This Week's Recommended Shows: Ashanti, These Arms are Snakes, The Cave Singers and More

[Thursday, December 11] If Viva Voce represents the early passion and infatuation between husband-and-wife duo Kevin and Anita Robinson, then Blue Giant is the comfortable, easy-going stage that comes with a healthy musical marriage. Maybe that shift is because the Portland-based couple brought some outsiders in to their relationship: After nearly a decade of creating psychedelic, romantic pop as Viva Voce, this spring the Robinsons teamed up with a rotating handful of musicians — Sleater Kinney's Corin Tucker was a one-time addition, and Chris Funk of the Decemberists is now a permanent member — to create the twangy, folk-inspired sound of Blue Giant. With See Me River, Casey Neill & the Norway Rats. Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-4880. 9 p.m., $8. Listen to Target Heart.

[Friday, December 12] Right after The Blow’s Poor Aim: Love Songs came out, single “Hey Boy” exploded like a huge, sticky pink gum bubble all over indie pop’s blasé face, and frontwoman Khaela Maricich looked downright bewildered at the sudden glut of adoration. Well, the same thing just might happen to the Nextdoor Neighbors, a two-woman electropop band from Olympia who finished second in this year’s EMP Sound Off! Competition. The band just put out their first album on Bicycle Records, Magic Vs. the Machine, a lovely collection of lo-fi songs that mesh electronicist Kathy Cotes’ robotic bleeps and bloops and lyricist Jessie Hill’s sweet, plaintive vocals about the painful transition from adolescent to adult. With the Coyotes. Easy Street Records and Café, 4559 California Ave. S.W., 938-3279. 9:30 p.m., $5. Listen to Magic Vs. the Machine.