Live: Music Picks Oct. 1-7 

THURSDAY 10.1
Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers
Back in a 2009 interview with City Weekly, I told Roger Clyne I thought his catchy, twangy, guitar-driven story-songs are about escape. Clyne demurred, saying they're about "engagement." In my infinite wisdom, I concluded it's both. After all, with the Peacemakers—and in the band's previous incarnation, The Refreshments, he often writes about getting out of town (usually to Mexico), or drinking away his worries. But he also writes about human relationships—the complicated, the romantic, the confrontational, the elusive. His songs compellingly blur the line between fantasy and reality, escape and engagement, giving his listeners the best of both worlds under the battle cry, "Here's to life." Head over the AZPeacemakers.com and check out "Ain't Got the Words for This" and "Geronimo" from the band's seventh album, The Independent (EmmaJava), then come engage with the band tonight. (RH) Liquid Joe's, 1249 E. 3300 South, 7 p.m., $15 in advance, $20 day of show, LiquidJoes.net

Bone Thugs 'n Harmony
The Thugs are back. Five year after their most recent release, Uni5: The World's Enemy, Bone Thugs 'N Harmony have new quick and violent rhymes and legitimately harmonic choruses. This year, they're releasing their final album and then disbanding. They're making only one printing of that record, called E.1999 Legends, but when they sell it, they sell distribution rights along with it so everyone may still have a chance to hear tracks thick with '90s underground thug raps about the game, murder, marijuana and money—just the classic bone-chillers, circa 1995. (TF) Park City Live, 427 Main, 9 p.m., $30-60, ParkCityLive.com

FRIDAY 10.2
Algiers
Once in a while a band just blows your mind. Algiers, from Atlanta, Ga., is that band. Critics toss out terms like "post-punk," "gospel," "politically charged" and "radical" in reviews and features, trying to pin down the band's sound and ethos. You need all four, even more, words to really do them justice. But while you listen to their self-titled Matador Records debut—which thrums with originality, and jot down adjectives ("atmospheric," "revolutionary," "ingenious," "relevant"), or comparisons (King's X, Nina Simone, Can) you wonder if an emoticon of a slack jaw will suffice. Algiers is everything you want from music: honesty, intrigue, intelligence and fire. Bambara and Mojave Nomads open. (RH) Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 7 p.m., $10 in advance, $12 day of show, KilbyCourt.com

Red Fang, Caspian,
Whores, Wild Throne
Ya gotta love this lineup. Three bands who play way past the Spinal Tap volume threshold of 11, and one that—comparatively—plays quiet, comforting intermission music. On their debut full-length, Harvest of Darkness (Roadrunner), experimental/prog trio Wild Throne, from Bellingham, Wash., plays fast and furiously, like they're actually a punk band. Atlanta-based Whores does a thick and sludgy Melvins impression on their most recent, Clean (Brutal Panda). And with Whales and Leeches (Relapse), headlining clean-up hitters Red Fang, from Portland, do their badass kings-of-Rock-Mountain thing, bludgeoning the crowd with towering riffs. And then, in the third slot, we've got Caspian—hailing from Massachusetts and ostensibly named for a dude from Narnia, playing pretty post-rock instrumentals from their latest, Dust and Disquiet (Triple Crown). They're definitely the odd band out tonight, the lull between the other band's storms, but no less thrilling. And the idea of an interlude at a metal show is actually rather appealing, because the intensity of the other three bands demands a respite. (RH) The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 9 p.m., $16 in advance, $18 day of show, TheUrbanLoungeSLC.com

TUESDAY 10.6
DJ Krush
It's been 11 years since Japanese ambient/chill-out/trip-hop wizard DJ Krush's last album. In a YouTube interview, he explains the gap by saying he just didn't have time between gigs. Time flew by for him and although ideas were coming to him, he just didn't have a chance to get them tracked. The Butterfly Effect is finally out, ostensibly as an import-only release, and the online samples are what you'd expect: chill soundscapes, aural dreams, ripples of sound that both calm and stimulate the mind—and affect your perception of time. Because whether it's Butterfly, his 1994 debut Krush, 2001's Zen or any of his eight other releases (not counting EPs and remix albums), it's easy to lose yourself DJ Krush. (RH) The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 9 p.m., $15, TheUrbanLoungeSLC.com

WEDNESDAY 10.7
My Morning Jacket, Strand of Oaks
One year at South by Southwest, My Morning Jacket was the buzz band. If memory serves, it was 2002 or 2003, either just before or right after the now-beloved by many Kentucky band issued its third album, It Still Moves. Walking around downtown Austin during the day, people talked about the band's much-anticipated set and told stories of encounters. One friend talked about walking behind a hairy, super-drunk guy and how, amused at the tipsy guy's wobbly gait and not wanting the spectacle to end, he struggled to keep up. As he got closer, my buddy said he realized it was "the singer from My Morning Jacket!" Anyway, maybe it was and maybe it wasn't Jim James, who's now a rock god or something like it. But it's cool to think it was him. Because it's easy to imagine how those drunken night-strolls, where you struggle to keep your balance and everyone is your friend, could have inspired some of the dreamy, soft-focus songs on The Waterfall (ATO), the band's seventh album. Another hairy guy that plays folk-inspired rock songs, Timothy Showalter—dba Strand of Oaks—opens, and his latest, Heal (Dead Oceans) got all kinds of critical love when it came out last year. (RH) The Complex, 536 W. 100 South, 7:30 p.m., $39, TheComplexSLC.com

FRIDAY, OCT. 2
Mason Jennings
He didn't grow up there, but Mason Jennings was born in Hawaii, and maybe, even though he moved away as a youngster, that part of his history bled into his music, accounting for the surf-rock groove of the guitar riffs in his slow-pop folk albums. And maybe being raised in Minnesota gave his music the woodsy, autumn sound (in fact, he, at the advice of a friend, locked himself away in a cabin in the woods to write his 2013 release, Always Been.) He does that intimate-yet-laid-back blend well, so that may continue in his new album, which is just about complete. Sera Cahoone opens. (Tiffany Frandsen) Park City Live, 427 Main, 8 p.m., $20, ParkCityLive.com

TUESDAY 10.6
Titus Andronicus, Spider Bags
Titus Andronicus already tackled the concept record on 2010's The Monitor (XL), so the latest album from these Glen Rock, N.J., indie punks, The Most Lamentable Tragedy (Merge) is—get this: a rock opera. Leader Patrick Stickles and his motley crew (well, as motley as a crew can be from tony Glen Rock) have left loose strings hanging all over the place on this one and somehow it all works, only its more akin to Fucked Up's David Comes to Life than The Who's Tommy. Make sure you get there early enough to catch N.C. via N.J. garage loons Spider Bags who're still breakin' in cuts from 2014's Frozen Letter, also on Merge. Baked opens. (Tim Hinely) Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 7 p.m., $13 in advance, $15 day of show, KilbyCourt.com