THE KILLS, COLD CAVE, THE ENTRANCE BAND
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) If you were to take some members of late-'90s/early-'00s punk/hardcore—members of Discount, American Nightmare, and the Convocation Of—and tell them that more than a decade into the future they'd all be touring together, playing music in different bands that barely resemble their hardcore past, they'd probably just write it off as some farfetched prophecy. But since Discount's Alison Mosshart went on to form the long-running Kills, American Nightmare's Wesley Eisold found the goth that lingered inside with Cold Cave, and the Convocation Of's Guy Blakeslee grew his hair out long with the Entrance Band after fiddling with the blues, you could say it all came true. Now we have three people, each carving out their own darkest pleasures with a night's worth of music that you could never pick pennies, windmill, or stage dive aggressively to. Let's forgive ourselves for our past actions and embrace the future. TRAVIS RITTER

JOAN OF ARC, AIR WAVES
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Kinsella alert! Long associated with emo's brief, not-yet-shameful heyday of the late '90s, Tim Kinsella's shape-shifting Joan of Arc project has gone to heroic lengths to distance themselves from the diary toters of yore. (If you want to get your bawl on, brother Mike Kinsella of American Football and Owen is a far better option.) As for JOA, they are still at it—this time around touring in support of the forthcoming Life Like, which incorporates former Cap'n Jazz member and longtime Kinsella collaborator (Kinsellaborator?) Victor Villarreal into the quartet. It's a stretch to say Life Like is more approachable than previous recordings—especially considering that the opening song is nearly 11 minutes in length—but there is a certain return to form and youthfulness, permeating this dutifully stringent recording. EAC

CRYSTAL STILTS, CASE STUDIES, ARCHERS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) The seamy, detective-riff garage-pop of Brooklyn band Crystal Stilts rewards deep listening. Like New Zealand's Kilgour brothers or Liverpool's Clinic, they subvert the catchy aspects of 20th-century blues-based rock and roll under walls of murk and layers of intrigue. Their latest, In Love with Oblivion, manages the feat of being both a party starter and a nod-off chillout record. Arrive in plenty of time to catch Case Studies, the new project of the Dutchess and the Duke's Jesse Lortz, which is described as a "revolving-door sing-along/play-along art project." Several times over the past few months, Lortz invited friends over to his Seattle apartment to sing and play on some new songs. A portion of the results were captured on video by Andrew Waits, and they appear to be personal, incredibly moving songs in the vein of Leonard Cohen. Lortz recently went to a cabin in rural Washington with producer Greg Ashley, who produced the excellent final Dutchess and the Duke album Sunset/Sunrise, to make the first Case Studies record. In the meantime, Lortz performs tonight with an unknown quantity of friends/musicians. The Dutchess and the Duke's recent breakup was a tremendous loss, but thankfully Lortz still has plenty of songs to play. NED LANNAMANN

CLOUDLAND CANYON, ETERNAL TAPESTRY, RENE HELL
(The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie) This stacked lineup of psychedelic- and space-rocking gallants is topped by Cloudland Canyon, a project headed by Kip Uhlhorn. Cloudland’s last three albums—Silver Tongued Sisyphus, Lie in Light, and Fin Eaves (for the Kranky and Holy Mountain labels)—contain some of the most exquisitely wrought kraut-/space-/shoegaze-rock put to wax this century. Uhlhorn manifests his cosmic proclivities into towering, shimmering obelisks of sound—most recently on Fin Eaves, where he and various comrades-in-FX-pedals generate a profusion of flowery, fructose-y anthems for the sun. Guitars and keyboards oscillate wildly and soar in a vast hall of mirrors while Kip gauzily sighs in the distance. It’s an overwhelmingly blissful and disorienting sound, although hooks abound; they’re subliminal, but terminally infectious. DAVE SEGAL

NATE LACY
(Al's Den, 303 SW 12th) The downtown locale that is now the delightful new Crystal Hotel was formerly the home of the infamous Club Portland bathhouse. Now that the glory holes have been plugged (darn!), stroll into their basement bar, Al's Den, for an intimate set from Nate Lacy of Mimicking Birds, playing a residency all week long. EZRA ACE CARAEFF