THURSDAY 1/8
SCIENCE VICTIM, ELECTRIC BLANKET, THE DEAD VAMPIRES, DJ KEN DIRTNAP
(Fun House) The Tacoma/Seattle band Science Victim is as close to New York’s Ex Models as this area’s gonna get. Jerky, angular rhythms shift gears as anxiously as the movements of a Geiger counter next to a nuclear warhead. The band throws keyboards up against some seriously intense math rock/noise, and it comes together like an electropunk act influenced by Drive Like Jehu. JENNIFER MAERZ
NERVEWHEEL, YEEK YAK AIRFORCE, LEVI FULLER & THE LIBRARY
(Sunset) Featuring local fringe/out-jazz luminary Bill Horist, NerveWheel provides instrumental music for those who seek more than background noise or soundtracks to pretty thoughts. Along with drummer Adam Gross (the Guest Stars) and bassist Benjamin Hadley (the Spoils), Horist injects math rock with punk, electronic, and prog, resulting in songs that are notably cerebral, and sexy. KATHLEEN WILSON
FRIDAY 1/9
GRANDMASTER FLASH, DV-ONE
(Chop Suey) See Data Breaker, page 39.
GRAY AS COLOR W/PLAN B, THE CATCH, the girls, TYCO PARTY, DJ MUG FROSTY, DJ CHRIS TREMENS, DJ NAHA
(ToST) See Stranger Suggests, page 19.
THE BELIEVERS, AN AMERICAN STARLET, LOVE HOTEL
(Tractor) See Drunk by Noon, page 34.
TURN-ONS (CD RELEASE), MELODY UNIT, BLESSED LIGHT, SLENDER MEANS
(Crocodile) See preview, page 27.
THE RED LIGHT STING, KRMTX, CALIFORNIA CASUAL, KISS KISS KISS
(Vera Project) No, those aren’t Underoos-clad adolescent boys up there on stage. They’re just the shockingly adolescent-looking, Underoos-clad young men (and woman) who play in Vancouver’s Red Light Sting, an energetic-to-spazz band that packs far more guitar crunch into a song than could a band three times their weight. KATHLEEN WILSON
WINTER INTERLUDE
(Benaroya Hall) For the last several years, the Seattle Chamber Music Society has cannily concocted a miniature version of its behemoth summertime festival in early January. Apart from chamber chestnuts by Beethoven, Schumann, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, and Ravel, there’s new music too. Although consigned to the Family Concert on Jan 10, the fine Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet plays works by Alan Hovhaness and Lou Harrison as well as Coyote Builds North America by Alaskan composer John Luther Adams and Minoru Miki’s Marimba Spiritual. See www.scmf.org for full details. Also Sat-Sun Jan 10-11. CHRISTOPHER DeLAURENTI
THE TOASTERS, NATALIE WOULDN’T
(Studio Seven) The Toasters have been around since 1981, and their brand of ska is as formal as the genre can get. The American band doesn’t extend the music into new territory the way that third-wave ska bands (which were mostly American) did in the ’90s; they don’t experiment, or derail expectations. They instead preserve the foundations of ska: They’re brass-heavy, always keep close to soul music, reinforce the themes of the form, and refuse to skip or trip up the basic rhythm. In a word, if you want access to something that is like the core of ska, the Toasters’ show will provide an excellent entry point. CHARLES MUDEDE
SATURDAY 1/10
MISSOURI LOVES COMPANY, AGENT APATHY, MOBILE SEX PRIESTS, LEVI FULLER & THE LIBRARY
(Shoreline YMCA) See Live Wire, page 30.
MODEY LEMON, THE VELLS, NEW FANGS
(Sunset) See Stranger Suggests, page 19.
MIGUEL MIGS, LISA SHAW, WESLEY HOLMES, KEN WALLACE
(Chop Suey) See Data Breaker, page 39.
THE HOLLOWPOINTS, GIANT HAYSTACKS, RABID DOGS, LAST ONE OUT
(Vera Project) See Underage, page 41.
SUNDAY 1/11
IMA ROBOT, KUMA, INFOMATIK
(Crocodile) Either Seattle totally loves IMA Robot or they’re stuck in tour repeat, as the L.A. band has come through this city a couple of times in the past six months. If you missed it, the group, which includes members of Beck’s rhythm section, plays MTV2-slicked alterna-pop, mining certain elements of the Cure, Duran Duran, and Hot Hot Heat (vocally, the songs are a match with that group and the Rapture) for a high-energy, sorta-retro rock sound that at its best lodges its songs in your head like bullets. JENNIFER MAERZ
CHARLES GAYLE & MICHAEL BISIO
(Tractor) For ferociously ecstatic free-jazz fervor, look no further. High-energy New York tenor saxophonist Charles Gayle joins stalwart Seattle bassist Michael Bisio for what will quite likely be a white-hot duet. Bisio, who played with Gayle back in the mid-1990s, thrives in intimate duo settings. Gayle, a paint-peeling player in the tradition of Albert Ayler, tends to set most anything he touches ablaze, which should come as no surprise. For decades, Gayle lived homeless on the streets of New York, a fervent practitioner of his uncompromising art. Not to be missed. CHRISTOPHER DeLAURENTI
MONDAY 1/12
Mondays are for sissies.
TUESDAY 1/13
COUNTRY TEASERS, THE INTELLIGENCE, THE BRINGERS
(Graceland) See preview, page 29.
THE OCTABITES, INFOMATIK, BLACKBELT
(Re-bar) Infomatik will chiefly be recognized for invoking the spirit of Ian Curtis, but their obvious and infectious sense of bliss sets them apart from any gloomy ’80s-revisitation act. And Colin English is another gem in a city that offers an embarrassment of riches when it comes to stellar drummers. KATHLEEN WILSON
WEDNESDAY 1/14
Wednesdays are for suckas.