• Of Montreal managed to fit their theatrical troupe of psychedelic-pop-makers into the Vera Project on Sunday, where the packed audience gleefully moshed along for the funky dance numbers and laid-back melodic pieces alike. The number-one highlight at a show full of highlights was the point where leading man Kevin Barnes rode into the crowd atop a man-powered Cerberus.
• Saturday night at Cairo, Indignant Senility (Portland experimentalist Pat Maherr) filled the minuscule space with a bellicose brand of dance music that sounded like a war breaking out at a rave—not at all what you'd expect from his records that turn Wagner symphonies into dark, ambient soundscapes. Minds—and speakers—were duly blown.
• Help Massive Monkees—a fantastic breakdance crew that originated in Seattle—lock down a long-term lease on the Beacon, the Monkees' creative space, located in the International District and dedicated to producing, performing, and teaching, while emphasizing the positive art forms of hiphop culture. Visit kickstarter.com/projects/ massivemonkees/massive-monkees-studio-the-beacon to make a contribution.
• The Seattle International Film Festival is packed with a ton of stuff for music lovers. Among the delights: Twenty Feet from Stardom, the acclaimed documentary about backup singers; A Band Called Death, about the history-making black punks from Detroit; the Kathleen Hanna documentary, The Punk Singer; the Big Star documentary, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me; and the documentary about the National shot by the lead singer's younger brother, Mistaken for Strangers.
• Secret Chiefs 3 played the Crocodile last Wednesday. While they were the only act on the bill, the avant-instrumentalists started late (which happens) and then proceeded to have a 45-minute intermission (what!?). Obscene wait times aside, they played a dazzling set without saying a word to the crowd.
• Marco Collins is the legendary Seattle DJ whose twice-an-hour spinning of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in the fall of '91 heralded and hastened the alterna-rock revolution, and positioned Collins as its oracle-reading Yoda. The Glamour and the Squalor is the documentary that tells the story of Collins's grungey roller-coaster ride (fame! Fortune! Rehab!). With principal filming completed, the film's heading into editing and courting donors on Kickstarter.
• It's not every night that you hear live music that reminds you of eccentric electronic-music composers Mort Garson and Igor Wakhévitch, but that's what happened when we hit up Vermillion Gallery for Art Walk last Thursday. The musicians in question are Seattle synth duo Kylmyys, who were dressed in robes and wore bird masks last seen on the Knife about five years ago. Keep an ear or two open for them. 
