Live Music Picks: March 16-22 

THURSDAY 3/16
Moving Units Presents The Songs Of Joy Division w/ Viktor Fiction, Soviet
We always say how everything cool comes around again, meaning that when something—a sound, a style—goes out of vogue, if there was anything to it, it'll be resurrected at some point. Currently, one of the big retro movements is next-wave new wave/post-punk/goth rock/synth pop, and Los Angeles dance punks are among the best of the backtracking bunch. (Side note for fans of the sound: There's some great stuff happening here locally, with bands like Fossil Arms, Sculpture Club and Big Wild Wings. If you haven't done so already, check them out.) Moving Units, however, has been doing it for quite some time now—damn near 15 years. So it's a bit odd that they've zoomed in on a Joy Division and not only covered an entire album of their songs, but performing it on tour. Bringing back a sound is one thing. Paying tribute is another. But when you could simply cover a song, and instead elect to retread someone else's hits, then take the show on the road? Well, that gets an all-caps "WTF is that about, borrowing that much of someone else's music?" It doesn't matter how good Collision with Joy Division is (and it's almost too good). You don't, in the words of Eli Morrison, one of our own respected local musicians and a passionate JD devotee, "fuck with the sacred." Anyway, Moving Units performs Collision along with a second set of their own material tonight. (Randy Harward) Metro Music Hall, 615 W. 100 South, 8 p.m., $10, 21+, metromusichall.com

FRIDAY & SATURDAY 3/17-18
Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience
I defy anyone to resist the good-time allure of zydeco music. OK, OK—accordions aren't for everyone. But the ol' squeezebox has gotten an undeserved bad rap, marked as an instrument for dweebs and ranking alongside bagpipes on the Great Big List of Strident and Unwieldly So-Called "Musical" Instruments That Also Look Like Medical Devices. Especially when the guy playing it wears a big, cheesy grin. What the hell does he have to smile about, right? Well, that's the thing about zydeco, which is essentially Cajun music mixed with R&B and blues. It might start with a base of swamp-born sounds played by ostensibly toothless old men, but give it an honest listen and you'll see that it strikes a jubilant tone that you don't just hear but feel—largely thanks to the accordion. When you spice it up with R&B (another palpable sound) and blues (the most commiserative and cathartic musical style), it just gets better. It lifts you right up from down in the dumps and reminds you that every day is a gift and therefore ripe for celebration. And when your host/maestro is Terrance Simien, a truly happy man with an infectious grin and love of people—and a knack for squeezin' beauty out of that ol' box—you're guaranteed to feel more than alive when you leave his show. (RH) The Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main, Park City, 8 p.m., $23-$35 pre-sale, $28-$40 day of show, egyptiantheatrecompany.org

SATURDAY 3/18
Castle, Goya, Aneurysm, Barlow, Dissension
There's nothing like a hefty dose of doom metal to drive a stake deep into the heart of Old Man Winter. With stake and mallet firmly gripped in their capable hands, Los Angeles-based dark lords Castle are headlining the Still Reaping Tour in grim observance of their 2016 release Welcome to the Graveyard (Van). Frontwoman Elizabeth Blackwood's shrapnel-ravaged vocals have been freshly sharpened by Mat Davis' grindstone guitar chords and tempered by the forge of Al McCartney's drums. A chaotic cadre of metal luminaries also takes part in Castle's nocturnal reverie, including the sludge metal-slinging Goya, power-punk shock troopers Aneurysm and local metal mavens Barlow and Dissension. It's a lineup that promises to summon the doomed gods of metal's underworld for an evening of sacrilege and demonic merriment. (Alex Springer) Club X, 445 S. 400 West, 8 p.m., $12, 21+, clubxslc.com

Pixie and the Partygrass Boys
According to the tall tale that chronicles the origins of local "ski bums and hippies" Pixie and the Partygrass Boys, partygrass is a musical hybrid that channels bluegrass roots through a pop music lens. In other words, it's twangy Americana fare that originates from the band's deep love of musicians like Michael Jackson and Usher. Their pop sensibilities make songs like "Running" and "For You" accessible to bluegrass initiates, but it's their crispy, country-fried exterior that makes them ideal music for a Saturday night at the Spur. There's something comforting about bouncy, banjo-driven ballads about love and heartbreak that reference Moab and Salt Lake City directly. Pixie and the boys know that Utah's got plenty of its own dysfunction, and partygrass just might be the right soundtrack for drinking all that dysfunction away. (Alex Springer) The Spur Bar & Grill, 352 Main, Park City, 10 p.m., free, thespurbarandgrill.com

TUESDAY 3/21
Summer Cannibals, Slow Caves
How I encountered Portland garage-pop band Summer Cannibals, as described in a City Weekly feature clear back in the yesteryear 2015: "Four clicks of drumsticks. Bass and drums, pumping insistently, followed by a nasty, fuzzy guitar riff. The actual video part of the YouTube video didn't matter. Not when you have texts to return. This was just an exploratory listen to see if Summer Cannibals warranted a measly concert preview blurb. But those clicks, that rhythm, that fuzz." The video I was talking about was a live-in-the-studio performance by the then-quartet for Austin's Do512 Lounge Sessions. In the song, a defiant eff-you to a waste-of-time relationship, frontwoman Jessica Boudreaux smiles and bounces around between being adorable and badass, and her bandmates all clearly have a blast onstage. Their personalities so suit the band's sweet sugar-fuzz sound that the total package is incredibly fulfilling. But on their third album Full of It—their first for venerable Olympia, Wash., indie label Kill Rock Stars, they sound pissed off, positively chafed and burning. The band's various interviews about the album suggest it's because the record is an accidental breakup record, thanks to the rent relationship between Boudreaux and nerdy-cool founding guitarist Marc Swart. The 11-track album roars by in just about 30 minutes, and hits somewhere in between the Breeders' pop and Sleater-Kinney's snarl. And Boudreaux is less smiley in the videos. It's a drag, but also cool to see her, a rock 'n' roll noob shortly before forming this band, becoming a confident frontwoman of striking presence—whatever her mood. (RH) Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 7 p.m., $10, kilbycourt.com