The Stranger’s music section is great and all, but it can’t possibly cover all the great shows going on in any given week in our kickass city. Here are the shows I would single out for your attention and attendance if I were in a position to tell you what to do (oh wait, I am!):

Tonight, Friday, October 12
Tonight is a toss-up between a couple great pop shows: Smile Brigade (album release)/We Wrote The Book On Connectors/A Gun That Shoots Knives@ the High Dive (Already pimped below by JJ, but allow me to hammer the point home.)

Smile Brigade has been honing their particular brand of pop music—which manages to be dark and sardonic, yet breezy and fun at the same time—for several years now. They are finally releasing their debut full-length, and it’s already getting considerable attention from KEXP, The End, and dorks like me. Go celebrate with them at the High Dive (just don’t wait for the bus across the street in front of Norm’s after the show—what a horror show that place is!). Congratulations, boys!

Dept. Of Energy/The Young Sportsmen/Hillstomp/Caleb Thompson @ The Tractor

You might remember Dept. of Energy’s Robb Benson from such bands as Dear John Letters and the Nevada Bachelors. His newer band, Dept. of Energy, has not yet garnered the attention that Dear John Letters did, but that’s not for lack of kicking ass. Robb’s razor-sharp songwriting and nimble guitar and vocals mesh perfectly with Ty Baillie’s mind-bending keyboard skills (his left hand acts as the band’s bass player, and it can be hard to watch anything else while they’re playing) and Cassady Layton’s clockwork drumming. Dept. of Energy and Caleb Thompson will both be featured on the next volume of my Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly series. This is Caleb’s first show, and from what I’ve heard I hope it’s the first of many. His poetic, languid folk should be a great addition to our musical landscape.

Saturday, October 13
Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head/Wesafari / Sleepy Eyes Of Death @ The Vera Project (All Ages)

Wesafari is one of my favorite local bands, and I’m not just saying that because they’re good friends of mine. When you listen to their recordings you’re in awe of the level of care and attention put into their music, and when you see them on stage you’re in awe of the level of talent crushed onto that one space. hey have a new EP called Moss Green, which you can download for free (take that, Radiohead!) from their Web site. To up the ante, they’ll be borrowing drummer Joel Harmon from Sleepy Eyes of Death, whose smoke machine and light show-enhanced electro-shoegaze blew me away during their set at Bop Street Records during Reverb
Fest, and should be even more awe-inspiring in a real venue with the stellar sound system that Vera boasts.

This is getting long, so just one more quicky:

Wednesday, October 17
Great Lake Swimmers/Arthur & Yu/Thao Nguyen @ The Tractor

I’ll let the links speak for themselves. So much pretty …

Now get out there and see some live music!