Wednesday 7/31

Psychedelephant, Jared James Nichols, Verdant Mile

(Sunset Tavern) Sometimes, around here, we pick a band to preview simply because of its name. Hence this blurb about Psychedelephant. Their handle combines three of my favorite things: "psych," "ed," and "elephant." They describe themselves as a "psychedelic funk rock group," but from this veteran of the psych wars' perspective, Psychedelephant are not very psychedelic. Nor are they all that funky. But they do rock, occasionally. There's something of SoCal bands the Growlers and Crystal Antlers' woozy, dramatic swirl in Psychedelephant's sound, but those who crave serious psychedelic funk should look elsewhere (you can't go wrong with Funkadelic, for one). DAVE SEGAL

Les Nubians

(Triple Door) The early- to mid-'90s was the moment American hiphop recognized its global dimension. Guru, the rapper for Gang Starr, was a central figure in this recognition—he not only recognized Paris's MC Solaar ("Le Bien, Le Mal"), but also Les Nubians ("Who's There"), two Parisian sisters (real sisters, that is) who are originally from Chad. The duo (Hélène and Célia Faussart) was to French hiphop what Erykah Badu was to American hiphop—an earth-friendly, Afrocenteric, nu-jazz, neo-soul, inner-city street poet who is anticapitalist in a global, feminist mode. Les Nubians' voices will seduce like a purple cloud of incense. CHARLES MUDEDE

Thursday 8/1

Sean Nicholas Savage, iji, Cock & Swan

(Heartland) See Underage. This show has been cancelled.

Hockey, Saint Motel, SWIMM

(Neumos) Two Man Advantage, the Zambonis, Hanson Brothers—those are hockey bands. They've got songs about everything from the penalty box to the fifth hole; hockey is in every lyric and every chord. As for the electronically inclined indie-rock duo from Portland, Oregon, though, the appreciation for the sport stops at their name. And, while I guess they're fine as a band—a little bland for my tastes, and the intro of "Explorer" sounds a whole lot like "Please Don't Go Girl" by New Kids on the Block—it is kind of insulting to name your band after one of the toughest, most passionate, and greatest sports that has ever existed, and then sound like that. They should call themselves Croquet. MEGAN SELING

Lesbian, Grayceon, Bali Girls, Lb.!

(Chop Suey) Let's take a look at some of the bands Lb.! (Pound) list on their Facebook page as favorites: Botch, Sun O))), the Locust, Cattle Decapitation, Weedeater... aka anything that's sonically brutal, in various forms. So as you might imagine, Lb.! take cues from their idols and do their best to fuck with your head and ears in equal measure. Just as the song gets going, Lb.! pull it back. Just as you catch your breath, they kick you in the stomach. Our resident metal expert Kevin Diers says Lb.! "play with the aggression of grindcore and the groove of doom/sludge, all the while mixing in mind-fuckingly awesome time-signature changes." So, basically, take every band Lb.! have ever loved, put their records in a blender, plug the blender into an amplifier, hit "crush ice," and headbang until your nose bleeds. MEGAN SELING

Night Nurse, Occult SS, Ratbite

(Highline) Occult SS's Teeth in the Dark EP brings to mind some of the great 7-inch EPs of the '90s crust scene—State of Fear's Wallow in Squalor, From Ashes Rise's Fragments of a Fallen Sky, and Talk Is Poison's Straight to Hell, just to name a few. While the album is generally the most respected format in the broader rock realm, the EP was the ideal format for crust's compacted blasts of punk urgency and furious metal flourishes. After all, those bands rarely played sets longer than 20 minutes—why would they need to fill a record with more than half an hour's worth of material? And true to form, Occult SS's live show is a short sharp shock of blazing d-beat, doomsday power chords, and guttural howls. BRIAN COOK

Friday 8/2

KRAKT: MissVixen, DJ Saigon, Kristina Childs

(Electric Tea Garden) See Data Breaker.

Julio Bashmore, Samo Sound Boy, Pezzner

(Q Nightclub) See Data Breaker.

Pickathon: Feist, Parquet Courts, Shabazz Palaces, Ty Segall, Kurt Vile & the Violators, and more

(Pendarvis Farm) See Stranger Suggests.

Foxygen

(Neumos) UPDATE: This show has been cancelled. A duo that calls Brooklyn and Olympia, Washington, home, Foxygen create seemingly effortless offbeat pop that's a bit too sugary and catchy to be called psychedelic, but you can just tell core members Sam France and Jonathan Rado think "I Am the Walrus" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" are the best Beatles songs. Foxygen are the sort of popular band I'm supposed to dismiss because I'm allegedly some kind of incorrigible elitist, but I have (a little) time for Foxygen's rococo, sublimely goofy pop that splits the difference between Todd Rundgren and Sparks at their mad '70s peaks. Plus, titling a song "Shuggie" gets you easy access into heaven. DAVE SEGAL

Heiress, Caligula, Argonaut, Eternal Bad

(Chop Suey) Prestigious women titles were popular monikers for metal bands toward the end of the last decade. The two most obvious examples, Priestess and Baroness, achieved popularity by taking the modern mid-tempo metal template and injecting classic-rock influences and pop sensibility into the formula. Heiress, however, are having none of that. While their recent full-length, Early Frost, has all the heft of their similarly suffixed kin, the Seattle quintet swaps the Thin Lizzy and Judas Priest hat-tips for more dissonant nods to bands like Dazzling Killmen and Threadbare. Additionally, their forays into melody veer away from the minor-key choruses of other "ess"-men and opt instead for harrowingly somber instrumental passages. If Priestess and Baroness are descendants of Queen, Heiress are the product of Jane Doe. BRIAN COOK

Ladies Club: Shenandoah Davis, Julia Massey, Kaylee Cole, Alex Niedzialkowski

(Columbia City Theater) While once-a-year showcases like Ladyfest/Titwrench/C.L.I.T. Fest exist around the country, barriers in gender equality continue to be wack, and it's ever-imperative to cultivate a scene for female artists' peers and allies. In this new showcase, dubbed "Ladies Club," local singer/songwriter/institution Shenandoah Davis has curated a dazzling lineup, featuring a handful of Seattle's outstanding female-identified singer/songwriters. Columbia City Theater is the perfect scene for stripped-down performances, and these seven acts will each present 20-minute sets. The egalitarian/headliner-free show embraces the idea that attendees are expected to watch all or most of the acts contained within a two-and-a-half-hour period. A second installment of Ladies Club is slated for November, and there's talk of it being an ongoing quarterly series. Let's hope it's just another step in sweeping patriarchy in music to the far back row of every club. BREE MCKENNA

Saturday 8/3

Black Hat, Good Willsmith, White Boy Scream

(Cairo) See Data Breaker.

Pickathon: Feist, Parquet Courts, Shabazz Palaces, Ty Segall, Kurt Vile & the Violators, and more

(Pendarvis Farm) See Friday.

Sebadoh, Octa#grape

(Barboza) Touring in support of their first new album in 14 years—the forthcoming-in-September Defend Yourself—Lou Barlow and Jason Loewenstein's mighty Sebadoh cram themselves into itty-bitty Barboza to create what should be an amazing racket. The official preview track from the album—"I Will"—is an adamantly lo-fi mewl-and-scream combo that sounds exactly like you want, Barlow's ever-sensitive vocals colliding with an avalanche of distortion. Opening the show: San Diego scuzz-rockers Octa#grape. DAVID SCHMADER

THEESatisfaction, Yo! Majesty, Gift Uh Gab, JusMoni x WD4D

(Nectar) This stacked Saturday-night lineup features multiple local heavy hitters, from THEESatisfaction's soulful "psychedelic space-rap/jazz" to Gift Uh Gab's undeniable mic-shredding rap skills to JusMoni x WD4D's future-bass/R&B atmospherics, to OCnotes's renaissance-man production and turntable finesse. But Florida's Yo! Majesty—a duo consisting of rappers/singers Shunda K and Jwl B (whom local rap fans have heard singing on Champagne Champagne's breezy classic "Cali Bud") who have songs titled "Booty Klap" and "Kryptonite Pussy"—should really set things off with their turnt-up, pro-female brand of electronic party rap. This show's not for those who are trying to spend the evening standing still. MIKE RAMOS See also My Philosophy, page 41.

Mickey Hart Band, Tea Leaf Trio

(Showbox at the Market) Mickey Hart will always be most cherished as one of the Grateful Dead's drummers during their peak years. And that's cool. He can live off the positive vibes his beats helped to trigger in millions of people over the decades. But Hart's never been content to stagnate or get mired in Deadhead nostalgia. He pushes on with his explorations of different ethnicities' styles of drumming and channels his rhythmic sorcery toward healing people afflicted with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. His latest album, 2012's vibrant Mysterium Tremendum, pits an exotic, undulating rhythmic undertow with uplifting melodies and spiritual vocals by Crystal Monee Hall and Joe Bagale. This could be the feel-good show of the summer. DAVE SEGAL

Sunday 8/4

Odd Owl, the Gloria Darlings, Susy Sun

(Crocodile) See Underage.

Pickathon: Feist, Parquet Courts, Shabazz Palaces, Ty Segall, Kurt Vile & the Violators, and more

(Pendarvis Farm) See Friday.

White Fence, Jessica Pratt

(Neumos) My first thoughts on hearing White Fence—a project of the prolific Tim Presley—was that it reminded me of an old Big Star practice session (heavy on the near-country riffs and high Chilton vocals) and a Seeds bootleg (heavy on blown-out psychedelia and weirdly sweet melodies), both recorded onto two different cassettes, and then played simultaneously after being melted, stepped on, and distorted with magnets (with fascinating results). There's a lot going on—competing rhythm tracks speed up and slow down unpredictably, the lyrics float in and out of intelligibility under hiss and echo. Get a copy of 2013's Cyclops Reap and hear something new with every listen. Also on the bill is the quiet and easy folk of Jessica Pratt, whose single self-titled album was recorded in 2007 but only recently gained recognition when Presley started his own record label to put out her intimate, mostly acoustic debut. EMILY NOKES See also Stranger Suggests.

California Dreamin', Audacity, Summer Twins, Primitive Hearts, the Wild Ones, Bummer City, Big Eyes, Week of Wonders, Bad Tats

(Highline) Though mainly known for their cassette catalog, Burger Records is one of the ruling tastemakers in the contemporary garage-rock scene. With tapes by nationally revered acts like Black Lips, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Ty Segall in their discography, it's no wonder that the Orange County label has such a solid standing. But its strongest suit is its support for young up-and-comers. Fullerton garage rockers Audacity are barely of drinking age, but they already have two albums and a slew of other releases under their belts courtesy of Burger. And it's not without good reason: Audacity make some of the most clever, jubilant, hook-laden power pop out there at the moment. It's not a shock that current garage-rock royalty King Tuff picked them for his backing band. BRIAN COOK

Monday 8/5

Keyboard Kid, BLKHRTS

(Crocodile) BLKHRTS are three rappers from Denver who (1) apparently hate vowels (album titles include SX DRGS VLNC MNY & DTH and BLK S BTFL), (2) have raspy-ass voices and boisterous deliveries like long-lost members of Onyx or M.O.P., and (3) sample A LOT of rock songs for their beats. But the sample choices—Iggy Pop, Pentagram, that pre–Joy Division Warsaw album—are what distinguish their music from the online crowd of "goth-rap" also-rans. It's likely as much of a train wreck to some as it is innovative to others, but it should make for a rowdy live set. Local producer Keyboard Kid, a master at sculpting atypical samples in uncharacteristic ways himself, will headline. MIKE RAMOS See also My Philosophy.

Walking Papers

(Easy Street Records) It's Monday night, and you find yourself in West Seattle with a powerful hankering for the meatiest and potato-iest of meat-and-potatoes blues rock. Just your luck, you lucky SOB—Walking Papers are doing a free show at Easy Street Records. If you think White Stripes and Black Keys are too far out, you will slip into Walking Papers' tried-and-true earthiness as if they were a favorite pair of dad jeans. Composed of old Seattle rock royalty (former Screaming Trees/Tuatara drummer Barrett Martin, Missionary Position members Jeff Angell and Benjamin Anderson, and former Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan), Walking Papers are this city's very own Bad Company. Attention must be paid. DAVE SEGAL

Tuesday 8/6

Kurt Vile & the Violators

(Showbox at the Market) See Underage.