Wednesday 7/4

Neutralboy, 13 Scars, Deadkill, Trashfecta, Act of Sabotage

(Funhouse) The peeps who still geek out on Black Flag, Poison Idea, and old Circle Jerks records already know all about Deadkill's recently released self-titled 7-inch on Good to Die. It's not the kind of music you really "sing" along to, but audiences are learning the words. Just in time, to stave off any boredom, Deadkill are already working on a new album. A little bird tells me the first song is an ode to Greek myth of Orpheus, the legendary prophet and musician who met his death—was torn to pieces!—by of a bunch of women who were pissed off that he wouldn't bang them (he missed his dead wife, hellll-lo!), and they also couldn't stand his "divine" music. Whatta fucked-up fantasy—sounds like Deadkill are right on track. KELLY O

Thursday 7/5

Dull Knife, Crystal Hell Pool, Perpetual Ritual, Baby Guns

(Vermillion) Tonight is the release party for Dull Knife's self-titled LP on Debacle Records, the first vinyl output by the esteemed local experimental-music label. These veteran drone/noise purveyors (Garek Druss and Adam Svenson) have created two side-long tracks that serve as soundtracks for harrowing mental states. Dull Knife's A-side, "Excavating," is a forbidding gush of malefic war-drum rumbling and keening, ornery drone from what sounds like an abused keyboard (the instrument surely needs therapy now). It's a serious brain scour. B-side "The Fallow Field of Vision" eases up on the aggression in favor of desolate, interstellar ambience that's a not-so-distant cousin to György Ligeti's Atmospheres. The track's at once oddly calming and vaguely unsettling—sonic ambivalence I can get behind, 100 percent. DAVE SEGAL

Friday 7/6

The Body, Whitehorse, Satya Sena, Golgothan Sunrise, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth

(Highline) See preview, page 55.

Smokey Robinson

(Snoqualmie Casino) He's the guy who suggested that Berry Gordy start his own record label, the guy with the gorgeous honey whistle of a voice, the man who led the Miracles to the top of the charts again and again and again. But most importantly, Smokey Robinson is a great motherfucking songwriter, writing or cowriting a sizable number of songs that rank with the best ever, including but not limited to "Shop Around," "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," "Ooo Baby Baby," "The Tracks of My Tears," and "I Second That Emotion." Eventually there will come a time when you can no longer go see Smokey Robinson represent his life's work at a nearby casino. But not yet. Seize the day. DAVID SCHMADER

The Moondoggies, Davidson Hart Kingsbery, Country Lips

(Barboza) The Moondoggies stand as one of the figureheads of Seattle's bearded folk-band scene, based on national recognition (OMG, Rolling Stone! Pitchfork!) and festivals played. And while the acoustic-strumming, foot-stomping, "Jesus Gonna Save My Soul"-wailing of this band is not too distinguishable from that of the other 1,000 similar local ones, to their credit, the Moondoggies were one of the early riders of this steam-powered Americana train with their 2008 debut Don't Be a Stranger. Looking at how far that whole thing has gone, I'm not entirely sure if this is a good or bad thing. MIKE RAMOS

Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Dent May, Naomi Punk

(Chop Suey) "Swamp tech" duo Quintron & Pussycat have a new album called Sucre du Sauvage. It has the wildest backstory I think I've ever heard. In short: For a few months, Quintron worked at the New Orleans Museum of Art. He did this in order to write and also record an album completely within a public gallery space. In the final seven days of recording, he confined himself to only the museum and the swampy nature preserve outside of it. Once the project was completed, it premiered with a blindfolded listening party in the NOMA auditorium. I haven't listened to the album yet. I think I will lock myself inside Chop Suey and hear it in public. KELLY O

Shockwave Festival: Fear Factory, Voivod, Cattle Decapitation, Misery Index, Revocation, the Browning, and more

(Studio Seven) With a summer calendar already packed with well-established, big-name touring metal fests like Rockstar's Mayhem Fest and Summer Slaughter, it's a bold move to throw together a new one. But that's exactly what LA's Fear Factory are doing, as they celebrate the release of their newest effort, The Industrialist, by headlining the first ever Shockwave Fest alongside prog metallers Voivod, brutal mind-grinders Misery Index and Cattle Decapitation, and dubstep/deathcore (yes, really) newcomers the Browning. Then again, Fear Factory have always been a bold band, mixing industrial elements into their metallic formula before it was hip to do so. KEVIN DIERS

Joy Wants Eternity, Not to Reason Why, Brain Fruit

(Sunset) It took more than five years, but we finally have a new release from Seattle's shoegazing instrumental act Joy Wants Eternity, and it was worth the wait. The Fog Is Rising is a collection of stunning songs that hold the same explosive energy as their wordless peers Explosions in the Sky, but JWE also bring in strings, horns, and piano for a more orchestral experience. You can preview the album at www.joywantseternity.bandcamp.com. If you're smart, you'll arrive to tonight's show in time to see Brain Fruit open—they compose all their dynamic instrumental tracks with a variety of analog and digital modular synthesizers, harmonizers, and drums. It's like you're stuck in a video game while being chased by the band from Revenge of the Nerds. (Without an appearance from Booger, sadly.) MEGAN SELING

Saturday 7/7

Your Heart Breaks, Jason Raeger, Sandy City, Corner Kick

(20/20 Cycle) See Stranger Suggests, page 37.

Particle Being Ensemble, Geist & the Sacred Ensemble, Mood Organ

(Rat and Raven) See Data Breaker, page 68.

The Next 50 Plays the First 50: Fly Moon Royalty, Candysound, Vendetta Red, Seacats, Brothers from Another, and more

(Mural Amphitheatre) See preview, page 49, and The Homosexual Agenda, page 67.

The Moondoggies, the Wayfinders, Le Sang Song

(Barboza) See Friday.

Black Nite Crash, Gibraltar, Red Liquid

(Lo-Fi) Lo-Fi's starting to expand more ambitiously into rock shows, and this bill looks like a strong step in the right direction. Seattle's Black Nite Crash have just issued a sweet tab of neo-psychedelia and nu-gaze rock titled Drawn Out Days on the upstart Neon Sigh label. If the instantly infectious heart-pounder "Baby It's You" isn't a hit single by year's end, I'll slowly shake my head in disbelief. On the I Wanna Be Yr Victim EP, fellow Seattleites Red Liquid flex brawnier muscles and more malevolent vibes, conjuring powerfully surging songs that evoke Chrome, Hawkwind, and Crime and the City Solution at their bleakest. Bloody hell, indeed. DAVE SEGAL

The Builders and the Butchers, River Giant, Cloud War

(Tractor) When listening to the latest Builders and the Butchers album, Dead Reckoning, it's hard not to imagine that this is what the Murder City Devils would've sounded like if they grew up in the South during the last half of the 19th century—the Civil War had just ended, the US struggled to piece the South back together, the Hatfield and McCoy families started killing each other over a pig, and the panic of 1873 was about to rear its head. It was a dark time, and the Builders and the Butchers supply the perfect soundtrack, aggressively pounding out sing-alongs on banjos, acoustic guitars, and a variety of percussion while chanting lyrics like "Did you know the whole world is rotten to the core?" Grab your bowler hat, vest, and railhead pants and get ready to rock. MEGAN SELING

Sunday 7/8

Liars, Cadence Weapon, Grave Babies

(Neumos) Twelve years into their existence, Liars have mastered their peculiar brand of accessible avant rock. Each new record slightly varies from the previous one, but through it all, Liars' music somehow has become more polished and stranger. Their sixth album, WIXIW, was produced by Daniel Miller (aka the Normal), the founder of Liars' label, Mute. WIXIW is their slickest to date, Liars at their electronic-poppiest. That being said, the trio haven't lost their lugubrious mystique or knack for brooding melodies and unusual textures, and falsetto-favoring vocalist Angus Andrews still exudes the affecting vulnerability for which he's known. Liars have gone on a very rewarding tangent at a time in their career when most bands would be resting on their laurels or fading into oblivion. DAVE SEGAL See also Data Breaker, page 68.

The Gaslight Anthem, Dave Hause

(Crocodile) I don't usually define my favorite songs as guilty pleasures. I'm not ashamed of the music I like. Liking that one My Chemical Romance song that sounds like Queen doesn't make me a bad person (if you mumbled "Yes it does" to yourself just now, then you need to take a good look at the world and revisit what's important). So with that, I have no problem saying this: I like the Gaslight Anthem. I don't like like them. I'm not going to go to this show and sing along and jump onstage pretending that I'm Courteney Cox and GA's Brian Fallon is Springsteen (although...). It's just that I have a thing for bands from Jersey—the Bouncing Souls, the Misfits, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Titus Andronicus, Screaming Females—and Gaslight Anthem sound exactly like a band from Jersey. Or, at least, Jersey as we knew it before idiotic orange alcoholics became the state's new mascot. MEGAN SELING

Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra

(Tula's) One of the great things about the Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra, which was formed in 2004 and meets on Sundays at Tula's, is that it mostly performs compositions by locally known and unknown musicians. Do not underestimate the importance of this commitment to Northwest composers. It not only helps to keep the works of local artists in circulation—works that might be overlooked or never see the light of the public—but it provides our regional tradition with a sense of seriousness and legitimacy. When your composition is performed by JCJO, it's validated by the authority of 15 or so professional musicians. JCJO also performs classics by the great Stan Kenton and the greater Gil Evans. CHARLES MUDEDE

Monday 7/9

Codeine, Scout Niblett

(Triple Door) See Sound Check, page 56, and Stranger Suggests, page 37.

Bellingham Festival of Music

(Mount Baker Theatre) It's a bit of a trek up to Bellingham, but the reward is a night of symphonic music in the off-season (in summer, chamber music is the norm). Young, handsome, big-shiny-star violinist Joshua Bell performs Samuel Barber's 1939 Violin Concerto, a piece of music that, for all its angles and suspense, has an innocent heart; it was written just before the second world war divided the 20th century into before and after. He'll also play Ravel's take on gypsy music, Tzigane. The rest of the program: Barber's overture to The School for Scandal and Dvorak's Slavonic Dances. JEN GRAVES

Christmas, the Mallard, Wimps, Stickers

(Funhouse) Olympia quartet Christmas muddle together strands of surfy guitar, jotting bass, adept, understated percussion, and occasionally histrionic vocals (listen for shades of Grace Slick in frontwoman Emily Beanblossom), and deploy them with unsystematic exuberance and an armory of cloudy effects. The result isn't exactly pretty—it's not supposed to be—but there are, by turns, a snarling seductiveness and catching ferocity here. Local acts Wimps and Stickers you already know about if you're still reading this blurb, but make sure you catch San Francisco's the Mallard, whose Greer McGettrick has chosen a blurred and disorienting garage-rock vehicle for her arrestingly cogent songwriting. Ten dollars says they have some technical issue with their pedals. GRANT BRISSEY

Tuesday 7/10

Codeine, Rivulets

(Triple Door) See Sound Check, page 56, and Stranger Suggests, page 37.

Jason Anderson, Bad Weather California, iji, Thousands

(Vera) See Underage, page 65.

Mulherkar-Clausen Quintet

(Royal Room) Trumpeter Riley Mulherkar and trombonist Andy Clausen recently created the Mulherkar-Clausen Quintet, an ensemble of young musicians. Mulherkar and Clausen both attend the prestigious Juilliard School in NYC, and studied music at Garfield High School and Roosevelt—Mulherkar at the former, Clausen at the latter. Both have won numerous awards and have about them the air of being the next generation of jazz talent. The main purpose of Mulherkar-Clausen Quintet is, during this summer, to perform their new material, which is in the vein of Wynton Marsalis's technically sound trad jazz. When autumn returns, the two will fly back to the Big Apple. CHARLES MUDEDE

The Young Evils

(Easy Street Records Queen Anne) The Young Evils charmed their way into our hearts two years ago with optimistic pop songs and sweet harmonies. They were modern, and not too saccharine—a nice combination of the better sides of the city's growing folk scene. But since releasing their debut, Enchanted Chapel, the band has fallen in with a new crowd. Today's Young Evils have a little swagger. Now they're singing about dying and starting riots, and their new EP Foreign Spells (out today!) is a (gasp!) rock record. The instruments are plugged in, and there's even distortion! And it sounds fantastic. Remember the talent show scene in That Thing You Do! when Guy Patterson starts playing the song too fast, but suddenly it clicks with everyone, like, "Holy shit, we should've been playing this fast all along!"? Yeah, it's a lot like that. Tonight's Easy Street appearance is free, and they'll play a proper release party at Barboza on July 13. MEGAN SELING

The End of the Ocean, Tuktu, Syas

(Comet) The End of the Ocean are an instrumental post-rock five-piece from Columbus, Ohio. If you are still reading this, you are probably into this kind of movie-soundtrack buildup/breakdown stuff, à la Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and will likely also enjoy the band's constant movements between blissful highs and morose lows. Their recently-released third full-length, In Excelsis, starts with clean-toned, slightly-delayed picked chords in "On Floating," builds up around them as the song progresses, and transitions into percussive power-chord rock as "Star-Crossed" begins. It's Post-Rock 101 material—all shiny and beautiful to some and just plain boring to others. MIKE RAMOS