Mike Watt & The Missingmen/Wednesday, April 27
Michael Wilson
Barely legal Jessica Lea Mayfield.
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For the past several years, Mike Watt has done everything from serve as bassist for the reformed Iggy & the Stooges, play on Kelly Clarkson's third album, and revisit his past via We Jam Econo, a documentary about his now-legendary group The Minutemen. And now on Hyphenated-Man, his first solo album in seven years, he delivers 30 songs about characters found in Hieronymus Bosch paintings, delivered in that trademark punk-folk-skate-jazz sound that is his own. Watt's voice has grown husky with age, but his playing flies out of the speakers like splatters of Jackson Pollock paint. It's a head-spinner of a record, a beautiful mess of quick musical twists and blue-collar oomph! The whole thing spills over with ideas, but in classic "econo" mode, the longest songs are 2:04. In the middle of it all is Watt himself, flannel shirtsleeves cuffed at the elbows, more than willing to work his ass off for art's sake. With Stag. Triple Door, 216 Union St., 838-4333. 7:30 p.m. $15. All ages. BRIAN J. BARR
Vultures 2012/Friday, April 29
The Columbia City Theater is hands down one of the city's most aesthetically pleasing venues, all scarlet hues and seductive, Prohibition-era vibe. This makes it an ideal, stately setting for more reserved regular headliners like Damien Jurado and Drew Grow, but not the first place that leaps to mind when one thinks of metal. This changes tonight, with a lineup of some of the genre's best Northwest acts, including the joyfully confrontational Princess and the recently reunited Argonaut, whose burly blend of stoner and sludge rock pairs perfectly with headliners Vultures 2012, fresh off the road after a West Coast run in support of their latest release, Bare Your Teeth. With The Loathsome Couple. Columbia City Theater, 4918 Rainier Ave. S., 722-3009. 9 p.m. $5. HANNAH LEVIN
Chain Gang of 1974/Friday, April 29
If the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket, you might as well be dancing, right? Though it may seem the modern equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns, taking an evening off from the daily deluge of negative information to disconnect from your logical self, paint your eyes, and let your pelvis do the thinking may be just the thing your soul needs. The soundtrack for this disco of the damned? A hybrid of dark '80s wave, early-'90s industrial, and turn-of-the-century electro-rock (a la the Electric Six) filtered through the ears of kids young enough to be obsessed with Justice and LCD Soundsystem—an exact description of Denver's Chain Gang of 1974. With Jamaica, MK Speed Dial.Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $12. MA'CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR
Ice-T/Friday, April 29
These days, Ice-T is probably recognized by most as Detective Tutuola from NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But the irony is in the details; before becoming a TV cop, he helped define early gangsta rap and rose to infamy with a song called "Cop Killer" written for his metal band Body Count. Of course, that was after serving four years in the Army and a stint robbing jewelry stores, and before authoring a book called The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck? and another more tamely titled memoir out this year. In the gangsta story line, it was his 1987 debut Rhyme Pays and its lead single "6 'n the Mornin' " that made the biggest impression—as well as earning notoriety as the first hip-hop record to rock a Parental Advisory warning. It's impossible to argue Ice-T hasn't left his mark. With Helladope, Meez. King Cat Theater, 2130 Sixth Ave., 448-2829. 9 p.m. $39 adv./$49 DOS. NICK FELDMAN
tUnE-yArDs/Friday, April 29
There's a fine line between being eccentrically wacky and downright fucking annoying. If the capitalization of tUnE-yArDs' name is your first exposure to the band, it would be easy to file them in the "Wait, did a 12-year-old in a chat room name this band?" category. Thankfully, core yArDer Merrill Garbus' vision for her band is even more playful than her grasp of capitalization. As a concept on paper, tUnE-yArDs sounds a bit sparse and one-dimensional: Garbus builds drum and vocal loops on the fly with some spry bass lines anchoring it all. In practice, the band pops and clicks through a beautifully garbled new-millennium take on the primal rhythms and vocal styles of African music, careening from haunting odes to lost love to fiery, politically charged material to colorful soundscapes that burst at the seams with a joy for sonic exploration without ever becoming unlistenable. With Buke & Gass, Thousands. Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., 441-7416. 8 p.m. $12. GREGORY FRANKLIN
Big World Breaks Spring Classic/Saturday, April 30
Led by drummer and de facto bandleader Aaron Walker-Loud, Big World Breaks draws on its members' extensive jazz backgrounds to play alongside break-dancers, singers, and rappers, acting as studio musicians and live concert instrumentalists for local artists from Massive Monkees to Blue Scholars. This installation of their seasonal "classic" series is headlined by local trio Black Stax—a collaboration between vocalist Felicia Loud and Silent Lambs Project MCs Silas Blak and Jace ECAj—whose radiantly soulful hip-hop puts a bluesy spin on social commentary. Olympia rapper Xperience and Seattle's own party-hop trio Hi-Life Soundsystem join the bill, and a portion of the night's proceeds benefit the drum-line programs of Garfield High School, Washington Middle School, and Madrona K-8. With Jerm, DJ Miguel Rockwell. Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., 441-7416. 8 p.m. $8. NICK FELDMAN
