The Teenagers are at Neumo’s tonight with the Pharmacy—there’s both a Stranger Suggest and a preview for that show. From this week’s Fucking in the Streets:

The Teenagers are assholes. Young, snotty, spoiled, afterpartying, chauvinist, hipster assholes. At least that’s the impression you get from their music.

Their breakout single, “Homecoming,” was one of the catchiest underground singles of 2007, an infectious teen-dream romance that came with an appropriately gauzy, softcore, super-8 video. The song is a he-said/she-said summer fling in the style of Grease, with the suave European protagonist hooking up with a vapid, tan American cheerleader—her: “I loved my English romance”; him: “I fucked my American cunt.” Touché.

And now, tonight’s U&C choices:

Spindrift, Pablo Trucker, the Vandelles, This Blinding Light
(Comet) The crappy thing is there are a zillion bands named Spindrift and 99 percent of them are Hawaiian-shirted jam bands. The sweet thing is the Spindrift that hits the Comet tonight is a seven-piece psych-spaghetti-western combo from L.A. with a powerful aversion to tropical prints and noodly solos. Think Ennio Morricone meets Lee Hazlewood in a desert peyote ritual as depicted in an Oliver Stone flashback sequence. Which isn’t far from the truth: Spindrift scored The Legend of God’s Gun, a low-budget 2007 homage to Sergio Leone’s classic outlaw/bandito flicks with a soundtrack exactly like you’d imagine. Spindrift’s music is as stark and evocative as the Western setting it’s inspired by, hewing close to all things dusty, reverby, stubbly, and twilit. It’s the sound of heading off into the sunset after swallowing the worm. JONATHAN ZWICKEL

Circle Jerks, Last of the Believers, Hit Me Back
(El Corazón) We all know that Circle Jerks frontman Keith Morris was a cofounder of and the original singer for Black Flag. And we all know that Morris ditched Black Flag to form the Circle Jerks, and that in 1980 (the year of my birth) they released one of ’80s hardcore’s greatest albums, Group Sex, containing the perfect anthem for the self-destructive teen or twentysomething: the minute-long “Live Fast, Die Young.” And we all know that the Circle Jerks have broken up and gotten back together many times since then. But what we don’t know is whether the Circle Jerks’ raw, youthful energy of 1980 can be recaptured 28 years later—and whether it’s worth $15 to find out. KIM HAYDEN

“Awesome”, Half Brothers
(Jules Maes Saloon) The last time “Awesome” played Neumo’s, opening for BOAT and Harvey Danger, I wrote about the show on Line Out, although I didn’t write about the “Awesome” set, because I’d showed up too late to see it. A Line Out commenter commented: “It’s tragic that this article didn’t address the amazing show that is/was “Awesome.” When seven slightly older guys take to the stage and only one of them is holding a guitar amongst the trumpets, clarinets, saxophones, mandolins, banjos, etc. etc. etc., you may panic, but it was so much fun and so funny….” For years I’ve been given a hard time for writing about “Awesome” too much; suddenly I’m getting a hard time for not writing about them enough. They have been twice shortlisted for a Stranger Genius Award. Their fans include Jonathan Safran Foer and Miranda July. Their sound is a mix of bong pop, prog rock, light (white?) soul, and carnival-falling-down-a-stairwell. This is the first time they’ve ever played Georgetown. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

_{Trip the Light Fantastic photo by Dustin Bills}

Wild Orchid Children, Alligators, Return of the Bison, Trip the Light Fantastic, the Crash Engine
(Viaduct) Trip the Light Fantastic play intriguing instrumentals. Beautiful instrumentals, really, with a Seattle-circa-1999 sound. Think wordless waxwing, think Juno’s early turbulent stuff—think epic breakdowns echoing from Sit & Spin’s showroom while you’re stupidly in the front room playing Sorry with your friends and eating pizza. This is worth leaving the Sorry game to see, even if you’re ahead. Sometimes (in the song “Trip the Light,” for example) it’s staccato and playful guitar that drives the tune. Other times it’s dramatic piano. In the song “RAGNAROK,” it’s a riff that blasts during the intro and then falls into a psychedelic jam session. Vintage sound bites of men talking about strange things make their way into a few of Trip the Light Fantastic’s compositions, and while I’m still unsure how I feel about that (is it really necessary?), their raw orchestration is enough to keep me listening until I decide for sure. MEGAN SELING

Larry Mizell says in this week’s My Philosophy:

Don’t be daunted by the state of hip-pop; on Saturday, January 19, get a full dose of the good stuff. Hit the Vera Project for the Massive Monkees League Tournament B-Boy Jam. Observe experts of the culture doing what they do best in a controlled setting. Relax and take notes.

Christopher Delaurenti suggests:

MESSIAEN CENTENARY
The Cathedral Organist, Soloists, and Chamber Orchestra get the jump on everyone else and celebrate the 100th birthday of Olivier Messiaen (1908—1992) with one of the French composer’s many masterpieces for solo organ, Le Banquet Céleste, and the Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine. Impractically scored for chamber orchestra, piano, women’s chorus, and the eerie, wailing ondes Martenot, Trois Petites Liturgies shimmers with tiptoeing rhythms, frothy piano chords, and blissed-out, surreal chanting. I’m also keen to hear the Suite for Ondes Martenot and Piano by Darius Milhaud and a section of Pli Selon Pli by one of Messiaen’s most renowned students, Pierre Boulez. Call ahead for good seats. St. James Cathedral, 804 Ninth Ave, 382-4874, 8 pm, students pay as able/$22 suggested donation.

And finally, the Coconut Coolouts are at Liberty and Pleasureboaters and Partman Parthorse are at the Funhouse, but we ran out of room to say so in the paper. That’s what Get Out, our calendar is for.