(Nectar) If I were to pick my favorite year in the history of hiphop it would be 1994. Here, the music fused into something mature and self-aware. Hiphop knew its messy past and looked forward to a future that was not wide open but limited to a plan, an aesthetic program. One of the albums of the marvelous year of 1994 was The Sun Rises in the East by NYCâs Jeru the Damaja. From the albumâs first track to the last, you felt no compromises were made. The beats, the raps, the themes fully expressed the original designs of the artists. Though Jeru was in essence a rapperâs rapper, a rapper for those who cared about the art of rapping, his album, whose production was handled by the great DJ Premier, was a critical and commercial hit. In those days, even the masses listened to rappers who rapped to rappers. With Zoolay, Kung Foo Grip, Porter Ray and Nu Era. CHARLES MUDEDE
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(Dome Tavern) Prepare to get #dark at a former Pioneer Square dive bar temporarily turned home to the Currency Art Galleryâand all-ages shows!âuntil it's all flattened by condos. This lineup appropriately precedes a bulldozing, with new Seattle band Vats' disparate Clan of Xymox-y/Siouxsie-blessed goth punk, which could also be straight off an early-â80s John Peel program. Same-Sex Dictator's noise-hardcore could raise the dead and/or piles of rubble, while the pre-demolition destruction continues with Witches Tittiesâ dual-lady-fronted, synth-laden freakouts. If you aren't familiar with drunk-punk spectacle Health Problems yet, they are highly recommended if you enjoy fuck-off noise punk bands like Pissed Jeans and No Trend. BRITTNIE FULLER
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(Crocodile) Though a lot of followers of the local rap scene might not fully recognize it, Avatar Darko has been one of the most active and consistent artists in the city for the past few years. Releasing a couple of solo mixtapes a year, constantly getting A-grade beats from renowned producers like Megaman, Southside, and AraabMuzik (who have produced for the likes of Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, and Camâron), appearing on plenty of other Seattle rappersâ tracks, and forever trying to push his own stylistic boundaries with different-sounding songs, heâs been staying busy and keeping the quality high. Thaddeus David, Donte Peace, Feezable the Germ, and Peta Tosh round out this impressive all-local lineup. MIKE RAMOS
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(Neumos) Nathan Quiroga and Benjamin Verdoes have been local-music mainstays since their respective well-recognized work with Mad Rad and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, but their new joint project Iska Dhaaf might be the best thing theyâve been involved with. Their driving punk tempos, infectiously catchy hooks, and deceptively deep lyrics are some crazy amalgamation of their rap and math-rock histories, and the several singles theyâve released all suggest that their upcoming full-length, Even the Sun Will Burn (due out March 11), will be quite the record. Throw in punk-rap party-starters Donât Talk to the Cops! and the spiky no-wave stylings of Stickers, and thereâs no way this bill will disappoint. MIKE RAMOS
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And here's all our recommended music eventsâtonight, tomorrow, this weekend, and beyond!