Music Picks 

SUBHUMANS

Unlike most romantic relationships, bands whose members “take a break” often kiss and make up. Such is the case for Britain’s Subhumans, a seminal anarcho-punk band that split off to form Citizen Fish and Culture Shock before getting back together. Eight years later, they’ve released new (well, mostly never-before-heard) material, including 2004’s Live in a Dive, a 26-track compilation that nearly captures their onstage intensity. Almost. Try the real thing on for size tonight. In the Venue, 219 S. 600 West, 7 p.m. All-ages. Tickets: 24Tix.com (with Global Threat and All Systems Fail).

DERBY

Handclaps, harmonies, bounce-along keyboards'these are a few of Derby’s favorite things. Portland’s pride and joy make feel-good pop songs for tumultuous times, recalling Paul McCartney in his younger years or Ray Davies on a sunny afternoon. Light, but not fluffy, their self-titled debut album boasts retro melodies that are straightforward and honest in both substance and form. If it’s wrong to want unabashed love and happiness, then I don’t want to be right. Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 7:30 p.m. All-ages. Info: KilbyCourt.com (with Controlling the Famous and Pale Pacific).

Also Thursday: Virgil Cane (The Circuit); Black Dahlia Murder (Avalon); 45 Grave (Burt’s Tiki Lounge); Moot Davis & Pete Anderson (Egos)

HOPEWELL

Jason Russo has seen a thing or two. He left the roost at 19 to tour with Mercury Rev, playing a bit of everything for the New York neo-hippie-pop collective as they leaped into critical infamy with Deserter’s Songs. Countless tours later, Russo took hard-earned lessons from the road and applied them to a side-project rooted in symphonic psychedelic rock. The result is Hopewell and Birds Full of Appetite, an album packed with varied songs, from “Calcutta,” which gives a heavy nod to Love & Rockets with its spot-on “No New Tale to Tell” guitar riff to “Trumpet for a Lung’s” sexy Morphine sax and looping-surf strings. Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 10 p.m. Info: 746-0557, MySpace.com/TheUrbanLounge.

Also Friday: Black Swans (Kilby Court); MXPX (In the Venue); Virgil Cane (Velour); KRS-One (Velvet Room); House of Atreus (Club Vegas); Phono (Monk’s)

Thunderfist, Almost Undone (The Depot); The Wolfs, Red Bennies, Will Sartain Players (Urban Lounge); Lorin Cook (Tony’s); In Camera, Her Candane (Todd’s Bar & Grill)

Thursday, Minus the Bear (In the Venue); Pink Mountaintops (Kilby Court); Criteria (Avalon'see Music)

The Double (Kilby Court)

THE SPUNKS, GITO GITO HUSTLER

The Spunks sound like “crap if you don’t turn it up,” so live a little and ditch the earplugs when New York City’s irreverent Japanese rockers plug in tonight. Drawing on a wide range of influences'from Frank Zappa to Chinese food and booze, booze, booze'the seasoned trio spits rapid-fire punk tunes in 60-to-120-second intervals (just long enough to take a shot, take a leak and start a fight). Tourmates Gito Gito Hustler are similarly wired, albeit a little less surly, a little more pop-and-roll. Both sound best cranked to 11. Burt’s Tiki Lounge, 726 S. State, 9:30 p.m. Info: 521-0572, MySpace.com/BurtsTikiLounge (with Blackhole and Knvz).

Also Tuesday: Screaming Baby’s Tour (Avalon)

EDITH FROST

Anyone can sing. Seriously. You don’t need pitch-perfect intonation to front a band. Just ask John Lydon or Thom Yorke, performers whose vocals become appealing when paired with snarling guitars or insanely complicated space-age compositions. Anyone can sing, but few captivate audiences a cappella. Edith Frost is one of those fortunate souls, blessed with a wicked set of pipes that she uses to express “pensive countrified” psychedelic material exemplified on 2005’s It’s a Game. Like Aimee Mann or Kate Bush, the Drag City Records singer-songwriter colors outside the lines with a voice that’s impossible to duplicate. Captain’s Quarters, 64 W. 400 South, 7 p.m. All-ages. Info: 638-5120 (with the Zincs).

Dwight Yoakam (The Depot, March 30). An Albatross (Kilby Court, March 31). James Blunt (The Depot, March 31). Scarface (Teazers, March 31). Clumsy Lovers (Egos, March 31). Gogol Bordello (Suede, March 31). Y&T (Club Vegas, April 1). Dresden Dolls (In the Venue, April 3). The Bad Plus (The Depot, April 6). Fall Out Boy (McKay Events Center, April 11). The Living Things (The Depot, April 12). Kittie (Club BoomVa, April 12). Dinosaur Jr. (The Depot, April 16). The Stills (In the Venue, April 17). Rob Zombie (Great Saltair, April 18). The Iron Maidens (Club Vegas, April 21). The Editors, Stellastar (The Depot, April 22). The Sounds, Morningwood (In the Venue, April 29).