The Pica Beats
This is maybe the second or third time we've suggested the Pica Beats in this space (first for 2009!), so go and see them already. Bandleader Ryan Barrett is one of Seattle's finest (and most under-rated) emergent songwriters, and his band's sophomore album, Beating Back the Claws of the Cold, was among last year's best local releases, full of persistent melodies, endearing instrumental arrangements, and lyrics that are sensually vivid yet narratively vague. With brainy, heart-on-sleeve guitar shredders X-Ray Press and San Francisco's Sleepy Sun. (Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave, 784-4880. 9 pm, $7, 21+.) Eric Grandy

MxPx, Amber Pacific, On the Last Day
(El Corazón) I outgrew most pop punk at least 10 years ago (being nearly 30, I no longer identify with lyrics about pissy parents, homework, or immature boys... wait... nix that last one from the list), but I still love to revisit the soundtrack of my youth. And in my youth, I listened to the fuck out of some pop punk. MxPx were the leaders of the pack. I haven't cared about new MxPx material for the past decade or so, but I can't help being a little stoked when I hear "Punk Rawk Show" or "I'm OK, You're OK." Also worth noting, all proceeds from tonight's show go to the John D. Spalding Medical Fund. So despite how I may feel about these bands today, you gotta give 'em credit for playing for a great cause. MEGAN SELING

Supreme Beings of Leisure, Carmen Rizzo, LA Kendall
(Chop Suey) We who are in the dark middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression must occasionally turn back to the dot-com boom and bask in the sun of the most prosperous period in American history. And what better way to bask in that time than to listen to the music that defined it? Supreme Beings of Leisure's self-titled debut album is a classic of triphop utopianism. What appeared from a heated mix of sexy vocals, lush synths, a touch of dub effects, and dope hiphop beats was a paradise (sonic globalism) that only a period with a sense of limitless possibilities could imagine and worship. Though straight out of L.A., SBL had more in common with Europe's elegant response to the modern moment of American hiphop (1988 to 1993). This response became the sound of the dot-com bubble. CHARLES MUDEDE

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
(Showbox at the Market) Like that old 7UP slogan—"Never had it, never will"—if you missed the gritty, horn-cranking soul concerts of the 1960s, you'll probably never hear one live. Most soul artists these days polish the genre for contemporary ears, resulting in songs muted in a wash of decades. But Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, who formed in 1996, have acted as revivalists. Drawing heavily from James Brown and the Famous Flames—e.g., their 1962 hit "Night Train"—Jones's voice steps from sultry to raw. The Dap-Kings crank out classic hip-bumping rhythms that make you, without a hint of irony, want to dance like a chicken and do the mashed potato. DOMINIC HOLDEN

Also: Oldominion are playing TWO shows—an early one at Vera at 4 pm and a later one at Neumos at 9 pm! Read all about them here. The rest of tonight's listings are in our online calendar.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!