MEDESKI, MARTIN & WOOD, KARL DENSON'S TINY UNIVERSE
(Paramount) I first saw Medeski, Martin & Wood in late 1995 in Menlo Park, California. Back then, Menlo Park was already overrun by nerd millionaires and code monkeys, and MMW was billed as the official band of the geek revolution. Sure enough, MMW brought the right sound for that sold-out show--a thumping, organ-heavy mix between Phish and Jimmy Smith that seemed just as cutting-edge as dogfood.com and mycolon.org. But the bubble has since burst for those companies, and MMW is likewise facing a rough patch: Half of the people in that group's high-tech fan base have either committed hara-kiri or gone back to live with their parents, and those who are left are graduating to straight jazz or reverting to crunchier jam bands like the String Cheese Incident. That said, I believe that MMW will find its place in the music world--the trio is too good, and has been too tight for too long, to simply dissolve. NATHAN THORNBURGH

AIKO SHIMADA, AWKWARD STAR, TABLET
(Rainbow) Tonight is a night of strange pairings at the Rainbow. The headliner is Aiko Shimada, whose Japanese folk songs are backed by a jazz band. Tight and rhythmically complex, the band members groove and solo as Shimada's vocals lilt and linger. Awkward Star is a brooding piece of avant-pop by HipSync Records co-founder Rik Wright. Awkward Star, to be blunt, is pretentious, and Rik Wright is like a lifeless Bill Frisell. Opening is Tablet, featuring DJ J-Justice on the turntable and Bill Horist on guitar. Though I'm a big fan of Horist and his other projects, Tablet still hasn't solidified as a duo. Don't worry too much about arriving late to this show. KREG HASEGAWA

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS, THE MODEL ROCKETS, ROY LONEY & THE LONGSHOTS, CHRIS AND TAD
(Crocodile) Tonight may well prove to be a watershed moment in the history of rock and roll. It has been a few years since Roy Loney has graced our city. A legend among connoisseurs of rock music (he started the Flaming Groovies back in '65), Roy brings true style to his performance, shaking and shuffling like he isn't a day over 12 years old. The Longshots are the only band in history that could do justice to Loney's heartbreaking ode to unrequited love, "Second Cousin," and Roy's oft-covered "Teenage Head," the song that launched a thousand garage bands. The rest of tonight's bill reads like a veritable who's who of local, loony rock mayhem. Sure to be a crowd-pleasing good time. NATE LEVIN

HOG MOLLY, CUTTHROATS 9, THE LOAD LEVELERS
(Breakroom) The new Kool Arrow Records release from Hog Molly is Kung Fu Cocktail Grip, which is an apt title for the band's style, and an appropriate point of entry for any discussion about the ridiculous, albeit enormously talented butt-metal onslaught that is Tad's Hog Molly. For the uninitiated, Tad is the Tad--big, scary Seattle grunge legend and local hero to showgoers who like rock music that is ridiculously loud and characterized by quick changes and technical proficiency. It's always the same experience at a Hog Molly show: Dudes (many with unironic mullets and tight jeans) and chicks (often the sort who appreciate the virtues of dirty white leather pocketbooks stuffed-to-bursting) show up, excited to get drunk, scream, laugh, and headbang for roughly 45 minutes. The hipsters come to witness a spectacle and a piece of history. All go home, ears ringing, usually to dry heave and have sex. JEFF DeROCHE

ALIEN CRIME SYNDICATE, SHUGGIE, THE TURN ONS
(EMP) How often do you get the opportunity to see three kick-ass local bands at the low, low price of $5, at an all-ages show WITH A BAR? No, you're not dreaming. Tonight the folks at the EMP have thrown together a bill that will restore your faith in rock and roll. Alien Crime Syndicate brings arena rock down to a manageable club level, Shuggie puts on the boogie with its particular blend of stoner rock, and the Turn Ons work serious glam. Bring your lighters and prepare to have fun, fun, fun. BARBARA MITCHELL

LOW, DANIELSON FAMILE
(Paradox) The epitome of quirky, members of the former Tooth & Nail band Danielson Famile have been known to perform while dressed in monogrammed nurses outfits and surgical scrubs as frontman Daniel sings from within the confines of a 10-foot-tall papier-mché tree. The lore goes that the band began as a senior-thesis project while Daniel was at Rutgers University. Since, the Famile has released at least three albums, and a new one (recorded by Chris Palladino and engineered by Steve Albini) titled Fetch the Compass Kids is due out this spring on Secretly Canadian records. KATHLEEN WILSON

ORBITER, SUSHI ROBO, GRAIG MARKEL
(Sit & Spin) As the winter drags on into what should be approaching summer, it's easy to be down on Seattle. Here's a bill to remind you what makes this town great: four veteran artists who continue to create innovative music with new outfits. Orbiter revolves around the talents of Hammerbox's Harris Thurmond and Goodness' Fiia McGann, while Sushi Robo's out-there guitar-stylings (I dare you to find another local band that has so many audience members furrowing their brows while staring at the band members' pedal boards) features original Posie Rick Roberts. Former New Sweet Breath mastermind Graig Markel rounds out a night of great, listenably left-of-center music. BARBARA MITCHELL

JOEL R. L. PHELPS, HER LAST ARROW, SPARROWS
(Sunset Tavern) Joel R. L. Phelps has a beautiful voice and has sustained what is becoming a lengthy career, through Silkworm, as a solo artist, and even with Einheit. On Inland Empires, the Seattle-based singer-songwriter decided to make six of the seven tracks cover songs, among them tunes by Steve Earle and Iris Dement. It's a fine record, worth hearing for the quality of Phelps' delivery--a rich, wide-open plaint that compels your attention in the manner that Chan Marshall of Cat Power does for her listeners. Whiny can be a beautiful thing, especially when it sounds honest and the words are smart, and Phelps is in possession of the kind of clear, pitch-perfect vocal warble that indie rock is founded upon, like a more desperate (or just less stoned) Neil Young. Lastly, if you live in Seattle and don't know who Joel R. L. Phelps is, you really need to get out more. JEFF DeROCHE

HELL'S BELLES, POST STARDOM DEPRESSION, THE RAZORBABES
(Showbox) Hell's Belles plays AC/DC covers. The band is all women, and they rock, in case you've been living under one (a rock, that is, not a woman). For a geek like me who never sufficiently appreciated AC/DC in those hormonal years when the band is best enjoyed, the Belles can seem to bushwhack new trails through what got thrown in with a lot of weaker material that first time you heard it. My friend Mike Toschi, THE former biggest AC/DC fanatic in the Puget Sound region, says Hell's Belles plays all the best stuff (except, I opine, "Jailbreak"). Plus, these women are corporate-globalization savvy: Tonight's version of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap will no doubt wave a middle-fingered farewell in the direction of Boeing CEO Phil Condit. Om Johari is a goddess. This is good, smart fun. GRANT COGSWELL

SANFORD ARMS, MARC OLSEN, JOHN RODERICK
(Sunset Tavern) Hallelujah for the return of Sanford Arms. Three years ago, this wistful-sounding act with a sadly mournful accordion lit the local flame for bands annexing the traditional rock triumvirate of bass/drums/guitar. Sanford Arms is led by Alcohol Funnycar frontman/current EMP curator Ben London on guitar and vocals, and, with its sound firmly rooted with one foot in indie rock and the other in alt country, appeals to the downtown and Ballard crowds alike. KATHLEEN WILSON

ARDOIN FAMILY CAJUN BAND
(Tractor Tavern) Driving through the endless heart of Louisiana can be a disorienting experience. Especially if you venture into a roadside juke joint. There's nothing like a Cajun band singing in Creole French while squeezing the life out of an accordion to make you feel you took a wrong turn and fell back in time and off the map. For decades now, in one form or another, the Ardoin Family Cajun Band from Eunice, Louisiana, has played traditional and modern Cajun, African Creole, and Zydeco music for audiences all over the globe. But when the family gets to playing its crazy, boisterous, good-time dance music, you're going to be made to believe that you're standing on an acre of swamp Napoleon Bonaparte should never have let slip away. So come on out and laissez les bon temps rouler! TAMARA PARIS

MARCIA BALL, SHEILA WILCOXSON
(EMP) Thirty years ago, a young pianist from Vinton, Louisiana, paused in Austin on her way to San Francisco, and decided to stay. Over three decades later, Marcia Ball is arguably the most successful and respected Texas-based blueswoman in the country, and her prominence is well deserved; with her fusion of blues, Southern R&B, Cajun, and Louisiana-style swamp rock--leavened with a powerful singing voice, impressive stage presence, and finely honed songwriting skills--Ball has become as influential in the Austin blues community as Austin has been on her music. In short, she's not to be missed, whether you're a blues fan or not. This show is part of EMP's Women of the Blues series, which also includes Candye Kane and Tracy Nelson. GENEVIEVE WILLIAMS

DEAD MOON, THE RUBY DOE, WATERY GRAVES
(Sit & Spin) In addition to attending this show, fans of the Northwest's legendary Dead Moon should tune their computers to www.dcn.com on Friday, April 13, where the band will webcast live from Portland's Satyricon. The set that night is scheduled to feature a one-night-only reunion of Fred's King Bee, which will surely be a treat for the faithful and curious alike. KATHLEEN WILSON

TRAIN
(Benaroya Hall) Train owes a hell of a lot to some of the bands it has opened for in the past, like Blues Traveler, Barenaked Ladies, and the Counting Crows, but Train deserves its share of credit, too. The band's second album, Drops of Jupiter, was released earlier this year and proves that while Train might not be the most original group, its brand of radio-ready roots rock is as seamless and compelling as anything else out there. I'm not quite sure why the band is playing at Benaroya Hall, but the place has fine acoustics, and Train, as always, will be making it all look and sound so easy. NATHAN THORNBURGH

FAIRGROVE
(Easy Street Records--West Seattle) With a new bassist and (according to the band's frontman, Jay Harrison) a decidedly new agenda for its sound, Seattle's Fairgrove is moving in a heavier, harder direction. If the group's last show was any indication, Fairgrove is taking its mission seriously. Though the audience was thin and relatively subdued, the band was huge--hyperbolic and boundlessly energetic, as though we were at Wembley Arena and not Graceland. I wonder how the relatively close quarters at Easy Street are going to house the band's relentless showmanship. JEFF DeROCHE

CARISSA'S WIERD
(Sonic Boom Records) This in-store appearance would've been an all-ages release party for Carissa's Wierd's second record, You Should Be at Home Here. Sadly, the event was canceled at the last moment, blowing a hole in Up & Coming. So when we learned that the appearance was rescheduled for Monday, April 30, we decided to give you some advance notice. Mark your calendars. JEFF DeROCHE

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER
(Jazz Alley) The entire precariousness of jazz today can be summed up in vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater's career. She came up in the '60s and '70s, when jazz was ignoring its vocalists, and mainstream America was ignoring jazz. So, long on talent though she was, Bridgewater had to flee to Paris like a latter-day Josephine Baker before getting any respect. Now, after a long exile, Bridgewater is back, having finally won a broad American audience and even a Grammy. But even those successes came off of tribute albums--one to Horace Silver and one to Ella Fitzgerald--proving that even when jazz appeal does pick up these days, it's most likely poisoned by nostalgia. That's a shame, because Bridgewater is a great singer and good thinker; it would be gratifying to see her find success with her own material. NATHAN THORNBURGH

THE COMBUSTION COLLECTIVE
(Tractor Tavern) Seldom do two ideas find such cozy symbiosis. Combustion, especially spontaneous combustion, requires a perfect melding of forces and a precise mix of chemical reactions to come to fruition in a resulting blaze that can bring thrill to those with a certain pyrotechnic fetish. The collective reigns among humankind's greatest social achievements. Part commune, part revolutionary vanguard, the collective threatens (promises?) to replace the biological family and our tired old political parties as our primary mode of organization in the future. When brought together in a beautiful you've-got-your-peanut butter-in-my-chocolate waltz, these two forces should prove to be nothing short of incendiary. NATE LEVIN

ROCK THE BOAT
(Graceland) Tonight's assortment of DJs, visuals, and live music (from Ivory Smith, Anna Saskia, Sugartown, and Dolly Lemon & Leroy) benefits the Kalakala Foundation, whose ambitious goal it is to repurpose the historic, ghostly ferry as the city's most historic, ghostly performance space. If you're even thinking of spending eight bucks to see The Adventures of Joe Dirt, here's a shot at redemption. JASON PAGANO