THE SURPRISINGLY WELL-AGED ALT-ROCK OF CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN

(Chop Suey) If you switched on one of MTV’s alternative music shows in 1989, you’d inevitably catch videos of songs off R.E.M.’s Green, Pixies’ Doolittle, the Cure’s Disintegration, and Camper Van Beethoven’s swan song, Key Lime Pie. Unfortunately, Camper Van Beethoven did not survive long into the ’90s, missing the decade’s cultural coup that launched so many of their peers into stardom. A shame, really, considering that Key Lime Pie has aged as well as—if not better than—so many of the more lauded alternative albums of that period. This may be why the initial news of Camper Van Beethoven’s post-millennial reunion was met with mixed reactions: The fans remembered how much they loved their albums while the culture critics struggled to remember the band at all. BRIAN COOK
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ADJECTIVE-WORTHY FEROCITY, COURTESY OF HOOVES, X SUNS AND GRENADES

(Sunset) Driving, atmospheric, gorgeous, breathtaking, and humongous—these are just some of the descriptors that can be applied to the sounds produced by Spokane-based quartet Hooves and up-and-coming Seattle band X Suns—the latter of which has been making waves with their heavy instrumental postrock. Headliners Grenades are the only band on this bill with a vocalist and they use him well, as he belts out a ferocious howl that perfectly complements his band mates’ impressive Botch-meets-Cave In-styled awesomeness. If you’re a fan of stuff like Jesu, Explosions in the Sky, and Red Sparowes, don’t miss this one. KEVIN DIERS
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And here's all our recommended music events—tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, and beyond!