Yes, it's freezing outside, but the local music scene still promises plenty of excellent, body-warming shows. This week, our critics have picked everything from a solid acoustic-driven possibility that you'll cry in public, to a crowd-favorite Aussie queen from RuPaul's Drag Race, to a chance to see Busta Rhymes without a fish-eye lens. All of our winter cures and more can be found on our music calendar, and if you really want to lean into the season, our holiday calendar is here for you too.

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DECEMBER 12

Muuy Biien with Guests
It’s become increasingly rare to be surprised by rock bands in 2016. Atlanta quintet Muuy Biien, though, switch things up enough to keep your ears off balance. For example, on 2012’s This Is What Your Mind Imagines, they go from hoarse-voiced hardcore to stoic, cosmic ambience to mutton-chopped biker rock in three tracks. Nobody quite shifts from screamo to Eno like this group. More recent works like D.Y.I. and Age of Uncertainty narrow Muuy Biien’s focus into helter-skelter post-punk urgency à la Unwound and Shellac, or malevolent brooding in the vein of Liars. The band’s swift, abrasive songs on these records thrum with an inspirational power. This promises to be one of the most exciting Vera Project shows in a while. DAVE SEGAL

DECEMBER 13

DoNormaal, Kirt Debique, Ephraim Nagler
The local rapper of the moment creates a transporting sonic landscape. She’s plumbing the depths of her own brain and the expanse of the cosmos on a voyage through purple nebulae and synapses. “I don’t belieeeeeeeeeeve what’s in my miiiiiiiiiiiind,” she moans on “50 Jasper Horses,” the most haunting track on her excellent debut LP, Jump or Die. You’d be wise to follow DoNormaal wherever this journey is taking her. ANGELA GARBES

Xasthur, Thunder Grey Pilgrim, Nick Superchi
Alongside acts like Leviathan, Krieg, and to a lesser extent Nachtmystium, Xasthur helped set the stage for American solo black-metal projects. While drawing influence from Norwegian acts like Burzum and Darkthrone, Xasthur recast tremolo picking on distorted guitar as a backdrop for singer-songwriter tendencies. It still sounds like one guy screaming at a glass jar full of hornets, but the lyrics fixate less on Satan and more on suicidal thoughts. Scott “Malefic” Conner, the man behind Xasthur, isn’t making albums anymore, but he does occasionally tour as an all-acoustic outfit under the Xasthur name (he worked exclusively as a bluegrass outfit under the name Nocturnal Poisoning for some time). Even on nylon strings, songs from Telepathic with the Deceased ought to embody the vast sorrow that informed Conner’s electric output. JOSEPH SCHAFER

DECEMBER 14

Courtney Act: Dashing Through The Divas
RuPaul's Drag Race and Australian Idol favorite Courtney Act is back in town to perform a revue of songs from the holiday albums of such greats as Barbara Steisand, Mariah Carey, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, Bette Midler, and a bevy of other queens.

Forms: Mr. Oizo
When French producer Mr Oizo (Quentin Dupieux) dropped his debut album, Analog Worms Attack, in 1999, it felt like a blast of filthy, revivifying air in the down-tempo, bass-centric spectrum of club culture. Here was a filmmaker-turned-studio-wizard who had a seemingly casual genius with simple yet utterly effective funky beats and an uncanny ability to coax the deepest, crispiest bass tones you’ve ever shat your trousers to. If he’d only released that one quirky LP, Mr Oizo would be a legend, but he went on to cut 2005’s great Moustache (Half a Scissor), whose jagged electro funk and brutal low end prefigured elements of dubstep. (Flying Lotus’s label reissued it six years ago, if you’re looking for cred points.) More recent Oizo albums like 2015’s The Church and 2016’s All Wet swerve into more HD sound design and conventionally club-friendly formations, but they do retain some of his sampledelic mischief. Unlike many electronic producers this late in their career, Mr Oizo has not fallen off. DAVE SEGAL

J.S. Bach's Christmas Magnificat
Originally written for Christmas Vespers in 1723, this rousing performance of the original version of J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in E flat major will illuminate vignettes of the Nativity story. Conductor Alexander Weimann will lead the Northwest Baroque Masterworks ensemble, including five soloists, a full baroque orchestra, three trumpeters, and a timpani in song.

Robert Glasper Experiment
Like fellow Blue Note recording artist Dr. Lonnie Smith, Grammy Award–winning keyboardist Robert Glasper (2012’s Black Radio) isn’t just a dexterous player, but a man who understands the importance of the groove. It permeates everything the Houston musician touches, from post-bop instrumentals to soulful excursions (featuring the likes of Bilal and Erykah Badu) to elegant alternative-rock covers. Traditionalists may balk, but if Miles Davis could put his stamp on pop hits from Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper, there’s no reason Glasper can’t do the same with Radiohead and Nirvana (Glasper also scored Don Cheadle’s Davis biopic, Miles Ahead). The future of jazz lies with open-minded players like Glasper and saxophone colossus Kamasi Washington who refuse to be bound by the strictures of the past. KATHY FENNESSY

DECEMBER 15

Apache Truck Stop, The Knights of Trash, Stuporhero
I know it’s mid-December and we all need a break before we break, so I’ma suggest a good rock ’n’ roll pulverizin’! Okay, most notably tonight is Burien’s favorite sons of the church of Vox amps, the Knights of Trash. Y’all, they’re the ONLY KNOWN Thee Milkshakes tribute band in the entire world. Thee Milkshakes, of course, were one of the almighty Billy Childish’s 1980s garage groups that played and sounded like them killer beat groups of the early 1960s. Also in on the mayhem-making tonight: locals Apache Truck Stop, who sound like the Shoes’ lo-fi power pop and are also catchy as hell with their (AHEM) above-average pop punk. MIKE NIPPER

BleedTogether Plays "Superunknown" with A Very Ozzy Tribute
Local woman-powered Soundgarden tribute band BleedTogether are performing Superunknown, the best Soundgarden album, in its entirety? Sounds like a roaring good time. Now, some of you may be apoplectic over my rating of Superunknown, but the 1994 LP stands as the Seattle grunge icons’ most ambitiously psychedelic expression. It’s where guitarist Kim Thayil really stretched out and let his tone flower into third-ear-bedazzling plumes and the band most skillfully balanced their gravity and levity. Superunknown has its share of radio smashes, sure, but there are still some risks taken—the poignant downer psychedelia of “Head Down” and the Northwestern George Harrison move of “Half”—and the title track is as impressively massive as the most grandiose Led Zeppelin track. The killer-to-filler ratio slants very heavily to the former, and the four femmes in BleedTogether should bring it hard. DAVE SEGAL

Hero Worship: Stevie Nicks
Hero Worship: Tribute Night and Pony present the ultimate celebration of the life and work of Stevie Nicks, frontwoman of Fleetwood Mac and her own genius decades-spanning solo career. A full lineup of local music legends lend themselves to all-night live performances, featuring Shannon Perry, Jayson Kochan, Mal DeFleur, and Christopher Jones. Backing soundtrack to the festivities will be provided by Mixed Feelings and Dee Jay Jack.

MTBTZ, Koister, Oki, Meistro
Seattle trio MTBTZ (millennial initialism for Meaty Beats, apparently) don’t sound as much like peak-period Meat Beat Manifesto as this old guy would like, but their slaps are indeed as beefy as advertised. MTBTZ fling their swaggering house, disco, and bass line rhythms with a bro-y brio, featuring enough low-end girth and wobble to impress PiL’s original bassist. The group’s penchant for chopped-and-screwed rap samples adds a nice counterweight to the prevalent extroverted song structures. If their SoundCloud page is indicative of their live show, expect MTBTZ to get booked for many an electronic-music festival by next spring. DAVE SEGAL

The Residency Hosted By Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
This past summer, forty young Seattleites participated in an intensive residency program to develop their skills as musicians and leaders. Those same kids now take the stage as musicians confident in their craft. Hosted by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the evening will be punctuated by performances from emerging local hip hop acts West Hell, Munkbizz, One2 & Koga Shabazz, and Vic Daggs II.

Tacocat, Boyfriends, Connie & The Precious Moments, Dancer & Prancer
Who doesn’t love Tacocat? Nobody by this point, let’s hope. In case you missed out, they play power pop girl group surf rock and sing songs about talking back to jerks on the street, going crazy in modest proportions inside one’s apartment, and what my local supermarket calls “feminine needs.” (Aisle 7?) Connie & the Precious Moments theoretically offer some new-age color-therapy stuff, but soft—I think these people are wearing wigs! Ironically! So it’s got to be some kind of setup, but who wants real new-age music, anyway? Dancer and Prancer: holiday surf rock! All the Christmas tunes some of us grew up with, plus surf twang and finger-between-the-lips bass! ANDREW HAMLIN

DECEMBER 16

Dope Music Festival: Old School Night
Tacoma-made collective Sky Movement—piloted by Clemm Rishad and Will Jordan (aka the platinum writing team Writer’s Block)—are presenting the third edition of their big-name stadium series. They evince both a rare understanding of the Northwest’s urban market and the necessary industry connects to pull off such a feat. Their mini-festivals boast liver lineups than KUBE’s Summer Jam or whatever they try to throw together at, say, White River Amphitheater. The first night of Dope 3 is “Old School Night,” and it’s also better than those disjointed 1980s/’90s one-hit-wonder package rap tours. Don’t look for any Adidas suits or Lee jeans—just the rafters shaking to Busta Rhymes, DMX, E-40, Method Man + Redman, Too $hort, Kokane, Pharcyde, Da Brat, plus Money B and Young Hump of Digital Underground. Wow. Eat your Wheaties. LARRY MIZELL JR.

Red Fang, Torche, Whores
We all have those beloved hometown bands that become mired in the sticky floors of local shithole clubs, never to make the leap into the national circuit, and never to garner a reputation outside of a small circle of friends. The first five years of Red Fang’s existence were a token example of that particular Northwest breed of dead-end sludge brilliance. The group’s tones were deliciously grimy. The energy was drunken and sweaty. The attitude was unaffected. And the prospects were dim. But in a rare fluke of music-biz justice, Red Fang blew up. Now if we could just see the same karmic retribution for Cro-Magnon doom-poppers Torche and Atlanta’s feedback-and-fuzz tyrants Whores, then maybe there’d be that much more hope for the future of underground rock music. BRIAN COOK

Sloucher, Automotive Steamhorse, Miss Burmuda Dunes
As Sean Nelson astutely observed in a Slog post from July, Seattle’s Sloucher have deftly assimilated the influences of several paradigmatic indie-rock bands from the 1990s and ’00s, including Pavement, Elliott Smith, Yo La Tengo, Bedhead/New Year, and Sebadoh. The songs on Sloucher’s debut EP, Certainty (which you can hear on Bandcamp), tap into a humble yet beautiful melodic wellspring where that certain introspective timbre of guitar jangle and yearning white-guy vocal convey so much pathos. It isn’t easy to make slacker rock sound compelling in 2016, but Sloucher nail all the moves with an easygoing charm that suggests they’ll have a long, fruitful career. If they don’t play Pitchfork Music Festival by 2018, I’ll slowly shake my head in disbelief. DAVE SEGAL

DECEMBER 17

Brothers From Another with DJ Beeba
Brothers from Another, now long past the days of colleging in sunny places like California, are playing a one-off show at Neumos tonight. December may seem like an odd time of year to catch such summery flavor, but consider the fact that the trio’s jovial, pos-ativa strain beach party hiphop might be the perfect thing to knock the frost off your cold, dying sense of hope. It could be like hitting the defrost button on some frozen summer leftovers, salmonella be damned. Toss in a warm-up set by BFA’s charismatic DJ Beeba, and the fact that the band’s Twitter account threw down a winky smiley face with reference to special guests, and you’ll have to keep a strong lineup of emojis handy. TODD HAMM

Dope Music Festival
Dope 3, the second of the series to be set in the Tacoma Dome, has for its second night’s menu, a damn well-balanced meal, from the most certified of street rap to R&B to pop. ATLiens Gucci Mane and Russ, Chicago’s Jeremih, Philly’s Meek Mill and Lil Uzi Vert, Sydney’s William Singe, and Tacoma’s Clemm Rishad and Yodi Mac will take the stage. Gucci, Meek, and Jeremih (and probably Uzi) will definitely draw that big noise, but don’t be surprised if everybody sings along word-for-word with rapper/singer/producer Russ, who’s been building a massive fan base online for years, resulting in a major label deal and tens of millions of streams. Singe, a YouTube and Aussie X-Factor star, is the other up-and-comer to watch for. LARRY MIZELL JR.

Golden Gardens, Planning For Burial, God & Vanilla
At the time of this writing, a project halt and environmental investigation has been ordered for the DAPL, but the water protectors’ fight isn’t over yet. Trump, ETP, and other malevolent forces could easily overturn this small victory, so 100 percent of the proceeds from this night of dreamy, dark sounds will still go to the Oceti Sakowin Camp. The well-curated bill features local gothtronic-pop duo Golden Gardens, who produce a shimmery and propulsive brand of effervescent electronic dream pop. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania–based one-man band Planning for Burial (aka Thom Wasluck) ushers forth a doomy, romantic slowgaze that sounds like a black-metal Kevin Shields. His ambient wall-of-noise looms over its listener with lush and twinkly atmospheres and passionate, brooding synth side glances. While local ambient act God and Vanilla’s stark minimalism will also permit space for reflection in times of darkness. BRITTNIE FULLER

Rrose, Gregg Skloff, Leo Mayberry
Best known for her fathoms-deep, hypnotic minimal techno, Rrose surprised many fans last year by covering American avant-garde composer James Tenney’s experimental piece Having Never Written a Note for Percussion for Seattle-based Further Records. Using a Chau gong and two mallets, Rrose follows Tenney’s tenet to play a percussion instrument in one continuous take, from its quietest murmur to its most explosive climactic potential. She will re-create that tension-building exercise in the unlikely environs—but apt, given how meditative Having Never Written a Note for Percussion is—of Pioneer Square’s Salt Room Yoga. Astoria, Oregon’s Gregg Skloff is a master of scrupulously honed drones on double bass and sitar. Check out his cassette full-length on Seattle’s Eiderdown Records, The Glacial Enclosure, for a deep dive into desolate drone sculpture, and also the reverbed sitar séance All Way Relay for spectral, psychedelic atmospheres. DAVE SEGAL

DECEMBER 17-18

Mudhoney, The Fall-Outs, Pink Parts, Less Than Equals
It doesn’t matter that Mudhoney’s last album, Vanishing Point, came out three years ago. It doesn’t matter if they do new material tonight from whatever forthcoming LP they’re working on, or not. By this point, these gr*nge godfathers are a proverbial well-oiled machine designed to provoke fist-pumps and moshing among teens and those approaching retirement age. With unerring consistency over the last 28 years, Mudhoney have ground out cantankerous cacophony and spewed caustic lyrical snark (and the occasional tender sentiment; see especially “If I Think”) that has aged as well as their two garage-psych-connoisseur guitarists, Mark Arm and Steve Turner. Even in 2016, Mudhoney remain a vital live proposition; they are veritable rock-and-roll Dorian Grays. On Saturday, they are joined by the Fall-Outs and Pink Parts. And on Sunday, Less Than Equals—local scene vets Kurt Bloch and John Ramberg—will righteously homage the Equals, a British band that wrote some of the catchiest, most ebullient garage-pop songs ever in their 1960s/’70s prime. DAVE SEGAL

DECEMBER 18

David Bazan’s Christmas Miracle with Advance Base
Can you imagine spending the holiday season with a greater purveyor of complex acoustic misery than David Bazan? A veritable Scrooge of indie rock as it is, he stands alone as a crotchety bard, translating our inner feelings into clever, beautiful, and even sometimes cruel tales of joy and woe, regardless of whichever season our projections of humanity reveal themselves to us. In his latest Suicide Squeeze release, Dark Sacred Night, 10 of Bazan’s 14 yuletide singles of yore glitter sharply in the advent of December blackness, all remixed and remastered, yet retaining the evergreen quality of emotional resistance toward declaring peace on earth and goodwill to men. He’ll be joined in his “Christmas Miracle” by lo-fi nostalgia hunter Advance Base, for what will surely be a moment of necessary holiday catharsis for all. KIM SELLING

Spyn Reset with Industrial Revelation
Spyn Reset spring out of the Denny Way Music School on Capitol Hill, a house where bassist/guitarist Evan McPherson lives and hosts Thursday-night improv jams with a dedicated core of local musicians and those just happening to pass by/through the area. (Members of Moby Grape, Heart, and Industrial Revelation have dropped in over the last couple of years.) The players in Spyn Reset—who also include keyboardist YASU and drummer Pierson Martin—possess a fluid finesse with funk, jazz, and fusion maneuvers. There’s a slickness here, but it doesn’t come off as sterile virtuosity. Spyn Reset apply their elite technique to create songs that are at once structurally challenging and melodically accessible—a difficult feat. Now they’re billing themselves as an “electro progrock” band, which makes me think of Herbie Hancock and Dr. Patrick Gleeson jamming on ARPs and Moogs with the florid and propulsive attack of Gentle Giant or Passport. Let us hope this is the case. DAVE SEGAL