DARK TIME SUNSHINE

>>> Thursday, April 15

Dark Time Sunshine (Onry Ozzborn and Zavala) celebrate the release of the group's highly anticipated sophomore album, Vessel, on Sake Four Records. The show will be your first chance to cop Vessel, featuring Aesop Rock, JFK, XP and more, as the record drops officially on April 20.  Ozzborn (of the famed Oldominion and Grayskul crews) lends vocals, and respected Chicago producer Zavala concocts the tracks.  Also rocking the mic tonight at The Royal will be AKA (fresh off his thrashing victory at the second Go Hard or Go Home MC Battle), Q-Storm and Simon Calcavecchia. DJ Deadbeat is spinning.  Finally, Tac-Town B-Boy crew, The Dance Brooms, will get it on the floor providing a fix for your B-Boy/Girl withdrawals. - Jose S. Gutierrez Jr., M.Ed

[The Royal Lounge, with Simon Calcavecchia, DJ Deadbeat, Q Storm, A.K.A., Dance Brooms, 9 p.m., $5, 311 Capitol Way N., Olympia, 360.705.0760]

WHITE BOSS

>>> Thursday, April 15

Oliver Doriss' Fulcrum Gallery has already distinctly set itself apart from other galleries in the Tac/Oly corridor. It has done so by doing what good art galleries do - take chances. Too many "art galleries" seem to be a front for Northwest landscape watercolor copycats whose only risk-taking involves staying out after 7 p.m. on a school night. Continuing with its trailblazing ways, this Third Thursday Artwalk Fulcrum presents a multi-dimensional installation from White Boss. Hardcore punk icons in the Olympia music scene, the lads in White Boss - currently Jean Nagai, David Harris and Dylan Sharp - have also done several paper-based installations in local Olympia businesses like The Reef. One of their recent installations included covering an entire wall in Le Voyeur with shiny gold paper. I can't wait to see what happens tonight at Fulcrum. - Owen Taylor

[Fulcrum, with Gnostic Scribblers, 6 p.m., all ages, $5, 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, fulcrumtacoma.com]

FUTURE HISTORIANS

>>> Saturday April 17

I admit to being slightly tired of the resurgence of the folk sound in indie music. Somehow, as resistant as I tend to be with that kind of stuff, I'm still a sucker for a Wall of Sound. Here's how I see it: It's fine if you want to do some folk, but you best be prepared to throw a whole arsenal of instruments at my ear-area. OK, so Future Historians don't quite make a Wall of Sound. They make something more akin to a "Hammock of Sound." Listeners may float, suspended over the grass, in a sheet of banjos, hushed drums, tight harmonies, and all that good, cozy stuff. You know what? It's spring now. Rock like you know the season. - Rev. AM

[The New Frontier Lounge, with $2000 Puma, Tallest Tree, Fin du Monde, 9 p.m., cover TBA, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]

JUDGEMENT DAY

>>> Tuesday, April 20

What do classical string instruments and metal typically have in common? Oh, about as much as peacocks and pink monsters - but that's the beauty of Judgement Day - the string metal sensation that originally emanated from the crusty streets of Berkeley set to hit Olympia's Northern this week. Tying all of this contradictory action together, Judgement Day released Peacocks/Pink Monsters, a "deluxe 20-page custom board book by Copter Design Studio, including an enhanced CD," according to the band's Web site, on April 13 - a mere week before the band's scheduled stop in Oly. The last time I witnessed Judgement Day in action the band was busking through ingeniously eccentric metal compositions with violins and cellos, causing the people-flooded streets of Austin during SXSW to come to a near standstill - in awe of the band's originality. Basically, you'd be foolish to miss these guys. - Matt Driscoll

[Northern, with Sordfern, Meconium and Black Oak, 8 p.m., all ages, $5, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]