MONDAY 7/13
Sincere Engineer, Ways Away, Smug LLC
(MUSIC) If you like fast-paced, pop-punk-tinged rock songs about fucking up, falling in love, and/or finding joy in watching your enemies suffer, then you may already be in love with Chicago’s Sincere Engineer. The Hopeless Records act, led by vocalist/guitarist Deanna Belos, has an anthem for every major life milestone. Feeling like a failure and spiraling? “Trust Me.” Didn’t get into the dentistry school that you didn’t want to go to anyway? “Overbite.” “Fireplace” is for when you hate someone so much you relish the thought of them getting kidnapped by a serial killer; “Corn Dog Sonnet No. 7” is for those nights when you’re brokenhearted and nursing a late-night corn-dog-induced tummy ache; and “Twist My Tongue,” from the band’s new record, Probable Claws, captures the frustration of not thinking of a decent comeback when stuck in an argument with an idiot. Too real. The lyrics are so relatable that when Sincere Engineer played at Madame Lou’s in 2024, every song turned into big, emotive sing-alongs. Grab Probable Claws and learn the words ASAP so you don’t miss a moment of therapeutic bonding. (Vera Project, 6:30 pm, all ages) MEGAN SELING
TUESDAY 7/14
(MUSIC) Recording for the revered Colemine Records, Seattle’s Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio have been revivifying soul jazz and old-school funk since their scorching 2017 debut single, “Concussion”/“Memphis.” Leader and Hammond B-3 sorcerer Delvon Lamarr has had a rotating cast of amazing players filling the group’s drum seat and guitar slots, including Champagne Bubblebath titans Grant Schroff and Jimmy James. Sure, the indelible, galvanizing grooves and soul-stirring melodies DLO3 generate have roots in Jimmy Smith, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, and the Meters’ output from 55 to 60 years ago, but this music is ageless and should appeal to all. And it rocks hard, too. Check out “Between the Mayo and the Mustard” from their 2018 debut album, Close but No Cigar. And they’ve just dropped a slashing new funk joint, “Chicken Leg,” that continues their winning streak. (Jazz Alley, 7:30 pm, all ages) DAVE SEGAL
WEDNESDAY 7/15
Hilary Duff, La Roux, Jade LeMac
(MUSIC) There is a common arc of teen idols becoming successful through the Disney machine, then spending the rest of their lives distancing themselves from it. But something really powerful happens when a teen idol embraces their past, e.g., Aly & AJ recording an explicit version of “Potential Breakup Song” in 2020, Mandy Moore performing “Candy” live in 2022, Miley Cyrus releasing a new Hannah Montana song in 2026, and, now, Hilary Duff touring the country singing early-aughts anthems like “What Dreams Are Made Of” and “Come Clean.” This reclamation of their often cringey past reminds us that we all have permission to revisit our younger selves with sweetness, not judgment. I will be one of thousands of millennials unabashedly singing along with Duff on the lucky me (lowercase stylization hers) tour, celebrating a past version of myself who believed that I, too, could go on an eighth-grade trip to Rome and be mistaken for an international pop star à la The Lizzie McGuire Movie. “Bulletproof” singer La Roux and Canadian singer-songwriter Jade LeMac will open. (White River Amphitheatre, 7 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN
THURSDAY 7/16
(FILM) Elon Musk is, as you’ve probably already heard, totally pissed that Christopher Nolan cast a Black woman, Lupita Nyong’o, to play Helen of Troy in his adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. Indeed, Musk went as far as to say that Nolan, a moderate Brit by any measure, desecrated one of the foundations of “Western Civilization.” What makes perfect sense in all of this nonsense is Musk’s insistence that the entire and messy history of the world conform to the foundations of capitalism, which were structured by the brutal extraction of free and cheap labor from Black and brown people. The fire of racial oppression is a matter of survival for white South Africans like Musk. Racism cannot depart from the economic system that’s made him a trillionaire. What are we to do? Well, go and watch The Odyssey. A Black Helen of Troy is not as nuts as the creation of a trillionaire. Also, Nolan always makes very watchable films. (Various theaters) CHARLES MUDEDE
FRIDAY 7/17
(MUSIC) It was from the glittering ashes of male-centric glam rock that one of LA’s first punk bands emerged. As a music-obsessed teenager who was convinced she’d one day marry Elton John (this is the bi experience, people), Alice Bag met Patricia Morrison (Legal Weapon, the Gun Club) while waiting in line to see John guest star on Cher’s variety show. Later, when the two unsuccessfully auditioned for a post-Runaways Kim Fowley project, they scouted the fellow audition rejects. And this was the start of the Bags, a group of paper-bag-masked teenagers making angry, chaotic music. Although the Bags only released one single during their three-year stint, the band’s freewheeling ethos lives on through Alice’s solo music, collaborative projects, memoirs, advocacy, and appearance in Penelope Spheeris’s seminal punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization (as the Alice Bag Band). She will return to Seattle to play songs from her 2020 album Sister Dynamite, after an opening set from Seattle-based punk band Someone’s Daughter. I spoke with the punk icon ahead of her final Alice Bag Band tour about her first time on stage, how David Bowie taught her about bisexuality, and advice on making time in our busy lives for art.(Black Lodge, 7 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN
SATURDAY 7/18
Deep Sea Diver, Nation of Language
(MUSIC) Nation of Language’s “Weak in Your Light” is my all-the-time song. On Sunday mornings. In the car. While I’m working. It fits every mood because it manages to be moody, vibey, almost melancholy, while also being absolutely danceable. Their newest album, Dance Called Memory, threads that same needle, and getting to hear them on a summer evening in Remlinger Farms couldn’t be more perfect. Joining them at the farm is Sub Pop labelmate Deep Sea Diver. So if you missed their homecoming show with Coral Grief at the Paramount, now’s the time to make it up. (Remlinger Farms, 6 pm, all ages) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER
SUNDAY 7/19
The Lostines, Kinsey Lee, Sequoia
(MUSIC) With her former band, the Wild Reeds, Kinsey Lee and Co. released three albums of harmony-filled, emotionally raw indie folk that led them to tour with Lord Huron and Shakey Graves, along with gigs on NPR’s Tiny Desk and KEXP studio sessions. When the band stopped touring at the end of 2019, Lee pursued a career as a flight attendant until she felt the urge to make music again. Her debut solo album, Cold Cuts, is the first thing she’s made and produced entirely on her own. The album is an amalgamation of Lee’s personal experiences: dissociating on airplanes, working in her family’s Italian deli, connecting her ancestry, soundtracking New Orleans hangouts, and finding slices of home at Italian community centers while living between LA, Seattle, and New Orleans. Sonically, I hear glimmers of Jenny Lewis, Sharon Van Etten, and Julia Jacklin. Like the aforementioned indie queens, Lee finds the perfect balance between authentic emotion and pop gloss. She will support the album alongside alt-country duo the Lostines (also celebrating their new album, Meet the Lostines) and Virginia singer-songwriter Sequoia. (Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+) AUDREY VANN
