SAT MARCH 14

Tweedy, the Minus 5; Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside
In some ways, Tweedy—the latest project from Jeff Tweedy and his 19-year-old drummer son, Spencer—seems uncharacteristically vain for the Wilco frontman. But once you get over the fact that this is a family band (and present-day family bands are invariably weird), Tweedy starts to feel more familiar. Debut Sukierae isn't flawless or consistently spectacular (it contains a whopping 20 songs), but some of these cuts stand among their creator's finest compositions—most notably the Anglophilic Summerteeth throwback "Low Key" and the gorgeous "Summer Noon," which boasts one of Tweedy's most memorable melodies in recent memory. Also performing tonight are Scott McCaughey's the Minus 5, whose 2003 collaboration with Wilco, Down with Wilco, is one of the most unfairly under-discussed indie-rock albums of the last 20 years. McCaughey and his crew—which more often than not includes REM's Peter Buck—have a new album called Dungeon Golds at the ready. It's a 12-track distillation of the five-LP box set the Minus 5 released last year for Record Store Day, called Scott the Hoople in the Dungeon of Horror, and contains appearances by Jeff Tweedy and the late, great Ian "Mac" McLagan of Small Faces (and its later incarnation, Faces), who died on December 3.

Dog Thieves w/Sioux Falls, Robot Boy; Winch Hall at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock
Incipient bedroom indie-rock project Dog Thieves is the solo moniker for Garrett Linck, whose upcoming EP, Adult Dog, sounds like the perfect marriage of early Built to Spill and the Appleseed Cast. In other words, it rules.

Fringe Class w/Gold Casio, DoublePlusGood; S1, 4148 NE Hancock
Electro-pop outfit (and all-ages staple) Fringe Class celebrate the release of their second official EP, Begins, tonight at S1. If the sultry, unfairly terse 35-second YouTube trailer is anything to go off of, Begins is bound to be cool and catchy in equally high doses (which, as they are surely aware, is the secret to success). 


TUES MARCH 17

Bayside w/Senses Fail, Man Overboard, Seaway; Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell
Although I'm not eager to admit it, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Bayside. They're reliably the best band on awful pop-punk tour packages (like this one), and their covers of songs like the Smoking Popes "Megan" and "Movin' Out" by Billy Joel indicate a strong pop sensibility and appreciation percolating under that Warped Tour luster. Something is obviously getting lost in translation—probably owing to label pressure or an unfortunate obligation they feel to their snake-bitten fans—but there are still good songs on every Bayside record (alongside some pretty horrible ones), and their newest, Cult, is no exception. "Time Has Come" sounds like a slightly more subversive One Direction (that's a good thing!) and "Transitive Property" would actually be a pretty tender emo ballad, à la vintage Jimmy Eat World, if it weren't so fucking overproduced.