From Up & Coming:

Immortal Technique, Diabolic, Poison Pen, Chino XL, Swave Sevah

(Neumos) Harlem's life-of-the-party, one-man-terror-cell Immortal Technique is about to bring his incendiary (vocal) devices to the other Washington, along with Poison Pen and Sevah, both members of his fearsome NYC-based Stronghold crew. But Chino XL? He's a fuckin' L.A. original (though he was born in either Jersey or the Bronx) who got 2Pac mad enough to shoot him half a bar on the end of one of the most scathing—shit, downright scary—disses ever, the Biggie- aimed "Hit 'Em Up." Ads for his '96 debut, Here to Save You All, consisted of pages printed with his audacious punch lines, such as, "Evil tendency, strong like Miles Davis's heroin dependency," which even had Quincy Jones pissed. Oh, well. LARRY MIZELL JR.

Mission of Burma, Explode into Colors

(Crocodile) Mission of Burma are a well-known quantity at this point, but openers (and recent Kill Rock Stars signees) Explode into Colors might not be—at least not yet. The Portland trio of Claudia Meza (baritone guitar, ex-Japanther), Heather Treadway (percussion, melodica), and Lisa Shonberg (drums) make rickety, rumbling dub punk that sounds like a more scattered, spooked-up echo of the Slits. On the song "Heat," over fraying, high-frequency delay; a sparse, funky bass line; and some tumbling drum clatter, the band break into a spectral chorus of "bombs over Baghdad" that lands as credibly as Dungeon Family appreciation as it does as inscrutable war protest. Righteous XX-chromosome post-punk may not be uncharted territory—what is in 2009?—but Explode into Colors tread it artfully. This is their first Seattle appearance outside of playing house shows—don't miss it. ERIC GRANDY

The Black Heart Procession, Bellini, El Olio Wolof

(Chop Suey) Music crit fail: I briefly had the Black Heart Procession confused with Godspeed You! Black Emperor—not really a fair comparison, so I won't belabor it here, but suffice to say, that was a grave error. Anyway... it shouldn't be too hard to keep straight from now on, as the Black Heart Procession are about as aptly named as a band can get—dark, sometimes gothically heartbroken, sometimes noirishly seductive, and as heavy- burdened and slow-plodding as a pallbearer. Bellini can march at a similarly funereal pace, only with a more malevolent bearing, but they're just as likely to back singer Giovanna Cacciola's sultry vocals with jagged guitar shredding and pulse-quickening rhythms. El Olio Wolof combine melancholy, old-timey arrangements (accordion, woodwinds, tinkering percussion) with fey lyrics and the occasional burst of rock muscle. ERIC GRANDY

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