Thursday 7/17

Tulsi, Specs One, Animal Farm, DJ Able

(Comet) See My Philosophy

Jesse Lacey, Kevin Devine, Brian Bonz

(Chop Suey) As lead singer of the unfortunately underrated rock band Brand New, Jesse Lacey's usual stage persona is that of an angst-ridden, slightly demented heartthrob. His band's songs are turbulent anthems that appeal to the highly emotional, the supposedly misunderstood—in short, the young. And though they're clumped in with acts like My Chemical Romance, Senses Fail, and 30 Seconds to Mars, Brand New's lyrics are generally much smarter than their screamo-rific, clichéd peers thanks to Lacey's love of literature. Live and alone, he showcases those lyrics with just an acoustic guitar and usually beefs up the set with some surprisingly decent covers of Jawbreaker and Neutral Milk Hotel. MEGAN SELING

Bobby Bare Jr., Jason Dodson

(Tractor) It seems like Bobby Bare Jr. passes through our beloved city every few months. Of course the door is always open for Bobby and his Young Criminals Starvation League. The Northwest has a soft spot for those country misfits who don't quite fit in with the Nashville crowd. That's not to say that the younger Bare qualifies as an outlaw; he doesn't carry the same aura of rebellion that defined Waylon and Willie. Naw, Bobby just wants to have a good time. Get people off their asses. Have a few beers. Maybe sing a few sad songs in between his rowdier tunes. And as long as he's willing and able to bring the party, Seattle will hoot and holler right along with him. BRIAN COOK

Friday 7/18

The Black Dahlia Murder, Kataklysm, Vader, Cryptopsy, the Faceless

(Studio Seven) The Summer Slaughter tour carries on the time-honored tradition of extreme metal package tours featuring enough bands to push anyone's eardrums (and sanity, for that matter) to the brink. One band to look out for here are Montreal's Cryptopsy, who were revered for years as one of the planet's most technically dazzling death-metal bands. That was until their most recent series of lineup changes, which brought with it a distressingly trendy hardcore-leaning approach. Their new album, The Unspoken King (Century Media), has received mixed reviews (some of them rather scathing). The Black Dahlia Murder headline, with Kataklysm, Vader, and the Faceless as the other featured bands. Despised Icon, Aborted, Born of Osiris, Psycroptic, and Whitechapel also play. WILL YORK

Sindios, Madraso, Blackhole, the Bismarck

(Sunset) Madraso are one of the loudest bands you're going to hear in Seattle. The last time I saw them it felt like my eardrums were floating in a pool of brain fluid, my bowels slowly moving, not of their own accord. Sure, it's pretty easy to turn your amps up, but Madraso match their loud with an equal dose of heavy: That's what gets those bowels quivering. Their mix of Jesus Lizard's driving, punchy bass and Playing Enemy's dirty guitars deliver enough distorted low end to make the whole bar start smelling. This show celebrates the release of a split 7-inch with Salt Lake City sludge rockers Blackhole. Bring all sorts of plugs. JEFF KIRBY

Sing Sing Two-Year Anniversary: DJ Mattie Safer

(War Room) A two-year anniversary might seem a little unimpressive after Sub Pop's 20th last weekend, but Sing Sing's is no small accomplishment. In the past two years, it's grown from a scrappy but ambitious monthly at Havana, then Chop Suey, to a routinely slamming bimonthly War Room party with its own 12-inch, Sing Sing Breaks, out on Fools Gold. Promoter and DJ Clayton Vomero has brought to Seattle such talent as Chromeo, A-Trak, Sinden, Andrew WK, Matt & Kim, Low Budget, Flosstradamus—the list really goes on and on. For tonight's celebration, Sing Sing is bringing in Mattie Safer of the Rapture, who has presumably spent the last year basking in the afterglow of opening for Daft Punk. I'm sure I've seen Safer DJ before—some afterparty?—but I can't seem to recall a thing, which either means he's neither memorably good or bad or that he works the party into full-on blackout mode. My best guess is the latter. ERIC GRANDY

Get Dressed, Son Things, Mandroidz

(Old Fire House) After performing around Seattle and the Eastside for over four years, Get Dressed have decided to call it quits. To be perfectly honest, there is a little part of me that's glad to never hear another note come out of them again. That's the part that had to listen to them practice twice a week in my basement for over a year. They are nap ruiners; I am a grudge holder. But, like an unwanted child forced upon me by the untimely death of a friend or family member, I have learned to love Get Dressed and their melodic guitar noodling, and I will miss them. This final show is also doubling as a CD release, so if you decide to hop over to Redmond and check it out, be nice and buy seven or eight copies. JEFF KIRBY

Saturday 7/19

Ships, the Pica Beats, the Color Bars

(Chop Suey) Local quartet Ships features Jacob James of the Lashes and Shane Berry, formerly of the Divorce. This ensemble sounds like neither of those in particular, although fans familiar with either won't be surprised by the hefty dose of pop sensibilities that informs Ships' dramatic rock sound. Together just over a year, the foursome celebrate the release of their debut five-song EP. While most new groups hustle out some sort of product as soon as their MySpace page is built, Ships have been maddeningly slow to issue even primitive recordings. Control issues? Slacker work ethic? Nah, just meticulous attention to detail. We'd expect nothing less from a band that incorporates gigantic drums and delicate hammer dulcimer on the same cut ("Regular Devils"). KURT B. REIGHLEY

Intelligence, Witch Hats, Telepathic Liberation Army, the Broken Knives

(Funhouse) There aren't enough girls around here who can sing. I'm not talking about being able to belt it like Beyoncé or Christina, I want a girl who can sing a rock-and-roll song with some conviction, with some emotion, but also with some tenderness. This judgment may be a bit premature, as I have not actually seen the Broken Knives live yet. But from their recordings, it would seem Seattle has found its next incarnation of a young Andrea Zollo. Their excellent song "Nailgun" hints at the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with a taste of a more gothic Pretty Girls Make Graves. Coming from such a young band, it is a very promising start. JEFF KIRBY

Sunday 7/20

Toy Box Party: Super Sonic Soul Pimps, Shawn Smith, With Friends Like These, Sam Squared, the Catch, Ships, and guests

(High Dive) More than once, With Friends Like These have been compared to both Jawbox and Jawbreaker. And those aren't names you just throw around—those are two of my favorite bands of all time. While singer Matthew Shaw does not have the same deep, memorable voice as the unrivaled J. Robbins, musically, the comparisons to the long-defunct trios are not far off. Some songs on their new album, Dead and Gone, are huge blasts of purposefully rough-around-the-edges rock; others are toned down and focused on effected guitar and melodies reminiscent of the early years of emo, when the tag didn't come with eyeliner and suicide pacts. MEGAN SELING

Bobby Rush

(Highway 99) The 68-year-old Mississippian bluesman Bobby Rush cut his teeth among the epochal electric blues scene of Chicago in the 1950s, before hitting his stride with a long period of slinky, somewhat dated R&B in from the late '70s on. He has, in recent years, spread out somewhat with styles ranging from acoustic Delta blues (as on his most recent Raw) to Slim Harpo–esque shuffles to salacious funk. His revue-style live shows generally deal in the style he perfected in the '80s, as the literally well-oiled Rush presides over a litany of aging booty girls and band members with a slightly shambolic directorial style. It is difficult, however, not to feel some affection for a performer so enamored with old-man sex euphemisms like "I'm going night fishin', that's when the catfish love to bite." SAM MICKENS

Monday 7/21

Wyclef Jean

(Showbox at the Market) Goddamn is it easy to hate on Wyclef. Homedude has been on the corniest shitspiral since The Score, and there's no pulling out of it, Maverick. I mean, if you're still buying Clef's shit, I got some Spearhead CDs to sell you, too. BUT! I nonetheless salute the dude—he's been determined for years to help remedy the state of his native Haiti, and for that he should be commended; Haiti is for sure high up on the long list of nations that the U.S. has mercilessly raw-dogged in the last century. While Wyclef the musician no longer does anything for me, Wyclef the humanitarian is the man—but if he busts "Zealots," shit, that's charity in itself. LARRY MIZELL JR.

Tuesday 7/22

Zizek Urban Beats Club

(Nectar) See Bug in the Bassbin and Stranger Suggests

Joseph Arthur, Anna Ternheim

(Triple Door) Over the last several months, singer/songwriter and visual artist Joseph Arthur has released a flurry of recorded material on his own Lonely Astronaut label—four EPs since March, leading to a full-length coming in September. Each of the EPs is diverse in both mood and style. (March's Could We Survive showcased the raw urgency of his earliest albums, while April's Crazy Rain incorporated lots of beats.) Arthur has also been busy on the visual-art front, opening the Museum of Modern Arthur, his gallery space in Brooklyn. In the live-music arena, his performances are a sight to behold; he lays down loops prior to each song, creating the backing vocals and rhythm parts which, added to the "live," make for completely unique performances. KATHLEEN WILSON

Earlimart, the Capillaries

(Chop Suey) Like the quiet kid in the back of class, Earlimart don't immediately demand your attention, but once you start noticing, you realize that their quiet charm is a hell of a lot more interesting than the class clown. Hymn and Her, the duo's latest album, is full of hazy beauty and lovely boy/girl harmonies that seem to float together over the music. The result feels like blissfully drifting down a river on a hot summer day in the central San Joaquin Valley, where the band take their name from, cold beverage in hand and no worries or distractions to ruin the perfect moment. BARBARA MITCHELL

The Master Musicians of Jajouka

(Neumo's) The Master Musicians of Jajouka are the keepers of one of the most exquisitely unique and ancient musical traditions in the world. Having resided in the same severely isolated mountain community in Morocco for centuries, the generations of the Master Musicians make an ocean of wailing, mind-rattling sound unmoored from the shores of either European or Asiatic musical convention. Having become the object of adoration and investigation by William S. Burroughs, Paul Bowles, Brian Jones, and, most recently, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, the group have inevitably found themselves in more and more frequent exchange with the rest of the globe. While these developments are inevitable and have had proven potential for exciting cross-pollinations, many believe that this may be the last generation of the Master Musicians' existence. SAM MICKENS

Bullet for My Valentine, Bleeding Through, Cancer Bats

(Showbox Sodo) The New York Dolls introduced glam to the underground in 1973. By 1989, the Dolls were eclipsed by chart-topping glam metal acts like Dangerous Toys. That same year, Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today were playing Sunday matinee shows at CBGBs. Strangely enough, people still give a shit about Lower Eastside hardcore bands while the majority of the '80s Metal Circus poster boys are relegated to obscurity. But those New York hardcore bands helped usher in current mainstream trash like Bullet for My Valentine. As we speak, in some basement or dive bar, a far more interesting band is playing, and 15 to 20 years from now we'll be talking about them instead of Bullet for My Valentine. BRIAN COOK

Wednesday 7/23

Harry and the Potters, Jason Anderson, Math the Band, Uncle Monsterface

(Neumo's) See Underage, page 51.

At the Gates, Darkest Hour, Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust

(El Corazón) See preview

Mudhoney, No Age

(KEXP) See preview, and Stranger Suggests