The Ghost Inside

Wednesday, July 31

If, while listening to The Ghost Inside’s third album, Get What You Give, you think “Hmm, this sounds a touch like A Day to Remember,” you wouldn’t be too far off. The Los Angeles–based melodic hardcore band’s latest album, which was released last year, was produced by ADTR frontman Jeremy McKinnon. Like McKinnon, The Ghost Inside lead singer Jonathan Vigil is a pro at combining deep screams with clean vocals. And as any good hardcore album should, GWYG also features a ton of double-bass drumming and chunky guitar riffs. Following a world tour of more than 25 countries, The Ghost Inside is capping it with a few dates across the U.S.; catch ’em while you can. With Xibalaba, Reign Supreme, Relentless, Beartooth, Prestige. The Vera Project, 305 Harrison St., 956-8372, theveraproject.org. 6:30 p.m. $11/ $10 with club card. All ages.

AZARIA PODPLESKY

Lesbian

Thursday, August 1

Consisting of a single 44-minute track, local metal outfit Lesbian’s new album Forestelevision is an epic journey through a blackened wilderness. The group’s doom metal glows with eerie firelight, twisting and turning through movement after movement of crushing heaviness. In reality, limiting Lesbian to the “doom” moniker is a little reductive, especially considering the new album. The group consistently surprises with its unyielding stylistic shifts. In one second they can go from quiet ambience to mind-scrambling prog-rock passages. Then in another heartbeat, they’ll lurch into a psychedelic trance that will take you to a completely different landscape. It never gets boring, a feat for a 44-minute track. You never know what’s going to happen next, a quality lacking in 90 percent of the music that comes out every day. With Grayceon, Bali Girls, and LB! Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8005. 8 p.m. $8 adv./$10 DOS. 21 and over.

KELTON SEARS

Daniel Blue

Friday, August 2–Saturday, August 3

Most know Daniel Blue as the charismatic leader of the Seattle soul-glitch band Motopony, for which he proved a charismatic if somewhat schizophrenic frontman with a voice that careened around a room, moving with little notice from a soft, enveloping croon to a demented caterwaul often recalling Billie Holiday’s. Since Motopony’s promising 2011 debut, though, the original band members—most notably beat-making organist Buddy Ross—have fallen off, leaving Blue to put the pieces back together. The rebuilding process has turned into a spiritual quest for the musician. He put a new version of the band together and headed for a cabin in the mountains, but that didn’t quite work out. Then he stumbled upon an old, vacant church in Ballard where he got inspired and, putting Motopony on momentary hold, started collaborating and crafting a solo album. This weekend’s shows will feature Blue in the role of shaman, christening that space as The Sanctuary while celebrating his collection of contemplative, though still somewhat histrionic, singer/songwriter fare. With Shannon Stephens, Dearborn, Meagan Grandall, and Torry Anderson (Fri.); Jason Dodson, Courtney Marie Andrews, Mary Lambert, and Micha Simler (Sat.). The Sanctuary; address released upon ticket purchase. Tickets are available only in advance; e-mail requests to tickets@ballardsanctuary.com. $12 adv. 8 p.m. All ages.

MARK BAUMGARTEN

Zimbabwean Music Nite

Sunday, August 4

The mbira, or thumb piano, is a bewitching little instrument. The player plucks its metal tines to elicit sharp, chiming sounds, a magical kind of buzzing and chirping that gives the music an otherworldly tinge. Tonight, local Afropop band Ruzivo will perform alongside Jacob Mafuleni and dancer/vocalist Martha Thom, touring from Zimbabwe. The mbira anchors the band’s upbeat traditional tunes, which hum through solid African grooves and spry, spidery guitar lines. The songs playfully bounce around thanks to the group’s four separate marimbas (soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone). Because of the mbira and marimba’s dual functionality as melodic and percussive instruments, the tunes all mesh into a pleasantly mind-boggling cloud of contrasting but complimentary rhythms that will probably stimulate some unutilized corner of your brain. Even though the polyrhythms will make your head feel good, more importantly they will just make you want to dance. The Royal Room, 5000 Rainier Ave. S., 906-9920. 7:30 p.m. Suggested donation $5–15. All ages until 10 p.m.

KELTON SEARS

Band of Horses

Monday, August 5

I first saw Band of Horses live at a club in Montreal, shortly after the boys had pulled up stakes in Seattle and moved to South Carolina. Well on their way to stardom, they packed the house with sullen French-Canadians and commenced to breath Dixie hellfire down those frostbitten spines. It’s well known that the band’s studio efforts have been trending downward since its lone Seattle record, 2006’s Everything All the Time. But it’s also well known that the band’s Southern-rock chops allow it to absolutely eviscerate a live crowd, regardless of the songwriting quality. Better yet, lead singer Ben Bridwell reportedly made a “pilgrimage” to Seattle this spring to revisit some of what inspired the best album of his career. Seattle’s been having a great year for nostalgia rock—Soundgarden, Postal Service, Nirvana—and this show seems poised to add itself to the list. With Sera Cahoone and S. Showbox at the Market. 8 p.m. SOLD OUT.

DANIEL PERSON

Sublime With Rome

Tuesday, August 6

“Love is what I’ve got,” sang Sublime’s Bradley Nowell on the band’s self-titled breakout album, released in 1996 only two months after the heroin overdose that took the singer’s life. Almost 20 years later, there’s still plenty of love for Nowell and Sublime, whose sunny ska songs have lived on via rock radio and the headphones of stoner teens. And now they can live on in concert as well, with 25-year-old Rome Ramirez fronting the band, renamed Sublime With Rome, and paying tribute to Nowell with a similarly soulful and fun-loving approach. The live show mixes Sublime classics with material from SWR’s 2011 Yours Truly, and even if the band currently features only a single original Sublime member, the group’s frothy, feel-good party anthems still complement a warm summer evening as well as they did in 1996. With Iration & HB Surround Sound. Marymoor Park, 6046 W. Lake Sammamish Parkway, 205-3661, marymoorconcerts.com. 6:30 p.m. $39.50. All ages.

DAVE LAKE