Blue Scholars, Dyme Def, J.Pinder, Jake One at Neumo’s
Do not miss the penultimate night of The Program, the five-night showcase of Northwest hiphop. For one, it features Dyme Def, the only band that can challenge Blue Scholars, the reigning champions of the Seattle scene. Like the Scholars, Dyme Def has a sound you just can’t miss, a big and hungry beat. As for Jake One, he is unstoppable. He has produced music for 50 Cent, Freeway, De La Soul, and every important local act. As for J.Pinder, he got next. (Neumo’s, 925 E Pike St, 709-9467. 8 pm, $15 adv/$50 for all shows, all ages. Through Dec 22. See www.thestranger.com/theprogram for details.) by Charles Mudede

X-Mas Bash Part 1: Wild Orchid Children, Whiskey Tango, Strong Killings, New Faces
(Comet) You can’t make pretty pop music all the time. Wild Orchid Children’s principal players are perhaps better known right now as the main dandies behind sprawling, symphonic pop collective Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, but they’re not all flowers and love songs and Sgt. Pepper. As Wild Orchid Children, Kirk Huffman, Kyle O’Quin, and company dig into fried classic-rock guitars, haunted organs, white-belted wailing, and suddenly swerving rhythms—a far cry from the Underground’s delicate arrangements. With Strong Killings, Nate Mooter and Mike Loggins of syrupy-sweet power popsters the Lashes make a basement-shaking punk racket full of unintelligible, mic-swallowing screams and barely-duct-taped-together guitar thrash. Whiskey Tango, on the other hand, have no softer side—beyond the acoustic toss-off “Condoms and Cigarettes”—only drunk, double-time, SoCal-style punk. ERIC GRANDY

Second Annual Home for the Horrordays: Schoolyard Heroes, the Fall of Troy, Akimbo, Iron Lung
(El Corazón) Once a year, Akimbo frontman/bassist Jon Weisnewski’s tattoo makes sense—written proudly on his forearm for the world to see is the word “Eggnog.” Seriously. But there’s nothing smooth about Akimbo’s eardrum-violating wall of noise—the trio make the same amount of noise as a hurricane caught in a tornado during a volcanic explosion. Or something. It’s chaos with precision, it’s heavy and brutal, and it’ll blow your mind. On the other spectrum of heavy is the Fall of Troy, another trio that sound louder than they look (especially since their combined weight probably doesn’t even get over 300 pounds). But the storm of noise they make is more calculated. It’s not sludgy; it’s jarring. It’s staccato and tight, a flurry of unsettling riffs. And Schoolyard Heroes, well, they’re the local band that recently had a petition circulating against them—the creators were hoping to get them to stop playing music. Not because they’re bad, but because parents were scared of them. They’re not scary—their horror-movie imagery and dark, metal-tinged rock with shattering operatic vocals really is all in good fun—like a haunted winter formal. What better way to celebrate the time of love, sharing, and peace than with the loudest fucking show you could possibly put upon your poor eardrums. MEGAN SELING

(Read more about these bands—and what they want for Christmas—in this week’s Underage.)

And from the Score:

GREG WILLIAMSON QUARTET
As part of Pony Boy Records’ “Jazz & Sushi” series, drummer Greg Williamson helms a quartet that features saxophonist Alexey Nikolaev and one of our burg’s best jazz singers, Greta Matassa. Hiroshi’s Restaurant, 2501 Eastlake Plaza, 726-4966, 7:30—10 pm, free.

BAROQUE NORTHWEST
Violinist Courtney Kuroda, soprano Karen Elizabeth Urlie, and Annalisa Pappano on lirone augment the Baroque NW band for a mixed program of Christmas music from Germany and Italian secular music. On the docket: Monteverdi, Schütz, Gabrieli, and others. I’m eager to see a lirone—which in photos looks like a fattened cello with a dozen or so strings—up close. Preconcert talk at 7:15 pm. Fourth-floor Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 368-0735, 8 pm, $10—$25.