Blood Red Shoes / Wednesday, October 13
Virgin Records
Someone call pest control.
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Please don’t hold the fact that Brighton, England, power duo Blood Red Shoes are impossibly sexy against them. Guitarist Laura-Mary Carter and drummer Steven Ansell trade off vocals, share ragged harmonies and deliver a love letter to the Clinton years on their latest, Fire Like This. Counting Nirvana, Blur and PJ Harvey among their influences, BRS break down and repackage all things good about the ’90s in a sleek yet edgy and contemporary way. Think Frank Black and Kim Deal in a two-person Pixies married to the Ting Tings. Tracks like “Light It Up” prove they are musically as hot as the promise of their headshots would lead you to believe. With Sky Larkin, Blue Light Curtain.Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-4880. 9:30 p.m. $10. MA’CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR
Deadmau5 / Wednesday, October 13
These days, every dude with a laptop and a set of turntables refers to himself as a DJ. (e.g.: Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio of Jersey Shore). But progressive house producer Deadmau5 slams his less talented peers, claiming that he doesn’t fly halfway across the world to “hit a spacebar and do a couple of fist pumps.” He delivers far more during his sets, donning a crystal-encrusted mouse mask and dancing and leaping across the stage, storming through a prolific collection of hypnotic tracks, including those on his most recent album For Lack of a Better
Name. Many of the tech-savvy Toronto native’s diehard fans rock mouse ears and Mickey Mouse-style gloves on the dance floor. So dig up your childhood Disneyland paraphernalia. It can definitely be recycled this evening. With Die Antwoord, Skrillex.Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., 877-STG-4TIX. 8 p.m. $36.50. All ages.ERIKA HOBART
Holy Fuck / Wednesday, October 13
With a moniker this bursting with astonishment, one better deliver the goods.
Blessedly, Holy Fuck most definitely does. Working with the belief system that progressive, punk-minded electronica doesn’t require laptops for production, the Toronto-based collective makes beats and breaks from more organic, childlike elements: toy phaser guns and keyboards, distortion pedals and vintage instrumentation. The volume levels aren’t for the faint at heart, and the chaotic structuring will fry the synapses of linearly-inclined music fans, but open-minded listeners will be rewarded with a challenging, but thoughtfully mapped exploration of beautiful noise. With Indian Jewelry, ClipD Beaks. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $13.HANNAH LEVIN
Die Antwoord / Wednesday, October 13
See The Wire.
Miike Snow / Wednesday, October 13
See An Incomplete History.
Phantogram / Thursday, October 14
Since releasing their luminous debut LP, Eyelid Movies, on Barsuk in February, Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter of Phantogram have spent the year relentlessly touring in support of the album. Of the seemingly endless crop of boy-girl duos that have popped up in recent years, Phantogram still stands out as the sleekest, the most sophisticated, and perhaps even the most innovative—their music evenly combines unrelated elements of electronica, Motown, hip-hop, 60s French pop, and drony guitar rock. An intimidating long line of fans showed up at the pair’s Neumos performance in May, so get there early.
With Josiah Wolf.Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 7 p.m. $15.ERIN K. THOMPSON
Superchunk / Thursday, October 14
Bands naturally have a shelf life of creative output. Thankfully, there are those weird anomalies (like Twinkies) that somehow never expire. Forming in 1989, North Carolina’s Superchunk have managed to stay inexplicably fresh for 21 solid years, outliving a good deal of their peers and surviving in-band breakups (1994’s Foolishis essentially the indie-rock version of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours). After a nine-year recording hiatus, 2010’s Majesty Shredding finds the band having not missed a single step, returning as incredibly vital elder statesmen to multiple generations. The band’s most recent live shows find Mac McCaughan and Co. joyously sprinting and pogoing through their sizeable catalog like a young, hungry band with everything to lose and without 21 years worth of laurels (and leg work) to rest on. With Teenage Fanclub, Telekinesis.Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151. 8 p.m. $20 adv./$23 DOS. All ages.GREGORY FRANKLIN
Charles Peterson / Thursday, October 14 See The Wire.
Earshot Jazz Festival / Friday, October 15–Sunday, November 7 See the music lead.
Broken Social Scene / Friday, October 15
As far as number of members go, it’s hard to say where you draw the line between “band” and “orchestral ensemble.” Somewhere in that grey area lies Toronto’s Broken Social Scene. Appearing in configurations ranging
anywhere between six and 19 members onstage at a time, it’s an understatement to say the band’s sound is huge and sprawling. On their most recent release, May’s Forgiveness Rock Record, Broken Social Scene is more focused than ever, creating a record full of glowing sunshine that touches on the quirky grooves of Can and Os Mutantes. Equally comfortable writing driving rock anthems as they are with softly abstract, meandering slow jams, Broken Social Scene is a perfect soundtrack for the party the night before and coming back from a hangover the morning after. Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., 877-STG-4TIX. 8 p.m. $22 adv./$25 DOS. All ages.GREGORY FRANKLIN
Everclear / Friday, October 15
