Mahogany, USF, Erik Blood

(Comet) This showcase curated by local blog The Color Awesome marks the West Coast debut of Mahogany—astonishing, considering that they've been making music since the late '90s. Between the excitement over recent reissues from My Bloody Valentine and Medicine and the continued ascent of second-generation shoegazers like Beach House and School of Seven Bells, the climate seems ideal for the Chicago-based dream-pop group to receive their due, and this is your chance to get in on the excitement before their new record, Electric Prisms, drops later this year. Animated by nimble, shifting rhythms and muted boy/girl vocals, Mahogany's meticulous and shimmering sound isn't a slavish reproduction of what's come before, but a thoughtful extension of ideas explored by fellow travelers like Seefeel and Laika. KURT B. REIGHLEY

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Rainfest: Between Earth & Sky, Clarity, CodeXRed, Cro-Mags, H20, Losing Skin, Minority Unit, Paint It Black, Suburban Scum, Wreck

(Neumos) Now in its sixth year, Rainfest has quickly grown from a small-time affair taking place in VFW halls to a three-day hardcore-punk extravaganza, boasting a lineup packed with enough fury to keep the kids fist-pumping and stage-diving all weekend. The first day of the fest is headlined by two New York hardcore heavyweights: the legendary Cro-Mags and the always positive H20. There's no reason to show up late for just these two; local favorites like Wreck and Losing Skin are sure to turn some heads and get some banging. With more than 40 bands playing everything from thrash punk to metalcore, Rainfest is sure to feature at least one band to please anyone with a taste for loudness. KEVIN DIERS

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White Suns, MTNS, White Coward

(Black Lodge) Lest you think White Suns just jumped on the bandwagon of bands whose names start with "White" and have found recent success, think again. These dudes aren't looking to appease anyone. Their songs are basically blasts of cacophony with very little in the way of structure or melody. Sometimes the cacophony stops and starts on a dime, sometimes it shifts direction, but most of the time, it doesn't do anything but just be cacophony for cacophony's sake. Two things: (1) There's nothing wrong with that. (2) That's why they're on Load Records. GRANT BRISSEY

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In the Country

(Royal Room) See Stranger Suggests.

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Alley Art Party: Day Laborers and Petty Intellectuals, Children of Kids, Corespondents, UW Jazz Band

(Alley at University Way and 42nd St) See Underage.

Pop. 1280, DreamSalon, Haunted Horses, Perpetual Ritual

(Josephine) Pop. 1280 play grinding, sinister post-punk rock as if soot perpetually coats their instruments. On the New York band's new album, The Horror (smiling is verboten), they radiate an intensity and bleak ferocity that recalls the doomy malevolence and terminal torque of '80s Australian heavies the Moodists—do yourself a favor and YouTube "That's Frankie's Negative." Seattle's Haunted Horses make for a scarily copacetic Pop. 1280 support act, proffering their own brand of ruthless rock torment. DreamSalon, yet another offshoot of the fertile A Frames/Factums/LoveTan/Evening Meetings axis, purvey scrappy, Nuggets-nodding garage rock. You will love them unconditionally before they complete their first song. DAVE SEGAL

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Julia Holter, Jib Kidder

(Barboza) See Data Breaker and preview.

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The short-lived San Francisco punk act burst onto the scene in 1977 and then disappeared even faster. Lead by singer Penelope Houston (from Seattle!), the Avengers were lean and fiery, and for their short time they left a serious swath of influence. Tonight's show is Houston and guitarist Greg Ingraham, sans original rhythm section (bassist Jimmy Wilsey is presumably too busy with Chris Isaak's backing band).

On May 15, Water Records released a 2-CD compilation of the original Avengers' recorded output—disc one is the original self-titled release (itself a compilation of the band's EPs, released posthumously, aka the "Pink Album"), and a second disc featues "the two bonus cuts that first appeared on cassette and CD versions of the "Pink Album" along with live recordings, rehearsal tapes, and studio demos." Then the whole thing is worked out with liner notes by Greil Marcus. You can order it through Houston's site here. This tour release

Best Coast, JEFF the Brotherhood

(Neptune) See Stranger Suggests.

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Greg Lake

(Triple Door) Stints in prog-rock behemoths King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer make Greg Lake a musician you must respect. He played bass, sang, and wrote lyrics for King Crimson's first two excellent albums and then went on to be a crucial member of ELP, who are way more interesting than the haters want you to believe. On those records, Lake combined a versatile, expressive singing style with phenomenally creative bass maneuvers; dude played on "21st Century Schizoid Man," "Cat Food," and "Karn Evil 9," which grants him automatic prog-deity status. This "Songs of a Lifetime" tour will encompass many of Crimson and ELP's best-known songs with supplemental storytelling and commentary from Lake. DAVE SEGAL

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Jetman Jet Team, Golden Gardens, Your City Sleeps

(High Dive) See Data Breaker.

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Darin Clendenin Trio

(Tula's) Almost immediately after downloading local jazz pianist Darin Clendenin's new CD, Revenir, I was deeply impressed by its even warmth, its effortless lyricism, and the sensitivity of its intelligence. It's exactly the kind of jazz you'd expect from a person who knows this city, who knows its moods, seasons, weather, bodies of water, quality of light, mixtures of cultures, and cosmopolitanisms. It's all there in the masterly way he arranges the music and plays the piano—Seattle as jazz. CHARLES MUDEDE

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The Mallard, Koko and the Sweetmeats, Tellemeser, Origami Ghosts

(Comet) See preview.

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Loudon Wainright III, Shelby Earl

(Triple Door) Loudon Wainright III is the singer/songwriter/humorist/actor with a soft spot for freakishly talented musical brunettes (his marriage to Kate McGarrigle produced Rufus and Martha Wainwright, his later relationship with Suzzy Roche produced Lucy Wainwright Roche) and a family tradition of hashing out family shit in song. Proud papa Loudon celebrated his baby son's breast-feeding with "Rufus Is a Tit Man"; years later, he paid tribute to his soon-to-be-departed mother with the fearlessly emotional "White Winos." Meanwhile, daughter Martha's song about her dad is titled "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole." Tonight, Loudon Wainwright III takes the stage with a set that'll likely blend tracks from his 2012 release, Older Than My Old Man Now, with older songs from all over tarnation. DAVID SCHMADER

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ScHoolBoy Q, Ab-Soul, Logics

(Neumos) Don't get the name twisted: LA's ScHoolBoy Q is not some backpack-wearing conscious rapper. Though he earned the name from an older member of the Hoover Crip gang with which he was once affiliated for earning good grades and starring in multiple sports in high school, Q excels at gritty street raps with enough lyrical chops and flow switches to avoid the repetitive hole some of this stuff falls into. His second official full-length, Habits & Contradictions, was front-to-back solid and remains one of the strongest rap releases I've heard in 2012. Ab-Soul, who makes up low-key LA supergroup crew Black Hippy with Q, Jay Rock, and Kendrick Lamar, will open. MIKE RAMOS See also My Philosophy.

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Kuma Tsukasaki, Ctrl_Alt_Dlt, Eugene Fauntleroy, Roddimus

(Electric Tea Garden) See Data Breaker.

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Lindsey Buckingham

(Neptune) Lindsey Buckingham's weekly royalty statements probably surpass your yearly salary, but here he is, at the intimate (for him) Neptune Theatre, touring behind his latest album, Seeds We Sow. And it's not bad at all for a sexagenarian, just not on the pop-genius level of his 1970s Fleetwood Mac output, although "Gone Too Far" comes close. His compositions on Rumours and Tusk stand as some of the most melodically ingenious and beautiful ever penned. (Seriously, try to get through "The Chain" and "That's All for Everyone" with dry eyes.) Buckingham is a consummate craftsman—turn your ears to "Not That Funny" posthaste—and a wicked guitarist with gobsmacking dexterity, and you can hear flashes of his peak-time chops and melodic facility scattered on Seeds We Sow. DAVE SEGAL

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7 Horns 7 Eyes, Stealing Axion, Idols, Spare Me Poseidon, Numbers

(El Corazón) After three years in the making, local shredmasters 7 Horns 7 Eyes' debut full-length, Throes of Absolution, has been released, earning favorable reviews from blogs like Metalsucks and No Clean Singing, and reputable extreme music magazines alike (Decibel, Terrorizer). It helps that the album is altogether killer, a sonic assault of both heaviness and beauty, weaving you through punishing death-metal-leaning moments and melodic bursts of guitar (featuring a guest solo by famed shredder Jeff Loomis)—all the while never letting up from the unrelenting intensity of vocalist Shiv's burly guttural lows. This is your first chance to check out these songs live, as all the band members currently live in different cities. KEVIN DIERS

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School Shootings, Apache Chief, So Pitted, Mark Sparkles, Sioux City Pete

(Josephine) See Underage.

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DROP: [a]pendics.shuffle, Agaric

(Lo-Fi) See Data Breaker.

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White Hills, Kinski, Low Hums, Terminal Fuzz Terror

(Comet) Never miss an opportunity to catch White Hills live, as they've been one of the country's most raw and feral psych-rock bands for the past few years. Their newest full-length, Frying on This Rock, is earthier and less spacey than the New York group's earlier efforts, often sounding like '80s trance-rock badasses Loop's crushing final album, A Gilded Eternity. The bill is rounded out by three local outfits whose output mirrors White Hills' high-impact, fire-balling approach. DAVE SEGAL See also Sound Check.

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Baby Guns + Secret Colors + Alicia Amiri + Vox Mod Separatist play tonight at 7:30 pm at Vermillion Art Gallery and Bar. Who doesn't love a free show at an art gallery? Nobody that's who.

The Polish Ambassador, Glitch and Swagga, Sonny Chiba, TonzaFun

(Neumos) For me, calling yourself "Polish Ambassador" conjures up images of pierogi, Pope John Paul II, and polka superstar Frankie Yankovic (no relation to Al). What this Polish Ambassador, originally from Malvern, Pennsylvania, now living in Oakland really does is make self-described "electro-funked, glitch-tweaked, wobble-freaked breakbeats." Breakbeats that'll "have you dropping that bottom" like it's 1992. He claims the synthesizer is his primary weapon in annihilating all the bad beats from the earth. Could breakbeats be the new polka? More importantly, is "dropping bottom" the new "half-step-hop-step"? These are the important questions. KELLY O

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Deadkill, Grenades, Battle Stations, Strap Straps

(Barboza) Deadkill are the latest to offer a recording on Nik Christofferson's Good to Die label. (Wait five minutes and the man will surely have snatched up yet another promising hard/heavy outfit from this city or, do I venture to guess, Portland?) Deadkill feature Absolute Monarchs drummer Mike Stubz on guitar, and they specialize in finding one or two jagged riffs per song and then suturing them into your brain. Add to that some brawny drums and Bryan Krieger running around in his underwear and screaming a bunch of shit, and you've got yourself one giant beer blast of a record-release show. GRANT BRISSEY

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Branden Daniel & the Chics, Orca Team, the Apollos, Pleasure Beauties

(Chop Suey) For the past 800 months, "Chic Shit" posters have covered every inch of Seattle—from Ballard to Capitol Hill—constantly harping about the Branden Daniel & the Chics album-release show. Tonight is the night! Branden Daniel & the Chics release their new album, Chic Shit, and the local band will most definitely light Chop Suey on fire with their pulsating garage rock. With yowling, bratty vocals, plenty of tambourine, and jangling guitar riffs, the vibe will pick you up and drop you somewhere in the 1960s (wear a vest and tight pants, just so you don't confuse anyone). It's gonna be a hell of a dance party. If nothing else, we won't have to see the phrase "Chic Shit" plastered all over the city for a while. MEGAN SELING

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Shotty, Hot Seat, the Archelons

(Rendezvous) There's a string band from Richmond, Virginia, called the Hot Seats, and sometimes one of their guitarists performs in a ruffly pink dress, and that guitarist is a man with a beard. This is not that band! This is Hot Seat from Seattle, who describe themselves as "Sexy. Dirty. Rock. And. Roll." And we'll have to take their word for it, since they don't have music posted on the internet anywhere. FOR SHAME! But the Archelons do have music on the internet, and tonight is their first show ever! You'll definitely want to be there if noisy, fast rock music tinged with psych and punk is your thing. Plus, imagine how cool you'll sound in a year when they're playing the Block Party and you can be all, "Yeah, I was totally there for their first show."
MEGAN SELING

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As always, WAY MORE SHIZ, right here.

Monster Planet is a monthly happening at which some of the area's top improvising electronic musicians gather to spontaneously compose in front of garish sci-fi and horror films. Things get very trippy very fast, especially if you're imbibing absinthe.

Tonight's theme is Pollen & Maulin' (i.e., spring fever and killer plants), with supreme retina-dazzler Killing Frenzy (aka Leo Mayberry) providing the visual stimuli. Guest musicians for this episode include Vance Galloway (master sound engineer for Decibel Festival), the Googly, Justin Byrnes (Cyanwave), Brian Oblivion, and Albatronics.

More info on Monster Planet—which is run by SEth DJManos, Andrew Reichel*, William Mempa, and Mayberry—here. Listen to highlights from previous Monster Planets after the cut.

*Disclosure: I DJ with Reichel at the Prog! bimonthly at Living Room.

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Rammstein

(Tacoma Dome) See Data Breaker.

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Music of Remembrance: Another Sunrise

(Benaroya Hall) Wow: This is the world premiere of the newest work by young superstar composer Jake Heggie (Dead Man Walking) and librettist Gene Scheer, the team that created the 2010 opera Moby-Dick. This piece is a musical drama, commissioned by Seattle's Music of Remembrance to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, called Another Sunrise. It stars soprano Caitlin Lynch (most recently in Carmen at Seattle Opera) in the role of Polish resistance fighter and poet Krystyna Zywulska. Preceded by a talk with the composer and librettist. JEN GRAVES

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Death Cab for Cutie with Magik*Magik Orchestra, Youth Lagoon

(Paramount) See Stranger Suggests.

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Psychic Circle Fest: Crypts, Nightmare Fortress, Ononos, Vox Mod

(Barboza) See preview.

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Seattle Rock Orchestra Performs the Beatles

(Moore) See Saturday.

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Psychic Circle Fest: Demdike Stare, Tropic of Cancer, A Story of Rats, S4NTA_MU3RTE

(Black Lodge) See preview and Data Breaker.

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Bassnectar, Ghostland Observatory, VibeSquaD, Mr. Projectile

(WaMu Theater) See Data Breaker.

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Jack DeJohnette Trio with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke

(Jazz Alley) See Thursday.

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• Carrie Miller and Megan Jolly
• Jubilee

[Fourty-three] minutes of non-stop party rock showcasing her Miami bass and breaks influences, [...] sweaty, strobe-lit spaces where Jubilee reigns supreme with sassy vocal samples and unrelenting breakbeats.