THEESatisfaction, Lisa Dank, Canary Sing, Queerbait, Katie Kate, Sap'N, DJ Colby B

(Neumos) Local hiphop duo THEESatisfaction (Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White) will be cutting a record with Erik Blood, a Seattle producer/musician who contributed to the best thing that happened in local music last year: Shabazz Palaces' two EPs. Well and good. But I secretly wanted THEESatisfaction to work with 10-4 Roger, the DJ who produced the duo's "Cabin Fever." (10-4 Roger also remixed/reprocessed Helladope's "Just So You Know" into an erotic haze of dub.) I had imagined that "Cabin Fever" would be to THEESatisfaction what "Shook Ones Pt. II" was to Mobb Deep—"Shook Ones" appeared near the end of The Infamous, but was then elaborated into a whole album, Hell on Earth. "Cabin Fever" has the potential to open up into a larger and richer work of art, and 10-4 Roger is a producer people need to hear. CHARLES MUDEDE

See also: My Philosophy

Van Dyke Parks, Clare and the Reasons

(Triple Door) For nearly four decades, Van Dyke Parks has been one of pop music's go-to geniuses, helping to create such landmark records as Brian Wilson's Smile and Joanna Newsom's Ys. On his own, he made 1968's legendary Song Cycle, wrote the score for the Sesame Street film Follow That Bird, played a supporting role on Twin Peaks, and collaborated with everyone you've ever heard of, from Grace Kelly to Silverchair. Tonight, the prodigiously hyphenated visionary will materialize onstage at the Triple Door, where he'll musically represent himself however the hell he feels like it. The majority of the audience will be thrilled just to be in the same room with him. DAVID SCHMADER

And there's always more in our complete music calendar listings.

Mudhoney, Sleepy Sun

(Neumos) Mudhoney playing a free show more than two decades into their existence? Damn, not only are they local rock legends, they're also nice, generous dudes. They've also aged much better than most rockers of their vintage, and these sweet old things' ability to kick out sinewy, Stooges-y jams remains vigorous. A stacked back catalog of adrenaline-raisers and a cornucopia of cool covers in their repertoire ensure a satisfyingly bruising night of entertainment. San Francisco's Sleepy Sun come off like Brightblack Morning Light after enrollment in the Stoner Rock Reeducation Camp. They balance lovely, ethereal vocals and melodies with girthful yet rococo guitar and bass riffing. It's a druggy, draggy sound that's familiar but very well executed. DAVE SEGAL

And there's always more in our complete music calendar listings.

Props to the Pike St. Fish Fry for some savvy Superbowl counterprogramming. At 3:30 PM (just shy of when the West Coast broadcast starts airing), the Fish Fry will be playing host to two local bands: grrrl/guy/grrrl group Eel Eater, and sax-incorporating no-fi upstarts Stickers. Admission is free, food and drinks sadly are not. Still, if you were planning on avoiding the game altogether, you could do worse than substituting four hours of TV worship with one or two spent soaking up some promising local sounds.

Sod Hauler, Razorhoof, Throne of Bone

(Rendezvous) Is stoner rock the modern white man's blues? Obviously, both forms revolve around the guitar. But more specifically, they both rely on that basic minor pentatonic scale, that instinctive progression of notes that seems to exist specifically for the guitar. The natural ease with which the standard blues lick or stoner-rock riff rolls off the fingers allows guitarists to play with a certain unfettered zeal. Groove is prioritized over melody. So while the succession of notes can be obvious at times, the template provides freedom to express pain and anguish without having to think too much about music theory. Sod Hauler's reefer-infused riffage is a classic example of the parallel. And, like Robert Johnson, these men probably sold their souls to the devil. BRIAN COOK

And there's always more in our complete music calendar listings.

"Awesome," Ivory in Ice World, Library Science

(Chop Suey) Library Science's third album, Dolphin, marks a departure from the local trio's first two albums, High Life Honey (2004) and The Chancellor (2007). Whereas their second album impressively expanded and improved the dub experiments of the first, the third pretty much replaces the dub experiments with something new: electro experiments—Dolphin has only two dubs, one of which, "Barbaro," is more a mix of electro with dub.

The results of the new direction are mixed—some tracks are brilliant and others are average. The best of the brilliant tracks is "Bye Bye Birdy," which subjects a melancholy or, better say, ruminative melody to sporadic drum smashes and shocks. The least interesting (and least experimental) of the average tracks is "Lightning Strikes," which is nothing more than a terrible clash between a pounding beat and a jarring rock guitar. But altogether, the 11 electro tracks are not as special as the two dubs—"Barbaro" and "Trucker Speed Dub," both of which contain some of the magic that's found all over The Chancellor. CHARLES MUDEDE

Eyedea & Abilities, Dosh

(Nectar, 5:30 pm) Stop me if you've heard this one before: Multi-instrumentalist goes from driving school buses to rereleasing his home recordings on Bay Area label specializing in hop-suffixed jams, becomes esteemed by some of the indie-rock fraternity's most salient artists. End of story? Not quite—Dosh (aka Martin Luther King Chavez Dosh—really) has wisely stayed productive since his career took off at the start of the last decade. He's got a new album due out this spring and continues to make interesting career choices, like touring with Rhymesayers' heavy hitters Eyedea & Abilities (the former's an MC, the latter's a DJ). Dosh has teased the possibility of some crossover between the acts, which means the Nectar crowd could be in for some radical freestyles courtesy of Eyedea, atop some radical drumming courtesy of Dosh. JASON BAXTER

See also: My Philosophy

Bassnectar, Eliot Lipp, emancipator

(Showbox Sodo) Tacoma-born, Brooklyn-based Eliot Lipp is an electronic artist who's engineered an evolution of the malt liquor commercial soundtrack. His gangsterized swath of flickered 16th beats makes for a jittering but finely primped den of disco. It's a bronze lion-head cane with a brain. The Prefuse 73—raised neurons of Lipp's Korg MS-20 synth tell you which Cadillac to drive to the party and which white suit to wear. Meanwhile, Lorin Ashton's Bassnectar is a less refined affair. Bassnectar goes for the modes of stadium rave, wobble-bass, and dance-floor slam. Ashton calls his super-wound, genre-mashed frenetics "omni-tempo maximalism." It's massively energized and polyphonically banged. Bassnectar wars with a warble of love that says it's thrilled to be alive; angels are on their grind. TRENT MOORMAN

The Intelligence, the Girls, Partman Parthorse

(Funhouse) It's 2010, and the Intelligence still rank among Seattle's greatest rock bands. They've achieved the near-miraculous feat of making garage rock not sound stodgily beholden to a corny vision of the genre's '60s big bang or subsequent decades' fanboys/girls' revival of it. Of course, their deep knowledge of excellent post-punk groups and ability to work that movement's vital cynicism into garage rock's invigorating naiveté elevates their art above most of their ilk. The Girls work similar magic with punk and new wave's first flush of invention. They repeatedly solve, with enviable elegance, the simple equation of fun, catchy songs + unbridled energy = a great night out. Partman Parthorse put on spectacular live performances, with outrageous shenanigans matched by a scathing punk attack that aims to shatter your funny bone. DAVE SEGAL

Arch Enemy, Exodus, Arsis, Mutiny Within

(Showbox at the Market) In the past four years, there's been a thrash revival of sorts, with the long-haired, beer-drinking party dudes of Municipal Waste leading the way for legions of hat-flipping, crossover nerds to relive a decade they've heard so much about: the 1980s. Sure, only two original members remain in influential thrash-metal group Exodus, but when they bust into "Toxic Waltz," you know the circle pit will erupt like it's 1985. If it doesn't, don't be afraid to yell "poseur"—it's the only right thing to do in that situation. Headliners Arch Enemy are sure to punish with the almost-commercially-accessible melodic death metal that has enabled the Swedish quintet to tour the world. KEVIN DIERS

D.Black, Blood Red Dancers, People Eating People

(Sunset) D.Black is not only the spiritual compass for the artists on Sportn' Life Records (he actually leads weekly prayer meetings), he's a living, breathing, swooping (like, no really, have you seen him perform?) Seattle hiphop legacy. He is the biological son of one of the members of Seattle's first rap group, the Emerald Street Boys. He exemplifies a real side (the nondrinking, nonsmoking, straight-edge side) of this wave of local urban music, however you wish to classify it; Black is of the second generation, and at the same time, a real leader of it. His Ali'Yah album is full of extraordinary message and import, schooling his people by example in the inherent strength of keeping true to oneself, without getting preachy or didactic. Best part? He's also a great rapper. See for yourself before he retires (which he said he's going to do). LARRY MIZELL JR.

See also: My Philosophy

And there's always more in our complete music calendar listings.