1) For the love of everything fun and cool, please go see Pearl Earl tonight (Thursday) at MASS (1002 S Main). They’re the headlining act, and sticking around for them means you’ll catch Los Angeles psychedelic pop band Ecstatic Union, and their music is incredible. Austin’s Delicate Boys are also on this bill, as well as local indie rock wunderkinds Ting Tang Tina. Doors at 8, all-ages, cover is $8. Get out of the house y’all and go to this show and still make it for last call at the Owl or the Chat! Live a little! Go see some dope bands! This is an Ecstatic Union video, and it’s exactly what I would expect from a band from L.A. that sounds like they do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQu2ABWEClA

2) If you absolutely refuse to travel farther than Magnolia Ave, Gathering Dust is spinning post-punk and other music featuring and/or associated with Ian Curtis and Morrissey at the Boiled Owl (909 W Magnolia) and WIZARDVIZION is spinning stuff that is kind of the opposite of that – basically the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack with some Isley Brothers, Steely Dan, and dub reggae mixed in – at Off the Record (715 W Magnolia). Both DJ events are free and 21+. This is a rare interview video with Ian Curtis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag5h5O3-MKY

3) The Tin Panther (937 Woodward) gets heavy Friday night with a bill headlined by local thunder lords C.I. (featuring members of now-defunct ear punishers like Unraveler and Raging Boner), Austin’s Crimson Devils, and another local hard rock act, Caballo Oscuro. Crimson Devil looks and sounds like your cool stoner uncle, who is probably named Greg, Craig, or, ten years from now, when your mom’s kid brother comes of age, Kyle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIj1cJiyPKw

4) If you picked Gathering Dust (see above) as your Thursday night activity, you will probably love Lola’s (2736 6th St) Friday night bill: moody synth-pop act Signals and Alibis headline with Tucson, AZ-based, dark psych band Mute Swans in the 11pm slot, Phoenix, AZ-based dream pop band Citrus Clouds at 10, and local post-punk trio Phantomelo starting the show at 9. All y’all people who went to that Annie Void/Desert Museum/Trauma Ray show at MASS a couple weeks ago should go see this one, because I think you’d dig all these bands. I really dig Mute Swan’s music. It’s kind of disorienting, and this video is appropriate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAbYdlI8x5M

5) Stoner rock fans ought to spend their Saturday night at the Ridglea Theater (6025 Camp Bowie) complex, starting the evening by shopping for new glassware at the Gas Pipe, roasting one in your car, and then heading into the Ridglea Lounge to catch Wo Fat, Mountain of Smoke, and Stone Machine Electric. Massive riffs to please your weederated brains. Here’s Wo Fat playing at a heavy metal festival in France from a couple years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbwck_U1_qE