HAUSU AND AIRBORNE UNDERPANTS

Formed at Reed College in late 2010, indie-pop four-piece Hausu (named after the 1977 Japanese horror film/Technicolor hell ride) are now on summer break. Luckily, that means touring for the dour quartet (even opening for New York post-punk outfit the Men) and recording new songs, a first since the release of last February's self-titled EP. I can easily imagine Seattle-bred frontman Ben Funkhouser (formerly of Herr Jazz), his worship of Morrissey and Scottish jangle-pop band Orange Juice unabashed, in a slightly unbuttoned women's blouse, swaying with a bouquet of flowers on an episode of The Old Grey Whistle Test. The group's actual stage presence is a bit more bumbling than that: I once saw Funkhouser drag out the sound check long enough for him to turn up five or six times. But we could hear him, and with that, the ladies and gents were fainting like Sabbatic Goats. Expect a heck of a lot of doomed romantics and airborne underpants. With the Numbs and Pleasure Beauties. Cairo, 8 pm, $5.

SEACATS' WHIMSICAL ROCK AND SO YOU THINK YOU CAN SLEEP'S COMMUNIST PUNK

The Fusion Cafe may not be your favorite hip new venue. Located inside the YMCA building downtown, the space feels much more like the conference room it is than your friend's basement. It's also been around since 2001 and has seen everyone from Modest Mouse to the Blood Brothers before they hit it big. Though it may not be the most ideal space for a show (audio engineers run from the place), it holds a certain charm when filled with the right bands and people. Seacats are from Kelso, Washington. You would expect nothing good to come out of the town: It's a postindustrial wasteland. You certainly wouldn't expect the bright, whimsical indie rock of Seacats, chock-full of hand claps and whiskey-twang. Seacats and their crunchy pop nuggets will be joined by Vancouver's So You Think You Can Sleep, in their first Seattle appearance. Forming their own notch in the Northwestern legacy of progressive punk, SYTYCS combine lyrics almost verbatim from the Communist Manifesto ("Profit Is the Product of Unbalanced Exchange, Wealth Is the Product of Labor") with emotive '90s riffs. With Special Explosion, Muscle Tower, and Neighbors. Fusion Cafe, 8 pm, $3–$6.