THURSDAY 3/28

CHRISTOPHER OWENS, MELTED TOYS

With his first solo record, Lysandre, Christopher Owens has stepped away from the mythology that consumed him and his old band. As the face of the indie-darling group Girls, Owens was a character study: a child born into a cult, a protégé of an eccentric oil heir, and, almost lastly, an incredible songwriter. The songs in Girls' catalog could be roughly split between cunning pop earworms and sometimes-sinister orchestral teenage symphonies. Lysandre is a radical shift. It's often very delicate, with soft flutes and gently strummed classical guitar. A recurring instrumental motif, in the form of "Lysandre's Theme," casts a haunting spell over the record, which primarily documents Owens's first nationwide tour, and the realization that playing for big indie crowds won't help you shake off years of personal trauma. The only perplexing question is why, at other moments, the music sounds like the sax-heavy '90s theme for America's Funniest Home Videos. Owens has remarked that Lysandre is an album he had to get out of his system. While it might startle some Girls fans, Lysandre certainly points to a potentially fruitful and varied career. Vera Project, 9 pm, $20 adv/$22 DOS.

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• LIÉ

MAGMA FEST: LIÉ, KOBAN, BLACK HAT, BARDO:BASHO, DANIEL SHUMAN

Vancouver, BC, is having a bit of a musical outbreak, and tonight's show features two bands from our prolific neighbors to the north. Lié are making some solid post-punk stompers, staying danceable while taking cues from their '80s gothic brethren. Time to riot ecstatic to these jams! Similarly, Canadian act Koban also stems from the post-punk family tree, adding a touch of coldwave electro-ice to the night. While the music generally hits its mark, referring to oneself as †∆†∆†∆Kōban†∆†∆†∆ also bridges into the territory of the lamentably trendy upside-down-cross-core/witch-haus/whatever craze presently embarrassing darker music. Daniel Shuman (Sabbath Assembly) will also be performing a solo set, and he'll be joined by local experimental electronic acts Black Hat and Bardo:Basho, whose droned-out, world-music-injected beats may inspire some inadvertent plane-shifting. Heartland, 8 pm.

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• Pretty Old

PRETTY OLD, WHITNEY BALLEN, ALBERT SQUARE

Maybe you're one of the lucky souls who hasn't spent any part of your young adulthood in cramped, dark kitchens clutching a cup of caffeinated liquid and feeling utterly convinced that you're never gonna figure out this thing called "life." (In this case, stop reading and tell the rest of us what you did right.) I'm not talking about students fretting over an ideal academic track, or newly vacant graduates armed only with the solid knowledge that they have no idea what to do with the rest of their lives. I just mean the day-to-day struggle of getting a handle on the basic stuff that constitutes living. When will I start putting money away in savings? What is going to happen if I eat another dinner of tortilla chips? How am I even supposed to find the motivation to roll out of bed today? I listen to Pretty Old and think about these kinds of domestic anxieties. I hear songs about walking home with groceries in the rain, dealing with disinterested former lovers, the world turning round and round while people are barely keeping it together. I suspect that some might consider this music bleak, dreary, and possibly extremely desperate. Earlier recordings without a full band are sparse affairs, as deep, hushed voices and quiet guitars play up these attitudes, but I also find Pretty Old noble and inspiring, capturing the beauty of mundane "day in, day out" moments and trying to find something close to humanity in them. With Whitney Ballen and Albert Square. Heartland, 9 pm.

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• J. CLIFFORD
• DON’T TALK TO THE COPS!

DON'T TALK TO THE COPS!, EVERYBODY WEEKEND, PUNISHMENT

If there ever were a night to get down, this would be it. Seattle party slingers Don't Talk to the Cops! serve up positive vibes and wired beats with a punk attitude. Their frenzied electronic hiphop will be joined by the makeshift "slip-hop" beats of Everybody Weekend, alias of Seattle-based Heddie Leonne. Her music is whimsical and cheeky, stumbling but self-aware, and for undeniable plus points, she even covers power-pop princess Josie Cotton's "He Could Be the One." Also on this boogie-packed bill, Punishment's highly caffeinated, '80s-keyboard freak-outs are coupled with an awesomely self-deprecating stage act, which makes for crash-free fun for the whole sugared-up family. With a post-show dance party from DJ Mitchell Bell, curator of Hanged Man Recordings and also a possessor of fine musical taste. Heartland, 7 pm.

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WHY?, ASTRONAUTALIS, DREAM TIGER

Of the many overused labels employed for describing a given album, the "career at a crossroads" tag may be the most meaningless. You could say that every record finds a band dealing with new challenges, whether it's a young group developing an identity among a host of influences, or an older outfit battling between exploring new sounds versus falling back on well-trodden sonic territory. But when Yoni Wolf spends almost all of the new Why? record taking stock of himself and his career, it's a puzzling venture that leaves one unsure of what's next for the group. Continuing to stray from Why?'s earlier hiphop sound toward straight-up indie rock, Mumps, etc. looks back on a lifetime of squalid glories, a mixture of proud, spiteful, and deflated memories. While the tone is often conflicted, it's still the same Yoni shining through, expertly fumbling around #firstworldproblems like sex, money, God, and the deep ambivalence that comes from shopping at Whole Foods. Neumos, 8 pm, $15.

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WEDNESDAY 2/6

GHOST MICE, YOUR HEART BREAKS, LIVING RHEUM, NANA GRIZOL

While I would generally prefer to stuff banjos in my ears than listen to most anything deemed "folk punk," I would gladly stuff my ears full of Bloomington, Indiana, duo Ghost Mice (with Plan-it-x Records). Chris Clavin and Hannah Jones tell stories of being young and in love, eating pizza, and dumpster-diving, and while it all may come across as ragingly posi, its overwhelming sense of humanness also keeps my cynicism in check. In songs like "Free Pizza for Life," the vocals teeter between self-awareness and elation: "So I jumped into the car/Told the driver to drive/As we sped off into the night, we yelled/Free pizza for life." If any heartfelt, acoustic, anarchist punk is going to win me over, this is it. Who doesn't like free pizza, anyway? With Living Rheum, a cleverly/grossly named folk collective from Portland, local fuzz punks Your Heart Breaks, and Nana Grizol. Heartland, 9 pm, $7–$10 donation.

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