WICKED & WILD
(I-Spy) This dancehall reggae night used to be at the Art Bar until it had to close its doors, and dancehall fans everywhere have been wandering the streets without that gorgeously peppy and smooth dancehall sound. Tonight is the show's inaugural night at I-Spy, with fully adept DJs Soul One and KutFather, and judging from Wicked & Wild's consistent success at Art Bar, there will be many more Wicked & Wild nights to come. Those who went to last week's Mission:, Boom Bap Project, and Circle of Fire show will recall that between sets, Soul One spun some lovely dancehall, deftly blending it with hiphop and making many bodies dance. I think everyone's ready! BRIAN GOEDDE

PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES
(Showbox) With a caustic punk-rock frontwoman who manages to exude charisma and elegance while beating audiences over the head with her vocals, and four energetic punk rockers coloring an expertly herky-jerk rock collage, Pretty Girls Make Graves is one of the cutest and coolest pop-punk bands playing in Seattle. The band has a rough edge that keeps the pop from overshadowing the punk, but the songs are rich in melody, cleanly assembled, and happily palatable. This is contemporary Northwest rock stripped of pretense, to its brash essence. JEFF DeROCHE

CONTROL, KINSKI, SWORDS PROJECT
(Graceland) Instrumental hometown favorite Kinski has a sobriquet that nods to cinematic bad boy Klaus, but the band's sound lacks any pretense. Instead, Kinski aims for emotional overload. The wall of sound, and the bandmates' sculpting of it, are a fully audience-encompassing live experience. The voice, in Kinski's case, is provided by the sensory surround that overwhelms and widens to cinema-scope before ebbing back to reveal its alternately quilted and prickly heart. Opener Portland's Swords Project is another band that lets its instruments do the communicating, with rare vocals interspersed in a handful of songs. The eight-piece group features two drum kits, two guitars, keyboards, violin, accordion, bass, and flute. Surprisingly, the sound is spare, with an emphasis on creating a mood and setting it on its own orbit. Swords Project is able to command the stage with songs that work like movements, inviting listeners in, and winning them over with craft and precise execution. NATE LIPPENS

Eds. note: "What is this band Control?" you may ask. Here are some clues: (1) Control is not the band's real name. (2) Control is a made-up name for a band you've likely heard before, because this band you've likely heard before is also playing at Bumbershoot, under its actual, god-given band name. (3) Control is going under an assumed name because bands performing at Bumbershoot aren't allowed to play other shows in town during the festival. (4) Control is, in fact, a very popular local band (with a national reputation), fronted by a god-fearing man with a chinstrap beard. (5) Damien Jurado is not Control, but (6) the "David," from Jurado's album Ghost of David, is, in fact, the god-fearing man with a chinstrap beard who fronts the band going under the name of Control. What is this band Control? Go find out for yourself.

THE MINUS TAD, ONCE FOR KICKS, PURE JOY
(Sit & Spin) See Stranger Suggests.

R. L. BURNSIDE, PETE DROGE
(Showbox) Damn if R. L. ain't tryin' to step past Mister James Brown as THEE hardest workin' man in show bidness! Like, I thought... and was told, his last tour WAS his LAST tour! Oh well, I reckon as long as the man can keep on movin' he best move. Anyhoo... by now, mosta y'all probably know R. L. If you don't... he play the REAL, honest to God, sweet sookey shakin' BLUES! Meanin' he don't do Chicago 12-bar blues-rock wanky poop... he picks and slides heavy electrified country-blues, backed steady by a grandson and an adopted son, Kenny! Oh, the last couple times I seen him there was a lotta folks kinda hopin' to hear them DJ duds from the last few R. L. records.... Well, LIVE, don't expect the DJ hipity-hop stuffs--in the past, he only got bent broke with his kin folk. MIKE NIPPER

WELLWATER CONSPIRACY, NEBULA, SLUDGEPLOW
(Crocodile) With former members of Soundgarden (Matt Cameron, who currently drums for Pearl Jam) and Monster Magnet (John McBain), Wellwater Conspiracy draws upon upbeat psychedelia like that of the Who, Cream, and the Zombies for a sound that, though based in the good old days of proud guitar-based rock, proves inspiring in its own right. The band's current album on TVT, The Scroll and Its Combination, is a lesson on how to mine the past while providing inspiration for the future. KATHLEEN WILSON

JUMBALAYA, THE OFFICIAL "HIP-HOP 101" AFTER-PARTY
(Baltic Room) If Bumbershoot's "Hip-hop 101" runs according to the show's title, I guess we'll learn lots. This after-party, then, could be the test of what we've learned, but let's hope instead that it's true "back-to-basics" hiphop: fun, improvisational, loose, and exciting. Every Friday at the Baltic Room, Jumbalaya, which features Reggie Watts, Kylea, Peace, Davis Martin, CD Littlefield, Darrius Willrich, Kevin Goldman, Libbitz, and DJ Topspin, has been one of Seattle's most popular nights out. Tonight they'll host the best of Bumbershoot's hiphop artists. BRIAN GOEDDE

LORDS OF ALTAMONT, HEAVY JOHNSON TRIO
(Breakroom) Heavy Johnson Trio loves metal and the Melvins, so it should come as no surprise that the group is one of Portland's loudest, heaviest bands. Not much to look at, mind you, but nothing that spawns from Black Sabbath ever is. KATHLEEN WILSON

BRAD
(Breakroom) Though many think of Brad as merely Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard's side project, it's really much more of an entity all to itself. Fronted by former Satchel singer and currrent Pigeonhed member Shawn Smith, Brad has firm roots in bluesy classic rock, while at times showing off some undeniably jazzy aspirations. It's been a while since Brad released an album, but Gossard just released a solo project and is trying out his PJ-less stage legs before deciding whether or not he's ready to play frontman. KATHLEEN WILSON

STAGGER LEE, THE HENCHMEN, GET DOWN SYNDROME, DARK PLACES
(Sit & Spin) Damn... THIS lineup is lookin' real nice for a Saturday evenin' of some casual drankin', and maybe even a little "dirty" dancin'? Four bands, too! Damn... again! Okay, who we gots? Well, so I've heard, first'll be the Dark Places, then the swingin', dingin', "get sick with our feevah y'all" Get Down Syndrome... oh, and from outta town, sportin' ultrafine garage-rock stylin's... Detroit's the Henchmen.... Oh, they don't play the "heavy" Deeee-twat city-shitty bang-bang, but the more '60s hot garage heat... cool? And, closin' the night, will be the boogie-beatin' bellbottomed feets of Stagger Lee! MIKE NIPPER

NO. 13 BABY, SPYGLASS, DEAR JOHN LETTERS
(Crocodile) While the excellent Pixies cover band No. 13 Baby is always a safe bet, and Spyglass is a pretty, slick pop project fronted by well-suited chanteuse Barbara Trentalange (with long, wavy hair and a delightful voice that makes one think of Beth Orton), the real charm of this bill is Robb Benson's Dear John Letters. As always, Benson's poignant valentines are well crafted and shot through with astute rumination and thoughtful one-liners, only this time Benson boasts a cast of talent to include Radio Nationals guitarist Richard Davidson (on bass), Johnny Sangster (producer for Benson's Nevada Bachelors), and the effervescent Michelle Price, who provides poetry and lyrics to enhance the elegance of it all. JEFF DeROCHE

RECIDIVIST
(Graceland) An instrumental rock band that indulges itself with loopy, embellished phrase repetition, unusual song structures, found sound, and unpredictable (though usually restrained) dynamics, Recidivist isn't writing songs likely to take the band too far above Seattle's radar. But that's only because the rest of the world is stupid and impatient. Take the two-and-a-halfish-minute song "How to Win at Chess," for example. It just loops five different notes (that's an estimate, not a fact), and then it's over. In a live setting, most people are likely to hear that, ignore it, and just keep talking over the din. But when the band cuts loose, the sound is sturdy and energetic, and the playful dynamics Recidivist creates are consistently excellent. A band for fans of quasi-meditative rock music that develops slowly and gratifies subtly. JEFF DeROCHE

NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, CANNED HAMM, THE BATTLES
(Crocodile) See Stranger Suggests.

OLD 97'S, THE POSIES, PANSY DIVISION
(Showbox) Sure, you could spend the remainder of Sunday night at Bumbershoot. Or, better yet, you could hop on Seattle Center's monorail, get off downtown, and head to the Showbox, where your Bumbershoot ticket stub will get you in at a discounted price to see one of the oddest lineups this week has to offer. It's hard to say who's going to rock the Showbox harder--Dallas' country-punk Old 97's quartet, fresh from its own Bumbershoot performance; mighty Seattle classic the Posies; or the punked-out homocore of San Francisco's verbally pornographic Pansy Division. The Old 97's packed this venue during its last Seattle stop, and its energetic live shows get everyone in the audience fired up, from the rockabillies to the punk rockers. Meanwhile, the long broken-up and oft-reunited Posies are still at it, ready to rock Seattle like it's their last show. AMY JENNIGES

NASHVILLE PUSSY, THE RAZORBABES, CATHOULA HOUNDS
(Crocodile) Nashville Pussy is loud, sleazy, noisy, trashy, and utterly without restraint, descriptors this band would consider compliments. What the band lacks in listenability--there's hardly a hook or riff to be found on its most recent release, High as Hell--it makes up for in volume and sheer attitude. Call it Southern-style trash rock. Nashville Pussy's core audience is composed of indie rockers and bikers, and you can easily imagine scores of either culture showing up to headbang at one of the band's visceral, gut-pounding live shows. By the end of the night, not only will you have suffered permanent hearing loss, but your liver will have traded places with your spleen. If song titles like "Shoot First and Run Like Hell" and "Blowjob from a Rattlesnake" sound appealing, Nashville Pussy is right up your alley. The band did, after all, score a Grammy nom for "Fried Chicken and Coffee." GENEVIEVE WILLIAMS

BILLY IDOL
(Showbox) Formerly William Broad and one-time member of a punk band called Generation X (the band with whom Broad actually first did his later solo hit "Dancing with Myself"), Billy Idol spent the 1980s strutting, sneering, and steering an altogether fuckable MTV image, strong enough to carry nostalgia through to 2001 and a tour that will descend upon the Showbox tonight. Idol hasn't done anything terribly fun or sexy publicly since 1983's Rebel Yell, and the last record that I believe anyone would seriously note would be 1986's Whiplash Smile, which included "To Be a Lover," a bit of a hit, and not the most horrible of songs ever recorded. Then came some greatest-hits and remix releases, and the delayed release of Charmed Life in 1990 (postponed after a terrible motorcycle accident), which saw Idol doing "Cradle of Love," again a hit, but this time a genuinely bad song. Since then, I recall only a cameo in The Wedding Singer as a positive career move for Idol. That said, Billy Idol and Rebel Yell were genuinely entertaining new-wave arena records, and you may want to check out this show for the sake of sexy nostalgia alone. JEFF DeROCHE

OSCAR PETERSON QUARTET
(Jazz Alley) The Oscar Peterson of the 1950s is the same Oscar Peterson who will appear tonight, and not just because his style hasn't changed much in those 50 intervening years. The old Oscar Peterson is the same as this Oscar Peterson because, at age 76, the man still has the same great swing in his fingers. Though often criticized for producing 10 notes where one would suffice, those 10 notes lurch into 15 more, and the result is sheer giddiness. If you don't blink (as I do) at dropping 55 bucks for a show, you can't go wrong with two sets of Oscar Peterson. KREG HASEGAWA

NINA HYNES
(Crocodile) Dublin singer-songwriter Nina Hynes' recent release Creation is all I've heard from her, and I'm not altogether excited about recommending her performance tonight. I concede, however, that while Creation is not the stuff of my own personal dreams, Hynes' striking voice and sentimental song stylings have won her worldwide accolades from pop enthusiasts, including comparisons to Mazzy Star (which makes sense), the Sundays (which also makes sense), and Björk (which makes no sense at all--but then what talented female pop singer isn't compared, at some point, to Björk, or P. J. Harvey?). What I can say for Hynes is this: There are many gifted singer-songwriters on this planet, and Hynes is among them. If you want to go see a gifted singer-songwriter, on the off chance that she will pluck your Sundays-loving heartstrings, then you should definitely go. And have fun. JEFF DeROCHE

AMERICAN ANALOG SET, HER SPACE HOLIDAY, AUTOMATON, THE DIRTMITTS
(Graceland) See Stranger Suggests.

OSCAR PETERSON QUARTET
(Jazz Alley) See Tuesday listing.