[EXPERIMENTAL POP] + FRI, JAN. 9

Portland-based experimental pop maestros Aan are making their return to Olympia for a show at Deadbeat Olympia, a record store that's quickly making a name for itself with exciting in-store shows. Although Aan opened for the Smashing Pumpkins, there's little of the Pumpkins' melodramatic posturing to be found in Aan's music. Rather, there's a crispness and clarity of vision to accompany their wildly exploratory pop music, ripping apart songwriting crutches and stitching them together again, like Frankenstein's monster, before electrifying them into something wholly new and exciting. Their most recent release, Amor Ad Nauseum, finds them continuing to push the envelope, sonically, while remaining utterly accessible for those averse to having their minds completely obliterated. Also on the bill are local favorites Fruit Juice and Wild Berries, who stun with glam-rock kaleidoscopes and soulful garage rock, respectively. {REV. ADAM MCKINNEY}

AAN, w/ Fruit Juice, Wild Berries, 8 p.m., Deadbeat Olympia, 226 N. Division St., Olympia, $5, 360.943.0662

[JAM] + SAT, JAN. 10

Tell me something: do you enjoy music? I mean, pretty much any kind of music? Reggae? Electronica? Folk? Funk? Nursery rhymes? Australian didgeridoo? Or unconditional love - do you enjoy that? Do you appreciate lyrical messages of intercultural acceptance and peace? If you said yes to any of that, then we have the band for you. They're from Eugene, Oregon; they make sweet, sensual love to your earholes; and they call themselves Sol Seed. If, on the other hand, you said no to all that, you're kind of a jag, so who cares what you think? Eugene Weekly readers voted Sol Seed the best band in Eugene the last three years in a row. Their groovy jams are attracting fans all over the Pacific Northwest; they've played with Ziggy Marley and the Nappy Roots, and now here you go making a frowny-face when I tell you they're playing with Valley Green at Jazzbones. Seriously, man. I'm worried about you. {CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL}

SOL SEED, w/ Valley Green, 8 p.m., Jazzbones, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, $5-$10, 253.396.9169

[INDIE LOUNGE] + THURS, JAN. 15

Mattress is a strange beast. The solo project of Portland musician Rex Marshall defies easy categorization. Commanded by Marshall's Calvin Johnson-esque deep, deep baritone, there's a languid sensuality to the music that somehow finds a middle ground between a lascivious crooner and the dirty, desolate electronics of Suicide. In terms of sexual menace, Mattress is what might play on the loud-speakers in the basement beneath This is Hardcore-era Jarvis Cocker. Yes, there's a beat, but even the drum machine sounds weary, going through the motions like two adulterous lovers who've sunken too far into an emotionally draining affair. Marshall, meanwhile, sometimes comes across like the ghostly remnants of David Bowie's bleariest descents into '70s decadence. Listening to Mattress leaves you feeling filthy and electrified, full of self-loathing and too much self-love. {REV. AM}

MATTRESS, w/ Dubais, Morgan and the Organ Donors, 10 p.m., Le Voyeur, 404 E. Fourth Ave., Olympia, no cover, 360.943.5710