At the EMP Skychurch, Past Lives played a bunch of new songs from their forthcoming album and the general impression they left was of a band emphasizing melody and restraint over aggression and noise. While their new output is more subdued than what they released on their Strange Symmetry EP, Past Lives haven't blanded out. Devin Welch is still one of Seattle's most interesting and inventive guitarists and vocalist Jordan Blilie has found a way to modulate his angst with greater finesse. You could call the band's development "maturity," but without the usual handicaps that usually accompany that term. One new song even verged on classic rock, but Past Lives' surging, surprising dynamics prevented it from sounding stodgy. The sterile environs of the Skychurch do rock groups no favors, but Past Lives still sounded mighty good and their new songs have me stoked for the new full-length.

Out on Fisher Green Stage, Mayer Hawthorne and the County dressed like the Reservoir Dogs gang (save for the frontman, who donned a black sweater over his white shirt and black tie). The throwback attire mirrored the sextet's music, evoking old-school music-biz protocol.

Mayer Hawthorne's a 20something white boy from Ann Arbor, Michigan, but his sincerity and silky soul pipes are for real. He and his multiracial band possess killer chops and deep knowledge of Motown/northern soul tropes. Avoiding kitsch/pastiche ain't easy with a style that's 40+ years old, but these guys sure execute convincing facsimiles of '60s soul and funk that would inspire nods of approval from the Wax Poetics set. Smooch-worthy ballads alternate with swift, uplifting dance numbers, with pleasantly surprising covers of the Isley Brothers' "Work to Do" and ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" s upping the feel-good factor (Hawthorne & co. revealed the latent Motown-ness of the latter and made me reassess that AOR staple in a new, brighter light). The highlight, though, was witnessing a blond-haired toddler girl dancing madly and falling down to "Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothing." Cute overload!

There was nothing cute about Akimbo back in the Skychurch. Their maelstrom-y, bludgeoning rock is as heavy and dense as drummer Nat Damm's hair. They go through their classic (super)power-trio (s)machinations with a controlled abandon that's obviously been honed over years of roadwork. Their songs bear both a bulging girth and a kinetic force that prevents sludginess. Akimbo are one of the few bands who could do a cover of "When the Levee Breaks" that could challenge Led Zeppelin's original. I'd love to hear them try.