THURSDAY 8/16

COCONUT COOLOUTS, ROCK THE LIGHT, TACOCAT, SHANNON AND THE CLAMS

(Comet) See preview, page 49.

THREAT OF BEAUTY, NEPOTISTAS, DAS VIBENBASS

(Tractor) Local bassist/composer Evan Flory-Barnes is a truly dedicated, inspired, and ambitious creator and organizer of what is, in essence, modern jazz music. In a variety of local ensembles he demonstrates a remarkable work ethic and the sort of wide-roaming creative foci demonstrated by a lot of creative musicians in cities like San Francisco and New York, but by regrettably few in Seattle. His ensemble Threat of Beauty exists both as a quartet consisting of upright bass, vibraphone, cello, and drums, and an extended miniorchestra with multiple vocalists, harp, and horns. In both incarnations they combine the sort of dramatic ostinatos found in sample-based hiphop with a more new music–esque sense of arrangement and dynamic placement, all in pursuit of ultimately romantic and majestic musical goals. SAM MICKENS

FRIDAY 8/17

ORDINARY STATE, SPEAKER SPEAKER, THE FEMURS, THE DIMES

(High Dive) If you like having your heartstrings tugged on, you might just have a new favorite band. The Dimes hail from Portland and somehow manage to balance that city's dual (and dueling) sensibilities—knit-pop vs. Brit-pop. Lo-fi enough to appeal to crafty hipsters and epic enough to lure in fans of Coldplay and Keane, the Dimes simply create really lovely, understated but sweepingly beautiful tunes that burrow into your brain, take hold, and refuse to leave. You won't want them to. With a new album about to be released and a work ethic that would make Henry Rollins proud, this is a band you're going to be hearing more and more about. BARBARA MITCHELL

PIERCED ARROWS, UNNATURAL HELPERS, THE WIRES, PURE COUNTRY GOLD

(Funhouse) Earlier this year, the Pacific Northwest let out a unified cry of anguish when perennial garage-rockers Dead Moon announced they were giving up the ghost. Now, Fred and Toody Cole, two of the members of that former ménage à trois, are back with a new band, Pierced Arrows. It's been 20 years since they started a new project, and this is the Portland band's first jaunt up I-5 to Seattle, so it's not to be missed. Don't be nervous that the show is going to be a bust if Pierced Arrows aren't any good—Unnatural Helpers are on the bill as well. The Helpers' songs feature snotty vocals over the catchiest of garage riffs, but they're not punk kids, they're total punk grown-ups. ARI SPOOL

MF DOOM, N/NW, DJ DV ONE, DJ SEAN C, J.PINDER

(Showbox) While the marquee for this evening's Showbox engagement may read "Sneaker Pimps," it does not entail a drowsy set by the '90s triphop also-rans, but rather the "World's Largest Sneaker Display," capped by a performance by the tirelessly brilliant rapper/producer MF Doom. Since the tragic accidental death of his brother Subroc in 1993 and the subsequent dissolution of their group KMD, after which he first adopted the Doom moniker and mask, he has been a heroically prolific and experimental artist. His own steadily excellent records aside, his dizzyingly inventive beatmaking has been a quietly critical element in Ghostface Killah's recent creative resurgence and, apropos to this night's programming, he recently designed perhaps the illest-looking rapper-branded sneakers ever for Nike. Tadow. SAM MICKENS See also My Philosophy, page 57.

SONIC BOOM BAND NIGHT: NIGHT-LIFE, SUZUKI BEANE, TOY GUN, SAME-SEX DICTATOR, LUCY MOREHOUSE, AND MORE

(Sunset) Remember that time the clerk at Sonic Boom gave you that weird look when you bought that used copy of a Britney Spears record? "It's for research," you explained (no really, it was). "Uh huh," he said with a grin, chuckling to himself. Well now it's your turn to judge him! Many Sonic Boom Records employees (who, I should say, are always nice and helpful) are in bands, and those bands are playing tonight at the Sunset. It'll be an eclectic night for sure. For example, Night-Life is a new drunken, dramatic, piano project featuring local artist and former–Ambitious Career Woman frontman Adam MacKinnon, while Same-Sex Dictator is thrashtastic hardcore with guitars that swarm like locusts and bass as thick as mud. There's indeed something for everyone! No Britney, though. MEGAN SELING

SING SING W/TITTSWORTH, FOURCOLORZACK, PRETTY TITTY

(The War Room) There's often an unnecessary schism between the "hardcore" electronic music fans and the hipster set, with the former opting for academic deconstruction and the latter searching for their next good time, which makes it refreshing when someone with dual appeal comes to town. Tittsworth's last Seattle appearance was at the closing party for the monthly survey of ass-shakery Bootylib, and since then he's grown in stature on the DJ circuit, earning a spot on URB magazine's Next 100 list and taking his ultraquick mixing style international. Revered for his deep crates, Tittsworth, based in the Washington, DC, area, switches up the Baltimore club regionalism with hiphop, party jams, and whatever else he can fit into his overstuffed track listing. DONTE PARKS

SATURDAY 8/18

SPORTN' LIFE RECORDS FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY: D.BLACK, CANCER RISING, GRYNCH, J.PINDER, LIFE BEHIND BARZ, DJ JAKE ONE

(Chop Suey) See preview, page 43.

KEXP BBQ: BLUE SCHOLARS, CLOUD CULT, PELA, THE CAVE SINGERS, THE BLAKES

(South Lake Union Discovery Center) See Stranger Suggests, page 27.

JOULES, BRONZE FAWN, GRAND HALLWAY, KRISTIAN GARRARD

(Ground Zero) Before "disbanding," Joules teased us with the fantastically dynamic, sonically jarring, and recorded-in-one-continuous-take instrumental record Laser Cannon and Street Thunder. The trio never officially said they were done, but they never officially said they were going to keep playing either. They eventually just ceased to exist as Joules, the members instead focusing on other projects. Bryce Shoemaker is also in the Hungry Pines and Bronze Fawn; Bob Roberts is currently playing in Tomo Nakayama's new post-Asahi project, Grand Hallway; and Kristian Garrard has been showcasing his solo material around town for some time now. They've been busy. But the three of them are wickedly talented musicians (as their work in Joules and other projects attests) and it's exciting to see they're playing together again. Whether or not it's the official end or the official new beginning, the band won't say (although they will have a new six-song CD available to buy at the show), so there's no knowing when this as-magical-as-Pegasus event will happen again. MEGAN SELING

SUNDAY 8/19

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE, SEAN NELSON & HIS MORTAL ENEMIES

(Neumo's) It's hard to imagine a better-matched bill than MTV faves Fountains of Wayne and local pop impresario Sean Nelson & His Mortal Enemies. Both parties are best-case scenarios of what happens when really smart guys with a bull's-eye sense of melody put that grade-A intellect to use writing pop songs. While Nelson turns that keen eye inward, crafting semi-baroque tunes of self-conscious neurosis, the FOW team go long—spinning streamlined pop-rock tales of suburban confusion. Misfortune, as it turns out, is lucky to have such talented observers. In both cases, the result is guilt-free listening for anyone who worships Elvis Costello but secretly sings along to Kelly Clarkson songs. BARBARA MITCHELL

SAFFIRE: THE UPPITY BLUES WOMEN

(Triple Door) Recalling the vaudevillian bawdiness of early-20th-century trailblazers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, the acoustic trio Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women gets hilariously dirty. In Hot Flash, an upcoming documentary about the group's career, sex gnome Dr. Ruth Westheimer parses songs such as "Silver Beaver" and "There's Lightning in These Thunder Thighs." It's unique to see this grandmotherly group dishing out the double entendres: In the sexagenarian category, all-male groups such as the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith rule the raunchiness roost. However, Saffire's steamy tunes boast serious blues chops, allowing the group to transcend novelty-act status. All three members sing and play acoustic ax, supplementing their vocal harmonies, intricate picking, and sassy punch lines with piano, harmonica, mandolin, bass, and kazoo. ANDREW MILLER

MONDAY 8/20

Shhh...

TUESDAY 8/21

LASER MINUS THE BEAR

(Vera Project) See Underage, page 71.

WILCO

(Marymoor Park) See Stranger Suggests, page 27.

AU REVOIR SIMONE, OH NO OH MY

(Chop Suey) For a minute there, I erroneously assumed Au Revoir Simone were French. The signs were all there: French band name, a remix by Franco/Anglo darlings the Teenagers, overwhelming cuteness. At some point, somebody slapped me and made me immediately go rewatch their namesake, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, until I stopped being such a fuck-up. Au Revoir Simone are from Brooklyn (and, duh, they sing in perfect nonaccented English). Their songs combine cool keyboards, Casio organs, plastic drum machine beats, and pretty all-girl vocal harmonies. The songs on their debut album, Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation, and their recent sophomore album, The Bird of Music, range from sweetly melancholic ballads ("Through the Backyards," "Back in Time") to bright, upbeat bedroom pop ("The Disco Song," "Fallen Snow," "Sad Song"). ERIC GRANDY

WEDNESDAY 8/22

Born on this day: John Lee Hooker (1917), Dale Hawkins (1936), Tori Amos (1963), and that Howie dude from the Backstreet Boys (1973). Hooray! I think....