KELLI SCHAEFFER

>>> Friday, June 18

Sure, you could call it a little redundant. If you're a dick. Or, you could just reap the benefits. It seems that the powers behind bringing sweet-ass bands to town and putting on shows at The Loft at Urban Grace (many of the same faces behind the final incarnation of The Warehouse) have a thing for artists from Portland record label Amigo/Amiga. They've long since established an infatuation with Drew Grow and Pastor's Wives - which blossomed into Grow playing Tacoma more than we probably deserve, with awesome effect; now Kelli Schaeffer is heading to town. At a quarter century of age, but sounding wise beyond her years, Schaeffer is another in a line of genre exploding PDX songsters soon to show Tacoma what people have been talking about. In short, you'll feel like a dolt if you miss this show. - Matt Driscoll

[The Loft at Urban Grace, with Michael Vermillion, Kirsten Wenlock with Travis Barker, 8 p.m., all ages, $8, 902 Market St., Tacoma, 253.272.2184]

THE PURRS

>>> Friday, June 18

The Purrs aren't new to this game. When the Seattle psych-rock band (which needs two hands worth of fingers to count its years together, and recently released its sixth record, Tearing Down Paisley Garden) hits Tacoma this week, they'll know exactly what to do. Jima, The Purrs' singer, will be right at home leading the constructively spacey, dare we say paisley, rock jams; the deadpan vocals adding the perfect lockstep to the band's Velvet Underground-hued, sour, druggy, musically soaring and lamenting disposition. Basically, songs like "It Could Be So Wonderful," and even the band's cover of Lee Hazlewood's "I Move Around," are good EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT HIGH - which for a band often branded as "psychedelic," is saying quite a bit. - MD

[The New Frontier Lounge, with Bandolier, Skeletons with Flesh on Them, 9 p.m., cover TBA, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]

PANAMA GOLD

>>> Saturday, June 19

Rock music history is littered with Anvils - bands that failed despite the successes of their contemporaries. For whatever reason, though they possessed the talent and ambition of their peers, fame never found these bands. Proof of their existence can be found in discount bins at your local record store. Panama Gold sound like one of these long-lost bands, maybe from that confusing period in the '70s when punk started to invade the sound of mainstream rock ‘n' roll. Panama Gold's sound is a mixture of fun-loving road trip music and punk sneer. The band's fake history indicates they could have been left behind by The Clash, or even someone like Tom Petty. Luckily, we don't need the dollar bins. Panama Gold can still be found in the here and now. -Rev. Adam McKinney

[The New Frontier Lounge, with the Dignitaries, Revengers, the Plastards, 7 p.m., Cover TBA, 301 East 25th Street, 253.572.4020]

SHELLSHAG

>>> Sunday, June 20

Mark it down. This will be one of the best shows of the week. Brooklyn's Shellshag - one dude, Johnny Shell, and one lady, Jen Shag - have built a decade-plus career on underground, awesome-as-fuck sludgepunk. Never creeping too close to the surface and managing to stay endearingly "underground" - in a world where the word means very little anymore - Shellshag don't need your sad-sack White Stripes comparisons. They're better than that, so to speak. Not necessarily better than the White Stripes, but better in the fact they're doing something that doesn't need easy, pop-culture-accessible comparisons to translate. Shellshag's Rumors In Disguise, released earlier this year on the Don Giovanni label, is a good place to start. But see this band live and tell me I'm wrong about them. I dare you. - MD

[Northern, 8 p.m., all ages, $6, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]