It seems like Lightning Bolt and Andrew W.K. were playing head to head on the same night here just yesterday, but Thursday, May 24, brings another bass-and-drums noise-punk duo to the Vera while another NYC longhair presides over a concurrent dance party at Chop Suey. Eerie, right? Only this time it's Brooklyn's Japanther rocking the Vera project and veteran DJ Tommie Sunshine playing at Club Pop. Japanther and Lightning Bolt are equal forces, but recovered hard-partyer Tommie Sunshine—who's remixed everyone from atrocious mall punks Fall Out Boy to obscure electro collective Crack: We Are Rock—would pretty much have to fall off the wagon to put on a worse show than AWK's goofy Sing Sing debacle. Just like the last time this sort of thing happened, there's plenty of time to hit the Vera early and still make it to Club Pop late.

The Blakes, who only look and sound like they're from New York, recently signed to local label Light in the Attic. The Blakes become the third active band on the reissue-crazed label's roster, joining the Texas drone rockers the Black Angels and Seattle prank hoppers the Saturday Knights. All three bands are playing at the Sasquatch! Music Festival, May 26—27. Blakes drummer Bob Husak told The Stranger's Jonathan Zwickel, "We were getting interest from a lot of labels... we got flown to L.A., we played South by Southwest, and finally met Matt [Sullivan, founder of LITA] and this local label, and we realized that this is the guy and this is the label." The band are set to release an EP this summer followed by—what else?—a deluxe reissue of their self-released debut LP.

Speaking of dusting off old records, you may want to pull out that neglected copy of Seaweed's Spanaway. Tacoma's grunge-era heavyweights (dude, they were on the Clerks soundtrack) are gearing up for a recently announced reunion show to take place September 2 at the EMP Sky Church as part of this year's Bumbershoot Festival. "The band is shockingly thrilled to get back together and play in front of our friends and fans once again," according to their announcement, and "the best Seaweed album is yet to come." They're currently working on new material for an album tentatively titled Small Engine Repair. Better tentative title: Restart With (2007).

I missed Pissed Jeans' May 18 show at the Sunset, but I've been thoroughly immersed in the band's forthcoming Sub Pop album, Hope for Men, due out June 5. It's a cacophonous, antisocial mess, and it's awesome. Hopefully they'll be back through town soon. Also on heavy rotation from Sub Pop right now is Handsome Furs' recently released Plague Park. The Wolf Parade side project (finally, another one!) finds guitarist Dan Boeckner and fiancée Alexei Perry surrounding the former's haunted elegies with oddly chipper synths, dutiful drum machines, and spare acoustic guitar. It's at times desolate and depressed, at times elevating and joyous, gorgeous and catchy throughout.

Lastly, Beirut's Gulag Orkestar and Lon Gisland are brilliant, talked-to-death records, but I may have discovered a less-well-explored aspect to them: They're both great background music when entertaining your folks for a weekend. recommended