THURSDAY 11/23

Give thanks for booze and an array of socially deviant activities! (See feature.)

FRIDAY 11/24

COMEBACK: W/DJs COLBY B, PORQ, DJ FITS., MC CHOMPERS
(Chop Suey) See Stranger Suggests and feature.

THE PHARMACY, WET CONFETTI, TV COAHRAN, PLEASUREBOATERS
(Comet) Wet Confetti's new record, Laughing Gasping, represents a major step forward for the already brightly shining Portland band. Gang of Four's Dave Allen coproduced the album (and played bass on "Sorry Dinosaur"), and its taut bass lines, jerking rhythms, and discordant guitars are certainly indebted to his band. Alberta Poon has really come into her own behind the microphone, adding more melody to her already urgently rhythmic vocals, and the band's arrangements have become more catchy without sacrificing their layered complexity. The band evoke both the fleeting energy of a dance party in full swing and the deflated afterglow that their name suggests, often within the same song. ERIC GRANDY

CANNIBAL CORPSE, DYING FETUS, NECROPHAGIST, UNMERCIFUL
(El Corazón) Formed in the late '80s in upstate New York, Cannibal Corpse have had one of the most intensely consistent careers in the history of music. The "content" of their music and album art is gross, violent stuff: rape, murder, carnage, worms, and so on. They have jammed on these themes year after year with heroic stolidity, creating a deeply satisfying (they might prefer "flesh rending"), technically proficient death-metal assault augmented by requisite (but awesome) monster vocals. They are, at this point, the Rolling Stones of death metal—the most essential, purebred, and undiluted veterans still violently grinding through these United States. SAM MICKENS (See also feature.)

BASIC SURVIVAL MODE, BEFORE I DIE, DIE BY DAY, LOW THIN SQUARE
(Showbox) When it comes to the local metal environment, Seattle seems to neither listen nor care with particularly great fervor. But unbeknownst to many of its residents, Seattle has slowly become home to a host of its own metal children. It's easy to see why the most of them get overlooked or cast aside; too many groups these days make you want to bash your head against the ceiling and wish Tool had discontinued their unearthly oeuvre after Ænima. Thankfully, bands like Die by Day and Wizards of Wör have been reading from the Old Testament of metal cryptology, turning the double bass up to "bone-crunching" and flying in the face of those who would seek to destroy the Old Ways. SAM EWALD

CAPTAIN GRAVEL
(Conor Byrne) See Border Radio.

SEA.MINE, ARGO, THE SILENT YEARS, STUPORHERO
(High Dive) Tonight Sea.Mine celebrate the official release of their new album, Does Anyone Else Miss the Cold War?, which has actually been available as a limited-edition handmade release for the better part of the fall. Cold War follows up the band's debut EP, Divorce Letters, and boasts an even more sturdy, pretty rock crossed with Wilco, R.E.M., and Sebadoh influences. Ian Bell's vocals have the same creamy smoothness as the Catherine Wheel's Rob Dickinson, and their brand of melodic indie rock is also reminiscent of another beautiful local band, Verona. There's subdued but strong piano, dynamic shifts in volume and mood, and most importantly, enough of a hook to keep the songs in your head long after the last note rings. MEGAN SELING

TAJ MAHAL TRIO
(Jazz Alley) Rightly beloved by his more famous 1960s contemporaries (he was once tapped by the Rolling Stones to appear in their Rock & Roll Circus TV special alongside John and Yoko), Taj Mahal has, since he was a young man, been possessed of the voice and soul to make pure and affecting blues music, though he has quite often chosen to follow threads of his peculiar personal musical interests as well. While some of these explorations have yielded more commercial than artistic gains (his borderline-cheesy Hawaiian albums), others have been totally surprising and utterly moving, like the West African exchange of 1999's Kulanjan. All of his forays and affections seem totally genuine and self-motivated however, and he remains through everything a bastion of joyful and intensely spiritual musical American beauty. SAM MICKENS

ALICE IN CHAINS
(Paramount) While the distinctive guitar and vocal contributions Jerry Cantrell brings to Alice in Chains are undeniably crucial to that band's sound (and replacement frontman William DuVall does a reasonable facsimile of Layne Staley's well-of-souls wail), the absence of Staley's original lead vocals is difficult to overlook, particularly when it comes time for the signature harmonies between the two men. Based on Cantrell's statements to the press, I think the reunion is well intentioned, not greedy, but from this former fan's standpoint, the sound is simply incomplete. HANNAH LEVIN

SATURDAY 11/25

HELLO FEVER, TEETH & HAIR, MOTORIK
(Comet) See Underage.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK & THE VENUS 3, MARK PICKEREL, LIONS IN THE STREET
(Crocodile) See preview.

LICK: W/DJs FREIKAZOID, AMATEUR YOUTH, MATHMATIX, DEWEY DECIMAL
(Chop Suey) See feature.

BOOTY LIB: W/DJS RECESS, LINCOLNUP, SCRATCHMASTER JOE, TITTSWORTH
(Des Amis) See Oscillations.

THE COUP, MR. LIF
(Neumo's) See preview.

EDISYN, SAFER, JUSTIN KING
(High Dive) In what has become an increasingly varied music community in recent years, Edisyn has grown into one of Seattle's most consistent creators of quality Northwest pop. Their gentle, introspective, shoegazer moves recall Sparklehorse, Her Space Holiday, and Radiohead, which they accomplish without sounding like a cover band. I'm curious how they will go over in Fremont's sexy, modern bar scene; the neighborhood that was once hailed as the essence of Seattle's soggy, liberal core is now a place for college students to hook up. Those swingers are in for a treat, as Edisyn intend to present a set swollen with new material in preparation for making their third full-length album. Hopefully the audience at tonight's show will be attentive and appreciative, and will shut the fuck up during the quiet parts. Hopefully. MATT GARMAN

TAJ MAHAL TRIO
(Jazz Alley) See Friday.

SUNDAY 11/26

TAJ MAHAL TRIO
(Jazz Alley) See Friday.

FUCK THE FACTS, BOOK OF BLACK EARTH INHASTE
(Sunset) Traditional metal singers such as Pantera's Phil Anselmo alchemize their voices into combustible testosterone-and-bile cocktails. Grindcore favors a strangulated shriek that's so abstract it's androgynous, albeit not in a sexy glam-rock way. While playing the records, listeners can conjure images to match the serpentine screeches and guttural burbles: burly dude, lanky teen, feral cat. Few fans imagine a diminutive ponytailed blonde belching out those roars, which is why Mel Mongeon subverts expectations when she strolls to the front of the stage, says "We're Fuck the Facts" in a charming French-Canadian accent (they're from Ottawa, Ontario), and then releases her vocal kraken. The group surprises in other ways as well, slipping electronic bleeps, jazzy squiggles, and other inventive elements into the blast-beat-driven blurs. ANDREW MILLER

MONDAY 11/27

SPANISH BOMBS, THE HELEN KILLERS, VALLEY OF THE DINOSAURS, WINONA RYDER
(Camp Nowhere) See preview.

TUESDAY 11/28

LES GEORGES LENINGRAD, DUCHESS SAYS, HEAD LIKE A KITE
(Chop Suey) Montreal's Duchess Says—A-Claude (vocals, keytar, guitar, programming), Ismael (keyboard, guitar, programming), Phil (guitar, bass, feedback), and Simon Says (lo-fi beats, drums, doubtful noises)—play delightfully deranged synth punk in the tradition of Devo or Six Finger Satellite (whose song, "Rabies [Baby's Got The]," Duchess Says cover on their debut, the Noviciat Mère-Perruche EP). Analog synths and clinically clean drumming lay the foundation for rabid distortion and alternately sung and screamed female vocals. The band is a front for the mysterious Church of the Budgerigars (or is it the other way around?), a spiritual order devoted to the arcane teachings of "the Duchess." In their native Quebec, the band has played alongside such bands as Japanther, Glass Candy, We Are Wolves, and the now-defunct Catheters, where they've developed a reputation for riotous live shows. ERIC GRANDY See also preview.

THE LEMONHEADS, VIETNAM, HYMNS
(Crocodile) Evan Dando, indie rock's dreamiest crackhead (sorry, Pete Doherty), returns to his Lemonheads moniker for the band's first album in 10 years. The eponymous record features Dando playing alongside former Descendent and guitar demigod J. Mascis, and it attempts to return the band to its punk-rock roots with only occasional success ("Steve's Boy," "In Passing"), more often than not just sounding dated and destined for the used bin. The return to the alt-'90s ideal would be a risky move if anyone really cared, but most people will only remember Dando for a Simon and Garfunkel cover, the original one-hit "Into Your Arms," and the kind of busking that less ambitious (or less well-connected and dreamy) drug addicts do on the street for free. ERIC GRANDY See also preview.

THE DEARS, YOUNG GALAXY
(Neumo's) See preview.

CAT POWER & THE MEMPHIS RHYTHM BAND
(Showbox) It's incredibly heartening to see Cat Power's Chan Marshall make the transition from trembling train wreck to graceful, confident performer. When an artist converses in the type of vulnerable, and dark-hearted vernacular that characterizes Cat Power's consistently moving balladry, the odds are high that various personal demons—be they crippling stage fright or a toxic affection for scotch—will enter the picture at some point. That Ms. Marshall has risen above that isn't just good for her—it's a welcome relief for audiences that have been waiting for her to deliver the caliber of live performance she's really capable of. Also of special note: This is the last chance for West Coast fans to see her with the Memphis Rhythm Band backing her. HANNAH LEVIN

PEARLS AND BRASS, WHALEBONES, JOHNNY AND THE MOON
(Sunset) Please excuse the analogy, but in football terminology, you would refer to the dudes in Pearls and Brass as "corn-fed boys." While they may not have that linebacker physique, the phrase in this instance refers more to the concept of growing up in a podunk town, only to one day shock the world with an innate talent that is both genuine and daedal. The Nazareth, Pennsylvania—based band's latest album, The Indian Tower, is good-ol'-boy rock revamped for a stonier generation; I consider it the embodiment of that über hot, Gummo glue-huffing chic that every fashion magazine in the world seems to be touting these days. Full of crunchy, Queens of the Stone Age—style riffage, but with a much sharper freedom rock gleam à la Steppenwolf, and a pseudoephedrinized pace highly reminiscent of the Fucking Champs, Pearl and Brass's rock moxie totally belies their sissy name. STEVEN SAWADA

WEDNESDAY 11/29

DJ Q-BERT, THE ELEFADERS
(Chop Suey) See My Philosophy.

THE ABODOX. SEATTLE SLAY ENSEMBLE, APHISKKYU-BOT
(Re-bar) The Abodox are not fucking around. There are none more black. They deliver a level of heavy, grindcore art-metal thrash that you rarely see in Seattle's music community—even the fringes. These dudes are literally metal enough to be Nordic. In keeping with the subtle sense of humor that so many metal bands are known for, the promotional copies of the Abodox's first full-length album arrived with what appeared to be a bloody ear strapped to the exterior of the envelope. But perhaps the most interesting fun fact about the Abodox is that two of their members have been seen singing sweetly and strumming quietly in the indie-pop groups the Nathan Smurthwaite Ensemble and the Ben Kennedys. Regardless, there will be blood tonight. MATT GARMAN

THE HIDDEN CAMERAS: Sat Dec 2, HUB Auditorium

MUDHONEY: Sat Dec 2, Neumo's

THE FAINT, RATATAT, DJ COLBY B: Sat Dec 2, Showbox

WOLFMOTHER: Sun Dec 3, Moore

PANIC! AT THE DISCO, BLOC PARTY, JACK'S MANNEQUIN: Sun Dec 3, Everett Events Center

JOANNA NEWSOM, BILL CALLAHAN: Mon Dec 4, Showbox

DECK THE HALL BALL—GNARLS BARKLEY, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, THE SHINS, SNOW PATROL, TAKING BACK SUNDAY, GUESTS: Thurs Dec 7, KeyArena

THE BLOOD BROTHERS, ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD, CELEBRATION, BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Thurs Dec 7, Showbox

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, JENNY LEWIS WITH THE WATSON TWINS, TED LEO & PHARMACISTS: Sat Dec 9, KeyArena

KEXP YULE BENEFIT—JUNO, JUNIOR BOYS, ANNUALS, THE HANDS: Sat Dec 9, Neumo's

KEXP YULE BENEFIT—JUNO, TED LEO & PHARMACISTS, JUNO BOYS, COLD WAR KIDS: Sun Dec 10, Neumo's

GUNS N' ROSES: Sun Dec 10, Everett Events Center