Zola Jesus
Wayne Bremser
Double your pleasure: Thao & Mirah.
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Wednesday, May 4
Twenty-two-year-old Wisconsinite Nika Roza Danilova is an operatically trained singer who, these days, goes by the purposely peculiar stage name Zola Jesus. Danilova—who also performed with the synth-punk outfit Former Ghosts—has a stunning, primitive voice that bespeaks volumes of maturity and realism—she's already released three full-lengths (2009's New Amsterdam and The Spoils, last year's Stridulum II) and a smattering of EPs. Zola Jesus' songs are profound and hugely dramatic (check out the gothic romance of "Poor Animal" or her stentorian cover of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love"), but Danilova has the authority as a performer to carry them off. You might be looking at America's own Björk. With Naked on the Vague, Crypts. Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., 441-7416. 8 p.m. $10. ERIN K. THOMPSON
Battles
THURSDAY, MAY 5
When Battles plays live, people usually leave the show talking about the drummer. As they should: John Stanier is precise and powerful behind his bright yellow set, seeming not to break a sweat as he lays down complex polyrhythms and strains to reach his ceiling-high crash cymbal. Such technical prowess is a prerequisite for membership in Battles, whose other members—guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams and bassist/guitarist Dave Konopka—are alumni of Don Caballero and Lynx, respectively, and can more than hold their own with Stanier on stage. The band saw the departure of frontman-of-sorts Tyondai Braxton before recording their forthcoming sophomore album, Gloss Drop, but the output remains largely the same: tightly wound math-rock odysseys that few other bands have the chops—or the audacity—to try to pull off. Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., 441-7416. 8 p.m. $15. ANDREW GOSPE
Coheed and Cambria
THURSDAY, MAY 5
Stereotypes surround Coheed and Cambria—from the chain of concept records (which include a, gulp, prequel), their dooming description as a "progressive metal hybrid," or the stories of friction among members that has them quitting and rejoining the band like it's a soap opera. But see them live and all that falls aside. The collective energy harnessed when these guys take the stage, full of speed, aggression, and manic hair-whipping, will make you—as it did me when I stumbled upon them at a festival—stop in your tracks and brace yourself to be blown away. Showbox SoDo, 1700 First Ave. S., 628-3151. 8:30 p.m. $27.50 adv./$30 DOS. All ages. MA'CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR
Vivian Girls
FRIDAY, MAY 6
Brooklyn's beloved all-girl garage band is easy on the eyes (a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead—take your pick!) Even better, their purposely scrappy music is delightful to the ears. The Vivian Girls' style is a throwback to the '60s and '70s; their songs utilize breezy vocals and heavy distortion, much like their influences the Wipers and the Shangri-Las. Admittedly, the trio's newest album Share the Joy is far from groundbreaking, and its debut single "I Heard You Say" sounds exactly like everything else they've done. But why mess with a successful formula? When you come across a group as winsome as these girls, risk-taking just seems reckless and overrated. With No Joy, Unnatural Helpers, Witch Gardens. Vera Project, 305 Harrison St., 789-3599. 7:30 p.m. $11. All ages. ERIKA HOBART
Beach Fossils
SATURDAY, MAY 7
Anyone trying to recover from a stressful, frenzied, negative day is advised to sit back and spin Beach Fossils' 2010 self-titled full-length, or its follow-up, this year's EP What a Pleasure. The Brooklyn quartet's tunes are as warm and shimmering as a mirage—less lo-fi than naturally muted and sweetly serene—kind of like Joy Division's sunny, easygoing younger cousin. The bass propels vague, reverbing guitars and frontman Dustin Payseur's hazy vocals, and the lyrics match the music's carefree sounds—"Times I can't remember/What I'm thinking about/'Cause my head's caught up/And tangled in those dreams," Payseur sings on "Daydream." Instantaneous relaxation is guaranteed. With Craft Spells, Seapony. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8000. 8 p.m. $10. ERIN K. THOMPSON
Mogwai
SATURDAY, MAY 7
Mogwai has been creating atmospheric, largely instrumental rock since its formation in 1995, but the Scottish band is harder to pin down both musically and geographically than its contemporaries. While Explosions in the Sky's expansive, three-guitar attack evokes the Texas plains and the otherworldly microsymphonies of Sigur Rós seem fitting for a band confined to Iceland, Mogwai's more straightforward approach to post-rock makes it comparatively difficult to place. This universality is on full display on the band's latest album, the brilliantly titled Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, which just might be Mogwai's best since 1997's critically lauded Mogwai Young Team. The songs crest and fall on Stuart Braithwaite and John Cummings' nuanced guitar work and Martin Bulloch's subdued, propulsive drumming, resulting in music that is wordless yet somehow relatable. With Errors. Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151. 8 p.m. $22.50 adv./$25 DOS. All ages. ANDREW GOSPE
Thao & Mirah
SATURDAY, MAY 7
Chocolate and peanut butter is your go-to analogy for lazy writers looking to describe a great combination (and bring back fond memories of vintage peanut-butter-cup advertisements), but while Thao and Mirah's sensibly named collaboration, Thao & Mirah, is sweet and toothsome, it's also more complex and exciting than that prosaic pairing. (Maybe more like dates and blue cheese?) Thao Nguyen of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down and Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn of, well, Mirah, are both impressive singers and songwriters with outstanding solo work to their credit. Together, though, they're something else. Mirah's aerialist singing hits amplitudes that Thao's lower, smokier vocals don't reach; Thao's more electrified guitar playing gives Mirah more exciting scaffolding to play on than she's had in years; and their duets can go from sweet to sharp in the turn of a phrase. (Add tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus to ecstatic opening track "Eleven" and you've got, well, devils on horseback, basically.) With Led to Sea, Marissa Anderson. Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., 441-7416. 8 p.m. $16. ERIC GRANDY
