Two reasons: Kultur Shock on Friday (with X-Ray Press and Orange Tulip Conspiracy, $10, 21+), Art Brut on Saturday (with Miike Snow and Black Nite Crash, $13, all ages). Local gypsy art punks Kultur Shock are releasing their fourth studio album this year, and are about to jet off on tour in Russia. They don't play Seattle all that often anymore, and they're an insanely wild live band, mixing Sabbath-style guitar riffs with Balkan trad, shredded violin solos competing with lead-singer Gino Yevdjevic's melismatic vocals. As for Art Brut, they were indie rock darlings a couple years ago after an amazing debut record, , recorded in beautiful Salem, Ore. and produced by the legendary Frank Black. Also, like Kultur Shock, Art Brut is a fantastic live band that gives it their all and is best seen in a club. more ›

Just a quick note--there's a couple concerts coming up in June that have got us excited, and tickets are on sale this week. Right now, you can buy tickets ($13) for Art Brut's Saturday, June 13 show at Neumo's (all-ages, bar w/ID). more ›

DESIGN: Attention parents! Before you pony up the dough to send your little Da Vinci to Cornish, drop in at the Design Faculty Exhibition and see what the faculty at the Design department (Susan Boye, Jeff Brice, Tiffany Laine De Mott, Jon Gierlich, Jacob Kohn, Claudia Meyer-Newman, Julie Myers, Ellen Forney, Julie Gaskill, Hovie Hawk, BeAnne Hull, Marisa Mangum, Dan Shafer, Hal Tangen, Daniel Thornton, and Junichi Tsuneoka) can do. It's due diligence, people, and worth it for no other reason than because Ellen Forney's name is in the middle of that list. more ›

Last Friday, before X-Ray Press took the stage at Chop Suey, we ran into an acquaintance who described them as "math rock, circa 1994." After their set, another friend described them as "intellectual" musicians. Both are fair assessments: we wouldn't credit it as "original," but "skillful"? Hell yeah. Jumping between jerky time signatures, with a jagged, frequently dissonant guitar opposite thundering bass-lines and fuzzy keyboard melodies, X-Ray Press got down old-skool Don Cab-style. more ›

It's hard to believe, but the Dandy Warhols' sixth studio full-length (and the first on their own label) Earth To The Dandy Warhols will be out this August. The tongue-in-cheek Portland alt-rock band plays the Showbox SoDo tonight. Not sure if it would be a better or worse show if longtime frenemies Brian Jonestown Massacre crashed the gig. more ›