August Things to Do: Music

Want more? Here’s everything we recommend this month: Music, Visual Art, Literature, Performance, Film, Food, This & That.

Aug 6–9

Like Gaga’s signature mixed drink, the kalimotxo (red wine topped with Diet Coke and maraschino cherries), her sixth album, MAYHEM, is a freaky blend of rich, jazzy vocals and fizzy pop perfection. When she announced the tour earlier this year, Gaga noted that she opted to keep this one in arenas rather than stadiums: “I wanted to create a different kind of experience—something more intimate—closer, more connected.” However, this show still promises an opulent theatrical experience with designer costumes, Broadway-quality sets, and songs that span her career (yep, “Poker Face,” “Shallow,” and “Just Dance” are all on the setlist!). If you’re still a Gaga hater who believes she’s a cheap Madonna rip-off, learn your herstory! Madonna pointed out the absurdity of these criticisms, stating: “God forbid a woman takes inspiration.” (Climate Pledge Arena, 8 pm) AUDREY VANN

Aug 8

Back in March, I trekked down to Portland to see Erykah Badu, only to have the show cancelled as I was walking to the arena from my hostel. While I was deeply disappointed, I had to sigh and say, “I guess I’ll see her in the Next Lifetime.” I suppose that good things do come to those who wait, because the queen of neo-soul is returning to the PNW alongside the Alchemist, a frequent producer for rap royalty like Mobb Deep, Eminem, Freddie Gibbs, and Earl Sweatshirt. Described as a “multisensory experience that bridges hip-hop production with the mastery of neo-soul innovation,” the collaborative tour will support their upcoming album, Abi & Alan—Badu’s first in 15 years. The album does not yet have a release date, but if the lead single, “Next to You,” provides any hints at what’s to come, expect her signature futuristic soul sound with a greater emphasis on hip-hop beats and vinyl samples. (Showbox SoDo, 8 pm, 21+) AUDREY VANN

Aug 8–9

Kay Redden, founder and sole employee of local tape label Den Tapes, is doing the lord’s work, one cassette release at a time. Redden is vital in keeping underground music alive and thriving in Seattle. Den Tapes will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a supercharged edition of its annual festival featuring two nights of live music, including grunge trio Wild Powwers, indie-pop outfit Soft Boiled, garage-rock band Teenage Toad, singer-songwriter project Don Piano, and many more. Don’t forget to bring some extra money to buy tapes! (Sunset Tavern, 7 pm, 21+) AUDREY VANN

Aug 10

It was the hard launch heard round the lesbian world: Lucy Dacus confirmed her long-rumored relationship with collaborator and boygenius bandmate Julien Baker in an interview with The New Yorker in March. Her newest album, Forever Is a Feeling, finds the introspective singer-songwriter solidly in her lovergirl era, with swoony, intimate queer ballads like “Best Guess” (a surefire new sapphic wedding standard) and “Ankles.” Guests on the album include tourmate Jay Som, as well as Hozier, Bartees Strange, Madison Cunningham, Blake Mills, Baker, and fellow boygenius member Phoebe Bridgers. Remlinger Farms will provide a bucolic background for Dacus’s romantic musings and vulnerable lyrics. (Remlinger Farms, 5 pm, all ages) JULIANNE BELL

Aug 10

I first became acquainted with Alabaman singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield (aka Waxahatchee) through her fifth album, Saint Cloud—I’ll admit, I was late to the party. My love of jangly Camera Obscura–esque tracks like “Can’t Do Much” compelled me to give the entire album a listen, but it was reflective folk-rock songs like “St. Cloud” and “Lilacs” that made me a fan. After four years of me playing the album to death, Waxahatchee dropped a follow-up last year, Tigers Blood, which leans deeper into a country sound with love songs that she describes as “gritty and unromantic.” Crutchfield is also known for her iconic covers of pop trash like Jessica Simpson’s “With You” and, most recently, the Fray’s “You Found Me”—here’s hoping they make it into the setlist. Don’t miss an opening set from Andy Shauf’s folk-rock quintet Foxwarren. (Woodland Park Zoo, 4:30 pm) AUDREY VANN

Aug 12–13

As her Southern Gothic stage persona Ethel Cain, Florida-born artist Hayden Silas Anhedönia makes music that sounds like Flannery O’Connor by way of Lana Del Rey. Having been raised in a Southern Baptist family with a deacon as a father, she certainly has a wealth of material to draw from when it comes to the fanatical, the grotesque, and the unsettling, which she plumbed on her instant-cult-favorite studio debut, the concept album Preacher’s Daughter. The record doesn’t shy away from dark themes like incest, cannibalism, sexual violence, intergenerational trauma, and death. Now, she’s following it up with her highly anticipated sophomore album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, which will serve as a prequel of sorts to Preacher’s Daughter. Her devotees, who call themselves the Daughters of Cain, are sure to line up in droves for her two-night run at the Paramount—expect lots of camo and frilly Picnic at Hanging Rock–esque white gowns. (Paramount Theatre, 8 pm, all ages) JULIANNE BELL

Aug 20

Not to be confused with the German DJ and musician HorsegiirL, who wears a horse mask to conceal her identity, Horsegirl is a Chicago-based indie-rock band made up of singer-guitarist Nora Cheng, singer-guitarist Penelope Lowenstein, and drummer Gigi Reece. Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon lent her production magic to their latest album, Phonetics On and On, which was recorded in Wilco’s studio the Loft in the dead of a frosty Illinois winter. The group combines crystalline harmonies and tight-as-hell guitars with hooky pop compositions that lodge themselves deep in your brain. If you share my affinity for bands like Electrelane, the Raincoats, and Look Blue Go Purple, you won’t be able to stop listening. (Neumos, 7 pm, all ages) JULIANNE BELL

Aug 21–24

As a longtime admirer of jazz innovators John and Alice Coltrane, I often sulk at the reality that I will never get to see them perform live (Alice passed away back in 2007, and John in 1967). And, given the mercurial nature of free jazz, I’ve had to accept that their studio albums and live recordings are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the genius they individually offered the mortal world. Thankfully, their offspring Ravi Coltrane carries on the family legacy by sharing his parents’ otherworldly compositions and free-flowing style. (Jazz Alley, times vary, 21+) AUDREY VANN

Daniel Menche, enereph, unnunned, Cígvë

August 23

Portland’s Daniel Menche has become the grand old man of Pacific Northwest noise and dark, metallic ambient. No wonder many of the world’s elite abstract-sound manipulators have tapped him for collaborations (Kevin Drumm, Aaron Turner, KK Null, etc.). Menche’s Bandcamp holds 120 releases, so it’s hard to sum up his canon with authority. But his most recent release, Concrete Sines, embraces the stern drones, unsettling field recordings, and long-form sonic spelunking that have marked much of his work—which, on good headphones, evokes existential horror. Seattle’s enereph (aka Connie Fu) is an electronic musician who’s been on a constant creative ascent since appearing on the scene in 2020. Last year’s Immortal Mirth represents her recorded peak, combining elegantly complex beats with otherworldly textures and disorienting dynamics. That being said, “Numbers Fall from Stars” is as icily beautiful as anything early Aphex Twin has done. It’s likely that enereph has concocted some even more highly evolved tracks for your ears at the city’s best-sounding haven for experimental music. (Chapel Performance Space, 7 pm, all ages) DAVE SEGAL

Aug 26

Seth Bogart’s California-based garage band Hunk and His Punx, which also includes Shannon Shaw (Shannon & the Clams) and Erin Emslie (Secret Stare) in its current incarnation, sounds like a lost ’60s bubblegum girl group plucked straight out of a John Waters movie—they’ve even performed for the Pope of Trash himself at his birthday party. The band members have dealt with their fair share of heartbreak in the last few years, as Shaw lost her fiancé, Joe Haener, in a tragic fatal car accident in 2022, and most of Bogart’s neighborhood was destroyed by the Altadena fires in January. Walk Out on This World, their first album in 12 years, comes out this month, and it’s just what we all needed to traverse these wretched times: a Valley of the Dolls–esque spree filled with motorcycle-riding bad boys, white lipstick, and acid-warped trips through Hollywood. (The Clock-Out Lounge, 8 pm, 21+) JULIANNE BELL

August 28

Led by former Black Nite Crash member Sharim, bloococoon rose out of the ashes of a shattering relationship breakup and COVID-isolation blues. The guitarist/vocalist sought therapy in music, specifically a broken-heart-on-tattered-sleeve brand of shoegaze rock, which he and his bandmates (ex-BNC bassist Jasun Hadaway, J. Weichman, and drummer Andrea Volpato—since replaced by Matthew Cooke) finessed into their self-titled 2024 debut LP. If you ever shivered to Ride’s dulcet melodies or swooned to Swervedriver’s beautiful brawniness, you’ll dig this local foursome’s melancholy anthems. Fellow Seattle quartet iroiro feature IQU synthesist Michiko Swiggs and guitarist/Theremin maestro Kento Oiwa; they create psychedelia that toggles between coolness and flammability, with habitual side trips into motorik propulsion that’s powered by drummer Justin Schwartz and bassist James Drage. They also do a spine-tingling cover of “Porpoise” by top UK shoegazers Pale Saints. I’ve only seen iroiro perform thrice, but that’s been enough to convince me they’re currently Seattle’s best rock band. (Triple Door, 7:30 pm, all ages) DAVE SEGAL

Sept 5

Many of us have dated a music dude in his 20s whose favorite album is Neil Young’s On the Beach—it’s like the male equivalent of Joni Mitchell’s Blue or Carole King’s Tapestry. And, while I do like a handful of his songs, I’ll leave it to my resident Youngian boyfriend to tell you why you need to see the Godfather of Grunge: “Um, because he rocks.” If that isn’t a convincing enough reason for you to drive to Woodinville this summer, take the fact that Neil has been pulling out Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young songs for this tour, along with seminal solo tracks like “Harvest Moon,” “Heart of Gold,” and “Old Man.” (Chateau Ste Michelle, 5 pm) AUDREY VANN

Sept 6

The year was 2015, I was a recent college graduate navigating the perils and pitfalls of my early 20s, and Marina Lambrini Diamandis, better known at the time by her stage name Marina and the Diamonds, was the reigning queen of Tumblr. The rainbow-tinged, disco-inspired cover of her album Froot was all over my dashboard, and I immediately became enamored with Marina’s husky, dramatic pop diva vocals and sugary synths. I’ve been a fan—excuse me, a “Diamond”—ever since. Diamandis, who goes mononymously by Marina these days, has released delightfully campy, danceable singles like “Butterfly” and “Cuntissimo” in the last year. She’ll be joined on her Princess of Power tour by the irresistible alt-hip-hop duo Coco & Clair Clair. (Showbox SoDo, 7:30 pm, all ages) JULIANNE BELL

THING Fest Aug 2, Aug 9, Aug 23, Remlinger Farms (The Aug 16 all-Latin date was cancelled due to ICE concerns; fuck ICE.)

Less Than Jake, Fishbone, the Suicide Machines, Catbite Aug 5, Showbox Sodo, 7 pm, all ages

Paul Simon: A Quiet Celebration Tour Aug 5–6, McCaw Hall, 7:30 pm, all ages

Colleen Green, Rozwell Kid Aug 6, Black Lodge, 7 pm, all ages

LCD Soundsystem, TV on the Radio Aug 7–8, Remlinger Farms, 6 pm, all ages

Dinosaur Jr., Snail Mail, Easy Action Aug 8, Chateau Ste. Michelle, 6:30 pm, all ages

Sea Lemon, Tomo Nakayama, Nathan Reed Aug 8, Tractor, 8 pm (See preview.)

Mood Swing: DJs Jordana aka Lady J, Bimbo Hypnosis, Ramos, Jelz, and Guests Aug 9, Chop Suey, 9 pm, 21+

Maren Morris: The Dreamsicle Tour Aug 10, Chateau Ste. Michelle, 7 pm, all ages

Nine Inch Nails Aug 12, Climate Pledge Arena, 7:30 pm, all ages

Phantogram, STRFKR Marymoor Park, Aug 12, 6 pm, all ages

Away with Words, Miracle, Cherub Chains, Cottonmouth, Guilt, Foxglove Aug 15, Vera Project, 7 pm, all ages