THURSDAY 5/17

JOY WANTS ETERNITY, BILL HORIST, SNOWMAN PLAN, GUESTS
(Sunset) See All Ages Action, page 55.

HARSH: BLUE SABBATH BLACK CHEER, RED RULER, MUTANT DATA ORCHESTRA, GUESTS
(Re-bar) See Bug in the Bassbin, page 51.

THE BAD PLUS
(Jazz Alley) See The Score, page 53.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, LONESOME RHODES & THE GOOD COMPANY, LEAGUE NIGHT
(Crocodile) With Friends Like These are one of the newest bands to dive headfirst into Seattle's already highly concentrated sea of rock, but they come with a little name-dropping ability to keep 'em floating toward the top. Featuring local singer/songwriter Matt Shaw on guitar and vocals, Airport Cathedral's Andy Fitts on bass and vocals, and former Vendetta Red drummer Justin Cronk banging on things, WFLT's "Jawbreaker, Fugazi, and Cursive" influenced tunes make it obvious the trio are passionate about rocking the fuck out. In his solo project, rarely did Shaw ever utter a frustrated word, but in this new collaboration, dude is pissed, screaming up and down and all over the place, with Fitts's coscreaming adding even more urgency. If there was ever a city to appreciate a pissed-off boy, Seattle's the place. MEGAN SELING

FRIDAY 5/18

THE BAD PLUS
(Jazz Alley) See The Score, page 53.

HR (OF BAD BRAINS) W/DUBB AGENT, BULLFIGHTER, POWER OF COMING AGE
(Funhouse, early) Bad Brains have re-formed for the time being, taking their Rasta-fueled metal/funk/hardcore machine back on the road, at least until their legendary feuding derails the train again. For those who'd rather not brave the mob at the band's Sasquatch! appearance, enigmatic frontman HR follows his true heart to the Funhouse, performing a reggae-oriented matinee set a week before the big gig. HR's eccentric behavior—a history of violence, bizarre antics, and no-shows—might be tempered in this setting, playing the music he prefers rather than the music that brought him notoriety. Still, purists might not consider this business as usual. HR's solo material channels muscular rock cadences into the dub and reggae sounds while retaining all the Jah righteousness that comes so naturally to him. FRED BELDIN

PISSED JEANS, UNNATURAL HELPERS, TINY VIPERS
(Sunset) Recent Sub Pop signees Pissed Jeans recall a less-kind, less-gentle time when the label's trademark wasn't electro-pop, folk, or standup comedy, but hateful, eardrum-blasting noise. This is a good thing. The Nazareth, Pennsylvania, band evoke the adventurous sonic hostility of Six Finger Satellite, the monster riffs of godheadSilo, and the drunken yowling of Murder City Devils without sounding quite like any of those bands. Their new full-length, Hope for Men, ranges from psychotic spoken-word drones ("Scrapbooking," "The Jogger") to pounding, industrial-strength punk ("People Person") to lumbering sludge metal ("Secret Admirer," "I'm Turning Now"), all bound together by squalls of feedback and singer Matt Korvette's magnetic misanthropy. The band sound like they absolutely destroy live. ERIC GRANDY

DINOSAUR JR., AWESOME COLOR
(Showbox) For a while there in the late '80s, Dinosaur Jr. were the loudest band in the world. Their brutal blend of sludge and melody blistered paint and sent the kids howling into the streets. Thurston Moore described one of their early shows as "just a wash of noise that made your teeth hurt. But in a good way." Their best songs were almost-holy conglomerations of angst, desire, fury, and petulance turned up way past 11. Then guitarist/vocalist J Mascis and bassist Lou Barlow couldn't get along anymore and the world had to make due with watered-down versions of Dinosaur's perfection. Until a 2005 reunion produced the new album, Beyond, which picks up right where 1988's Bug left off. Pure bliss—and pretty damn loud, too. CHRIS McCANN See also album review, page 43.

MIRAH W/SPECTRATONE INTERNATIONAL, KIMYA DAWSON, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
(Vera Project) Spectratone International are cellist Lori Goldston and accordionist Kyle Hanson of the Black Cat Orchestra along with Jane Hall on percussion and Kane Mathis on oud. The group recently collaborated with beloved, dulcet-voiced K Records recording artist Mirah to craft a cycle of songs to accompany Share This Place, a multimedia performance about the secret lives of insects. Yes, insects. Of course, Mirah and crew manage to find drama, humor, and beauty even on the near-microscopic scale, and their lushly orchestrated songs lend these tiny subjects a kind of operatic grandeur. The group are performing all week long as part of the Seattle International Children's Festival, but if you don't feel like seeing them at 11:00 a.m. with a bunch of awful families around, tonight's show is your chance. ERIC GRANDY

SATURDAY 5/19

KYOTO JAZZ MASSIVE
(Baltic Room) See Bug in the Bassbin, page 51.

JOY WANTS ETERNITY, SLEEPY EYES OF DEATH, WELCOME
(Atlas Clothing) See All Ages Action, page 55.

FISHBONE, THE EXPENDABLES, THE CAUZE
(Studio Seven) See preview, page 35, and Stranger Suggests, page 25.

EAST COAST BOOGIEMEN, DE LA CRÈME SOUNDSYSTEM
(Doc Maynard's) See Bug in the Bassbin, page 51.

THE BAD PLUS
(Jazz Alley) See The Score, page 53.

A GUN THAT SHOOTS KNIVES, WE WROTE THE BOOK ON CONNECTORS
(Blue Moon) Taking the stage in a red pleather hazmat suit, jet pack, blue-wigged cheerleader getup, and giant goggles, the four freaks in A Gun That Shoots Knives come off as a low-budget rock 'n' roll Super Friends. Spin their debut album, Miracle, and you'll hear a slaphappy, tongue-in-cheek razzing of pop convention that's as ludicrous as it is hilarious—the musical equivalent of their visual buffoonery. With prog-pop odes to the U.S. Postal Service, child abuse, Ralph Macchio, and soap, Miracle is a stonerrific mastication of Cheap Trick, Phish, and Tenacious D, but with more profanity and better tattoos. JONATHAN ZWICKEL

NELSON SINGS NILSSON
(Triple Door) Best known for the hit single "Another One Rides the Bus," local hero Harvey Danger returns to his "Sean Nelson" character (the hapless indie-rock everyman introduced through a series of satirical Stranger articles), taking the stage for the second time to celebrate the music of the late, great Harry Nilsson. Last December's performance was a triumph, leaving Danger in a quandary as to how to top himself, but his solution is inspired. Trading his top hat for a cape, he's assembled a full-cast stage re-creation of the rarely screened 1974 film Son of Dracula, the peculiar horror-comedy-musical that starred Nilsson as "Count Downe," the titular vampire. FRED BELDIN

SUNDAY 5/20

THE BAD PLUS
(Jazz Alley) See The Score, page 53.

BEN GIBBARD, DAVID BAZAN, JOHNATHAN RICE
(Showbox) Tonight's show is sold out. So is tomorrow night's. And it should come as no surprise. Ben Gibbard is a gifted songwriter with a delicate, gorgeous voice, his work with Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service has helped launch what the kids used to call "indie" into the mass mind, and he's just as cute as button. His own catalog is enough to fill a pair of headlining spots with little slack or repetition, and he'll probably also bust out a few covers (such as his recently YouTubed rendition of the Mountain Goats' burnout ballad "Palmcorder Yajna"). His songs are great with a live band, but they're certainly strong enough to stand with just his voice and an acoustic guitar backing them up. ERIC GRANDY See also Stranger Suggests, page 25.

MONDAY 5/21

BEN GIBBARD, DAVID BAZAN, JOHNATHAN RICE
(Showbox) See Sunday's preview.

ENTER SHIKARI, GUESTS
(Chop Suey) In their native England, Enter Shikari are less a band than a full-on phenomenon—the only artist besides the Darkness (back in the day) to have sold out the London Astoria without a record deal, the purveyors of a chart-topping album they released themselves, MySpace heroes with over two million views and 125,000 friends, and quite possibly the only four individuals on the planet who could meld screamo to questionable dance music and make it work. Intrigued yet? Get yourself out to Chop Suey and see for yourself why Kerrang! put these fellas on the cover and why every kid in the UK—from punks to metalheads to goths and ravers—is a fan. BARBARA MITCHELL

TUESDAY 5/22

LUOMO, JACOB LONDON, JON MCMILLION
(Baltic Room) It's hard enough to get people out on a Tuesday and higher than normal cover charges don't help the cause, so if you're going to go big, you'd damn well better deliver. Oscillate looks to have done just that with an appealing lineup for both dancers and chin strokers. Luomo's The Present Lover redefined house's avant-garde, combining the sexy and the clicky. Paper Tigers, his latest, continues the tradition. Jacob London are building a reputation beyond their house-music background. And Jon McMillion has a bounty of ideas in both his laptop and his head. (This is the first of two dates for Luomo, who plays under his more experimental alias Vladislav Delay Thursday at Broadway Performance Hall.) DONTE PARKS

LAVENDER DIAMOND, THE WATSON TWINS
(Triple Door) L.A. quartet Lavender Diamond are, as their name suggests, a richly hued and light-filled affair, with often severely simple songs packed to the brim with easy riding hope and goodliness. Begun as a solo performance project, LD is now a full-fledged quartet including guitarist Jeff Rosenberg (ex—Young People), cartoonist/drummer Ron Rege Jr., and original birdsongstress Becky Stark. Their new album, Imagine Our Love (their debut for indie mammoth Matador Records), contains styles spanning from buoyant, Belle & Sebastian—ish jams to more-hushed, china-shop-fragile ballads. Overwhelmingly, the songs deal with love, lost love, and treading lightly over the world; the lovely "Garden Rose" extends a passive and yielding stance even in the face of accidental death or potential insincerity. The overarching vibe is of extreme and penetrating tenderness, all the way up to the band's sweetly forthright calls for "Peace on Earth Forever." SAM MICKENS

WEDNESDAY 5/23

AMON TOBIN
(Neumo's) See Bug in the Bassbin, page 51, and album review, page41.

SEBASTIEN GRAINGER, TRIUMPH OF LETHARGY SKINNED ALIVE TO DEATH, BABY CONTROL, SAM ROUSSO SOUNDSYSTEM
(Chop Suey) Former Death from Above 1979 drummer/singer Sebastien Grainger's new solo project finds him ditching that band's testosterone-driven dance punk in favor of lo-fi garage pop and melancholy folk. In some songs, there are glimmers of the same caustic wit that Grainger deployed with DFA79, but for the most part his new work seems far more sentimental. The occasional drum machine or electric guitar pops up on his demos, but even then it's in service of his mellowed songwriting. Baby Control are former members of Vancouver, BC's Red Light Sting playing polished, catchy riot-grrrl-inspired punk (including a cover of riot-grrrl sympathizers Nirvana's "Negative Creep"). Triumph of Lethargy rounds out the "former members of" theme with Murder City vets Spencer Moody and Dann Gallucci spinning sad yarns set to unholy racket. ERIC GRANDY