From the Stranger Suggests:

The Mountain Goats, Final Fantasy

(Showbox at the Market) See Stranger Each song on the new Mountain Goats album, The Life of the World to Come, is named after a Bible verse. "Genesis 3:23" ("So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden..."), for instance, is a song about singer-songwriter John Darnielle visiting his old place in Portland and how you can't go home again. As ever, Darnielle's spare acoustic songs tell compelling, detail-rich stories of human misery and persevering hope. Opening is Final Fantasy, the oddball conceptual chamber-pop project of prolific orchestral arranger Owen Pallett. ERIC GRANDY

(More on the Mountain Goats here.)

From Up & Coming:

Little Dragon, DJ Topspin, THEESatisfaction

(Nectar) Gothenburg, Sweden's Little Dragon have garnered plaudits from TV on the Radio's David Sitek and influential KCRW program Morning Becomes Eclectic, while placing a track ("Twice") on Grey's Anatomy. All of which should make one skeptical of the group's merits. But Little Dragon's Machine Dreams full-length on Peacefrog Records emanates a winsome charm, thanks largely to Yukimi Nagano's cute-secksy (faux?) naïf vocals and the group's Yellow Magic Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (although Light would be more apt). Their instrumentation strikes a pleasing balance between organic and synthetic while in service of melodies that insinuate themselves into your mind with understated insistence. Little Dragon are just quirky and inventive enough to avoid kitsch overload and tasteful blandness, common pitfalls in synth pop. DAVE SEGAL

They Might Be Giants, the Guggenheim Grotto

(Showbox Sodo) In September 2009, epochal geek-rockers They Might Be Giants released their 14th album: Here Comes Science, a collection of songs for kids about chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and evolution. For tonight's "adult show" at the Showbox Sodo, the Johns will be pillaging their decades-spanning songbook with help from a full band and a mixed-media stage show. Opening the evening (so feel free to show up late): Dublin's impossibly bland Guggenheim Grotto. DAVID SCHMADER

Lover!, Bass Drum of Death, Fried Pony

(Funhouse) Once upon a time, a boy named Rich Crook met a boy named Jay Reatard. We're not sure if they fell in love, but they did make very lovely music together, both as the Lost Sounds and the Reatards. Eventually, a new flame, Matador Records, whisked the boy Jay far, far away, never to return. Rich sought solace first with Jack Oblivian as the Knaughty Knights, and then with a new power-pop outfit named Lover! With Lover!, this boy named Rich leaves behind his drum kit and gets to stand right at the front of the stage—where he can sing and dance and play his guitar till his heart's content! Could it be that Rich is finally in love? We think so! The End. KELLY O

Puscifer

(Moore) Maynard James Keenan (vocalist for Tool and A Perfect Circle) works out his poontang- centric impulses in his Puscifer side project. On releases like V Is for Vagina and the C Is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference HERE) EP, Keenan indulges in a kind of cabaret-ish, chamber triphop with recessive metallic genes. It's not a million miles from the later work of Jim "Foetus" Thirlwell and Luaka Bop recording artist Jim White. Freed from Tool's meticulous convolutions and heavy bombast, Keenan as Puscifer explores a more intimate sound that exhibits greater seriousness and emotional heft than his cuntroversial record titles would lead you to believe. (A $125 ticket allows you to enjoy a tasting of Keenan's "new wine." Yep.) DAVE SEGAL

WD4D, Dead Noise, DJ Introcut, Hideki, Sean Cee

(Lo-Fi Performance Gallery) Local DJ/producer WD4D (Waylon Dungan) has been grinding fine and often at Lo-Fi, Grey Gallery, and in opening slots on choice bills around town, while also DJing for Gabriel Teodros and THEESatisfaction. Joining him on the bill is fellow Seattleite Dead Noise, who's made beats for Khingz's From Slaveships to Spaceships and Kail's True Hollywood Squares (Big Dada). Tonight is the release party for After School EP1 (Fourthcity), which sports three cuts from each producer. Dead Noise and WD4D dwell in hiphop's more scientific and spiritual hoods while allowing room for whimsy and, of course, a daring, sampledelic funkiness. These MC-free pieces stretch out and luxuriate in an eccentric creativity that adds yet more credence to the argument that Seattle's hiphop scene is scaling a new peak. DAVE SEGAL

And there's always more in our complete music calendar listings.