Wednesday, December 6Dan the Automator + Chali 2na + Casual + AG + Common Market + Ricky Pharoah SEE FEATURE (Dan the Automator) P. 46. Neumo’s, 8 p.m. $15 All agesDisney Cover Night: The Catch + Kane Hodder + Pris + Nite Dance + the Pale Pacific + White Gold + Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground + Tennis Pro Disney’s been making cartoon musicals forever, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937 to 2008’s Rapunzel Unbraided, which offers another quasi-feminist heroine, chopping her braids less from annoyance than changing medieval fashions. I digress. Some of us—including members of rock bands the Catch, Kane Hodder, the Pale Pacific, and Tennis Pro—might subscribe to the idea that the real golden era of this art form occurred between 1989 (The Little Mermaid) and 1994 (The Lion King). Find me a 26-year-old who can’t sing “A Whole New World” or “Be Our Guest” from memory and with a complete lack of irony. After a trip to Disneyland four years ago, members of these local bands (connected through friendship, blood, or marriage,) were newly thrilled, which brings us to their third annual Disney Cover Night. “There are so many different ways to interpret them [the songs],” says Catch frontwoman Carly Nicklaus. “The night is always full of surprises. And happiness.” I think she meant to say, “Look at this trove/Treasures untold/How many wonders can one cavern hold?” RACHEL SHIMP Crocodile Cafe, 9 p.m. $7 Thursday, December 73rd Annual Laptop Battle National ChampionshipsIf you’ve paid attention to electronic music’s permutations throughout this young century, you’ll have seen/heard/witnessed the increasing ubiquity of laptop-based music production—by now, your next-door neighbor probably makes tunes as brilliant as Four Tet’s—and the subsequent phenomenon of the Laptop Battle (3 minutes of music each, no external devices allowed). A large part of the force behind this phenom radiates directly from tech-heavy Seattle (Battle HQ, y’all) throughout the U.S., where regional battles are held year-round. Ours, this June, brought competitors from around the Northwest and effectively decimated attendance at other electronic-based events that night. With all the unfamiliar names at this double-elimination tourney—Protman (Chicago), Matthewmatics (Austin), Doormouse (Miami), Cygnus (Dallas), Velapene (N.Y.C.), Threv (Atlanta), and Vytear (Philly) competing with Seattleite Squidleader—it may be more insular than ever, but there’s always something to learn from a batch of musical ambassadors. And maybe the showcase sets by Starkey (2005 champ), Vincent Parker, and the inimitable DJ Collage will school them just a bit, too. RACHEL SHIMP Chop Suey, 9 p.m. $8 The Blood Brothers + . . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead + Celebration + Brothers and Sisters SEE CD REVIEW ( . . . Trail of Dead) P. 57. Showbox, 7 p.m. $20 All ages Jon Rauhouse & Friends + Jay Bennett (Wilco) + Death Ships Poor Jeff Tweedy. Dude can’t seem to get along with talented guys named Jay. First, it’s Farrar, then his Wilco bandmate Jay Bennett. Now, I’ve never been a Wilco fan . . . actually, let me rephrase; I’ve never been a Tweedy fan (aside from his smug face, it looks like it hurts his asshole to sing), therefore, my favorite moment in the Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which regardless of its subject is a killer flick, is when Bennett quits the band. Good for him, thought I. If bassist John Stirratt was smart, he’d do the same. But alas, it’s Bennett who struck out on his own to relative success. His latest album, The Magnificent Defeat, is back-to-back Elvis Costello–esque pop numbers. For anyone hankering for late-’70s, early-’80s roots pop, Bennett’s spritely melodies and droll, scruffy voice will serve well. Plus, Stirratt and Wilco drummer Ken Coomer guest on the album, which is more proof that Bennett wasn’t the problem child Tweedy and Wilco manager Tony Margherita made him out to be. BRIAN J. BARR Tractor Tavern, 9 p.m. $10Norfolk & Western + the Stares + Laura Gibson The hushed, melancholy sounds of Portland’s Norfolk and Western are best listened to while wrapped in a worn wool blanket, putting a thin layer of warmth between you and the soft, sad shower of wistfulness that their indie-folk tales invariably invoke. Sophomore full-length The Unsung Colony (Hush Records) is peppered with lyrics of heartache, family, love, and loss that weave a tapestry of fervent, timeless imagery. Robust horns and charming, wheezing accordion on instrumental track “Atget Waltz” could have fit in seamlessly with the French-flavored Amelie soundtrack, while the far-away pedal steel conjures up an aching loneliness in late-album track “Drifter.” The band’s overall vibe aptly accompanies a Pacific Northwest winter—enduring, chilling, and almost always gray but oh so beautiful at the same time. AJA PECKNOLD Sunset Tavern, 9 p.m. $7Friday, December 8Three Imaginary Girls Very Merry Imaginary Karaoke BashAcoustic sets by Jim Noir + Fruit Bats + Tiny Vipers SEE FEATURE (Jim Noir) P. 52. Crocodile Cafe, 8 p.m. $8 Spank Rock + Pearl With the exception of a strip-teasing elf or a lingerie-clad Mrs. Claus, Christmastime is the unsexiest time of the year. People don’t want to peel out of their warm, cozy clothing when it’s freezing outside. It’s impossible (and absolutely disgusting) to get jiggy when you have a Vienna Choir Boys rendition of “O Bethlehem” stuck in your head. And for crying out loud, your grandparents are in the other room! Thankfully, Philadelphia/Brooklyn–based duo Spank Rock are coming early enough to feed our sexual appetites with their booty-shakin’, dirty-mouth rhymin’, grimy electro/Baltimore club sex jams, perfectly suitable for stripping to your skivvies by. Long before Justin Timberlake brought sexy back, MC Naeem “Spank Rock” Juwan, who sounds like a young Q-Tip, was spitting rapid precision lyrical tales about picking up girls and getting it on. Hurry, this might be your last chance before the relatives pay a visit. TRAVIS RITTER Neumo’s, 8 p.m. $12 adv./$15Sunday, December 10Devotchka + My Brightest Diamond + Eric Bachmann Denver’s DeVotchKa, a self-described “Eastern bloc indie-rock” quartet, are similar to the likes of Gogol Bordello and even Firewater—Slavic melodies, cabaret-punk theatrics, plenty of bouzouki, accordion, and sousaphone. They also add Persian, South American, and Tex-Mex textures to their compositions, though, ultimately coming off more suave and sophisticated than sinister or deranged. (Think Morrissey or Bryan Ferry fronting a band of Gypsies.) The group’s latest, the six-track EP Curse Your Little Heart, features inspired covers of Velvet Underground, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Frank and Nancy Sinatra songs, which, along with material from their three full-lengths, should transform the Showbox into a colorful Eastern European bazaar. MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG Showbox, 8 p.m. $13 adv./$15 All ages Guns N’ Roses + Sebastian Bach + Suicide Girls + Helmet SEE FEATURE (Guns N’ Roses) P. 49. Everett Events Center, 8 p.m. Ron Jeremy’s Christmas Bash Be advised that none of the following acts will be playing Ron Jeremy’s Christmas Bash: Pussy Galore, Butthole Surfers, Sweaty Nipples, the Dicks, Snatches of Pink, the Long Ryders, Anal Cunt, Slobberbone, X, Porn (The Men Of), Clit .45, the Screamers, the Moaners, Ass Ponys, Fuck, the Hard-Ons, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Orgy, Dirty Sanchez, Kurtis Blow, Cycle Sluts From Hell, Flaming Lips, Jack Off Jill, the Mystic Seamen, Sham 69, the Muffs, Supersuckers, Loose Ends, Second Coming, Bootsy’s Rubber Band, the Vibrators, Staind, or William Hung. What you will get is Americlone—a two-girl, one-guy (how appropriate) electro-pop threesome with loads of sexbot vocals and Human League-cum-Goldfrapp grooves—and two local sleaze-rock/trash-punk units, Underride and Atomic Outlaws, that are sure to get the fists pumping. This inexplicably all-ages event will be emceed by none other than wrinkly, thick-around-the-middle Ron Jeremy himself, who—equally inexplicably—is the most famous, longest-lasting porn star of all time. It’s a safe bet there’ll be plenty of ho-ho-hos at this holiday spectacular, which will probably pack ’em in and leave a big mess when it’s all over. MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG The Fenix, 7 p.m. $15 All ages Tyler Potts Local ambient composer Potts and his Dragon’s Eye Recordings brethren have appeared at more art galleries and loft openings than nightclubs this year, and that may indeed be where they belong. Like his project 52 Songs, in which he crafted a song each week for a year, and his meandering aural accompaniments for modern dance, The Deluge (being released tonight) is thoughtfully sublime. Potts has a BFA in electronic media art and design, and now studies architecture—a measure of exactness vibrates from the relatively small-scale sounds he coaxes from vintage keyboards, toys, and tape recorders. He’s said he prefers to keep things at that level of sophistication, but his works don’t suffer. Instead, they’re like textural echoes of singular moments or moods; like paintings with impasto that you really want to touch. RACHEL SHIMP Wall of Sound, 6 p.m. Free