L.A.B. Benefit Show: Prodigal Flame, Only Human, Getting Up Guilty, Halcyon Daze

(L.A.B. Seattle Drum School) Not to be outdone, steadfast North Seattle underage hangout "the L.A.B." is hosting its own benefit show tonight. I can't offer an opinion on any of the performers—Prodigal Flame, Only Human, Getting Up Guilty, Halcyon Daze—but the L.A.B. is there for you when you need it, and if you're the type who needs, do the right thing and hit 'em back. JASON BAXTER

See Underage.

Black Lodge Benefit Show: Megabats, Forrest Friends, Sorry, Thunder Grey Pilgrim

(Healthy Times Fun Club) How's this for community spirit: one all-ages underground spot stepping up to help another? If you're a patron of the Black Lodge and would like to keep our city's Twin Peaks—referencing venue hale and happy, scope this four-band bill and don't space on donating at the door. Nintendo DS—jammers Megabats employ a different, amazing set every time I've seen them, and Thunder Grey Pilgrim are kick-ass drone-heads from Debacle Records, the imprint run by Megabats' Sam Melancon. Get your Geldof on. JASON BAXTER

See Underage.

Throw Me The Statue - The Happiest Man On This Plane by luclafreniere

Throw Me the Statue, BOAT, Boy Eats Drum Machine, Wonderful

(Comet) Tonight's show encompasses a big chunk of Seattle's wide spectrum of pop music: Throw Me the Statue are the preppy popsters, with choruses that are catchy enough to land them a TV commercial or two. BOAT are sillier but every bit as earwormy (ew), with song lyrics that go on about acting like King Kong and eating nachos (not together, though that could be fun). And both one-man-band Boy Eats Drum Machine and ex-U.S.E act Wonderful ditch the indie-pop guitar scene, instead opting to construct their tunes by way of a slew of electronic bleeps, bloops, samples, and other such noises. It's all different; it's all good. MEGAN SELING

Big World Breaks: Black Stax, Xperience, Hi-Life Soundsystem, Jerm

(Crocodile) Big World Breaks consist of local musicians who frequently work with local rappers and R&B singers. They have a brassy, jazzy, funky, percussive sound, and their last album, 4 Those Lost, features notable rappers like Yirim Seck, Khingz, and Gabriel Teodros. Tonight, BWB will collaborate with Black Stax, the current manifestation of a movement of local hiphop that began in the mid-1990s with Silent Lambs Project. Sadly, I have nothing nice to say about Big World Breaks. And this has nothing to do with their musicianship or dedication. What's my problem? I'm a hiphop purist. In my world, live instruments can only have a very limited or no role at all in the production of hiphop. The moment live music enters a mix, hiphop's spell is broken. It is not hiphop anymore. I do not know what it is, but I rarely like it. Samplers, turntables, microphones—this is the hiphop equipment I know and love. CHARLES MUDEDE See also My Philosophy.

More music here.

Nocturnal by panabrite

Panabrite, Garrincha & the Stolen Elk, Megabats, Summon Thrull

(Josephine) Panabrite (Seattle keyboardist Norm Chambers) works in the hazy, analog-synth-laden zone between kosmische drift and new age waft. Such artists tread a fine line between sublimity and schmaltz, but Panabrite confidently steers his armada of tones to the former state. On releases like Contemplating the Observatory and Wizard Chimes, Panabrite launches beatless symphonies of fibrillating, smeared whorls and drones that make you feel like the star of a weird nature documentary or a sci-fi blockbuster from 1977. Chambers excels at evoking both the intimate and the epic with his scrupulously wrought arpeggios and ostinatos. There's something of Vangelis's grandiose melodic sweep, too, in Panabrite's expansive compositions. One track from Observatory is titled "Shimmering Pinnacles," and it's the truth. With Garrincha & the Stolen Elk, Megabats, and Summon Thrull. DAVE SEGAL

See Data Breaker.

Buke and Gass - Revel in Contempt by Kool-Aid Jams

Tune-Yards, Buke and Gass, Thousands

(Crocodile) Brooklyn duo Buke and Gass play the handmade instruments referenced in their name: baritone ukulele (buke) and a guitar-bass hybrid (gass). To this they add foot percussion, all in the service to scrappy rock songs informed by junkyard aesthetics and art-rock's tendency for compositional and vocal quirkiness. Their 2010 album, Riposte, abounds with vigorous, fetching songs. Another ukulele player, Tune-Yards (Merrill Garbus), is part of what I'm going to call New Quirky America (Dirty Projectors, Skeletons, Dengue Fever, etc.). These groups strive to avoid obvious chord progressions and vocal timbres and borrow liberally from myriad ethnic musics, yet they still write sweet, catchy melodies. Tune-Yards' new album, w h o k i l l, looks poised to achieve the popularity of Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca. DAVE SEGAL See also preview.

Ice-T - Heartbeat by turnthariver

Ice-T

(King Cat) A kid named Tracy Morrow packed his bags in New Jersey to move to Los Angeles after losing both his parents. He probably never dreamed he'd end up a hardcore gangbanger, or serve in the US Army. He never would have thought he'd win a Grammy or start a thrash-metal band or write "Cop Killer," which the White House would condemn. He wouldn't have believed that he'd appear in 40-plus films and/or ever play a detective on a TV show called Law & Order for nine seasons. Tracy "Ice-T" Morrow has lived through enough crazy shit to write a book. And he has. For his Seattle appearance, he'll be signing copies of his new memoir, Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood, as well as performing his music. I hope he brings his "swimsuit model" wife, Coco. If you'd shown a young Tracy a picture of her ass, he'd have never believed that, either. KELLY O

ggnzla Movie Premiere: Spurm, Butts, Grave Babies

(Funhouse) Does somebody need $18,000 (raised from a wildly aggro Kickstarter + Facebook + e-mail campaign) to produce a good music video? FUCK NO. A self-made, guerrilla-video REBELLION is happening, and it's happening right now, right here in Seattle. And the ggnzla crew is leading this people-powered revolution. ggnzla Movie has 16 of the BEST mostly local, mostly garage-punk music videos from the past year. At the premiere, the videos will play interspersed with live sets by both sunny fun-loving duo Butts and doom-and-gloom death creeps Grave Babies. There's a lil' revolution for everybody. The $12 cover option gets you a copy of the DVD. KELLY O See also Stranger Suggests.

The Head and the Heart - Lost In My Mind by subpop

The Head and the Heart, Lemolo, the Devil Whale

(Showbox at the Market) Pitchfork's slagging of the Head and the Heart's self-titled debut (3.8—ouch!) triggered a semiheated exchange on Twitter between two former Stranger music editors. Said verbal sparring was more entertaining than the album under debate. Include this former Stranger music editor as someone who doesn't get why so many folks are flipping for the Head and the Heart's bland-on-bland Americana. Credit to them for selling 10,000 copies of their album on their own (spurring Sub Pop to reissue the disc with its usual choice packaging), but the music is an ardor-dampener; never has "hallelujah" been rendered more milquetoastily. That this modestly attractive folk rock has become one of the sounds of Seattle circa 2011 makes one think that we value restraint and strict adherence to conventional songwriting structures above all else. The Head and the Heart's soaring popularity reflects the triumphant Starbucksification of our city's music scene. DAVE SEGAL

J Mascis - Not Enough by subpop

J Mascis, the Black Heart Procession

(Tractor) If any eardrum-punishing guitarist has earned the right to chill the hell out and release an album of laid-back folk rock, it's Dinosaur Jr. leader J Mascis. Wielding an acoustic for most of his Sub Pop solo debut, Several Shades of Why, J goes against his trademark heavy-rock blowouts in favor of stripped-down, heartfelt balladeering. This kinder, gentler version of Mascis spotlights the wistful ache that's always nestled in his melodies; now it's just much easier to discern. Like Neil Young (easy but totally apt comparison), Mascis exudes a charming vulnerability—and a poignant whine—beneath his gnarly exterior. The malicious dude who's been giving you tinnitus is actually an old softy whose tunesmithing can wring genuine tears. All is forgiven. DAVE SEGAL

More music here.