07. Wooden Shjips - Motorbike by Discotraxx

Wooden Shjips, Night Beats

(Crocodile) See Stranger Suggests.

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Retic, Relcad, Gunnar Lockwood, the Naturebot, Your City Sleeps, Joe Bellingham

(Electric Tea Garden) See Data Breaker.

Octopus Fest: Kinski, Lozen, Religious Girls, Nightmare Fortress, Dingus and the Buttfucks, Black Nite Crash, White Coward, Says, 13 Glowing Phantoms, DUG DJs, DJ Introcut, Terry Radjaw

(Lo-Fi/Black Lodge/Victory Lounge) The appropriately named Octopus Fest, not to be confused with the now-defunct Wooden Octopus Skull Experimental Musick PFestival, is a showcase of the many musical tentacles that protrude from the body of this diverse city. It's a stacked bill that takes over the block of Eastlake between Republican and Harrison, with some very uncommon denominators—wayfaring atmospheric heavies Kinski rock the block with the gothic newsie-Sioux band Nightmare Fortress, Oakland-based experimental pop band Religious Girls, Lozen, White Coward, Black Nite Crash, Says, and special mysterious guest 13 Glowing Phantoms. Additionally, the renegade funky dads Dingus and the Buttfucks (Truckasauras's live-band alter ego) will play on the rooftop at sunset, while DUG's triple-threat DJs, DJ Introcut, and Mad Rad's Terry Radjaw man the Technics all night. TRAVIS RITTER See also Sound Check.

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Pain in the Grass: Korn, Queensryche, Five Finger Death Punch, Hinder, Chevelle, and more

(White River Amphitheatre) I once dressed up as a bright yellow ear of corn—no joke, a full-body foam corn suit—and interviewed Korn fans in the Tacoma Dome's parking lot. It seemed appropriate and fair, seeing as how most Korn fans' favorite song is still "Freak on a Leash." Korn fans didn't think I was very funny, however—and/or they were so stoned, they believed me when I told them I was "with the band." What I gathered from it all is that Korn fans unabashedly still love Korn. They're loyal and true, and I can't fuck with true love, not even when I'm dressed as a giant vegetable. Korn know their fans, too, titling their 2010 album Korn III: Remember Who You Are. Oh, yeah—Queensryche and a bunch of other bands are playing, too. KELLY O

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Samothrace, Mico de Noche, He Whose Ox Is Gored, Serial Hawk

(Comet) Let's say there are two schools of thought in the world of heavy music. On one side, there's the let's-burn-this-fucker-down, tear-it-up attitude of your thrash bands, hardcore acts, and such. Then there's the meditative, methodically bludgeoning end of the spectrum—your Sabbath worshippers, navel gazers with delay pedals, and riff writers who sound like they're drowning in tar. These schools aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but tonight's lineup veers toward the latter. The dark panoramic vistas of Samothrace, the dexterous stoner-stomp of Mico de Noche, the epic shimmering precision of He Whose Ox Is Gored, and the instrumental sludge of Serial Hawk all flex more brain than brawn. But the absence of thrown beer cans and circle pits doesn't mean you shouldn't leave the show sweaty and sore. BRIAN COOK

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Ghosts I've Met - "Blackwoods" by Yer Bird Records

Ghosts I've Met, Pearly Gate Music, Dolorean

(Columbia City Theater) It's not often that you stumble across a perfect bill, but tonight's show at the venerable Columbia City Theater is about as impeccable as they come (assuming you favor Low over Tool, of course.) Portland's Dolorean have been quietly turning out low-key folk pop for years, while Barsuk's Pearly Gate Music have been racking up accolades for tunes that MOJO termed "lo-fi, high octane." But the true standout here is opener Ghosts I've Met. Mastermind Sam Watts has a gift for crafting hushed tunes that are simultaneously arresting, devastating, and soothing. His rich, warm voice, golden melodies, sparse arrangements, and his cohorts' spectral harmonies create the aural equivalent of a beautifully washed-out vintage summer Polaroid, full of longing and hope and tempered with regret and loss. BARBARA MITCHELL

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Molten Change by The Soft Hills by thesofthills

The Soft Hills, the Curious Mystery, Case Studies

(Sunset) Local band the Soft Hills wander around the same territory of dreamy, soothing folk rock as Wilco, the Cave Singers, and Fleet Foxes: soft, high, slightly trembling vocal harmonies, slow strums on bright-sounding guitars, pastoral lyrics. If the owl and the pussycat had a boom box as they set out to sea, the Soft Hills would probably be on heavy rotation. The Curious Mystery are a little more percussive and psych-bluesy. Their album Rotting Slowly has some strong Doors-y moments, if Jesse Sykes had been behind the microphone—singer Shana Cleveland has a similar mournful, smoky vocal quality. Jesse Lortz's new band, Case Studies, round out tonight's trinity by leaning in a more Andrew Bird direction: guitar, talking blues, a chorus of female harmonies swelling up and down in the background, and some quiet plucking on what sound like violins. They sound sad and pretty. BRENDAN KILEY

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Neume

(Chapel Performance Space) The clarinet has an honest voice, but not so honest you don't want to keep hearing it; it's less obvious than the saxophone, less upright-and-uptight than the oboe. You could listen to it all day. So start this Saturday by listening to Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. Close the windows. Play it loud. Then go over to the Chapel, where the voices of three clarinets will talk—improvisationally. Neume is the name of the group, a newish ensemble that have only just begun playing out. The lineup is Jenny Ziefel, Jesse Canterbury, and Paul Hoskin (founder of the Seattle Festival of Improvised Music in 1986). You want a whole day of choreographed, then spontaneous, clarinet voices in your ear. JEN GRAVES