The Short List: The Week's Recommended Shows

Dirty Projectors ~ Wednesday, November 4

This New York trio (which adds two members when touring) is as easy to love as Animal Collective and as easy to hate as Vampire Weekend. It depends how much credence you give to the charge that the Dirty Projectors' mad scientist David Longstreth blatantly rips off his predecessors, such as Frank Zappa, and/or appropriates the music of an entire continent—namely, Africa. To those of us who fall somewhere between these two warring camps, however, the trio's arty indie rock, with its lush arrangements, angelic harmonies, and circuitous rhythms, is just uncommonly good music. Before 2009, their efforts had confused and even enraged many, but the pop sensibility the Dirty Projectors injected into Bitte Orca, released in June, converted at least as many as it alienated. With Little Wings. Neumos, 925 Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $15 adv. KEVIN CAPP

Skinny Puppy ~ Wednesday, November 4

You could make the argument that Canadian anarcho-industrial-rock pioneers Skinny Puppy have been at their most artistically potent (and successful) over the past 27-plus years when there's a right-wing bogeyman at the helm of the free world to rail against. The group—long led by frontman Nivek Ogre and multi-instrumentalist cEvin Key (third original mainstay Dwayne Goettel died of a heroin overdose in 1995)—rose to prominence and crafted some of their best work during the Reagan/Bush years, fell off (and split up) during the Clinton '90s, and re-emerged, wholly revitalized with two new albums, during the W years. How they'll fare while Obama's in office is anyone's guess, although with a couple wars still going on, a lousy economy, continued animal abuse, media manipulation, and tons more awful shit happening in the world, there's still plenty to be noisy, chaotic, intense, and pissed off about. Plus, Skinny Puppy's multimedia stage show, as always, is fucking amazing. With Vverevvolf Grehv. Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151. 8 p.m. $27 adv./$30 DOS. MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG

Holiday Shores ~ Friday, November 6

Suddenly and out of nowhere, a whole generation of young bands is looking to the beach for inspiration. It's a coast-to-coast phenomenon, from San Francisco's Girls to New Jersey's Real Estate to San Diego's Wavves. But the subject doesn't yield the air of innocent escape it once did. Dotted with drugs and misfits, it can actually be a sinister setting for the above bands. Sitting between these poles of warm nostalgia and tingling paranoia are Holiday Shores, a Florida outfit named for an idyllic street near the ocean. Led by Nathan Pemberton, the band has made its full-length debut with Columbus'd the Whim, a collection of nifty, somewhat retro guitar-pop gems. Heavy helpings of reverb, vintage keys, and vocal harmonies lend a wintry feel to Pemberton's summer-pitched musings. Despite some fleeting earmarks, though, Holiday Shores don't really sound like other bands. It's as if Pemberton is too immersed in his own little world to take cues from anyone outside it. With Evangelicals. The Vera Project, Seattle Center, 956-8372. 7:30 p.m. $8–$9.DOUG WALLEN

John Abercrombie Quartet; Trio 3 ~ Friday, November 6

Like Bumbershoot, the Earshot Jazz Festival sometimes presents painful choices. Tonight is one of those nights, as the festival offers two great bands several miles apart. On the other hand, the groups are pretty musically distant as well, so it shouldn't be too hard to decide where you belong. If you like the ECM tradition of expansive, cerebral music that's both wistful and austere, guitarist John Abercrombie's quartet will serve you at the Triple Door. If you're craving something rougher-edged, with ties to the searing free jazz of the '60s, the all-star Trio 3 of Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman, and Andrew Cyrille will give you some hard knocks. Triple Door, 216 Union St., 838-4333. 7 (all ages) & 9:30 p.m. $24. PONCHO Concert Hall, Cornish College, 710 E. Roy St., 726-5066. 8 p.m. $18. All ages. MARK D. FEFER

Lights ~ Friday, November 6

Lights (Valerie Poxleitner) began creating and distributing synth-pop via MySpace in her teens, but it wasn't until last year, when Old Navy used four of her songs in their spring ad campaign, that she got her big break. The Toronto native has since performed at SXSW, and recently announced that she'll open for Owl City on his upcoming national tour. Her commercial appeal is obvious—she's pretty, petite, and wields a keytar on her enchanting debut studio album The Listening. If none of that wins you over, she also includes an adorable cover of the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" in her live set—because, let's face it, everybody knows the words. With Stars of Track and Field. El Corazon, 109 Eastlake Ave. E., 381-3094. 7 p.m. $10 adv./$12 DOS. All ages. ERIKA HOBART

The Raveonettes ~ Friday, November 6

It's a rare feat for a band to simultaneously pay homage to their influences, sound current and not nostalgic, and maintain an element of originality. These are some of the finer points of the Raveonettes' latest, In and Out of Control, an album that on its surface is a high-school soundtrack complete with bubblegum, a summer tease, and synthesizers. It would have taken Phil Spector an orchestra in his days outside of prison to create what electronic Danes Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo have accomplished here. But the Raveonettes aren't trading in teen pop. Their sweetener is in the raw, and belies an album full of dark undercurrents, such as overdose in the single "Last Dance." And nobody's keeping any secrets on "Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)." It's hard to disagree with the beats or the missives. With the Crocodiles. Neumos, 925 Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $15 adv. CHRIS KORNELIS