LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

The Gig Spot Gig Harbor. Argonian. 8 pm. $8.

Jazzbones Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. Nick Moss Band. 8 pm. $10.

Maxwell's Restaurant + Lounge Tacoma - Downtown. Lance Buller Combo. 7 pm.

Medi's Pizza Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. Mirrorgloss, the Pecos, I Like Science, the Spins. 8 pm. NC.

• Made up of singers Del Brown and Najamoniq Todd, guitarist Danny Kenny and drummer Bryan Robertson, Mirrorgloss is a dance-rock band in the vein of LCD Soundsystem. They find solid grooves and have the good sense to sit in them and let them stretch out until they settle nice and deep into your bones. Their secret weapon is their guitarist, who nimbly does yeoman's work of filling in the gaps between preprogrammed beats and the live drumming, stealthily sewing everything neatly together. - Rev. Adam McKinney
  

The New Frontier Lounge Tacoma - Dome District. Swelter 15-Year Reunion, with Bali Girls, Negative Press. 9 pm. $5.

• If you enjoy claustrophobic crowds, sweaty people and hard rock, don't miss this show. Swelter, a Tacoma band formed around 1990, will reunite to rock The New Frontier Lounge Friday. The quartet began as Swelter Cacklebush, a heavy pop band formed by singer Micah Hembree, bassist Chad Baker, drummer Stuart Linkert and guitarist Jason Harsin. Linkert and Harsin blazed to form the uber popular Katie's Dimples. In 1993, Linkert grabbed guitarists Jason Dietrich and David Takata, changed the name to Swelter and rocked a Stooges-meet-Bad Seeds sound. A third guitarist, Sean Lanksbury joined the band, until the band broke up in 1998. - Ron Swarner

Northern Olympia - Downtown. Gabriel Wolfchild, Bitches In The Beehive, NoodleBird, The Celestials. All Ages. 7 pm. $5.

• To stand out as a man with an acoustic guitar takes some doing, as anyone who's been to a coffeehouse open mic can attest. Gabriel Wolfchild makes unapologetically somber music that somehow avoids the pitfall of maudlin naval-gazing. Gabriel Wolfchild's voice is clear and steady, devoid both of showboating and of ponderous whisper-singing. His collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Maesyn only enriched the quality of his songwriting. Maesyn's contribution of violin and harmony on their album, A Cry to the Moon, expands and enlivens the proceedings, freeing it from the solo singer-songwriter palate and transporting it into a world of folk that extends to world music, blues and Tom Waits-indebted balladeering. What mostly stands out about Gabriel Wolfchild is his storytelling. Each of his songs unfolds in ways that validate their sparse surroundings. - Rev. AM
  

Northern Pacific Coffee Co. Tacoma - Parkland. Thanksgiving Benefit Show featuring Stephanie Anne Johnson, Kye Alfred Hillig, Andrew Cook, David Hannon, Heidi Stoermer and Toby Hanson. All Ages. 7 pm. Cash and canned food donations.

O'Malley's Irish Pub Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. A Happy Death, Thunders of Wrath, Our Burgundy. 9 pm.

• Though they have a song that's explicitly called "Surf Rock Band," it would be a mistake to call them one. A Happy Death plant their feet firmly in the court of garage-pop madness, seemingly content to thrash away in blissfully psychedelic, noisy bliss, while never crossing the threshold into noise-rock or brain-melting chaos. Mostly, reverb is utilized to create a haze of '60s revivalism, though it finds itself imbued with a sweetness frequently found in the hordes of garage nostalgists. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on A Happy Death in the Music and Culture section.

Red Wind Casino Yelm. Jonathan Harris. 8:30 pm. NC.

Stonegate Pizza Tacoma - South. Chris Jones. 5 pm. Ghost 211. 9 pm.

Uncle Sam's American Bar & Grill Spanaway. Fallen Kings, Dirge Era, Lady Luck. 9 pm.

LINK: More live music Friday, Nov. 22 in the South Sound