European synth-pop bands might be lost on Americans who would view a resurrection of the genre akin to bringing back '80s hair metal as an act of nostalgia best performed with plenty of sarcasm. And that's probably why Covenant's U.S. audience mostly comes from the industrial-gothic fringe, where the subculture eagerly embraces the band's brooding lyrics and ominous electronics. But listen to the group's techno-anthem "Dead Stars" from last year's United States of Mind, and you'll realize how far these guys have evolved past their EBM (Electronic Body Music) forebears, Front 242. The moody whisper of Jaokim Montelius, cradled by the Gary Numan-style analog synth atmospherics and four-on-the-floor dance beat, summons more than bittersweet reminiscence--it'll make you dance like it's 1989. DAVID SLATTON

ZONY MASH, SCOTT AMENDOLA BAND
(Rainbow) It can be difficult for a well-schooled musician to keep a steady following. Training often pushes people to tinker and meddle and change, often to the confusion of their fans. Whereas Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day will probably never go searching for that fourth chord, and Bob Dylan will always be content to grunt out his lyrics like it was still 1969, Berkeley-trained drummer Scott Amendola will never be so still. He found his fame as a poster child of San Francisco jazz-funk with Charlie Hunter, but since those days he's gone every way from folksy to worldly to poppy, and his own debut album is similarly eclectic. All that means is that you may find a different sound tonight than you've heard before, but give it some time; Amendola may be flighty, but he almost always convinces. NATHAN THORNBURGH

MURDER CITY DEVILS, HIMSA
(Graceland) This all-ages Murder City Devils show at Graceland should be sufficiently exciting for those seeking the Stoogey kind of good time that makes Murder City Devils one of Seattle's most beloved bands. What's more important, however, is the fact that the "Idle Hands" video, featuring Seattle's most angelic, golden-locked bartender (the feline Theodore from the Crocodile), is getting heavy rotation on MTV's 120 Minutes. There's this one scene where Theodore, feeling isolated but remaining composed after being laughed at by thugs for his sultry walk and glammy attire, passes by a wall, suggestively spot-lit, charismatic in his defiant composure. He enters a Devils show that has at this point already drawn to a close, approaches the stage (no expression on his sharp, angular face), and reaches his destination--Devils frontman Spencer Moody, who waits reverently to hand Theodore a bouquet of flowers. Damn. JEFF DeROCHE

ELVIN JONES JAZZ MACHINE
(Jazz Alley) It has always been the tendency of old men to become more unabashed, unapologetic, and even obstreperous the older they get. And though Elvin Jones remains soft-spoken in his words, his music betrays his status as not just an old man, but the foremost old man of jazz. Knowing, as he must, how bullshit most things are, the septuagenarian Jones willfully trips up the music with added drum hits and is never too shy to make his strange rhythmic quacking noises during the quietest moments of the set. Say what you want about the drawbacks of old age, you won't find any young jazz drummers in this town with anywhere near the poise or confidence to quack their way through an entire solo, and that's a shame. NATHAN THORNBURGH

BLINK 182, ALKALINE TRIO, NO MOTIVE
(Paramount) Since The Stranger's always gotta "go gay," we've decided to recommend one of the most gay-assed bands of the past five years, Blink 182. GO GAY! JEFF DeROCHE

THE MEKONS, JOEL R. L. PHELPS AND THE DOWNER TRIO
(Graceland) See preview this issue.

J MASCIS & THE FOG, LOVE AS LAUGHTER, WATERY GRAVES
(Crocodile) See preview this issue.

LAZY DOG W/ BEN WATT, JAY HANNAN, DJ NASIR
(Nation) Ben Watt is one half of the duo Everything but the Girl. If you know that, you've noticed the EBTG transition from acoustic pop darlings into electronic-music-culture trendsetters. Settling for magnetic house stylings after an exploration of drum and bass (both of which were well received by fans and critics alike), the duo has since taken to ruling the dance floor. Ben has acknowledged that cred, honed his DJ skills, and with partner Jay Hannan, created Lazy Dog, a popular bi-weekly night in the Notting Hill section of London. What this means to you? Well, the partners are bringing that house flair to Seattle--to include, of course, the occasional remixed EBTG tune. Also worth the early showing will be Nasir, who wickedly spins everything from two-step/garage, to house, through whatever else is apropos. F. VENTURA-PENA