Bush/Thursday, September 15
Kirk Weddle
Nevermind Live, Tuesday, benefits a visionary who helped Nirvana get their feet wet.
Domino Records
Junior Boys.
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In early-'90s England, the British intelligence agency MI6 undertook two related but very different experiments in cultural programming aimed at boosting the international standing of the faded empire. One was "Britpop," the seemingly grass-roots soundtrack of Cool Britannia championed by music tabloids Melody Maker and the NME and practiced by groups such as Pulp, Blur, and Oasis, which ultimately succeeded. The other, failed experiment was an attempt to create a post-grunge "super-soldier" by combining scraps of Kurt Cobain's flannel with marrow removed from Kate Moss' cheekbones. The result was Gavin Rossdale, a third-rate pretty-boy guitar-slinger with more hair product and bedroom eyes than actual tunes. Although quickly abandoned, the project was at least successful in neutralizing America's own top-secret "ska bomb" Gwen Stefani. With Dead Sara. Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., 467-5510. 8 p.m. $30. All ages. ERIC GRANDY
Def Leppard & Heart/Thursday, September 15
What has seven arms and sucks? Heart, if the Wilson sisters collectively boasted three additional arms. Grating as their music can be, however, it's virtually impossible to catch a cover band at a casino whose drummer's brother's girlfriend's dentist's second cousin didn't play bass for the trailblazing Seattle duo at one point or another. Heart's pairing with Def Leppard at a venue located on an Indian reservation in Auburn ensures that if you're a twice-divorced 50-year-old forklift operator who drives a custom-detailed Dodge Challenger, you're definitely getting laid if you attend this show and say with a smile, "You don't have to love me yet; let's get high awhile." White River Amphitheatre, 40601 Auburn-Enumclaw Rd., Auburn, 360-802-1469. 7:30 p.m. $29–$125. All ages. MIKE SEELY
La La Vasquez/Friday, September 16
La La Vasquez, the former TRL and Flavor of Love hostess and co-star of You Got Served, is not appearing at Cairo tonight. La La Vasquez, the British girl-punk trio (bassist Rachael Finney, drummer Merida Richards, and guitarist Freya Watson), is. The girls, who came together because their boyfriends were all in a band together, make lo-fi, down-and-dirty rock with rambling guitar lines and three-part vocal harmonies—they'll unavoidably get compared to Grass Widow. La La Vasquez are cute and girly, but also not to be fucked with—"Claire Savage," a song on their debut 7-inch on Captured Tracks, menacingly references and threatens a girl who once had the misfortune of starting a catfight with the band at a show. (Blood was shed, hair was pulled.) With Problem Child, Brilliant Colors. Cairo, 507 E. Mercer St., 453-4077. 8 p.m. $5. All ages. ERIN K. THOMPSON
Low/Friday, September 16
How you feel about long-running Duluth, Minn., trio Low in 2011 might largely depend on what drew you to the band in the first place: Was it their songs or their sound? That's because, since moving from experimental label Kranky to Sub Pop for their 2005 album The Great Destroyer, the band has cranked up their formerly hushed, slowcore sound to accommodate such innovations as ELECTRIC GUITAR! SNARE DRUM! and OUTSIDE VOICES! So if you followed them primarily for the pin-drop acoustics of their early days, you'd be disappointed, but if you made it over that hurdle, you'd discover that Low has retained much of what always made songs like "Dinosaur Act" worth straining to hear: warm husband-and-wife harmonies, deeply melancholic lyrics, and simply affecting guitar hooks—only dialed in a little less, well, low. With Bachelorette. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $18. ERIC GRANDY
White Orange/Friday, September 16
When White Orange bassist Adam Pike sent me an advance of his band's self-titled full-length a few months ago, the decision to play it on KEXP took all of 30 seconds. Pike comes with a great pedigree; he's a widely respected producer in Portland's metal scene, having helmed recordings for Red Fang, Norska, and Black Elk. Pike's cred and credentials aside, however, it's the tightly orchestrated, psych-soaked groove mined by frontman Dustin Hill, guitarist Ryan McIntire, limber-limbed drummer Dean Carroll, and Pike that makes White Orange utterly addictive. Highly recommended fare for fans of Queens of the Stone Age or Swervedriver. With Ancient Warlocks, Princess, Serial Hawk. Funhouse, 206 Fifth Ave. N., 374-8400. 9:30 p.m. $7.HANNAH LEVIN
Blue Scholars/Saturday, September 17
Seattle hip-hop standard-bearers Blue Scholars released their latest album, this year's Cinémetropolis, to mixed reviews. One theory, advanced by my old colleague Charles Mudede, is that MC Geo and DJ Sabzi had spread themselves too thin, putting their best work into other projects—Geo (as Prometheus Brown) in his collaboration with L.A. rapper Bambu, Walk Into a Bar, and Sabzi in his productions for the likes of Das Racist as well as his NYC-based duo Made in Heights. Tonight's show should provide not only a to-be-expected excellent performance from Blue Scholars, but hopefully a chance to test that theory, assuming Geo hops on the mike with Bambu at some point in the opener's set. Walk Into a Bar has some warm, hazy burners, to be sure—but better than Blue Scholars? Let's see. With The Physics. Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151. 7 p.m. $16 adv./$21 DOS. All ages. ERIC GRANDY
Nick Jaina/Monday, September 19
