Want more? Here’s everything we recommend this month: Music, Visual Art, Literature, Performance, Film, Food, and This & That.
Apr 5
As drummer for Kikagaku Moyo, Go Kurosawa helped guide Japan’s greatest 21st-century psych-rock group to astronomical heights, until they went on “indefinite hiatus” in 2022 while at their peak. Whereas Kikagaku Moyo traded in fiery and flowery songcraft as majestic as Mt. Fuji and as intimate as a yurt, Kurosawa’s 2025 debut solo album, Soft Shakes, veers into quirkier terrain. Playing all the instruments—including clarinet, wood block, chimes, and cowbell—Go channels oddballs such as electronic-music maverick Haruomi Hosono and folkadelic cult faves the Beta Band, his slinky rhythms, weird timbres, and mesmerizing melodies transporting you to far-flung, imaginary locales. But then “Jungle Cooking” flexes ’60s James Brown funkiness, so you never know. The Ocean—saxophone/synth gurus Morgan Henderson (Fleet Foxes) and Joel Cuplin (Constant Lovers)—improvise spacey jams that often pulsate with wonderfully hypnotic grooves. Strangely, one of Seattle’s most compelling bands has no web presence… so go see ’em! (Neumos, 7 pm, 21+) DAVE SEGAL
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra Presents: The Music of Sun Ra
Apr 11–12
Acclaimed pianist and SRJO guest director Orrin Evans will lead the orchestra in a cosmic medley of compositions by Sun Ra, a jazz pioneer remembered for melding big band, avant-garde, free jazz, and Afrofuturism. The program will feature selections from Sun Ra’s expansive catalog, from high-energy pieces composed for his 1974 film Space Is the Place to the delightfully relaxed “Hour of Parting,” along with other favorites that reflect Evans’s history in New York City and Philadelphia. (Benaroya Hall, times vary, all ages) AUDREY VANN
Apr 15
Excuse me while I get on my soapbox for a moment: I am confused and concerned why Throwing Muses’ 1991 song “Honeychain” is not more well-known. Not only should it be the band’s number one hit, but it should be known as one of the best songs of the ’90s. Its infectious riff deserves “Smoke on the Water” level fame. It should be played on classic rock radio. It should be on video game soundtracks and in those greeting cards that sing when you open them. (Please help me educate the masses.) The band was started by stepsisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly (the Breeders, Belly) while both were still in high school, and quickly became known for their dreamlike lyrics and unusual song structure. In 1991, Donelly left the band to start Belly, and the band has lived on ever since through Hersh with drummer David Narcizo and bassist Bernard Georges. The trio will return to Seattle to support their new album, Moonlight Concessions, which Hersh has described as a return to the band’s original sound, which predates their 1986 self-titled album. (Crocodile, 8 pm, 21+) AUDREY VANN
Apr 17
Devin the Dude will always hold a special place in the hearts of the legions of millennial teenagers who count sparking a pop can weed pipe in their basement and watching their best friend work out the whammy bar intro to “Doobie Ashtray” as an indelible part of their childhood development. Emerging from the 1990s Houston rap scene, Dude, born Devin Charles Copeland, struck a perfect chord between West Coast G-funk swing and breezy Southern soul. His relatable blue-collar rhymes played directly into the stoner-rap craze of the moment, and his change-of-pace rap-singing proved to be an irresistible feature for artists from Scarface to Dr. Dre. Indeed, Copeland’s music has provided many high times and life lessons, and, haters move on, his most recent album, 2021’s Soulful Distance, is not to be slept on. The same goes for opener (and local weed rap royalty) Jarv Dee, who has had a moment of late with some breakout dance tracks. (Nectar Lounge, 8 pm, 21+) TODD HAMM
Apr 22
The scarlet-haired, gold-toothed singer and musician Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, better known by her stage name CMAT, is the people’s princess of Ireland, or, as she puts it, “Dunboyne Diana” (a reference to her humble hometown). Since receiving a boost from a little-known artist named Charli XCX, she’s won over the girls and gays with her witty, acerbic lyrics and playful ethos. CMAT doesn’t pull punches—her hit single “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” takes direct aim at pedophilic beauty standards and misogynistic trolls, so much so that I felt deeply uncomfortable listening to its satirical lyrics for the first time: “And make me look 14, oh / Or like 10, or like 5 / Or like 2, like a baby / Whoever it is that you’re gonna love / So you’ll be nice to me.” The delightful TikTok stoner mom, omnichordist, and self-described “groovy aunt of dream-pop” Robin Schorr, aka Blond in Car, will also perform. (Showbox, 8 pm, all ages) JULIANNE BELL
Apr 24
Earth walked so that Sunn O))) could run. Guitarists Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson treated the granite monolith known as Earth’s pioneering 1993 drone-metal opus Earth 2 (Special Low Frequency Version) as their bible. Drawing on this uncompromising touchstone, the former Seattleites have accrued many fans and accolades over the past 28 years by putting subtle variations on Dylan Carlson’s “metal as slow-motion annihilation ceremony” blueprint. As solid as Sunn O)))’s many records are, though, they pale in comparison to their live shows. Obscured by dry ice while robed, hooded, and stationary, Sunn O))) erect forbidding mushroom clouds of down-tuned distortion and diabolical feedback that make your internal organs ripple. This enveloping and invasive sound embodies that sensation when pain morphs into enlightenment. If you ever wanted to know the feeling of entering Satan’s substation, Sunn O))) can help you. Now toiling for Sub Pop in a full-circle development (see Earth 2), the duo releases the new Sunn O))), whose six tracks feature 80 minutes of elephantine death cries and lawn-mower sonorities cut at Woodinville’s Bear Creek Studios. Hallefugginlujah! (Showbox SoDo, 8 pm, all ages) DAVE SEGAL
Apr 24
Inspired by the expression “Art is a window to the soul,” the Seattle Symphony’s principal oboist, Mary Lynch VanderKolk, started Through Her Window as an ongoing project to counteract the historic silencing of women’s voices. By spotlighting some of the most influential women of classical music, past and present, VanderKolk aims to “expand the canon, share stories, reflect on life in the world today.” The second edition of the program will showcase Seattle Symphony commissions curated by renowned composer, flutist, and founder of Imani Winds Valerie Coleman. (Benaroya Hall, 7 pm and 9 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN
Shabazz Palaces, Stas Thee Boss, JusMoni
Apr 25
The city of Seattle owes Ishmael Butler a fucking lot for keeping the town so hip. A sci-fi visionary and intra-world seer, he seems to have realized early on that when the powers that be fail to deliver adequately, it becomes necessary to divine something cooler. The driving force behind Shabazz Palaces, and of course, before that, Digable Planets, Butler and the Juan de Fuca plate both hold tectonic sway in this corner. Shabazz shows have become rituals of sorts, ones that have naturally taken on their own conventions. When they last played Nectar, a headlining set as part of 2024’s Freakout Fest, Butler and his live band took the opportunity to begin the concert on the sidewalk, then march, bearing drums, to the stage. What followed was a bacchanalia of warped reimaginings of their records that materialized as an entirely independent work. The opening acts are always a Black Constellation roll call, which translates to you fucking up if you show up late. (Nectar Lounge, 8 pm, 21+) TODD HAMM
Apr 26
I first discovered Mirah when I was in elementary school—my best friend shared an iTunes account with her Elliott Smith–loving teenage brother, who had downloaded Mirah’s debut album, You Think It’s Like This but It’s Really Like This, after hearing about it on Mark Hoppus’s podcast in 2004. And that’s how I learned about Murphy beds (although I didn’t understand the line “tie me to the Murphy bed / Let’s do all the things we said,” until I relistened with adult ears). Mirah’s albums continued to soundtrack my life, with 2004’s C’mon Miracle comforting me through the rest of elementary school, 2009’s (a)spera holding my hand on the way to middle school, and Thao & Mirah keeping me company through high school lunch breaks. Unsurprisingly, as I approach 30, Mirah’s latest album, Dedication, continues to resonate, using her earnest, diaristic songwriting to approach grown-up themes like grief, motherhood, and marriage. She will support the album after an opening set from local folk singer-songwriter Naomi Wachira. (Ballard Homestead, 7 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN
Zookraught’s Two-Night Album Release
May 1–2
Zookraught are meeting the moment. Reading the room. Picking up what we’re putting down. Stephanie Jones, Sami Frederick, and Baylee Harper are breathing in our collective rage and spitting it back at us in pulsating, raucous post-punk songs that provide an empowering soundtrack for anyone needing to dance on the bones of their enemies until they’ve turned to dust. Their new single, “Fly Fly,” throbs with a confident swagger that’s reminiscent of Black Eyes and Q and Not U, two bands who reached their artistic peaks during George W. Bush’s presidency. And as much as I’m looking forward to getting my hands on Zookraught’s new album, Pressure (out April 17), I’m even more excited about their two-night album release. Because those two nights at the Sunset won’t just be about releasing a record, it will be an opportunity for us to release our demons, too. On Friday, May 1, they play with Help, Ogre, and Miscomings; Saturday’s festivities feature Black Ends, LOOLOWNINGEN, and All of Our Cornbread. (Sunset Tavern, 9 pm, 21+) MEGAN SELING
Cabaret Voltaire, I Speak Machine
May 4
Sheffield’s Cabaret Voltaire reigned as the UK’s most riveting electronic group from 1979–1984. Previously, Richard H. Kirk, Stephen Mallinder, and Chris Watson had experimented with tape loops and analog-synth bleeps to give you the creeps. Their early recordings delved into academic minimalist composition and proto-industrial, but also included Velvet Underground and Seeds covers; Mal played bass and Kirk guitar, after all. But in the ’80s, CV really hit their stride, with Red Mecca, 2X45, Fools Game/Gut Level, and The Crackdown, which filtered funk, dub, noir soundtracks, and William Burroughs’s sinister sci-fi worldview into tracks that made you break into the coldest sweat while looking paranoiacally over your shoulder. In the late ’80s and ’90s, though, Cabaret Voltaire transformed into a slick house/techno unit, disappointing some early loyalists. Regardless, given our current technological hellscape, with its chronic surveillance tension, Cabaret Voltaire’s decades-old music sounds visionary. The band is reuniting for one final tour, which is a fantasy come true for US fans, some of whom have been waiting nearly 50 years to see these legends. (Moore Theatre, 8 pm, all ages) DAVE SEGAL
More
Health, Desire, Dark Chisme, DJ Atticus Apr 2, Showbox, 8 pm, 21+
FKA twigs, Brutalismus 3000 Apr 2, WAMU Theater, 8 pm, all ages
Hockey Teeth, Poached, Wiseacre Apr 2, Hidden Hall, 7:30 pm, 21+
Jeff Tweedy, Macie Stewart Apr 2, Moore Theatre, 7:30 pm, all ages
Listening Session: Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters Apr 2, Shibuya Hi-Fi, 5 pm, 21+
Witch Ripper, Dust Moth, Izthmi Apr 3, Sunset Tavern, 8:30 pm, 21+
Stella Standingbear Apr 3, Vera Project, 7 pm, all ages
Sex Mex, Sux, Taste Testors Apr 3, Clock-Out Lounge, 8:30 pm, 21+
Microwave, Anthony Green, Hunny, Pure Hex Apr 3, Showbox SoDo, 7 pm, all ages
Tomo Nakayama, Maita, Plash Apr 3, Tractor Tavern, 8 pm, 21+
April Flea’s Day: Black Ends, Beautiful Freaks, CASI, Catica, A-Ron Gubbe & the Zips Apr 3, Quality Flea Center, 7 pm, all ages
Father John Misty, Damien Jurado Apr 3–4, Paramount Theatre, 8 pm, all ages
Cass McCombs, Hand Habits Apr 4, Tractor Tavern, 8:30 pm, 21+
Emi Pop, Chipped Nail Polish, Schmutz Apr 4, Baba Yaga, 7 pm, 21+
Girl in a Coma, Skating Polly, Lovely Colours Apr 4, Funhouse, 8 pm, all ages
The Original Sapphic Soiree Apr 4, Asylum Collective, 9 pm, 18+
Nick Lowe Apr 5, Neptune Theatre, 7 pm, all ages
Sweet Pill, Heart to Gold, Spaced Apr 6, Neumos, 7 pm, all ages
Ratboys, villagerrr Apr 7, Neumos, 7 pm, 21+
Listening Session: Guns N’ Roses’s Appetite for Destruction Apr 7, Shibuya Hi-Fi, 6 pm, 21+
True Loves, Nigel Hall Apr 8–12, Jazz Alley, times vary, all ages
Ononos, Bijoux, Profit Prison Apr 9, Baba Yaga, 8 pm, 21+
The Builders and the Butchers, the Shivas, Jared Mees & His Grown Children Apr 9, Tractor Tavern, 8 pm, 21+
Young Fresh Fellows, Acapulco Lips, the Tammy Shine Apr 10, Tractor Tavern, 8 pm, 21+
Monsterwatch, Forty Feet Tall, Kill Buzz Apr 11, Baba Yaga, 8 pm, 21+
Audioasis Live: Dark Chisme, Lucha Luna, TeZATalks Apr 11, KEXP Gathering Space, 5–11 pm, all ages
Fishbone, Bite Me Bambi, Kimya Dawson Apr 11, Crocodile, 6 pm, 21+
Bushwick Book Club: Music Inspired by William Goldman’s The Princess Bride Apr 11, Hugo House, 7:30 pm, all ages
Weedeater, Conan, Telekinetic Apr 12, Crocodile, 7 pm, 21+
Ari Lennox Apr 12, WAMU Theater, 8 pm, all ages
PinkPantheress Apr 14, WAMU Theater, 8 pm, all ages
Throwing Muses Apr 15, Crocodile, 8 pm, 21+
AFI, Choir Boy Apr 15, Showbox SoDo, 8 pm, all ages
An Evening With Maya Hawke Apr 16, Triple Door, 7:30 pm, all ages
Babes in Canyon, Small Paul, Juliet Daniel Apr 17, Hidden Hall, 7 pm, 21+
Gus Baldwin & the Sketch, Abby Jeanne & the Shadowband, Chico Detour Apr 17, Clock-Out Lounge, 8:30 pm, 21+
Midpak, Bendre the Giant, SuperMother Apr 17, Add-a-Ball, 9 pm, 21+
Tsunami Bomb, Crimewave 66, Berzerk, the Scoffs, Fleamale Apr 18, El Corazón, 7:30 pm, all ages
Record Store Day Apr 18, various locations, times vary
Summer Cannibals, Divers, Lemon Boy Apr 18, Sunset Tavern, 9 pm, 21+
Art Brut Apr 19, Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+
Joost Klein Apr 21, Showbox SoDo, 8 pm, all ages
STEBMO, THC.XLR Apr 22, Royal Room, 8 pm, all ages until 10 pm
Die Spitz Apr 22, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages
Wednesday, Gouge Away Apr 23, Moore Theatre, 8 pm, all ages
Damien Jurado, St. Yuma, Ray Wolff Apr 24, Tractor Tavern, 8 pm, 21+
Dead Bars, M.O.S.S., Benzo, Bad Optics Apr 25, Baba Yaga, 8 pm, 21+
Dolour, Subways on the Sun, NOONMOON Apr 25, Sunset Tavern, 8:30 pm, 21+
Alice Phoebe Lou, John Andrews & the Yawns Apr 28, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages
Listening Session: Perfume Genius’ Set My Heart on Fire Immediately Apr 29, Shibuya Hi-Fi, 8 pm, 21+
Queens of the Stone Age, Libby Grace Apr 29, Paramount Theatre, 7:30 pm, all ages
Xian Conducts Mozart Apr 30–May 3, Benaroya Hall, times vary, all ages
Blvck Hippie, Candy Cigarettes Apr 30, Funhouse, 8 pm, all ages
Ghost Fetish, Pansy, Stargazr Apr 30, Baba Yaga, 8 pm, 21+
Adam Noble Bass Memorial Show: Great Falls, Filth Is Eternal, Githyanki, Nosretep, Paralysis Expletive May 2, Clock-Out Lounge, 5 pm, 21+
Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman May 3, Paramount Theatre, 7:30 pm, all ages
Early Warning
Rick Ross with the Seattle Symphony May 6, Benaroya Hall, 7:30 pm, all ages
Northwest Terror Fest VIII May 7–9, Neumos and Barboza, 21+
Snail Mail, Sharp Pins, Armlock May 8, Moore Theatre, 7:30 pm, all ages
The New Pornographers, Will Sheff May 8, Showbox, 8 pm, 21+
Teen Suicide, Cloud Nothings, Anthers May 8, Crocodile, 6 pm, all ages
Just Mustard, Miss Grit May 8, Tractor Tavern, 8:30 pm, 21+
Florence + the Machine May 12, Climate Pledge Arena, 7:30 pm, all ages
Echo & the Bunnymen May 12, Showbox SoDo, 8 pm, 21+
Joyce Manor, Militarie Gun, Teen Mortgage, Combat May 12, Showbox, 8:30 pm, all ages
Alex G May 13–14, Showbox, 8 pm, all ages
Telehealth, Coral Grief, Buddy Wynkoop May 14, Neumos, 7 pm, 21+
The Music of Jane Austen with the Seattle Symphony May 15, Benaroya Hall, 8 pm, all ages
Tripping Daisy, Jumprope May 15, Crocodile, 6 pm, 21+
Scott Yoder, Alicia Amiri, Chris Costolupes May 22, Add-a-Ball, 8 pm, 21+
The Last Dinner Party May 22–23, Showbox SoDo, 8 pm, all ages
Supersuckers, Scott H. Biram May 31, Tractor Tavern, 8 pm, 21+
Jeff Rosenstock, Star 99 June 4–5, Neumos, 8 pm, all ages
Bob Dylan June 6–7, Chateau Ste. Michelle, 6:30 pm, all ages
Hunx and His Punx, Slippers June 10, Clock-Out Lounge, 8:30 pm, 21+
Beverly Crusher, Cosmic Kitten, Killbuzz June 13, Add-a-Ball, 8 pm, 21+
Belle and Sebastian, Quasi June 14, Woodland Park Zoo, 4:30 pm
Blitzen Trapper Jun 5–6, Tractor Tavern, 8:30 pm, 21+
Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, Illuminati Hotties Jul 18, WAMU Theater, 7 pm, all ages
Capitol Hill Block Party Aug 7–9, Capitol Hill
Bumbershoot Sept 5–6, Seattle Center
Iron & Wine, Ken Pomeroy Oct 13, 5th Avenue Theatre, 8 pm, all ages
Find all these listings and more on our sister site, EverOut Seattle!
