Becoming the Archetype/Wednesday, June 29
Randee St. Nicholas
Pop's most notorious femme fatale is back.
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A devout message of Jesus Christ and love aren't the first things that come to mind when listening to Christian progressive death-metal band Becoming the Archetype. The Atlanta natives have released four albums for Seattle's own Solid State Records—the metal and hardcore sub-label of Tooth & Nail Records—which boasts the likes of metal powerhouses Underoath, August Burns Red, and Oh, Sleeper. Becoming the Archetype released their fourth studio album, Celestial Completion, on March 29; it debuted at #7 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart. Breaking away from the confines of drop-D guitar and machine-gun drumming, the album dabbles in trombones, vocoders, and sitars—instruments not typically used by a band that sounds as if it's orchestrating a mass sacrifice. With Inhale/Exhale, To Speak of Wolves, They Charge Like Warriors. Studio Seven, 110 S. Horton St., 286-1312. 6:30 p.m. $10 adv./$12 DOS. All ages. JOE WILLIAMS
Helms Alee/Wednesday, June 29
To say that the new Helms Alee record, Weatherhead, is an exhausting listen is the ultimate compliment one could pay it. Soldering together the divergent worlds of the dreamy and the screamy, Weatherhead is full of charged calls to battle floating beside moody, melodic lulls. Guitarist (and local amp maker) Ben Verellen fills the record with sparkling shoegazer moments that transition into monumental walls of speaker-destroying fuzz, screaming atop bassist Dana James' warm, woozy coo and Hozoji Matheson-Margullis' aerobic drumming. Helms Alee's vision is expansive in scope but focused in execution, proving this is a band with no fear of trying new things; spastic sludge-riffery sits comfortably beside spaghetti-Western instrumentals and Angus Young–style pluckery. Borrowing equally from the spaced-out, melancholy landscapes previously explored by Hum and Failure and the stampeding brutality of Mastodon, Helms Alee know exactly where they're going, but they're in no rush to get there. With Akimbo, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, Norska. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $10. GREGORY FRANKLIN
Britney Spears/Wednesday, June 29
Say what you will about her troubled past and bad hair extensions, but 13 years into her career, Britney Spears is still capable of making good decisions. Witness Femme Fatale, Spears' seventh studio album—it's both her most solid and most adventurous to date. In it, Spears collaborates with the songwriters and producers responsible for some of her most memorable hits—Bloodshy & Avant, the ubiquitous Max Martin, and Dr. Luke—but finally appears to have left bubblegum behind, instead firmly focusing on the aggressive and mature club-bangers first hinted at in 2007's Blackout. Femme Fatale is dynamic, catchy as hell, and wildly creative—there isn't a bad song on the album. And Spears is ever the consummate, hardworking professional—her previous tour in 2009 was a massive global success, and reviews for her flashy current outing are raving about her energized performance, as well as her brilliant choice for opener, the fabulous and indubitably talented Nicki Minaj. With Jessie and the Toy Boys, Nervo. Tacoma Dome, 2727 E. D St., 253-272-3663. 7 p.m. $29.50–$350. All ages. ERIN K. THOMPSON
Lucinda Williams/Wednesday, June 29
For the better part of the past decade, many Lucinda Williams fans have wondered whether her decision to ditch her native South for Los Angeles and eventually get married was adversely impacting her creative output. While records like West and Little Honey were by no means bad, they suggested that she'd veered far from the gravel road, and no longer had reason to cry. In short, Williams seemed too content—which was great for Williams, but a real bummer for devotees whose loyalty hinged on their ability to relate to her chronic heartbreak. With this year's Blessed, however, Williams invites these wayward fans back home with her most lyrically and melodically dynamic album since 2003's World Without Tears. It allows listeners to feel good about the fact that she's finally found security without shortchanging the suffering it took to get there, and dispels any skepticism that she'd lost a handle on what made her the most compelling American songwriter of the past quarter-century. With Jesse Sykes and Phil Wandscher. Woodland Park Zoo, 601 N. 59th St., 548-2500. 6 p.m. Sold out. All ages. MIKE SEELY
A Drink for the Kids Grand Finale w/Hot Bodies in Motion/Friday, July 1
In trying economic times, it may be hard to justify spending hard-earned cash to get boozed out of your brain. Supporting the very worthwhile Vera Project, Drink for the Kids, a citywide fund-raiser which donates a portion of the proceeds of participating establishments' liquor sales, is the perfect excuse for that fourth cocktail and subsequent blurry cab ride home. Tonight's Sunset show, featuring Hot Bodies in Motion—cute, funky white boys who make the kind of jams best enjoyed generously lubricated—is sure to inspire lots of do-gooding. So go on and drink up. While your head rests on the cool toilet seat the next morning, remind yourself it was a generous sacrifice your kind and giving soul made for the kids. Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-4880. 10 p.m. $10 adv./$12 DOS. MA'CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR
Anya Marina/Friday, July 1
