Fran Healy / Wednesday, August 18
Michael Golzer
Sea life with Jaill.
Mike Savoia
Drinks are on Witchburn.
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Why did Fran Healy, lead singer of the acclaimed Scottish Britpop band Travis, make a solo record, this fall's forthcoming Wreckorder, without his longtime bandmates? "I hate them," Healy told me on a recent phone call. "I hate all of my band. They're all wankers." In all seriousness, Wreckorder came about during a much-needed rest period for Travis last year—Healy says he wrote the songs to "invigorate my brain and inspire me." The result? A gorgeously sweeping collection of grand and richly arranged pop songs featuring Healy's tender-sweet vocals, as well as a heart-aching duet with Neko Case and, on another track, a musician named Sir Paul McCartney on bass. Triple Door, 216 Union St., 838-4333. 8 p.m. $25. All ages.ERIN K. THOMPSON
Jaill / Wednesday, August 18
Although it's fairly late in the game, the perfect summer soundtrack may have just shown up. Straight from the shores of Milwaukee, Jaill's second full-length (and first on local tastemaker Sub Pop), That's How We Burn, plays like a perfect boat ride, with enough jittery, choppy moments to balance the smooth sailing. Full of reverb-laden, major-key jangle and cooing, sunny harmonies, Jaill's album is a surprisingly upbeat, catchy affair at first listen; raw in all the right places, with just enough sugar sprinkled over it to keep listeners bouncing off the walls. However, dig into the meat of the lyrics, and you'll discover Jaill has the right amount of salty world-weariness to make the perfect bitter/sweet combination. With The Hold Steady. Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151. 8 p.m. $22 adv./$24 DOS. All ages.GREGORY FRANKLIN
Cracker & Camper Van Beethoven / Thursday, August 19
Which would you imagine is a bigger challenge: Working as a derivatives trader during one of the nation's worst economic crises, or trying to reanimate not one but two terrific bands—one a cult favorite, the other a former chart-topping powerhouse? Over the past couple of years, veteran songwriter and musician David Lowery has done both. During a brief lull in his music career, Lowery joined a private hedge fund. But then his old career beckoned, and recently he's been jointly fronting both Camper Van Beethoven—his jangly '80s folk/pop band that virtually defined the term "college rock"—and Cracker, his '90s rock band that penned a handful of big radio hits, out on the road and in the studio. And from everything we've seen and heard from both entities, the payoff for both Lowery and his fans has been huge. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $20.MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG
Kate Tucker / Thursday, August 19
Whether performing solo or with her former band, the Sons of Sweden, Kate Tucker has always been extremely pleasant to listen to. Her voice is high and pretty, her songs mellow and dreamy, and her appearance far surpasses mere cuteness. So what's not to like? Well, nothing, unless you, like many, have grown fatigued with what's become an overplayed genre—one whose cookie-cutter performers mostly resemble Kate Tucker. Thankfully for Tucker, her new album, White Horses, finds her stampeding out of this box and into Cowboy Junkies territory. "Blue December" is one of the best local tracks to be released so far this year, and "Where Are You (I Am Already Gone)" isn't far behind. The new album has more melancholy and depth to it, which, when set against her prior work, makes it not only tolerable but wonderful. With Gabriel Mintz [see Through @ 2], Joshua Morrison. Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., 441-7416. 8 p.m. $8.MIKE SEELY
Casiokids / Friday, August 20
Although black metal has been the country's chief musical export of late, Norway's all-time most successful band remains '80s synth-pop outfit a-ha, who announced that they're retiring at the end of 2010 (what, you didn't know they were still active?). Earlier this summer, via an American Idol–esque reality show, the "Take On Me" boys passed their torch to upstart Norwegians Casiokids, who won the contest and the accompanying one million kroner (around $160,000). That's allowed them to finance a U.S. tour, where they can show what they've been up to since forming in 2005. That means lots of high-energy, retro electropop crafted out of vintage keyboards, strings, toy instruments, weird samples, joyful melodies, and gentle vocal harmonies. With Light Pollution. Vera Project, 305 Harrison St., 956-8372. 7:30 p.m. $9. All ages.MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG
Digable Planets / Friday, August 20
As an alternative to the unbridled aggression of then-in-vogue gangster rap, Digable Planets' debut Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) and its vibrant jazz-laced beats—not to mention Grammy-winning single "Rebirth of Slick"—quickly earned a name as some of the early '90s' most astute hip-hop. The New York–based trio (which includes Seattle MC Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, recently acclaimed as Palaceer Lazaro of Shabazz Palaces) parted ways shortly after the release of their sophomore effort in 1994. Their reunion just shy of a decade later excited hip-hop heads from coast to coast, and whether or not a third album ever materializes, the chance to see these legends in action is definitely "Cool Like Dat." With U.G.O. Crew, Khingz, dj100proof. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9442. 8 p.m. $17.NICK FELDMAN
