EARTH
>>> Thursday, July 14
When I booked Earth for a college show some years back, I made off with a hand-written note that Dylan Carlson had left in the cafeteria. It read: "DO NOT PLACE ANYTHING especially BEVERAGES on or near this amp & equipment. You will be stabbed repeatedly and will be forced to pay for it if you live. Thank you." His cautionary screed still makes me chuckle, but I totally get where he's coming from: Earth's music is so deliberate, so sparse, so full of pregnant, between-beat inhalations that if the timbre of the guitar was even slightly off, the immersive, hypnotic effect of the whole song would be endangered. Earth's gear is a big part of their sound. So, y'know, stay the fuck away from it. - Jason Baxter
[Northern, with Wyrd Visions, Broken Water, Angelo Spencer et les Hauts Sommets, 8 p.m., all ages, $10, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]
THE HAGUE
>>> Sunday, July 17
Somewhat confusingly, the Hague also seem to go by And I Was Like, What?. Whatever the band wants to call itself is fine by me, as long as they stick to what they do best: performing Britpop-inflected indie rock that draws inspiration from epic mopesters like the Smiths while adding their own curious flavor. Much of the band's appeal lies in their liberal use of violin to offset the arena rock hooks and histrionic vocals of the lead singer. With occasional dips into math rock-ish interludes, the Hague complicate their sound and work to differentiate themselves from the never-ending sea of indie rock acts. Bands like the Hague, with such a huge sound, are a joy to catch live in an intimate setting, before they get signed and the stadiums ruin everything. - Rev. Adam McKinney
[The New Frontier Lounge, with Slowwave, Land of Pines, 8:30 p.m., cover TBA, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]
LITURGY
>>> Sunday, July 17
The new album from high-minded black-metal riffers Liturgy opens with what sounds like popcorn kernels ricocheting around an empty grain silo. This lasts for just over a minute, slowly escalating into a Tommy Gun rat-a-tat racket before guitars, drums, bass and throat-clearing vocals suddenly come thundering in. The overall effect is much more uplifting than you might expect (you can picture the heavens parting). Aesthetica wastes no time in establishing a fascinating sonic dialectic, then proceeds to explore it in-depth over the course of the remaining 11 songs, each executed with as much voluble intensity as possible. It's conceptual "transcendental black metal" (in the words of frontman Hunter Hunt Hendrix) that's as brutal as it is bright - a curiously intellectual album that rocks harder than anything I've heard all year. - JB
[Northern, with Tecumseh, Anastatica, 8 p.m., all ages, $7, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]
SAM VICARI
>>> Monday, July 18
The music of Sam Vicari is such pure, visceral power-pop that one might be taken aback at the sounds of those first chugging chords. Apparently a one-man operation, Sam Vicari's themes and vocals have a pungently nerdy air about them, imbuing his full-length, Keep Careful, with the kind of ecstatic, pop-minded, puppy-love-obsessed feeling of bands like Weezer and other late '90s radio punk. His vocals have a slightly sibilant quality that helps soften the music's sometimes jagged edges. Indeed, every song has been so smartly assembled, so tightly arranged with sing-along choruses and crunchy riffs, that Keep Careful shapes up to be a finely tuned gem of carefree power-pop that rarely takes a moment's rest in its speeding race to the end of those 10 tracks. - Rev. AM
[Le Voyeur, 10 p.m., no cover, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.5710]