ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER, DOMINANT LEGS (Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) It's been almost nine years since the Fiery Furnaces made their debut with Gallowsbird's Bark. It was like nothing I'd ever heard before, but Eleanor Friedberger's vocal antics necessitated a certain being-in-the-mood. On her first solo album, Last Summer, released, er, last summer, Friedberger has made a graceful transition from tastemaker to tasteful. Now that she doesn't have anything to prove, her vocal style has become warm and inviting, striking an emotional chord that the Furnaces, with their arm's-length stylistics, never did. Will the songwriting blow your mind? Nope—but Friedberger's voice and lyrics probably will. The songs sound wise and familiar, not forced, and keep the attention focused on her rich alto voice and the important stories that she's trying to tell us, albeit in an impressionistic code. REBECCA WILSON
SECRET CHIEFS 3 VS. DENGUE FEVER (Dante's, 1 SW 3rd) Tonight, LA's Dengue Fever and SF's Secret Chiefs 3 combine forces to... well, it's tough to predict. The former filter sublimely kitsch Cambodian folk into their tuneful psych pop while the latter—who often feature Seattle avant-garde musicians like Eyvind Kang and Dave Abramson in their lineup—meld sonic elements from Arabic, Persian, and Indian cultures, plus those from metal, Morricone's soundtracks, and electronica into mind-boggling fusions of aural mystique. Whatever the case, this match-up should spark fascinating world-music mutations. DAVE SEGAL
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