(Showbox at the Market) What if instead of that Pixies song at the end of Fight Club it had been the Breeders playing while buildings exploded around Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter? Yeah, yeah, it was a great song choice. But I can’t help imagining an alternate reality where millennials were introduced to bassist Kim Deal’s other (better) band through the power of a kinda clichéd movie ending. Would there be a whole crew of magical, fuzzed-out slacker-pop bands fronted by twin sisters ruling the world? The group has been blowing minds on and off since 1990, crafting gorgeous gems with sister harmonies that feel like a warm, lavender-scented bath for my brain. Plus, the openers are an all-mermaid surf band who play songs about salt-water-proof mascara. This is going to be the best night ever. ROBIN EDWARDS
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(Chop Suey) I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—new (mostly) queer-boy Seattle band Sashay channel all the best fuck-it-all-to-hell live performance stylings of icon-punks the Germs. And tonight (drum roll, bitches!) Sashay are releasing their first-ever recording—a lo-fi cassette called Kate Moss Un-Break My Heart. Some of the songs included on Un-Break are “Gaysted,” “Six-Six-Dix,” and “Drag Queen.” Guitarist Mike-Mike describes these songs to me, in order, as being about: “blacked-out queers,” “the number of boys—six hundred and sixty-six—that I have [supposedly] fucked,” and “drag queens who throw serious SHADE.” Of the song “America’s Next Top Bottom,” Mike-Mike tells me, “This one needs no explanation. Well, not unless you’re one of those people who thinks that show Duck Dynasty is real.” Personally, I hope the “punks versus rednecks” feud never dies—especially when they’re GAY punks. With OX and Sayonara. KELLY O
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(Lo-Fi) The shoegaze revival, like any resuscitation of an old subgenre, has its share of honorable legacy-advancers and rote copyists. Thankfully, New York City’s Dead Leaf Echo belong to the former category. Their soaring, sweet melodic rock with breathy male vocals nods in the lank-haired direction of Ride and early Pale Saints and Verve without strictly replicating their DNA. Dead Leaf Echo simply write great songs; they don’t need to rely on armadas of effects pedals to camouflage their inadequate chops, as do many in the shoegaze-revival game. DLE’s 2013 album for Seattle label Neon Sigh, Thought & Language (mixed by Jon Fryer, of Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil fame), ranks as one of the finest in this style of recent times. Speaking of Cocteau Twins, Seattle solo performer Jigsaw Puzzle Glue (aka Leah Rosen) sounds like a more subdued Liz Fraser, as she coos mysteriously over icy, melancholic dream pop. With Stereo Sons and District Flag. DAVE SEGAL
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And here’s all our recommended music events—tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, and beyond!