PSYCHIC FELINE, NUCULAR
AMINALS, M. WOMEN
A fair number of fringe-science New Agers believe that feline psychic abilities account for reported instances of cats sensing nascent tumors in their owners or traveling miles across unknown terrain to reunite with their human benefactors. I wish I could believe cats possess these powers, but if they did, I think mine would have learned by now how much I hate being woken up at 3:00 a.m. to feed her. That being said, the rumblin’ guitar/guitar/drum rock figurations of Portland trio Psychic Feline are probably more consistently rewarding than the average bachelor-cat relationship. I’m told their sound—which surgically culls from vintage psych and bears contrail traces of Smithereens singer Pat DiNizio‘s melancholic delivery—is tailor-made for smaller performance spaces. Cairo, 8 pm, $5.
SHABAZZ PALACES
The new Shabazz Palaces full-length, Black Up, is a beast—I fully expect it to drop like a hammer, forming a miles-wide crater in the middle of the summer music season. It boasts the most car-ready stereo bass you’ll hear all year, and some of the most innovative rhyming, sampling, and song structuring (you can almost picture its mesmeric, Escher-esque scaffolding) to come out of Seattle since… well, ever, really. It’s also fearlessly, brilliantly strange: Dig the juxtaposition of THEESatisfaction‘s sensuous vocals with the staggering percussive samples and sci-fi knob-tweaking on “Endeavors for Never (The last time we spoke you said you were not here. I saw you though.).” (Yes, that is the title.) Use this opportunity to snag a copy of the soon-to-be-coveted record and enjoy the last all-ages set they’ll play till September. Easy Street Records Queen Anne, 7 pm, free.
