Seattle Soundbite, Thursday, March 19: In celebration of the restaurant industry's long tradition of being the bread and butter for struggling artists of all types--particularly musicians--Seattle Soundbite brings the musicians and the fancy food together in the second incarnation of what will hopefully become a longstanding Seattle tradition. Basically, some of SeattleaE™s best restaurants will be hanging out at the SODO, serving high-class street-vendor style foods while musicians with food service backgrounds entertain the gorging crowd. Sub Pop band The Helio Sequence, a Portland duo that consists of Benjamin Weikel (no doubt one of the happiest-looking drummers in the history if indie rock) and axe-wielding frontman Brandon Summers headline the affair. Though the band's indie pop constructions are perfectly pleasant in recorded form (their latest release is called Keep Your Eyes Ahead), on stage the two men manage to conjure more energy than most bands three times their size. Another notable act is the instrumental concept band Bird Show Of North America, who play dynamic songs named after birds while the band's full-time artist, Curtis Poortinga, paints pictures the audience can admire-- and purchase for around $20-$40-- after the show. With Sue Quigley, Doctor Doctor, and Puget Sound System with Truce. Showbox SODO, 1700 1st Ave. S., 652-0444. 6 p.m., $15. Note by SARA BRICKNER MP3: Can't Say No

The Academy IsaE¦, Thursday, March 19: If you trace the evolution of pop music in America, itaE™s pretty easy to discern both a striking continuum, and a web of diverging branches. The funny thing is, both the tangential and the linear are ultimately just different faces of the same geometry. As contemporary examples of this phenomenon go, itaE™s hard to find better than The Academy IsaE¦ TAI first appeared in the shiny intersection of emo and pop-punk, championed by fellow Chicagoan Pete Wentz. They still toe that line, but have also stripped away some of the more clichAcd elements of either genre, focusing instead on pure pop song-craft. With their clean sound and glossy production, TAI could travel back in time and pass as pop radio stars in any decade since the dawn of the rock and roll era. While this may point to a lack of originality, it also means that they have tapped into the musical zeitgeist, not just of 2009, but of the past 50 or so years of American musical history. Odd, then, that a band so tied to what has come before is now seen as redefining the same. With This Providence, Evan Taubenfeld. Nectar Lounge, 412 N. 36th St 632-2020. 7 p.m., $10. All ages. Note by NICHOLAS HALL

Branford Marsalis, Thursday, March 19 through Sunday, March 22: To see Branford Marsalis in concert is to witness the culmination of a life lived solely for the furtherance of music. The first born son of epic jazz pianist Ellis and brother to famed trumpeter (and current Director of Jazz for the Lincoln Center) Wynton, Branford is an example of someone who could not have escaped a musical destiny if heaE™d tried. Sure enough, here he is, pushing both the envelope and the age of fifty, performing as a classical saxophone soloist, recording and touring with his beloved quartet, even heading Marsalis Music, the label he created to both release his own projects and support the most promising budding jazz stars. The Branford Marsalis QuartetaE™s new album, Metamorphosen, finds the group celebrating nearly a decade together without a change in the line-up, something nearly unheard of in the constantly evolving-and-revolving jazz community. But with chemistry like that between pianist Joey Calderazzo, drummer Jeff Tain Watts, bassist Eric Revis and their beloved leader, what other gig could possibly compare? DimitriouaE™s Jazz Alley, 2033 6th Ave., 441-9729. Thurs.-Sat., 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Sun., 7:30 p.m. $30.50. All ages. Note by RAECHEL SIMS

Katharine HepburnaE™s Voice (CD release), Friday, March 20: Shannon Perry and D.W. BurnamaE™s brief electronic contemplations sound a little like what I imagine LadytronaE™s very first demos mightaE™ve sounded like: lo-fi, synthesized pop. ItaE™s the kind of music thataE™s well-suited for basements and bike shopsaE”the first place I ever encountered the bandaE”but KHVaE™s bouncy little ditties will surely start attracting bigger crowds (and requiring bigger venues than 2020 Cycle) once the bandaE™s third full-length, Stand Up, hits stores. The album is 33.5 minutes of bedroom synth-pop songwriting a little like a less polished, homegrown version of Stars; however, the short songs suggest a punk rock aesthetic, which is only furthered by the bandaE™s DIY approach to packaging and marketing their music. But what I like best about KHV is this: while most electronic pop sounds like itaE™s been made by robots, this band crafts introspective, emotive songs that are 100% flesh and blood. With Partman Parthorse, Mad Happy, The Geese, DJ Sam Rousso Soundsystem. Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-4880. 9 p.m., $8. Note by SARA BRICKNER

Ariel Pink, Friday, March 20: LetaE™s rank the top five coolest lo-fi rockers of the last, say, five years: 1) Ariel Pink 2) Kurt Vile 3) Sic Alps 4) Pink Reason and 5) Wavves. ItaE™s a real toss up between Pink and Vile aE“ both are just great. But Ariel is a bit more psychedelic in a Skip Spence/psychotic kind of way. Plus, his tune aEœWest Coast Calamities,aE off 2005aE™s House Arrest, contains one of the most audacious lines in recent memory: aEœI want a chick who puts up with my shit and puts out.aE Probably the best thing about Pink is how heaE™s turned into a touring juggernaut. A lot of lo-fi studs suck at live shows, but not this guy. His band Haunted Graffiti are serious punch-the-clock rockers aE“ kind of like the Cruisers, only different. With Duchess Says, Catatonic Youth. El Corazon, 109 Eastlake Ave., 381-3094. 7 p.m., $10 adv., $12 dos. All ages. Note by JUSTIN F. FARRAR

Eleni Mandell, Sunday, March 22: When Los Angeles songstress Eleni Mandell came to the Tractor Tavern in the summer of 2007 for an early evening show in support of her last album, Miracle of Five, it seemed like she had to make her performance extra noirish and moody to compensate for all the distracting sunlight streaming in via the venueaE™s open doors. That wonaE™t be a problem this time, when she drops by the Triple Door to play songs from her new Artificial Fire, but hopefully she wonaE™t throttle down that delicious darkness which makes her such a magnetic performer. MandellaE™s rootsy pop tunes are packed with cheaters, death, and unrequited love, and she delivers them with a voice thataE™s got shades of Patsy Cline, Chrissie Hynde, and Cat Power in it, backed by a band that adds elegance and bite to her dusky oeuvre.A With Kelli Rudick. Triple Door Mainstage, 216 Union St., 838-4333. 7:30 p.m., $14 adv., $16 dos. All ages. Note by MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG

Brian Jonestown Massacre Cover Night, Sunday, March 22: To truly love psych-rock band Brian Jonestown Massacre, any fan has to overlook one major flaw: The personality of lead singer and founder Anton Newcombe. In the band's nearly 20 year history, Newcombe has managed to alienate other musicians through his eccentric behavior. Like that time in mid-1990s when he picked a fist-fight with his own band members on stage, or his ill treatment of the Dandy Warhols while filming the documentary DiG! Newcombe talks shit in almost every interview he does, even offering choice words about the death of Eric Clapton's four-year-old son. So it's no surprise that Newcombe is the band's only original member after nearly 20 musicians have abandoned the BJM mantle. And this is why having a BJM cover night is such a brilliant idea: All the good songs with no Newcombe to screw things up. There's no denying that the Seattle bands covering BJM were heavily influenced by Newcombe's ever-changing sense of musical style. Seattle band Watch it Sparkle pulls off the same deliberate, mildly dissonant guitars that have become a staple in BJM's music. This Blinding Light's music incorporates the same shoe-gazing solos that Newcombe adores. These bands can hopefully prove that a lead singer's antics aren't what makes BJM a standout among experimental 90s bands; it's the music that deserves attention. With Kaliningrad, MiniRex, This Blinding Light, Imperial Legions of Rome, Webelos, Watch It Sparkle. Funhouse, 206 5th Ave. N., 374-8400. 9 p.m., $6. Note by PAIGE RICHMOND

White Magic, Monday, March 23: New YorkaE™s White Magic isnaE™t prolific, but the band sure is ambitious. Over the last five years, the duo of Mira Billotte and Douglas Shaw (plus a revolving cast of extras) has been researching different ways to fuse moody acid folk, Kate Bush-inspired art pop, gothic country and the trance-inducing exotica of their pals Gang Gang Dance. Sometimes they succeed; other times they donaE™t. Yet the results are always worth investigating, especially in a live setting. Your typical White Magic set might open with delicately picked acoustic guitars floating about BillotteaE™s deep, mournful wail and end in a psychedelic wash of quasi-Eastern melodies, looped grooves and shimmering piano. Then again, whataE™s typical for a band thataE™s touring the United States for the first time since 2007? With Mariee Sioux, The Lord Dog Bird. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison, 324-8005. 8 p.m., $8 adv., $10 dos. Note by JUSTIN F. FARRAR

Rasputina, Monday, March 23: The brainchild of Kansas-born, Brooklyn-residing singer-cellist Melora Creager, Rasputina is like one of Edward GoreyaE™s wet dreams come to life: a captivating combination of chamber music, doomy goth-metal textures, corsets lifted from a Victorian boudoir and loads of twisted black humor. An in-demand session cellist who's worked with the likes of Nirvana, Bob Mould, Belle & Sebastian, Marilyn Manson and the Goo Goo Dolls, Creager founded Rasputina as an all-female, all-cello group in 1992. Since then, the band has evolved to include percussion and male members. More than a dozen people have come and gone over the years; longtime drummer Jonathan TeBeest left at the end of 2008. As Creager once told me, aEœOften people think it's such a great project that it's about to get big, and they're gonna be there when it gets big, but it just doesn't go like that, and then they get disillusioned.aE Still, as long as Creager wants to keep Rasputina going, the shows should remain visually arresting and musically captivating.A With Ruby Throat. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m., $15. Note by MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG

Oscillator X, Tuesday, March 24: C89.5 FM was bombarded with listener phone calls after the first time they played Oscillator XaE™s demo aEœDynamo.aE The local electronic-pop duo, comprised of John Mendenhall and Kyle Ward, has actually been active for more than a decade, but only recently began drawing attention for their infectious tracks. The industry-savvy independent artists have managed to stay afloat for so long by licensing their tracks to video games for income, and operating under a self-purchased label that allows them full artistic control. Now that theyaE™re finally being recognized for their addictive uptempo Daft Punk-esque music, itaE™s only a matter of time before some famous rapper (itaE™s all you, Kanye) samples one of their tracks.A With DJ Richard J. Dalton from C89.5. Nectar Lounge, 412 N. 36th St 632-2020. 8 p.m., $5. Note by ERIKA HOBART

Madeleine Peyroux, Tuesday, March 24: An evening with lovely, French-singing jazz chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux seems like an appropriate way to welcome the first hesitant signs of spring, and for good reason. PeyrouxaE™s career is one that began suddenly at the age of 22, years before most jazz vocalists find half the soul PeyrouxaE™s voice possesses, and launched her into a stratosphere of recognition she wasnaE™t quite ready for. Thirteen years and four albums later, she is touring in support of Bare Bones, her first album of completely original content. Peyroux melds the lofty alto of her voice around intimate, world-weary tunes that still posses an awareness of her general good fortune. aEœI sit here content, my thoughts and my feelings/Remembering who I used to be, the life I have now is much more appealingaE¦aE Bare Bones finds PeyrouxaE™s writing ability on par with that of her voice: with so much still ahead of her, you canaE™t wait to see what happens next. With William Fitzsimmons. Moore Theatre, 1932 2nd Ave., 467-5510. 8 p.m., $39-$55. All ages. Note by RAECHEL SIMS