Melvins, Green River
The Melvins' first major-label album, 1993's Houdini, came out at a time when corporate record labels were seemingly courting every band even tangentially associated with the Northwest grunge scene. The Melvins, though, were not tangential to grunge so much as foundational, laying much of the sound's groundwork with their combination of sludge, metal, and punk rock. Formed 10 years prior in Montesano, Washington, the band—then consisting of founder Buzz Osborne, drummer Dale Crover, and bassist Lorax—relocated to San Francisco to record Houdini (the band now lives in L.A. and performs with members of former Seattle duo Big Business). To celebrate the band's 25th anniversary, their current tour features the Melvins performing Houdini live in its entirety with Crover on drums and Trevor Dunn on bass, as well as material from the band's first year together featuring founding members Mike Dillard on drums and Matt Lukin on bass.

Andrew Luck vs. Dosadi perform at Re-Bar; Dave Segal interviews them for Data Breaker:

S.P.E.C.T.R.E., Andrew Luck vs. Dosadi, Grym

"Invisible moving air that you can literally feel is fascinating. Those subtones have a physicality that other frequencies don't provide." So reason Seattle producers Andrew Luck (aka Woo!) and Dosadi (aka Adam Houghton) about their preference for productions that treat the sound spectrum's low end like a dominatrix does a submissive's ass.

Together, Luck and Dosadi work in that exciting basscentric zone where genres mutate and blur. Stylistic boundaries are still being mapped here, with things in a rapid state of flux. Luck describes their music as a combination of "skweee, glitch-hop, whomp, or midtempo breaks." The BPMs may be low compared to those in drum 'n' bass and techno, but Luck and Dosadi's rhythms and bass frequencies slug and surge with a thrilling high impact.

And from this week's Up & Comings:

Ursula Rucker & King Britt, Black Stax, KBCS City Soul DJs

(Chop Suey) Black Stax is Silas Black, Jace ECAj, and Felicia Loud. These local hiphop and soul veterans are a synthesis of the Roots, the Coup, the Fugees, and Janis Joplin. Black Stax are the realization of an idea that began with Silent Lambs Project (Silas and Jace). That idea is the production of hiphop completely within the context and logic of the art gallery, but without once losing sight of the street. It is hiphop's complete independence from market forces, hiphop as an object for collectors rather than buyers. At one moment in hiphop's history, Jean-Michel Basquiat produced a rap recorded for Rammelzee vs. K-Rob, Beat Bop. It is useful to think of Black Stax as a return to that meeting point: the gallery and the street. CHARLES MUDEDE

The Green Pajamas, Capping Day

(East Street Records, West Seattle) For a quarter century, Seattle's Green Pajamas have been creating high-quality psychedelic pop that's mostly wafted below the radar of America's music consumers—though Europeans seem to dig 'em in higher numbers. The Green Pajamas are by no means the most far-out or flamboyant psych group around, but they have an uncanny ability to craft melodies that induce longing and burrow deep in your memory banks. GP leader Jeff Kelly's songwriting is baroquely beautiful, but not overly fussy; even his epics have a coherent structure, and, at least on "Kim the Waitress" (with which Material Issue scored a well-deserved hit in 1994), his hook manufacturing is impeccable. Tonight's show celebrates the release of Poison in the Russian Room, yet another bejeweled collection of intricately constructed beauties. DAVE SEGAL

Mike Watt & the Missingmen

(Crocodile) Neither serious illness nor time will stop Mike Watt. Already enshrined in all right-thinking people's pantheon for his low-end wielding in punk-funk rabble-rousers Minutemen, the indomitable bassist also has toiled for the Stooges and issued several Mike Watt albums of some merit. His latest project with the Missingmen—featuring Tom Watson of Slovenly nonfame on guitar and Raul Morales on drums—is a "punk-rock opera" titled Hyphenated-Man, which Watt describes as being akin to "a mirror from just inside my head... [shattering] into 30 pieces, each showing a piece of my state of mind (or out-of-mind) as of now." The group also have been known to execute a nice, understated cover of Television's "Little Johnny Jewel" and a rollicking version of Wire's "Ex Lion Tamer." Mike Watt cannot be stopped. DAVE SEGAL

Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk, Herr Jazz, Desolation Wilderness

(Healthy Times Fun Club) Weird things migrate to Lawrence, Kansas, to retire and die. William S. Burroughs spent the last 20 years of his life there, and the man who stole Einstein's brain hid there for a long time, too. All that weird shit must've imbued the soil with something freaky, because Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk are from Lawrence, and they've got some of that weirdness about them, too; they make ambient songs that are just as catchy as pop music. "Eating with Horses" has the kind of nervous energy—it's pestered by frantic percussion, using what sounds like wooden spoons—that makes you want to dance. But it's still ambient, somehow—but it rocks, too. Weird. PAUL CONSTANT

Rain Fest: Gone but Not Forgotten, Ill Intent, Killing the Dream, Lewd Acts, the Warriors, others

(Viaduct, Tacoma) For those of you needing an alternative to Sasquatch!, consider Tacoma's Rain Fest, the Viaduct's annual hardcore (and more!) music festival. Going Friday to Sunday, Rain Fest is three days of metal, hardcore, pop punk, and rock, with tons of local bands, and a few touring acts as well, including Comeback Kid and the Warriors (who co-headline Saturday night). With nearly 50 bands in three days, it's hard to know where to start, but Friday night don't miss Deathwish Records' Killing the Dream for a dose of pissed-off and heavy breakdowns. On Sunday, be sure to check out Make Do and Mend for a Hot Water Music—inspired blast of turbulent rock. MEGAN SELING

Remember to check our online music calendar for a complete listing of bands, DJs and live music.