THURSDAY 2/16

JOSEPHINE FOSTER, MI AND L'AU, VIVIAN LINDEN
(Sunset) See preview, page 32, and Border Radio, page 45.

TRAVIS WARD & JUNKYARD BANDSTAND, HEROES AND VILLAINS, CHUCKANUT DRIVE
(Tractor) Portland's Heroes and Villains owe less to Brian Wilson's Smile-era "psychedelic barbershop" opus than you'd expect. Much like their hometown neighbors the Decemberists, this quintet weave a literate brand of pop music with one foot firmly planted in antiquated imagery like sailing ships and silent films. Unlike the Decemberists though, Heroes and Villains are far from pretentious and their glockenspiel-seasoned sea shanties, shuffles, and sing-alongs are casual and inviting. JOSH BLANCHARD

FRIDAY 2/17

REGGIE AND THE FULL EFFECT, COMMON DENOMINATOR, FLUXATION
(El Corazón) See Underage, page 54.

PEARLS AND BRASS, PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND, HONEY HUSH, MONSTROUS
(Funhouse) See preview, page 32.

BLACK JAPAN, GROWING HABITS, A LARGE DISASTROUS FIRE, MOSHI MOSHI
(Old Fire House) Long dormant Black Japan have awakened and not a moment too soon. The duo were tearing up clubs around town just a year ago and curating a lounge-y experimental house show space, Drone Hill, not too long before. Their last few shows before going underground were a rapturously harsh progression of their electronic crackle sounds. What better night for a return than headlining a showcase of the Eastside's youth-noise revolt? Growing Habits' lumbering rhythms are twisted with tape loops, eerie vocal incantations, and effects-saturated guitar feedback. Piloted by Mikaela's Fiend guitarist Chris Ando, GH represents a next step in Redmond's secret art-rock discourse. SCOTT GOODWIN

VISQUEEN, RED FANG
(Crocodile) When I was a wee young thing, I conceived a simplistic but passionate theory that music was like food. "You need to have a balanced musical diet!" I told my mother, insisting that the Beatles were grilled cheese and Bach was akin to green leafy vegetables. That belief continues, albeit slightly more jaded and refined: Mariah Carey is Nutrasweet-flavored cotton candy; Big Black is four-star Thai food. With this in mind, I hereby declare Red Fang to be one of the best fucking cheeseburgers you've ever had. Former members of Party Time, Bad Wizard, and the Last of the Juanitas have unleashed some of the most potent hard rock I've heard since Big Business. Prepare to have your face melted off. HANNAH LEVIN

IRVING, SQUID VS. SHARK, INTERNATIONAL FALLS
(Department of Safety, Anacortes) Following the thoughtful, indie-pop simplicity of 2003's well-received I Hope You're Feeling Better Now EP, L.A.'s Irving hit the studio with ol' platinum Phil Ek, and others, to record their sophomore album, the beefed-up Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers. The result? The hulking 13 tracks of Death effectively crush all of the subtle charms of the previous platter—replacing them with hip-shaking pop fodder that's roughly as digestible as it is forgettable. Indie pop's answer to the Dandy Warhols? Sometimes things are better left alone. ZAC PENNINGTON

THE SEX PISTOLS EXPERIENCE, DREADFUL CHILDREN, BABY DESTRUCTO, SPACE CRETINS
(Studio Seven) When was the last time you listened to L.A. Guns? Assuming Tracy Guns and company haven't grazed your eardrums since they requested "Sex Action" back in the mid-'80s, I encourage you to take a brief look back. Sure, they weren't quite as feral as Axl and Slash's crew, but they had a dirty, cantankerous snarl and married raw aggression to a decent sense of melody and hookiness. Space Cretins achieve a similarly successful fusion, but err more on the punk-rock side of the equation—think Johnny Thunders and Nikki Sixx in a particularly ugly bar brawl. HANNAH LEVIN

CRAIG WEDREN, THE DEAD SCIENCE, COLLAPSING OPPOSITES
(Paradox) Best known for his falsetto-defying vocal acrobatics as frontman for Shudder to Think (whose Pony Express Record is one of the greatest albums of the '90s), Craig Wedren has kept busy since the band's 1998 breakup. Continuing his former band's penchant for idiosyncratic film soundtracking, Wedren has been responsible for a handful of scores—most notably School of Rock and Wet Hot American Summer (yes, including the "Higher and Higher" song)—as well as the bizarre R&B of his latest band proper, Baby. Currently touring behind his first solo record, the more conventional Lapland, Wedren is joined tonight by Seattle's Dead Science, who will also back him for the remainder of his West Coast jaunt. ZAC PENNINGTON

C-RAYZ WALZ, MUDKIDS, KAYO, DJ INDIANA JONES, DJ HELICON
(Vera Project) C-Rayz Walz may be proven by history to be one of the greatest New York MCs of his generation. With a voice sometimes reminiscent of his labelmate (and similarly monumental talent) Vast Aire, C-Rayz has focused a long history of deep-underground rapping and legendary freestyling abilities into a rich but itchingly exciting style. He flirts with the lunatic fringe like the ODB, but never loses himself in mania; his is a composed, architectural mind in work and play. His two full-lengths for future-defining indie Def Jux show him as an artist of intense momentum, visceral humor, and throbbing connection to the streets of NYC. SAM MICKENS

SATURDAY 2/18

GOOD CLEAN FUN, THIS TIME TOMORROW, SHOOK ONES, DRAGLINE
(Vera Project) As Good Clean Fun say themselves, they're putting the "ha" back in hardcore. On their new record, Between Christian Rock and a Hard Place, nothing is sacred, as they mock everything from MySpace pansies to themselves. "I know that websites don't kill/But sometimes they will/Sometimes they will break hearts," goes their joke ballad "The MySpace Song." "I know that I'm an adult, but Tom it's your fault/You created a monster!" Not all songs are acoustic weepy numbers, though. They bring back the classic hardcore sing-alongs too. In "Positive Hardcore," they scream "We are a positive hardcore band! We are ready to take a stand! We know the future's in all our hands! We are a positive hardcore!" Oh, Good Clean Fun, you're hilarious. MEGAN SELING

ARCHER PREWITT, IRVING, THE M'S
(Crocodile) The M's exude big-city cool while playing catchy garage rock, meaning this group is to Chicago what the Strokes are to New York. Yet despite a critically touted debut, the M's remain under the radar, which is where similarities with the never-underrated Strokes end. The Windy City quartet's bright harmonies, ingratiating hooks, and festive horn accents make their songs genuinely inviting. (Headliner Archer Prewitt boasts the same Midwestern warmth and melodic acumen.) The group's new, second disc, Future Women, plays like a kaleidoscopic Kinks career overview, on which artful psychedelic numbers collide with urgent, jagged-riffed stompers. ANDREW MILLER

DAYLIGHT BASEMENT, NO FI SOUL REBELLION, TEA FOR JULIE
(High Dive) The High Dive has created a safe haven for indie rockers amid the frat-boy haven of Fremont (no small feat). Tonight's lineup of three up-and-coming Northwest bands is no exception, and is made especially noteworthy by the appearance of Portland's Tea for Julie, a four-piece whose 2005 debut, Division, earned them a solid KEXP-fueled fan base for their sonorous, Brit-pop inspired melodies. According to the band's website (www.teaforjulie.com), they are working on new material for a summer 2006 release. Let's hope they'll be trying out a few new ones for their Seattle fans. DANA BOS

SUNDAY 2/19

BLEEDING THROUGH, EVERY TIME I DIE
(Neumo's) For smitten fans, the title of Bleeding Through's 2002 album, Portrait of the Goddess, applies nicely to the sultry shot of the group's Seattle-born keyboardist Marta that appears in Revolver's "Hottest Chicks in Metal" 2006 calendar. Some advice for her suitors: She considers gum and smoking "turnoffs," she dislikes "boy-shaped bodies" (which eliminates many of metalcore's emaciated emo-dude followers), and she's a vegetarian. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to study Bleeding Through's blistering new release, The Truth, on which Marta's elegant melodies chill the thrash attack, like glaciers plopped into a hellfire pit. ANDREW MILLER

MICE PARADE, TOM BROSSEAU, GRAIG MARKEL
(Chop Suey) If Mice Parade's 2004 full-length, Obrigado Saudade, doesn't conjure images of silent wilderness and distant horizons, we should all probably take stock of what medications we're on. Mice Parade's long-standing catalyst Adam Pierce has an uncanny knack for producing such aural landscapes with his progressive jazz/pop compositions, plus a notable ability to lend it all an arresting spontaneity. GRANT BRISSEY

PLANET ASIA, CASUAL, MASTA ACE, FLLI STYLZ, DJ E-ROCK
(Studio Seven) Planet Asia lyrically labels himself a "young independent black entrepreneur," and he justifies that job description. While running his label, Gold Chain, Asia assembled his Medi-Cali trilogy, with The Sickness, The Diagnosis, and The Medicine scheduled to appear in 2006. On this tour, he's performing solo as well as reuniting with Rasco, his erstwhile Cali Agents partner. Rhyming over bouncy bass drops and symphonic soul samples, the Fresno-based MC clarifies he's not a "space-age mark," one of those willfully weird MCs that clutters underground mix tapes. Instead, he uses his vast vocabulary to describe ordinary situations and (his own) extraordinary skills. ANDREW MILLER

THE SUFFERING FUCKHEADS
(Sunset) Fetching moniker aside, these jazz-punks are no dummies. Forged from the minds of some of the city's most progressive players (including members of Crack Sabbath, Quasi Nada, and Zony Mash), the Suffering Fuckheads purvey a brand of seizure-inducing chaos that would be a fitting soundtrack for a serial-killer rampage or an acid overdose. Highly recommended for rockers who "don't get jazz" (provided you don't mind waking up in a straightjacket or the electric chair). HANNAH LEVIN

MONDAY 2/20

ZOLAR X, THE SQUIRRELS, THE SACRED TRUTHS, SPACE CREATURES FROM THE YEAR 3000
(El Corazón) The bizarre, near decade-long history of Los Angeles glamsters Zolar X had been unjustly forgotten by most reasonable people for close to a quarter of a century—until Alternative Tentacles shed some merciful light on the band via the 2004 anthology Timeless. Taking Bowie's Ziggy-era alien theme to its ridiculous extreme, Zolar X were a perfect product of '70s California: somewhere between a proto-glam-metal band and a real-life amassment of obscure Hanna-Barbera villains, the quartet seem primarily known for their ridiculous costumery—glittery body suits, giant platforms, Vulcan/Brian Jones–style wigs, My Favorite Martian antennas, etc. Zolar X might come off like glam's answer to Spinal Tap... because, well, they sort of are. ZAC PENNINGTON

AWOL ONE, DADDY KEV & SPECIAL GUESTS
(Rainbow) Slanguage (2003) by AWOL One and Daddy Kev was a rambled and paranoid hiphop upchuck of modern rap and indecipherable jazz-vinyl beats, puked down a bucket that was experimentally off-tone and often awful. Which was excellent. The air of underground hiphop and weeded-out surrealism would've been massive if sold to the right subcultures, like freak-folk was last year. Of course, great songs are made from titles like "Bladder Sweat AKA Colon Soup Rockin' the Mic" and "Grey Skies in Psycho-Delic RGB." There's a new one out? Called Killafornia? Sweet. GUY FAWKES

TUESDAY 2/21

BILL FRISELL'S UNSPEAKABLE ORCHESTRA
(Tractor) In the last 10 years, Bill Frisell has shifted from being a relatively unknown career experimental guitarist to a huge-selling, Grammy-winning exponent of a very personal row of jazz Americana. Unspeakable (a 2004 Grammy winner) brought Frisell to a level of sustained inspiration and fiery playing that none of his more muted, gentle albums of recent years had attained. With the inclusion of a string trio (all brilliant composers and improvisers in their own right), rusted-sound über-producer Hal Wilner, and more rhythmic urgency than Frisell had dealt with for some time, the album delivers potently. This performance, featuring the same ensemble, should prove equally formidable. SAM MICKENS

THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES, BIG BUSINESS, FEDERATION X
(Crocodile) Any self-respecting rock enthusiast would rather do community service than miss this show. Big Business might not play as a duo again soon, 'cause the next time you see them live they'll likely be helping disturb the more tepid ranks of the audience as members of the Melvins. The last time Federation X played Seattle, an amplifier's electrical short halted one of this city's best distorted-punk/blues sets in months. Their shit's probably fixed by now, and there's no telling when Big Business will play again. What's your excuse? GRANT BRISSEY

THE WEDDING PRESENT, TIM FITE
(Neumo's) The Wedding Present are so good they've bracketed a career with the adrenalized indie pop of 1987's George Best and the heart-smashed Seattle-gone-spaghetti-western relationship death of 2005's Take Fountain, and filled in the middle bits with John Peel sessions, a single a month for a year, a transatlantic move from Leeds to Seattle, and the Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday," which is possibly the greatest cover ever. Last time they were in town, they sang about Larry's and I-5, and played guitars like you'd throw a rock at a window of an ex-girlfriend, and it was wonderful. Welcome home. GUY FAWKES

WEDNESDAY 2/22

KISS TRIBUTE W/RAZREZ, KANE HODDER, SHAWN SMITH, SUNDAY NIGHT BLACKOUT, FRIEL BROTHERS, MOS GENERATOR, KEY NOTE SPEAKER, SPANISH FOR 100, MOC MOC, PATROL
(Chop Suey) I hate Kiss. They're not interesting (despite pyrotechnics, platform boots, and kitty-cat face paint), they're not that great of a metal band (or rock band, for that matter), and certain members are Republican!? So gross. But as Kiss lovers will attest, when Kiss do something, they do it all the way. And apparently that's what's admirable. Tonight will no doubt follow the same suit, as many of the bands covering the, ahem, legendary act are fanatics. Kane Hodder, Razrez, Mos Generator... they're all going to put on one hell of a show worth witnessing, even if you can't stand the inspiration. MEGAN SELING