Dave Segal on Portable Shrines:

After witnessing Wooden Shjips' awesome concert at the Comet in April, local musician/author John Gillanders of the band Black Science e-mailed promoters Aubrey Nehring and Darlene Nordyke to gush: "I was actually practicing some magick rituals during their set and felt like I was kind of floating around the room and transforming my field of consciousness into predesigned sigils. Great experience."

That phenomenon has become more common in the last year thanks to Portable Shrines, a collective dedicated to fostering psychedelic multimedia events in Seattle. Started last year by Nehring and Nordyke, Portable Shrines is shifting the city's psych scene into a higher gear—subliminally.

Megan Seling on West Seattle Summer Fest this weekend:

Festival booker Jason Fitzgerald takes full advantage of the musical talent residing on the other side of the city when curating the festival. "West Seattle affiliation is important to me," he says. "It seems like a lot of festivals—especially community festivals—just book whoever applies, whoever is the cheapest, or friends of friends, and that makes for a dull festival experience. I think it reflects poorly on the community in the long run. So I say no to bad bands. I care about West Seattle and Summer Fest and try my hardest to persuade good bands to play, even when other festivals offer them more money." For this year's festival, at least half the bands have ties to the neighborhood, including Mudhoney, Super Sonic Soul Pimps, We Are Golden, Pillow Army, and Westerly.

Mudhoney may be the biggest name in the lineup, but they're not the only talent in the pool. Black Panties—featuring members of the Cops, the Presidents of the United States of America, and the Heavy Hearts—play quintessential rock and roll about makin' out and screaming in authority's face. Thee Sgt. Major III, featuring Kurt Bloch, deliver super-sunny and sing-alongable pop anthems.

Charles Mudede on Cage:

The story of Cage's struggle with mental illness and abusive parents shaped the content and mood of his second full-length album, Hell's Winter, which was released in 2005 by his current label, Definitive Jux. However, his first full-length album, Movies for the Blind, was shaped by hedonistic and self-destructive drives. He rapped about lots of sex ("They try to kill me through my dick with these hos too much"), lots of drugs ("Had a PCP overdose, and I still smoke"), and lots of horror gore ("My whole career been a upstream kayak through blood"). But those shocking images and themes did not capture or match the true spirit of the underground, which is more about the mental—be it the metaphysics of Scienz of Life, the futurism of Cannibal Ox, the surrealism of MF Doom, or the skills for skills' sake (hiphop's version of ''l'art pour l'art'') of Eyedea & Abilities.

Check out Up & Coming for this week's concerts and points of interest, such as No Depression Festival:

(Marymoor Park) Holy God. I hate festivals, but are you fucking kidding me with this lineup? Gillian Welch and Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter on the same goddamn stage on the same goddamn day? Which is not to say that Iron and Wine are anything to sneeze at, but seriously: If you're going to make a sandwich with Welch and Sykes as bread, you don't need anything in the middle. But there are plenty of reasons to hang out for the whole day: Zee Avi is a cute, promising young musician, and Justin Townes Earle is definitely on the way up, too. As the kids used to say back in the frontier days of the internet, this lineup is made of win. PAUL CONSTANT

Fucking in the Streets on the Vera Project fundraiser 'A Drink for the Kids':

If you are gonna feel the blues and inject your rock with a little rudimentary boogie, though, you could do a hell of a lot worse than Unnatural Helpers. The band is led by singer/drummer Dean Whitmore and features Brian Standeford (ex—Catheters, Tall Birds) on guitar and Kimberly Morrison (the Dutchess and the Duke) on bass; sometimes Charles Leo Gebhardt IV joins them as well, but not this night. The Helpers' brand of garage-y rock and roll is more straightforward than TLA's, but they steamroll ahead (and swagger side to side) with an energy that's as undeniably catchy as it is concise (most of their songs clock in at under two minutes). "This is about as close as we've come to playing an all-ages show," quipped Morrison between songs, and indeed, theirs is a sound that practically demands a little (preferably philanthropic) drinking for proper enjoyment. The band recently signed to the reliably awesome and always busy local label Hardly Art, so expect to be hearing plenty more from them in the future.

A Drink for the Kids continues this Thursday at Linda's, Friday at Solo Bar and the Funhouse, and culminates Saturday at Neumos with a show from Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold and Throw Me the Statue. recommended

Read reviews of new singles from the Game, the Fiery Furnaces and more in It's a Hit:

"Lost at Sea"

by the Fiery Furnaces
(Thrill Jockey)

I'm Going Away, from which this is the track that won't let go, is the most immediate, song-oriented album they've made since 2003's Gallowsbird's Bark, but they haven't so much gone back to normal as reinvented themselves again, this time as something approaching a simple rock band. "Lost at Sea" is the simplest song, with the simplest chorus, but it won't stop nagging you: "Baby, I'm... maybe I'm not me."

Data Breaker on Wisp:

New York's Wisp (Reid Dunn) headlines this month's event. He's been making strangely contoured waves in electronic music's IDM sector with his most recent full-length, The Shimmering Hour, on England's seminal Rephlex Records (he's also released on Sublight and Terminal Dusk). The Shimmering Hour sounds like an archetypal Rephlex effort; in fact, some thought Dunn was behind the Tuss, a once-mysterious Aphex Twin production that caused a stir in 2007.

On this disc, lustrous synths twinkle and swell with orchestral grandeur while manic rhythms skitter and splat in a manner familiar to anyone who's followed elite producers like Squarepusher, µ-Ziq, Plaid, and Richard D. James over the last 15 years. This is electronic music that bears the compositional complexity and integrity of jazz-fusion masters like Return to Forever and Weather Report, but it's leavened by a giddy spirit. Wisp's music proves that you can simultaneously stroke your chin and cut a rug, and not look too ridiculous in the process.

My Philosophy on Grynch:

The hits just keep on coming. Blogland's favorite 206 MC, the (man who hates being called the) King of Ballard, Grynch, has blessed us all with his latest and greatest, the Chemistry EP. Just like that awesome Physics EP from last week, it's up for free download; hit www.getgrynch.com to get yours. Eight tracks deep, this record finds Young G nailing his formula, as laid out on the title track: "Good beats, good rhymes, good chemistry."

Okay, so it's a little deeper than that. For one, Grynch really put together a great palette of beats in which to find inspiration, with contributions from longtime collaborator Scenik, bicoastal Myx Music artists/producers Keelay & Zaire (cop that Ridin High), Red Bull Big Tune Philly contestant CsD (whose beat on the opener "Right Now" is an attention getter), as well as up-and-coming locals like DJ Nphared and Ill Pill. The biggest smash on here comes courtesy of the biggest name, New Jersey's celebrated slap-champ Illmind; the song in question, "A Dream Undeferred," captures the heart of go-forth perseverance rap, its verses detailing the MC's rise through the ranks.

The Score on music from Final Fantasy, the video game:

Given the elasticity of Final Fantasy's music in practice, it may seem strange—and staid—for the Seattle Symphony to devote a weekend (Thurs July 9, 7:30 pm and Fri—Sat July 10—11, 8 pm, Benaroya Hall, $17—$85) to fixed, closed-form selections culled from 11 editions of Final Fantasy. The audience will watch images from the game on a giant video screen while the symphony and the Seattle Choral Company perform an evening-length suite, including the ominous "Liberi Fatali," "Fisherman's Horizon," and the game's opening theme. There's even a premium-priced meet 'n' greet afterward with the composer.

Nonetheless, this is a risky, almost experimental concert. In addition to plumping up the thin MIDI- and sample-based sounds of the game's score with a live orchestra, the symphony, by freezing the open-form Fantasy music, may enunciate something new out of the familiar.

Underage on Seahouse's new record:

From their first, sloppy shows at the Old Fire House in 2007 to the first time they destroyed a party at now-defunct Central District DIY house the Ark, Issaquah's Seahouse have always been something very special, as evidenced by the unanimously stoked crowds that meet them everywhere they go. Their simple, lo-fi sing-alongs encompass all that it is to be a suburban teenager—but on their first full-length album, PNW, they elevate their poppy basement jams to full-on summer-soundtrack material. The inhuman beat of Nick Leumpert, flat-out the city's best young drummer, lays the groundwork for the band's grimy guitars and the blooming teenage lyrical prowess of vocalist and frontman Max Smith-Holmes. Whether being hopelessly lost in love, anticipating the end of school, or welling up with hometown pride, PNW is a raw and honest trip through Smith-Holmes's hang-ups and enthusiasms.

Party Crasher gets down with people turning 30! Also check out Poster of the Week! If you're having trouble getting your evening started off right, you can search our online calendar for more music, shows and DJs.