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Garage Rock: Night Beats are a duo, originally from the Lone Star State, who've carved out a niche for themselves in Seattle's garage rock underbelly. And while the song titles on their Street EP may inspire a sense of menace, violence and devastation (with "H-Bomb" and "Stampede" complemented by the creepy, enigmatic pronoun of "They Came in Through the Window"), Night Beats' sound isn't all that fearsome - they trade in an appreciably familiar brand of fuzz-spangled, surfadelic rock. They sound like a band that's lost out of time, not so much because they recall early wail-hunting '60s pioneers, but more because if only they'd emerged during the post-millennial rock boom (alongside acts like The Strokes and The White Stripes), they'd be household names by now. I wouldn't worry too much about this band's prospects, though - they've got serious abilities. With Apache Chief, Red Hex, and Basemint, 8 p.m., Bob's Java Jive, 2102 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.475.9843 - Jason Baxter
Electro-Folk: Despite the band turning up their nose at the English language, Makeing Tents is deserving of attention. Creating music that they refer to as "electro-wilderness" - a term that denotes the mashing together of folk and electronics - the band frequently finds and presents arresting moments that result from the collision of musical viewpoints. Now, if only I could convince them to borrow my copy of A Writer's Reference. Meet me half-way, Makeing Tents. With Soft Paws and Thought Bandit, Saturday, May 22, 10 p.m., no cover, Le Voyeur, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.5710 - Rev. Adam McKinney
All Ages: As popular music moves into the future and becomes drenched in drones, break beats, intrusive synthesizers and various other ephemera, there will always be a contingent of musicians who will push to bring it back to its roots - or closer to them, at any rate. The Marrying Type, Canon Canyon and Xylophones, all performing on the same bill at the Den, will represent three interpretations of this attitude. Canon Canyon recall the Americana of ‘70's singer-songwriters, all hope and love in the midst of youthful crisis. Xylophones bring it all back to guitar and drums with their plaintive, minimalist pop songs. Finally, The Marrying Type introduce haze to the mix, performing the kind of dream-folk you'd expect to hear as background noise to the majority of our family videos. Saturday, May 22, 8 p.m., The Den @ urbanXchange, 1932 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2280 - Rev. AM