Stars Fitzgerald's, October 12
Even if they hadn't released an album called North, which they did this year on Dave Matthews-founded ATO Records, Stars would be difficult to mistake for as anything but Canadian. There's something both distant and friendly in their appealing blend of indie-rock and synth-pop, fronted by Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell as an ongoing dialogue about heart and home. Dusted with strings and disco beats, North walks a fine line between intimacy and pop ambition. Between this and Metric Monday night, a good week for local fans of the extended Broken Social Scene family. CHRIS GRAY
Eyes Lips Eyes Walters, October 12
Walters has a brand-new temporary Web site up at www.waltersdowntown.com, so this seems like a good time to plug a show over there. Here's a good one: Utah-originated band Eyes Lips Eyes, who claim to "put the Provo in provocative" and have drawn comparisons to the B-52's, Strokes and the Rapture, stop by tonight with a pair of worthy local indie-rockers in the Wheel Workers and Winter Wallace. Eyes Lips Eyes also plays a 5:30 p.m. in-store at Heights Vinyl, 3122 White Oak. CHRIS GRAY
B L A C K I E NotsuoH, October 12
Local B L A C K I E fans take note: Friday is the confrontational yet introspective noise-rapper's last scheduled Houston-area show of the calendar year, before he heads off on a West Coast tour. His good friends Muhammid Ali and ???777??? help him out. CHRIS GRAY
DatsiK Stereo Live, October 13
DatsiK, the British Columbian dubstepper behind such tracks as "Nuke 'Em" and the Wu-Tang-sampling "Southpaw" brings his "Firepower" tour- - featuring a giant spherical video/lighting system called a "vortex" (see right) -- to Stereo Live Saturday. Supporting are Terravita, XKR and Getter. CHRIS GRAY
Mono Fitzgerald's, October 14
Instrumental post-rockers (is there any other kind?) Mono have made a name for themselves all over the Earth as titanic mood-shifters, across six albums of emotionally charged swells and crashes. As the band has grown over the past decade, they have slowly set aside loud, headphone-ready blasts for elegiac, string-laden expanses. Their newest album, For My Parents, opens with the stirring 12-minute "Legend," which was used for a music video detailing the almost-alien landscapes of Iceland. If last month's Swans show at Fitz got your rocks off, then you should be at this one too. CRAIG HLAVATY
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