The Return of Oscillate
During its first incarnation, the Oscillate weekly offered Seattle a showcase for exceptional underground electronic music by local and global artists. After a brief hiatus, Oscillate returns as a monthly at Chop Suey with Patrick Haenelt as curator with some stellar Northwest talent. Leftfield-hiphop producer eR DoN, idiosyncratic IDM duo Logic Probe, electro maverick Ya No Mas, and glitch mobsters Ap01t should sate your desire for weird textures and wonky beats, live and indirect. (Chop Suey, 1325 E Madison St, 324-8000. 9 pm, $5, 21+.) DAVE SEGAL

Mastodon, Kylesa, Intronaut
(Neumos) You know the deal: Mastodon are a baroque, stabbing Atlanta band that broke into the metal mainstream with Leviathan, their concept-album homage to Moby-Dick. Their songs have since been featured on Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Their latest album, Crack the Skye, is also conceptual—about astral travel and Rasputin—and meanders through different time signatures and moods with long, crystalline intros ("The Czar") and whirligig riffs and blasting, stop-and-go chords. Is that a banjo kicking off the second track? Mastodon are a metal band for all seasons. BRENDAN KILEY

Trial, 108, Pulling Teeth, Lewd Acts, Skin Like Iron, Wait in Vain, Parasitic Skies
(Vera) Thirty seconds into any Trial song and I instantly revert to my 16-year-old self, where I wore black Xs on my hands, cuffs on my jeans, and a righteous "don't smoke, don't drink, at least I can fucking think" attitude. (The verdict is still out on whether that's a good thing.) Trial were the epitome of Seattle's straight-edge scene during their five-year run in the '90s, and at the time it was the toughest, most badass music I had ever heard—angry, but without self-deprecation and apathy, motivational without being corny or too positive. After reuniting in 2005 for a handful of shows (including one in Seattle and two in London and Budapest), Trial proved their blistering sound and political message are still powerful enough and delivered with enough passion to be as relevant as ever. Tonight at the Vera, they'll blow the minds of a whole new batch of 16-year-olds. MEGAN SELING

Cold War Kids, Crystal Antlers
(Showbox at the Market) Cold War Kids were the non-L.A. SoCal buzz band when I lived in Orange County during '07 and '08. They play blustery blues rock, sort of like if the White Stripes and the Black Keys combined forces and invested in a wind machine. Got more passion than a stadium full of Bonos, these Cold War Kids. Crystal Antlers are some tough-as-fuck Long Beach hombres whom Touch and Go signed before the venerable indie label got whacked by the economy's shithammer. In another publication, I described Crystal Antlers as sounding like the Stooges, if every member played the Iggy Pop role. It's garage punk, but with dynamite in its pants. DAVE SEGAL

Even more shows are listed in the calendar.