AraabMuzik/Thursday, November 17
Anna M. Campbell
Mustachioed marauder Merrill Garbus.
Daniel Arnold
Devon Williams.
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Tonight is a stacked bill, but its biggest star is the Akai MPC. The "music production center" with its 4x4 grid of sampler pads has long been the iconic tool of hip-hop beatmakers, and tonight's performers are all masters of the instrument, both in the studio and live onstage (AraabMuzik's rapid-fire, beat-flipping set was a highlight of this year's Decibel Festival). The Red Bull Music Academy–sponsored show goes like this: First, each performer plays a set of their own music, from AraabMuzik's synth-laced hip-hop to Jeremy Ellis' future funk to Party Supplies' house-flavored fare; next, the three each build and perform a song from a shared set of samples; finally, the three collaborate to create a new song on the spot. Expect flurries of blurry finger-tapping and some truly world-class beat science. With Jeremy Ellis, Party Supplies, 12th Planet (DJ set). Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., 441-4618. 8 p.m. $7. ERIC GRANDY
Big Sean/Thursday, November 17
Most rap albums contain a certain plea for the listener to buy into the artist's personality, based upon the simple principle that one needs to empathize with the storyteller in order to give a crap about what they're saying, something that is doubly true in a lyric-reliant, image-heavy form like hip-hop. On his industry debut Finally Famous, Detroit's Big Sean is rarely able to pull the listener in based on personality alone, as his style—shit, even his stage name—isn't different enough to set him apart from a majority of the pack. Yet he's won the favor of one of the best artists in the game (he's signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music), and has been moved from Showbox at the Market down the street to SoDo to accommodate his fan base. The deal is that within these fairly common parameters, he can rap quite well ("Put her hands down my pants/Now she rockin' Sean John"), and his tracks are laced with agreeable production from big names like No I.D. and the Neptunes. With Cyhi the Prince, Shawn Chrystopher. Showbox SoDo, 1700 First Ave. S., 652-0444. 7 p.m. $20 adv./$22 DOS. All ages. TODD HAMM
Earl Brooks/Thursday, November 17
For every Seattle band that hits the big time, an incalculable number continue to labor below the radar. One such artist is Earl Brooks, a middle-aged singer/songwriter who's rounded the open-mike circuit since the early '80s and has lately held down a weekly residency at Cafe Racer. Combining the calculated, slow drawl of Cass McCombs with the world-weary melancholy of Townes Van Zandt, Brooks is proof positive that if you love what you do but can't get a break, you just have to find a place to hunker down and hammer it out any way you can. Cafe Racer, 5828 Roosevelt Way N.E., 523-5282. 9 p.m. Free. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT
Feist/Thursday, November 17
If anything can be said about Leslie Feist, it's that she's gracefully deliberate. In 2007, an iPod commercial deposited her gleeful "1234" to minivans and Whole Foods playlists nationwide. After touring hard on The Reminder, she stepped out of the spotlight (and music entirely) and let some of that effervescent fizz subside. Her newest album, Metals, relies less on the showtuney sass of The Reminder and digs into earthen themes of regretfully lost love and mortality. Metals was recorded on the edge of a cliff staring into the ocean in Big Sur, and breathes with the breeziness of fresh, salty air and tall, swaying pines. It's the sound of Feist reconnecting with her own curiosity as well as taking control of her own fuse, making sure it's a slow burn rather than a rush to one quick, dramatic explosion. With Chilly Gonzales. Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., 467-5510. 8 p.m. $33 adv./$38 DOS. All ages. GREGORY FRANKLIN
Fox and the Law/Thursday, November 17
On their self-titled EP, Fox and the Law demonstrate two distinct facets of their sound, moving from bare-bones punk to slowed-down garage-rock blues (unsurprisingly, singer and guitarist Guy Keltner calls Jack White his "hero") over the course of four songs. The one constant? Big riffs, which go along with a technical proficiency that belies that the group's relative youth. With this show, Fox and the Law will be supporting a good cause—it's a benefit for village development in Peru, part of "Rock the Village," a concert series started last year by recent UW graduate Mario Abata that also includes a December 7 show from The Horde and the Harem. With the Fabulous Party Boys, Ticktockman, Posse, The Grizzled Mighty. Nectar, 412 N. 36th St., 632-2020. 8 p.m. $6. ANDREW GOSPE
The Clumsy Lovers/Friday, November 18
It's often noted that Vancouver, B.C., country/rock/bluegrass group the Clumsy Lovers is a road band; their website credits them with more than 2,500 live shows. Far from the slipshod implications of their name, this five-piece dynamo is a rock-solid music-making machine, cranking out blazing, string-fueled country anthems a mile a toe-tapping minute. It's been a couple of years since the release of their latest album, 2009's Make Yourself Known, yet the group appears to tour just for the joy of it; with such world-conquering ambitions and zesty enthusiasm, it's hard to imagine that another album is far away. With Perry Acker. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599. 9:30 p.m. $10 adv./$12 DOS. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT
