Wednesday 10/3
Six Organs of Admittance, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Low Hums
(Crocodile) When Six Organs of Admittance leader Ben Chasny decides to freak out musically, as he and his cohorts do on the new Ascent, he does so with fiery finesse. Whereas most 6OOA releases conjure a witchy, woodsy, folkadelic vibe, Ascentmostly summons electrical storms and seismic shifts. Some of Chasny's hell-raising buddies in Comets on Fire help tilt the songs into psychedelic pyrotechnics, but without forfeiting Six Organs' serpentine melodic grandeur. Tonight should be very stimulating. DAVE SEGAL
Laetitia Sadier, Orca Team
(Barboza) "The Girl from Ipanema" didn't brandish a bullhorn, but she was still a rabble-rouser; the phenomenal success of Stan Getz and JoĂŁo Gilberto's 1964 bossa nova classic primed the world's ears for the subsequent TropicĂĄlia movement and Brazilian artists like Caetano Veloso who slipped politically charged messages into their sultry songs. Laetitia Sadier carries on that subversive tradition on her second solo album, Silencio. At first, the Stereolab chanteuse's laid-back, bilingual delivery and effervescent rhythms may not seem designed to incite much more than toe-tapping. But listen closely for the pointed sentiments embedded in the grooves of "Auscultation to the Nation" and "There Is a Price to Pay for Freedom (And It Isn't Security)." Protest music has rarely sounded this cool. KURT B. REIGHLEY
Dude York, And And And, Neighbors
(Sunset) Dude York are great! So are Neighbors! I'll admit to being mad at Portland band (band band) And And And for about three minutes while I sweet-talked Google into letting me hear their music (Portland's all like, Conjunctions are so much better than the internet, blah blah Voodoo Doughnuts with a "gh"), but it turned out And And And weren't actually that hard to find, and we made up while I listened to their songs and watched their videosâtrumpets, beer, mohawks, harmonicas, and bluesy vocals that kind of sound like that guy from Arcade Fire or Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay." It's fun and sweet and drunk. Someone drive me to Ballard! EMILY NOKES
Bebel Gilberto
(Triple Door) I wrote this two years after watching the Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto perform at I-Spy in 1999: "The combination of Bebel's impressive upbringing"âshe is the daughter of the world-famous samba musicians MiĂşcha and JoĂŁo Gilbertoâ"her sexy band members, the high-tech producers who service her music, and the whole futuristic quality of her personality and sound, generated the erotic energy which turned my mouth into the head of a flower. My saliva was sun-sweet, and if I had spat on the hard floor of I-Spy, the next day a sweeper would have found on that very spot a small pile of white sugar crystals." Without Bebel Gilberto's exquisite beauty and raw erotic energy, this passage, which I rate as one of the best things I have ever written, would not have been possible. Also, her tune "Samba Da Benção" is one of the most sensual pieces of electronica ever composed. CHARLES MUDEDE
Thursday 10/4
Bebel Gilberto
(Triple Door) See Wednesday.
Zoobombs, NighTraiN, La Luz, John Lee Spectre
(Funhouse) Hey, listen up! Zoobombsâwho've been around since 1994âare coming all the way from Tokyo to play for you at ye olde Funhouse. Their bluesy experimental punk is heavily influenced by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and also by vintage Sonic Youth. They've opened for Jon Spencer, in fact, and the Flaming Lips, too. Zoobombs don't use set lists, and they bring an energetic, unpredictable chaos to their live sets. They know what to do, and now they just need you. KELLY O
Friday 10/5
KRAKT: Pig & Dan, Bryan Zentz, Kristina Childs, Roddimus, Miss Shelrawka
(Electric Tea Garden) See Data Breaker.
Sam Lachow & Raz, Steezie Nasa, Gift uh Gab
(Neumos) See My Philosophy.
Kultur Shock, Kinski
(Chop Suey) First, the bad news: Kinski's new album (which has been in the works since at least 2010) won't be out until 2013. That is, if the world still exists in 2013. But don't worry, there's good news: You can get your Kinski fix with the band's freshly released "drone album," a limited-edition vinyl (fewer than 400 copies!) that they recorded as part of an art installation titled "A Clear Day and No Memories" by Jim Hobbs. At times, it's a wall of distorted feedback and noiseâdramatic, sometimes pummeling. Other times it's sparse and beautiful, with guitars ever-so-gently lulling in and out of the background. It'll be exactly what you need to hear on those cold winter nights when you're in a contemplative mood, or looking for something relaxing, yet interesting. Or stoned to shit. Hear a sample at www.kinski.net. MEGAN SELING
Alanis Morissette, Souleye
(Moore) I want you to know, that I'm hap-py for you. I wish nothing but. The best. For. You both. An older version of me, is she perverted like me? Would she go down on you in a theater? Does she speak eloquently, and would she have your ba-by? I'm sure she'd make a really excellent mother. Gjjedebu bedbede jjje je de deaux jeded debejedeba ba pa open wide. No! Nenebettie ma deepene neh da deh deh debejedebe bedebey until you died! 'Til you died! But you're still alive! DAVE COULIER
Grizzly Bear, Lower Dens
(Paramount) Brooklyn quartet Grizzly Bear have maintained their long-held status as indie-rock royalty the old-fashioned wayâby releasing beautifully composed, arranged, and produced albums that reward repeat listens every couple years. Shields, their latest, takes a step back from the brighter, upbeat sound on 2009's celebrated Veckatimest, but offers the same kind of complex textures and song structures for listeners to get lost in. The band isn't all mixing/mastering tricks, and they have the instrumental and vocal chops to make their stuff sound even better live. The historic Paramount Theater offers an ideal setting to sit back and let the new album material, and probably some old favorites, soak in. MIKE RAMOS
Bell Witch, Cross, Usnea, Crawlin'
(Comet) Yikes! Have you heard the Cross/Whitehorse split? This thing is one unstoppable onslaught of harbinger metal. (I just made up that genre name.) The Cross side is one 11-minute track titled "Follow the Serpent's Tongue/My Throne in Heavan" [sic], and it sounds like the gods turned up their amps to 11 and commenced freaking the human race out. Forget the seven trumpets; this is the shit to be scared of. Side note: I'm pretty sure there are at least two T.J. Cowgills. Dude just keeps doing everything all the time and doing it all really well. GRANT BRISSEY
Saturday 10/6
The xx
(Paramount) See Sound Check.
Team Dresch, Pony Time, Your Heart Breaks, DJ Cherry Canoe
(Chop Suey) See Stranger Suggests.
Wax Tailor, Shana Halligan
(Crocodile) See Data Breaker.
Tim Green, Pezzner, OFDM
(See Sound Lounge) See Data Breaker.
The Psychedelic Furs, the Chevin
(Showbox at the Market) The first two Psychedelic Furs albumsâ1980's The Psychedelic Furs and 1981's Talk Talk Talkâstand as towering monuments of British post punk. This was rock shot through with world-weary cynicism, a haggard descendent of glam that had disgustedly thrown off the glitter, platform boots, and feather boas, accruing deep pathos in the process. The Furs' first LP especially rivals anything done by Echo and the Bunnymen or Joy Division for melodic grandeur and lyrical gravitas. But 1982's Forever Now marked a slow, increasingly sugary decline. Still, those earlier songs should form the nucleus of a strong set regardless. And Richard Butler's cancerous croon remains one of rock's most distinctive sounds. DAVE SEGAL
Reverb Fest: Erik Blood, Midday Veil, Deadkill, Brokaw, Monogamy Party, Spaceneedles, Cristina Bautista, Chastity Belt
(Sunset) If you're looking for a snapshot of Seattle rock scene circa 2012's robust health, this lineup at Reverb Fest should clue you in. Erik Blood's recently released solo album, Touch Screens, is the classiest collection of songs about porn... probably ever. His golden-eared instincts as a producer carry over to his own compositions, which are wistfully gorgeous and texturally vivid specimens of shoegaze rock, with subtle excursions into techno and disco. Midday Veil have a new album, The Current, ready to dazzle the world and a new drummer, Garrett Moore (Brain Fruit), poised to help them motor to more distant galaxies. Deadkill, Brokaw, and Monogamy Party rep for Good to Die Records' knack for exhilarating, brawny rock at the juncture where punk and metal bump uglies; "Oh God Help You" by the former is one of the best 206 rock songs of 2012. DAVE SEGAL
Bad Plus
(Triple Door) The piano-bass-drum trio the Bad Plus includes some of the most masterly jazz musicians working today. Drummer Dave King, for example, is a phenomenon of fractal rhythm who can zoom in and out of a beat and keep it steady while disorienting and then reorienting the listener (and was the subject of recent documentary King for Two Days). For decades, jazz was about taking popular standards and fucking with themâColtrane warping "My Favorite Things," etc.âbut many contemporary jazz musicians have ossified into playing the standards of the mid-20th century. The Bad Plus twist our standards to their ends. Pianist Ethan Iverson begins their version of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" with dissonant toy-piano tinkering, moves into a fragment of "Flight of the Bumblebee," then slams into the familiar riff before the whole group folds it into sonic origami. They also mess with pieces by Stravinsky, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, and Tears for Fears. And when they do play an old-fashioned standard, they absolutely torture it. (See their version of "My Funny Valentine.") Don't miss these guys. BRENDAN KILEY
Sunday 10/7
Thee Oh Sees, Sic Alps, Wimps
(Neptune) See Underage.
Witch Gardens, Hive Dwellers, Craig Extine and the Exiles
(Rendezvous) Hear ye, hear ye! Seattle's own Rendezvous is having its first ever all-ages show on this night! Adults must wear hazmat suits while drinking alcohol and minors must have an X Sharpied on their forehead. And for the occasion, Olympia is coming to visit! Olympia invented all-ages shows. K Records founder and crown prince of DIY himself, Calvin Johnson will be low-tone droning his way into your heart with his newest band, Hive Dwellers. Also playing are Craig Extine and the Exiles (quavering acoustic folk, also hailing from Oly) and Witch Gardens (Seattle's own lo-fi charm-pop quartet). EMILY NOKES
Saint Vitus, Weedeater, Sourvein, Mos Generator
(Highline) That Scott "Wino" Weinrich continues to bust his ass harder than metal heads halfâor even a thirdâhis age is a testament to this dude's badÂassery and makes everyone else look like lazy Jabronis. Somehow, Wino found time between working on a slew of solo, side, and collaborative projects to reunite with the almighty Saint Vitus. Young stoners take note: Their first album in 17 years, Lillie: F-65, sounds fresher than the majority of doom-laden sludge making the rounds these days. And openers Weedeater? Well, the name pretty much says it all. Riffs upon riffs upon riffs. KEVIN DIERS
Monday 10/8
Hi.
Tuesday 10/9
Gossip
(Showbox at the Market) See Stranger Suggests.
Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen
(Tacoma Dome) Justin Bieber is the Canadian teen popper whose career began with YouTube videos of him singing in his bedroom and who is now so popular and influential, Forbes magazine named him the third most powerful celebrity in the world in 2012. (He is 18.) Carly Rae Jepsen is the 26-year-old Canadian pop figure who hijacked brains around the globe with "Call Me Maybe," a jingle so mercilessly simple it makes Ke$ha seem like John Cage. Tonight, Bieber and Jepsen appear in three dimensions at the Tacoma Dome. At 7 pm, turn down your TV and open your window. The SQUUUEEEEEEEEEEEES should be audible even this far north. DAVID SCHMADER
