The Stranger's suggested live events

Rocking with MC5-like intensity and density while a Tina Turneresque/Betty Davislike powerhouse soul diva belts out passionate metaphors about romance and social injustice? What's not to love? The BellRays have been doing this extraordinary thing for 20 years with little variation, but that's just fine. Some bands can harness so much vital energy and whip up so much libidinal juice that the monolithic form in which they come rushing at you is no handicap. We don't want BellRays ballads or rural-blues laments or multipart prog epics. We just want the hard, loud, and fast stuff, delivered as if their eternal destinies depended on it. Don't ever change, BellRays. DAVE SEGAL

Wed Sep 8 at High Dive - Watch it Sparkle, NighTrain, White Jazz and Mopper

There ain't nothing new about what the local trio Watch It Sparkle have to offertambourine-heavy, sloppy garage rock with heavy bass and spastic, howling vocalsbut if the sound ain't broke, why fix it? Their song "My Baby Has a Red Tooth" has a little Murder City Devils vibe, but I think that's mostly the organ talking, because the vocals are more crazy werewolf than Spencer Moody. Regardless, they'll be a spectacle to watch. There's one more reason to check out the show: opening band White Jazz, a project featuring members of Akimbo and Bloodhag, which means it will be loud. And maybe literary. But mostly loud. MEGAN SELING

Wed Sep 8 at Showbox at the Market - the Walkmen and Helio Sequence

For me, the Walkmen always come down to one single, spectacular song: their 2004 growler "The Rat." No fault of the Walkmenthey keep making reliably fine recordsbut damn if that song doesn't say more in its volley of bitter recriminations and its wistful reflection than the band has expressed in its entire career since. Setting aside this unparalleled achievement, let's look at their forthcoming sixth album (including that redo of Harry Nilsson's Pussy Cats), Lisbon. As usual, the band ranges from drunk swaying melancholyas on "Stranded," whose woozy brass band evokes something like passing out at a Fourth of July paradeto an explosive kind of exhaustion, as on the wide-open, hoarse choruses of "Angela Surf City." It's almost enough to make me take "The Rat" off repeat. ERIC GRANDY

Wed Sep 8 at Tractor Tavern - Shonen Knife, The Pharmacy and The Purrs

The Shonen Knife formula hasn't changed at all since the days when Kurt Cobain brought them around to the United States, claiming they were a huge influence on Nirvana's sound: They still pound out adorable slivers of cutesy, English-mangling punk-pop, and, to my knowledge, they still don't have a song that's over four minutes long. This kind of thing is backlash-proof: Shonen Knife's career is kind of like when Andy Kaufman would take a joke and drive it into the ground, pick it back up, dust it off, and then drive it into the ground again. You just can't deny that kind of dedication. They have a song that is just a list of berry names; I defy you to try to criticize that and not look like an asshole. PAUL CONSTANT

Wed Sep 8 at Vera Project - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists and Past Lives

Thu Sep 9 at Del Rey - Corgi Love: Sam Rousso Soundsystem and Breelah

Thu Sep 9 at Studio Seven - A Wilhelm Scream, Death By Stereo, Heiress and Crutches

Fri Sep 10 at Showbox Sodo - Smashing Pumpkins and Bad City

Fri Sep 10 at Neumos - Cold Cave, Sleepy Eyes of Death and Absolute Monarchs

Fri Sep 10 at Vera Project - Tera Melos and Guests

Fri Sep 10 at Showbox at the Market - Menomena, Say Hi! and Suckers!

Fri Sep 10 at Tractor Tavern - AA Bondy, JBM and Joseph Giant

Fri Sep 10 at Black Lodge - Absolute Monarchs, Crimewave and Breaker Breaker

Fri Sep 10 at Columbia City Theater - Hounds of the Wild Hunt, Hobosexual and Baltic Cousins

Sat Sep 11 at Crocodile - The Crocodile Presents: The Courage (CD Release), Robert Delong and Le Wrens

Sat Sep 11 at Lo-Fi Performance Gallery - Emerald City Soul Club: Kenny Mac, Gene Balk, Marc Muller, Alvin Mangosing and Mike Chrietzberg