THURSDAY 12/6

Prefuse 73, School of Seven Bells, Blank Blue

(Neumo's) See Stranger Suggests, page 23.

Wildildlife, Doomhawk, Weirdlords

(Comet) If you describe Doomhawk to people who've never seen them, you are guaranteed to get weird looks and verbal abuse. "I swear, they are, like, fantasy metal, but there's tons of ska breakdowns! And they are from the forest, but they also have this really complicated backstory about how they were discovered on an asteroid! And one time, they played an art opening at the Lawrimore Project, and Anne Mathern suspended herself above them and bounced around from the ceiling, taking pictures, except the pictures were fake." See? Nothing about that makes any sense, but it's all true. Doomhawk are fake and real at the same time. ARI SPOOL

Deck the Hall Ball: Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World, Coheed and Cambria, She Wants Revenge, Spoon, the Kooks

(Everett Events Center) When I saw Jimmy Eat World at the Showbox just a couple months ago, it was perhaps the most boring show of 2007. I've seen the band a number of times—in their early-emo Clarity heyday, during the band's Bleed American wonder year—and they've always been sparkling, intense, and remarkably tight. But now, as the years have stacked on top of them, they're just another band going through the familiar motions and they looked like robots onstage. Modest Mouse haven't hit that point yet, however. So they'll certainly put on a fantastic show as they usually do. But chances are it won't feel worth it to stand through JEW's "performance" and Coheed and Cambria's annoying sci-fi prog rock to get to the one buried treasure in this desert of monotony (Spoon excluded, they're the one oasis you'll come across on the long, tiring trek). MEGAN SELING

FRIDAY 12/7

Boat, "Awesome," Fishboy, Eux Autres

(Comet) Since our pages have already poured praise upon local headliners "Awesome" and Boat, this brief recommendation is better served touting a memorable out-of-towner opening the bill. Fishboy the band is named after Fishboy the lead singer, a bespectacled dweeb-rocker from Denton, Texas, who currently writes and performs some of the most smile-worthy pop this side of They Might Be Giants. The 25-year-old draws epic-length comic-book fliers for concerts and four-tracks songs about anthropomorphic Christmas trees and Teddy Ruxpin, but lest you think this Fish is too much "boy," he's gotten help from members of Okkervil River and the Baptist Generals on his albums for a reason. Fishboy comes to Seattle on the strength of his latest record, Albatross, and he's bringing a frenzy of horns, guitars, and giggle-worthy songs in his lunchbox. SAM MACHKOVECH

Don Caballero, Enablers, Thrones

(Crocodile) There was a point when Don Caballero were one of my favorite bands. American Don is still one of my favorite albums. It's not like their newest release, World Class Listening Problem, was a bad album—there's actually nothing particularly wrong with it—but there's also something about it I can't embrace. Damon Che is always going to be an amazing drummer, but it's just not Don Cab without Ian Williams playing guitar. The original band broke up in 2000. Williams went on to form Battles, but Che started the band up again in 2003, keeping the same name but hiring an entirely new band that sounded remarkably similar to the old one. World Class Listening Problem is a good album. But it's not a Don Cab album. And this isn't really a Don Cab show. Don Cab broke up years ago. JEFF KIRBY

Speaker Speaker, Velella Velella, Antelope, Immaculate Machine

(Vera) Kathryn Calder has tremendous stamina. When her indie-pop trio Immaculate Machine toured with the New Pornographers earlier this fall, she was onstage during every set of the night: cofronting her own band, sitting in on accordion during Emma Pollock's set, and working the keyboards as part of her other gig in her uncle A. C. Newman's supergroup. Beyond that, Calder can lead Immaculate Machine through a dozen or more sprightly, catchy tunes without getting tired or tiresome, only to push it that much further with the kinda-epic "C'mon Sea Legs." It starts slow, hits a singsong lullaby hook that repeats, builds as Calder's honeyed voice harmonizes with guitarist Brooke Gallupe, modulates, and pretty much explodes into four minutes of repeated bliss. JOHN VETTESE

SATURDAY 12/8

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

(Neumo's) See preview, page 39.

Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Golem

(Crocodile) See Stranger Suggests, page 23.

KEXP Yule Benefit: Yeasayer, Dead Confederate, Feral Children, The Valley

(Showbox at the Market) See Stranger Suggests, page 23.

Blonde on Blonde: North Twin, Sean Nelson, the Tripwires, guests

(Tractor) When a 24-year-old Bob Dylan couldn't get started in New York on the sessions for his newest album, his producer suggested he relocate to Nashville. What resulted from that southern migration was Blonde on Blonde, a sprawling double album that showcased Dylan's many moods. The raucous blues of the searing "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine," the meditative dirge of "Visions of Johanna," and the unclassifiable amalgamation of American music that Dylan called "that wild mercury sound" of "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again." Tonight at the Tractor, several local bands (including the twangy North Twin, Seattle supergroup the Tripwires, and the ubiquitous Sean Nelson) will be donning their leopard-skin pillbox hats and paying tribute to the maestro's greatest album. CHRIS McCANN

Carrie Akre

(High Dive, early) For those who have known Carrie Akre, frontwoman for Hammerbox and Goodness, as Seattle's reigning queen of grunge, the transformation to a quietly vulnerable—and ultimately much more powerful—chanteuse might be surprising. Her brand-new solo album, Last the Evening, is a career-defining statement, but it's not her only recent accomplishment. The 41-year-old recently tied the knot and she's expecting her first child. "In the last couple of years it's been a lot of letting go," Akre says. "A lot of things failing and falling apart. When you lose everything it forces you to just go, 'Fuck it.' You hit a wall. You face who you are and get some balls and stand on your own two feet." Which is where she is now, and she's never sounded better. BARBARA MITCHELL

SUNDAY 12/9

There's magic in the air.

MONDAY 12/10

A Wilhelm Scream, the Flatliners, the Damage Done, Rough Chukar, Down We Go

(Studio Seven) Yeah, I thought A Wilhelm Scream was another one of those terribly named bands with the shitty haircuts, too! I thought they were like, BFF with Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Escape the Fate and I thought I was going to listen to them and hate it and then tell you about how much it sucked. I was wrong. The New Bedford band are more volatile than those otherwise uninteresting bands I had lumped them in with, far more tolerable, too. And while they're not the most innovative group of musicians in the word—they obviously take cues from Hot Water Music and Propagandhi—they're a pretty alright harmonizing hardcore act with some blistering metal licks. And they're a better option if you wanna be a good big brother and take your little brother to a rock show. You could do worse. I mean, you probably don't want these dudes to be Lil Brudder's most favoritest band in the universe, but A Wilhelm Scream can at least be a decent accessible gateway into a darker sound. MEGAN SELING

TUESDAY 12/11

Eyedea & Abilities, Sector 7G, Abzorbr, Locke

(Chop Suey) The nasal quality of every successful white rapper is confusticating. From the various underground kings—El-P, Doseone, Brother Ali, the here-discussed Eyedea—all the way to ol' Slim Shady, there is consistently some remnant of an uptight nerd's squeal. It would be racist/foolhardy to conjecture that this imprint is physiological, so what gives? All that aside, both Eyedea and Abilities are committed craftsmen of hiphop's two musical elements: Eyedea is a stunningly nimble rapper, having won a ton of battles and competitions (including the infamous Scribble Jam and a much-bootlegged trouncing of fellow whiteboy Doseone) while Abilities is one of the most exciting and adventurous turntablists alive. SAM MICKENS

WEDNESDAY 12/12

Little Party and the Bad Business, Joey Casio, Seahouse, Summer Camp

(Vera) Usually free Wednesday night shows at Vera, called Veracity, are acoustic—small, intimate gatherings in the venue's lobby/art gallery featuring mostly local singer-songwriters and otherwise lo-fi acts. But tonight, Vera will no doubt have a dance party on its hands with Little Party and the Bad Business headlining and Joey Casio making an appearance as well. Little Party is like Atom & His Package with a less-crazy dude singing songs about famous metal idols being gay. But they still drop a few names. In "700 Miles" they sing "Wednesday night, it's 6:00 p.m. and you're getting out of bed. It's you, me, and Karl Malone..." and I can't tell exactly what they say after that, but it's shining bright with blips and blops from a cute keyboard and an upbeat drum machine and I think they say something about a party. Which tonight will indeed be. A Wednesday night party. MEGAN SELING