IDENTITY FESTIVAL
Identity Festival is one of those traveling extravaganzas in the vein of the old Coachella and Warped tours, but with higher bpm and more glow sticks and cuddle puddles (these hoary rave tropes never get old). The concept is to gather a massive, motley crew of popular artists and give almost everyone a lot of something, preferably in the great outdoors... for a hefty fee. So this year's Identity offers the Nerf™ house of Kaskade; the fat-bottomed, wobbly brostep of Rusko; the smart, cheerful streamlined house of Booka Shade; the post–New Order electro disco of Holy Ghost!; the soulful, seductive stadium dance music of Pretty Lights; the past-its-sell-by-date funky breaks of the Crystal Method; and more—many more than you can shake a taut ass at. Hydrate and stretch adequately. Godspeed you, young raver. Gorge Amphitheatre, 1 pm, $50–$200, all ages.
MEXICANS WITH GUNS, TAKE
If mega fests in nature aren't your thing, you can hit up Chop Suey the same night for Mexicans with Guns, San Antonio, Texas, producer Ernest Gonzales, whose rambunctious, infectious bass music works the low and high ends of the sound spectrum with WWE-esque drama. Supporting him is Take, aka former Seattle beatmaker Sweatson Klank, who dropped an excellent album last year on Alpha Pup titled Only Mountain. Like many in Los Angeles' febrile post-hiphop incubator, Take fashions an array of vivid textures, off-kilter funk beats, and moving melodies for tracks that are at once earthy and spacey. With adopt-ahighway and Trashy Trash DJs. Chop Suey, 9 pm, $8 adv/$12 DOS, 21+.
SPANK ROCK
Most people will be going to WaMu tonight for Ke$ha, but the real badasses on the bill are Spank Rock. (LMFAO? GTFO.) The Baltimore group specialize in XXX-centric electro rap; see 2006's YoYoYoYoYo for a fresh renovation of that style. The subsequent Bangers & Cash EP jocked 2 Live Crew's crude, leering steez, but cuts I've heard from Spank Rock's forthcoming album, Everything Is Boring and Everyone Is a Fucking Liar, sound more vital than that misstep. The Freedia collab "Nasty" is hella galvanic electro bounce and "Energy" wisely rides a chunky sample from Can's oddly funky "Vitamin C." So get there early. With LMFAO. WaMu Theater, 7:30 pm, $47.50, all ages.
