FREEZE AND FUR COAT

>>> Thursday, Feb. 4

Don't make the mistake. Just don't. Whatever you call Freeze and Fur Coat, a band I consider kind of like the poster-band for the Dear Records movement, just don't call them sad. Or melancholy. Or probably even, "the poster-band for the Dear Records movement." Aside from that last part, which is basically all BS I just made up on the fly, Freeze and Fur Coat's Brandon Hughes isn't buying it. "I hate being melancholy. And I don't really like being sad for that matter," Hughes once told me in regard to referring to Freeze and Fur Coat as downtrodden. "Nothing ever seems to happen when I get that way. I'm never in a creative place when I'm feeling sorry for myself. I have a bleak outlook on the things that I write about, though. There's no point in moping, but there's plenty to feel bad about. The music usually reflects that. But I wouldn't say that it's sad or melancholy, just bleak." Catch the happiness and frivolity of Freeze and Fur Coat Thursday at The New Frontier. - Matt Driscoll

[The New Frontier Lounge, with Trip the Light Fantastic, Clyge Kurtis, 9 p.m., 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]

STOP THE MADNESS

>>> Saturday, Feb. 6

People move on. As cold as it seems, it's only natural. For many, the tragic slaying of five Pierce County police officers in the line of duty has already faded into the back of their clogged memories, having been replaced by a more recent tragedy (perhaps Haiti), or a more recent hit of pop culture brain crack (like American Idol).  But the wounds are still fresh in many places, and there are still people trying to help, including bands like the always throttling Beautiful Mothers, Zook, At:1, Nothing You'd Like and Portland's My Life in Black and White. On Saturday at Hell's Kitchen, those bands and many of their supporters will gather for an event being billed as "Stop the Madness, Increase the Peace" - a benefit for the Lakewood Police Department and the families of the fallen officers. Think heavy rock for a good cause. Then think about showing up. - MD

[Hell's Kitchen, Beautiful Mothers, At:1, Zook, Nothing You'd Like, My Life in Black and White, 8 p.m., $5 minimum donation, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, hellskitchenonline.com]

LOADED FOR BEAR

>>> Saturday, Feb. 6

Loaded for Bear are brimming with theatricality, presenting themselves like a shadowy back-alley band at a slurred, drunken carnival of ill intent. Their songs are moody pieces of work, propelled by haunted piano lines and stuttering drum beats. The vocals call forth from the hazy din, gruff and tired, occasionally drowning in the fluttering reverb of the guitars. I haven't been to Le Voyeur in a while, but I remember it as a concrete cave, stained with graffiti and the smell of Pabst Blue Ribbon. This may be the perfect place to experience Loaded for Bear - the closed-in concrete surroundings bouncing layers of sound in and around and through your ears. It'll rattle your bones and churn your insides into a visceral ice cream. In a good way, if one exists. - Rev. Adam McKinney

[Le Voyeur, with To The Sea, 10 p.m., no cover, 404 E Fourth Ave., Olympia, 360.943.5710]

PIONEERS WEST

>>> Wednesday, Feb. 10

"Western doom" is how Pioneers West describe their sound, and it's easy to see why. It's a kind of music that's born out of Modest Mouse's experiments with paranoia in the Pacific Northwest - that kind of feeling of everything closing in around you, being acutely aware of your tiny presence in an infinitely hostile universe. Pioneers West bathe their tunes in jagged guitar and feedback and crunchy drums, the vocals sounding wounded and angry like a dog that's broken its leg and resists assistance with yelps and gnashed teeth. Brief respites, moments of wide-eyed wonder, these are met with suspicion. It's ferociously local music, highlighting everything that's inspiring and terrifying about the Great Northwest. This is, and always will be, the land of Western doom. - Rev. AM

[Jazzbones, with The Legend of Bigfoot, 9 p.m., $5, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]