(Moore) If you attended college in the ’90s or early ’00s, there's a good chance you would have would have received a mixtape where a few Eels songs were featured. While the sounds of their poppy and sometimes even upbeat-sounding songs can keep your mood afloat, the lyrical content dives deep to explore dirty, dark waters of death and desperate heartbreak. Transcending the simpler, sad-bastard counterparts of his emo contemporaries, songwriter Mark Oliver Everett lets you enjoy the art of his misery without dragging you down with him. His newest album The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett deals with some of his more bummed-out compositions since the 1998 album Electro-Shock Blues addressed the tragic deaths of his family members. Bonus: Goth-mystic chanteuse opener Chelsea Wolfe perfectly complements the headliner. BREE MCKENNA
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Kyle Geiger’s yet another American techno producer who migrated to Berlin, where his kind of music is worshiped and an electronic musician can live with a modicum of dignity. In that hyper-competitive German milieu, Geiger thrives with a deadly serious strain of minimal techno that balances über-functional danceability with mesmerism. We salute any DJ or producer who can keep the vibe pummeling, cerebral, and hypnotic at the same time. Go hear “Big Orange” for proof. The +Plus crew comes through again. With John Massey, Miss Shelrawka, and Sone. Kremwerk, 9 pm-4 am, $10, 21+. DAVE SEGAL
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When you’re Nik Christofferson, founder of Good to Die Records, one of the best and definitely the heaviest Seattle record label to pop up in the last few years, you don’t celebrate your birthday by quietly grabbing some beers at the bar down the street. You fill two Seattle venues with some of your favorite bands and start your new year with less hearing than the last. The lineup for tonight’s birthday celebration features a slew of Seattle goodness—Sandrider, Deadkill, Kinski, Monogamy Party, Haunted Horses, and Blood Drugs—and since Black Lodge and the Victory Lounge are just about 50 feet away from each other, you can spend the evening bouncing back and forth to catch ’em all. And you may have heard rumors that Monogamy Party are calling it quits, and I’ve got some bad news... the rumors are true. Tonight’s show will be your last chance to get a good helping of their hyperactive weirdcore. MEGAN SELING
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(Lo-Fi) Roy Loney and his crew of Phantom Movers have spent their lives, and musical careers, bubbling up in the underground as relevant MASTERS of rock and roll, yet they never busted into mainstream consciousness. Odd, since they had pedigree; Loney and a couple of the Phantom Movers were once members of the mighty Flamin' Groovies. Loney, however, left the Groovies in '71, but then, sometime in '77 got a case of the rock itch, so he tapped a couple Groovies and they formed Roy Loney and the Phantom Movers. They spent the next few years keepin’ power pop rockin’ Groovies’ style, and, currently, they're STILL playing that spirited long-haired rockabilly and heavy boogie smartly updated as the most drivin'est of power pop. MIKE NIPPER
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(Re-bar) New Jersey’s MoRuf is on a rare artistic plane for being a rapper in 2014—that is, he makes the kind of music that’s easy to call “revivalist,” that even staunch old-head types wouldn’t hesitate to call “real hiphop,” that somehow doesn’t sound forced or like it’s coming from a place of distaste for rap’s current state. Rather than reactionary, his soulful, sample-laced tracks sound organic, positive, and consistent with his “L.O.E.” (Love Over Everything) motto. OCnotes and Porter Ray are ideal local openers, given their own affinities for crafting heartfelt beats and rhymes that capture some of that golden-age sound that’s becoming increasingly scarce. MIKE RAMOS
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(Chapel Performance Center) Thollem McDonas plays a modified piano in Matthew Barney’s forthcoming film, River of Fundament. For some, that will be enough to get them to go to this show. But there’s more to McDonas than this impressive credit. Time Out New York called him “An intense and virtuosic keyboardist,” and that succinctly describes McDonas. He’s also very adaptable, collaborating with musicians like Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Arrington De Dionyso, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Brian Chase, Half Japanese’s Jad Fair, and dozens of others. Thollem can be the über-disciplined minimalist à la Charlemagne Palestine or pound it out with abandon in free-jazz and noise-improv scenarios. Seemingly anything can happen at a McDonas concert, and it’s probably going to be startlingly inventive. DAVE SEGAL
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And here's all our recommended music events—tonight, tomorrow, and beyond!