Thursday 11/27

This year, go for the Tofurky.

Friday 11/28

The Herbaliser, J Boogie's Dubtronic Science, SunTzu Sound

(Nectar) See Data Breaker.

Future Collective

(Gallery 1412) See The Score.

Love Battery, Tom Price Desert Classic, Bug Nasties

(Sunset) Whoa, Love Battery are back? (Oops, I see they played one show in 2006 when I wasn't looking. My bad.) Anyway, in Sub Pop's grunge golden days, Love Battery gleamed like a fluorescent, feathered serpent amid their earthbound brontosaurus brethren honing their Deep Led Sabbath riffs. The Ron Nine–led group's Between the Eyes and Dayglo remain psychedelic twin towers in the Seattle label's voluminous catalog. Love Battery's brand of psych rock eschewed that genre's more flowery aspects for a bruising, cruising approach that made mind expansion seem like a contact sport. It'll be interesting to see if Love Battery (with three original members in the lineup) can resuscitate the prickly tunefulness of their early-'90s peak. DAVE SEGAL

Portugal. The Man, Earl Greyhound, Wintersleep

(El Corazón) Portugal. The Man have developed into an orchestral-rock ensemble embracing classic difficult-third-album ambitions with the new Censored Colors. On the Portland-via-Wasilla quartet's last tour supporting 2007's Church Mouth, they plied a more raucous, punk-inflected style that favored flailing energy over finesse. Now they're stacking angelic and falsetto vocals over sweeping, baroque rock that fans of late-period Beatles and Pink Floyd—or even the Polyphonic Spree—might appreciate. P.TM have smoothed their edges, whittled away their blues proclivities, and inflated their songcraft to grandiose dimensions. It's a bold change, and one that may not endear them to their rowdier fans. Whether you think it's progress depends on your stance on progressive rock. DAVE SEGAL

Pica Beats, the Little Penguins, Exploding High Fives, Red Sea Sharks

(Comet) Fun facts about the Little Penguins! Fact 1: The band are from Seattle and feature ex-members of Vista Vista and Fleet Foxes. Fact 2: The Little Penguins sound only a little bit like Vista Vista and nothing like Fleet Foxes. Fact 3: Erik Blood of the Turn-Ons both produced and occasionally played on the band's new album, Offer You This Cape, which is being celebrated at tonight's CD-release show. Fact 4: The Little Penguins also sound nothing like the Turn-Ons. Fact 5: Offer You This Cape is not as sonically bright as their 2007 debut, Welcome to the Celebration. It still holds a few moments of sunshine and warmth, but on their sophomore release, it sounds like maybe the Pacific Northwest weather got to them... just a bit. Fact 6: You can't be happy all the time, so it works. MEGAN SELING See also Stranger Suggests.

Hanson Brothers, Neutralboy, Pirex

(King Cobra) Vancouver brothers Rob and John Wright are approaching the 30th birthday of their quintessential prog-punk outfit Nomeanso. And while those graying Canucks continue to hone their chops in their primary ensemble, age has not tempered their desire to rock in a more primal fashion. Under the banner of their alter egos—Hanson Brothers—the Wrights churn out traditional, rudimentary punk rock. Eschewing the rhythmic complexities and fretboard dexterity of Nomeanso in favor of Ramones-inspired three-chord anthems, the Wrights reveal the two groups' polar nature—which might disappoint the die-hard fans of either camp. Yet the duality works in the Hanson Brothers' favor. The complexities of Nomeanso legitimize the Bros' simplicity, and their base rock moments humanize their lead project's brainy tendencies. BRIAN COOK

Saturday 11/29

The Sea and Cake, the Uglysuit

(Chop Suey) When seemingly everything else is fraying at the seams and high-tailing it toward the shitter, you can rely on at least one thing remaining stable: the Sea and Cake. The Chicago quartet's lineup—Sam Prekop, John McEntire, Eric Claridge, and Archer Prewitt—hasn't changed in its 15-year history, nor has the sound changed much. Impeccably produced by McEntire and breathily sung by Prekop, their restrained, precise rock seems like a suave gentleman's pastime. As I posited elsewhere, the Sea and Cake = Steely Dan x Stereolab Ă· square root of Tortoise. If that seems like an appealing equation to you, you'll become a lifelong fan of these born-to-be-mild, post-lounge rockers. The Sea and Cake's new album, Car Alarm, is their best since 2007's Everybody. Seriously. DAVE SEGAL

Supersuckers, Green River, Zeke

(Showbox at the Market) This year, long-running country punks the Supersuckers followed up a string of live albums (recorded at locations ranging from the Tractor Tavern to a Whole Foods in New Orleans) with Get It Together!, their first studio album since 2003. Now 20 years into their career, it would be foolish to expect many surprises from Eddie Spaghetti and company, and the Supersuckers don't suffer fools here. If you like their well-established brand of motor-oil-stained, slightly sleazy, shit-kickin' rock 'n' roll, you'll probably like Get It Together!; if you don't, you won't. And if you're not sure if you would, it's probably a little late in the Supersuckers game to be finding out. ERIC GRANDY

Black Whales, Telekinesis!, Discover America

(Sunset) Telekinesis! (aka Michael Benjamin Lerner) recently recorded a full-length with Death Cab for Cutie studio savant Chris Walla, and the results are every bit as sweet sounding as you would expect. Lerner (whose voice at its most emotionally strained sounds not unlike the Arcade Fire's Win Butler) has an ear for bright, easy, slightly retro pop hooks, and his songs take enough unexpected, off-kilter turns to differentiate them from your run-of-the-mill power pop. Live, Lerner plays drums and sings, setting his kit up at the front of the stage, and is joined by a full band. I gave Black Whales a not entirely kind review after seeing them open for the Breeders, but I think that was mostly due to the impossibility of stacking up against the Deals—the band consist of solid musicians, their frontman is pretty classically dreamy, and even if they're not exactly remarkable, they're pleasant enough. ERIC GRANDY

Sunday 11/30

The Decemberists, Loch Lomond

(Moore) See It's a Hit.

The Missionary Position, the Liars Club, Blood Red Dancers, Sunday Bloody Sunset

(Sunset, early show) Track one on Blood Red Dancers' self-released EP Let Him Fight, I'll Be in the Breadline, "Sweetie's Gettin' Mobbed," recalls Folk Implosion's "Natural One." It doesn't sound that similar musically (it's slower, deconstructed, and heavily laced with nods to old blues music), but the attitude's similar. It starts with a deep, coarse bass line, which feels like it's going deeper than it should—and like the Folk Implosion tune, it's cocky and creepy, the perfect soundtrack to your walk down the dark hallway with a dude you know you shouldn't be walking down a dark hallway with. The rest of the six-song EP doesn't catch as much as "Sweetie's Gettin' Mobbed," but it's still an impressive effort from a local band that's especially fitting these days, during an economically fucked winter in the Pacific Northwest—dark, desperate music for dark, desperate times. MEGAN SELING

Monday 12/1

Metallica, the Sword

(KeyArena) See preview.

Dub Trio, Black Cobra, Middle Class Rut, Witchburn

(El CorazĂłn) Brooklyn's Dub Trio answer in the affirmative the question: Can musicians throw devil horns while clutching a bong and still be taken seriously? They wield brawny metallic rock and dub with equal fervor, like a less velocity-obsessed Bad Brains. The group's dexterous, mercurial drummer, Joe Tomino, used to play with insane flamboyance in a Cleveland jazztronica band called Birth; with Dub Trio he's a bit more reined in, but you can hear his inventiveness straining at this unit's more structured approach. Dub Trio's albums on ROIR and Ipecac feature sporadic flashes of dub brilliance and much solid, undazzling metal. But live, reportedly, they're awesome. DAVE SEGAL

Wu-Tang Clan

(Showbox Sodo) What can be said of Wu-Tang Clan that I, myself, have not already said repeatedly, vigorously, and with hyperbolic abandon in this very publication? They are the greatest band of all time, a group of staggeringly dominant collective talents with—when properly aligned—an unparalleled ability to make real the fever dreams of their creative mania. Last year's controversially squabbled-over 8 Diagrams was not as epochally devastating as their first two records, but it was an excellently executed and creatively restless effort, and bore the happy traces of venerable artists still wholly engaged and alive in their work. This being the first official "8 Diagrams Tour" (the Clan's last outing was RZA-less and composed entirely of older songs), it could, one hopes, present a group-unified reappraisal of the album. SAM MICKENS See also Stranger Suggests.

Mad Rad, White Fang, Man Party

(Funhouse) Despite the suggestive band name, Man Party is neither an all-male flesh flick nor the latest night from the promoters behind Comeback!—although uninhibited dancing seems almost certain to break out tonight. The ingredients are all familiar—fat synthesizer sounds, robot vocals, phased guitars, loping beats—yet this Seattle quartet's knack for catchy tunes and spacey arrangements sets them apart. On their self-released five-song EP The Tiger Game, these four dudes nail rudimentary pleasure centers with more accuracy than Ratatat and fewer bells and whistles than Daft Punk. They also show more than passing familiarity with (and a willingness to pervert) classic-rock clichĂ©s. Live, expect something sweatier and raunchy from Man Party. KURT B. REIGHLEY

Tuesday 12/2

Barcelona, Low vs Diamond

(Neumos) They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and the same rule should probably be applied to judging a band by its name. Low vs Diamond is a downright silly moniker for a fantastic band whose elegant pop grandeur is perfectly balanced by a meaty energy that keeps the songs from floating off into Coldplay-land. They're also perfectly balanced on this tour, which includes the equally sublime stylings of Seattle's own Barcelona. With the gloomy season in full effect, both bands' yearning, dynamic songs provide the kind of sonic pick-me-up necessary to make it through the next few months—a musical reminder that there are blue skies lurking behind those dark gray clouds. BARBARA MITCHELL

Wednesday 12/3

Young Buck, Young Soprano, Trama, Diggz Dimez, Logics

(El CorazĂłn) See My Philosophy.

Studio! A Weekly Gay-Ass Disco Party

(Havana) A night for true disco (Italo and otherwise) heads, Studio! shines with stellar selections by Pat Les Stache, Ben Cook (recent California transplant and owner of the excellent Rong Music), and H.M.A. If this were New York City circa 1978, these guys would be playing to at least 2,000 mad-for-it dancers a week. In Seattle circa now, there's usually room to swing an extra-long chartreuse feather boa without any chance of hitting somebody. Something's wrong with this picture, but it's definitely not with the tracks these savvy DJs spin. DAVE SEGAL