MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO'S AVANT-POP HITS THE TRIPLE DOOR

(Triple Door) Meshell Ndegeocello’s adventurous and all-consuming career has taken her all over the musical ecosystem, from her torch-song duties on Basement Jaxx’s immortal “Feels Like Home” to achieving the seemingly impossible, doing Nina Simone justice on her covers album Pour une me Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone. Not for nothing: Ndegeocello’s voice possesses that Simone-like quality of perfect androgynous symmetry, an unearthly tenor that’s difficult to describe but impossible to forget once you’ve heard it. Her new album, Comet, Come to Me, is a lyrically haunted yet lushly produced set of alienated art pop for adults. It’s heartening to know Ndegeocello’s still got the fire in her belly. KYLE FLECK
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THE CHAOTIC FREE-FOR-ALL ROCK OF WOODEN INDIAN BURIAL GROUND AND WILD PACK OF CANARIES

(Lo-Fi) What unites these touring bands (besides their what-a-mouthful names) is a penchant for the totally bizarre. These are not your typical verse-chorus-verse rock bands. Long Beach’s Wild Pack of Canaries meander through genres like a particularly pleasant daydream—honeyed harmonies dip in and out over unpredictable prog guitar melodies, which without warning devolve into a so-many-effects-you-can’t-tell-what-instrument-it-is breakdown or swell to a simple, golden pop hook. Portland’s Wooden Indian Burial Ground take the strangeness to chaotic ends, thrashing all over the place through Cramps-inspired garage riffs, girl group “la la”s, and a manic psychedelia that sounds like the lost soundtrack to some low-budget ’60s sci-fi film. It’s gonna be wacky! It’s gonna be cool! You’ll probably say to your friends after: “I saw some weird bands. Wild Pack of Wooden Indians or Canary Burial Ground or something? It ruled.” ROBIN EDWARDS
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AFROCOP'S PSYCH-JAZZ GETS THE HORIST TOUCH

(Vito’s) Here’s a chance to see one of Seattle’s best bands for free in a classy milieu. As I’ve been telling you for the last few years, keyboardist Noel Brass Jr. and his crew of adventurers (drummer Andy Sells and bassist Carlos Tulloss) create a rarefied strain of psychedelic, soulful jazz that exists in that cool, sweet zone where the music of Lonnie Liston Smith, Medeski, Martin + Wood, and Spiritualized at their most abstract intersect. Lately they’ve been playing with local experimental-guitar hero Bill Horist. Adding his unpredictable, unusual textural explorations into Afrocop’s suave, urbane grooves and celestial atmospheres should make for very interesting conflicts and resolutions. DAVE SEGAL
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A HELLUVA POST-METAL RIFF-FEST

It’s going to be a no-holds-barred riff-fest tonight, with local rock commanders Serial Hawk launching an attack of searing guitar hellscapes on unsuspecting cochleas. As if their doom-infused sludge rock weren’t heavy enough, the onslaught continues with Seattle duo He Whose Ox Is Gored’s relentless post-doom metal-gaze. The night gets maybe even darker and louder with San Diego’s Deep Sea Thunder Beast, who steer their rock helm with Moby Dick–sized riffs, while Portland’s Sól deliver moody metallics and crashing quiet/loud dynamics to earn their place in the Northwest post-metal pantheon. Black Lodge, 9pm. BRITTNIE FULLER
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And here's all our recommended music events—tonight, tomorrow, and beyond!