Concert Highlights for the Week of August 15 - 21

YO! the Movement's 6th Annual Twin Cities Celebration of Hip Hop
First Avenue
Forget everything you know about hip hop (as in, what the corporate-controlled media tells you rap is) and come check out YO! the Movement's 6th annual celebration of a culture that's ubiquitous, yet maligned and misunderstood. The event (as well as the organization itself) is truly one of the Cities' gems, a sincere and joyful gathering of all the eclecticism that true and fly expression can umbrella, where for once the line between performer/participant and spectator/consumer is (at least temporarily) blurred. Past highlights include killer performances by the likes of Cee Lo and Slick Rick, as well as catching sight of Crazy Legs giggling gleefully as local b-boys and girls stepped furiously for his favor. This year will undoubtedly build on that legacy of inclusion and education, as featured acts Naughty by Nature and (reunited) Eyedea & Abilities mingle with a slew of other local acts, writers, breakers, and assorted fresh kids. Activism never felt so funky. 701 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612.332.1775. For more information, see www.yothemovement.org. Through Sunday —Jordan Selbo

Best Friends Forever (CD Release)
Varsity Theater
Capable of forever banishing any negative connotation from the phrase "Let's just be friends," this local indie-pop trio makes platonic bonding seem about as painful as a tickle fight with a sweet-mannered toddler. Best Friends Forever is the work/play project of real life BFFs Bri Smith and Jes Seamans, who are celebrating their 12th year of friendship with the release of their highly anticipated album Romance, Conflict, Adventure. A joyful package of humorous observations and oddball perspectives on love, life, and friendship, the girls' fantastic lyrics match the playful pop irreverence of the Moldy Peaches and punkish lo-fi sensibility of the Shaggs. On "Ghost Song," a tune about a fantasy romance between human and spook, lyrics like "He's probably shooting blanks/But if not, so what?/We'll have a half-ghost baby," are chuckle-worthy enough to seem memorable, but it's the song's infectious melody that leaves the longest-lasting impression. With Mike Gunther and His Restless Souls, and Maria Isa. 18+. $8. 8:00 p.m. 1308 Fourth. St. SE, Minneapolis; 612.604.0222. —Christopher Matthew Jensen

Kelly Willis
Fine Line Music Café
Kelly Willis hit the ground running with a strong string of recordings showing off her rockabilly revival fervor, but nobody much paid attention outside a cult of the initially smitten. A handful of albums and a modicum of success later, Willis has settled in as an alt-country queen who nicely straddles the middle ground between country purity and a rock'n'roll heart. She belongs among Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, and Carlene Carter: a country woman with a well-earned chip on her shoulder and the intelligence to astutely analyze much more than the local drunk down at the honky-tonk. Her new Translated From Love (Ryko), produced by Chuck Prophet, shows off her gorgeous, sassy twang on country-tinged rockers like "Teddy Boys," and "The More That I'm Around You" (with cool harmonies from hubby Bruce Robison and Jules Shear), as well as a pedal-steel driven country ballad ("Stone's Throw Away") and the bluegrass laced "Losing You." She even covers David Bowie's "Success" as a kind of inebriated Sir Douglas Quintet romp, an unexpected nugget in a collection of modest gems. $15/$17 at the door. 8:00 p.m.1308 Fourth St. SE, Minneapolis; 612.604.0222 —Rick Mason

Cougar
Triple Rock Social Club
It's not easy for Madison, Wisconsin's jazz-reared, post-post-rock group Cougar to record together, much less take their music to the streets. Band members hold down day jobs as lawyers, bartenders, and music teachers in such far-flung provinces as Tucson, Milwaukee, Chicago, and New York City. While their debut, Law, was mixed by Tortoise's John McEntire, don't mistake the group for just another batch of chop-heavy eggheads. Coming together under the tutelage of famed jazz bassist Richard Davis while all were enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, the group soon set out to make an amalgam of their various loves: jazz, rock, composition, improv, and electronic music. Together, the band burns incandescent. As drummer David Skogan emphasized in an interview earlier this year, it's all about distillation and immediacy—turning theories into hooks. Expect such alchemy and spontaneous combustion tonight. With El Guante and Goodday, Montag. $6/$8 at the door. 9:00 p.m. 629 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612.333.7399. —Andy Beta

SATURDAY 8.18

Arms and Sleepers
Java Jack's Coffee Cafe
If nature could digitally remix its collection of summer night sounds, the disc would be a sister to the music Arms and Sleepers produce. Soothing, earthy, and electronic, it's nature plugged into the wall socket—humid winds with soft tasers, a still field of chattering electric crickets, bubbling space pools. Songs include humming voices that easily replace a string section and add to the eeriness of the cave-like echoes. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, band majestically pours in a wide spectrum of instruments, making complex arrangements that somehow never muddle the overall sound. Reminiscent of the Album Leaf, the group provide a variation of dreary-yet-sweet melodies, jazzy baselines, and innocent piano. Their sound encompasses the ambient genre, so it can be perfect for passive or active listening; for ignoring or closely examining. 18+. $5. 8 p.m. 818 W. 46th St. Minneapolis; 612.825.2183 —Amber Schadewald

Mark Olson
400 Bar
In the decade or so that has passed since Olson quit the Jayhawks (the seminal alternative country band he founded alongside fellow songwriter Gary Louris), the thin-timbred troubadour has released a total of eight full-length records under various band names. For this latest offering, Salvation Blues (the first since his divorce from fellow songwriter and bandmate Victoria Williams), Olson decided to drop his usual Creek Dipper tag and release it under his own name. Joined by old friends like Louris, X guitarist Tony Gilkyrson, and former Creek Dipper Greg Leisz, Olson has written songs that stay true to the breezier folky Americana sound he's favored of late. On tracks like "Clifton Bridge," and "My One Book Philosophy," Olson's lurid, writerly narrations seem as personal as anything he's ever penned, a point that bodes well for the relative intimacy of the 400 Bar's gently haggard and rustic interior. With McCarthy Trenching and Michael Morris. 18+. $12. 7:00 p.m. 400 Cedar Ave. S., at Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis; 612.332.2903. —Christopher Matthew Jensen

Perry Farrell's Satellite Party
Fine Line Music Café
Since he made what seems like instant history with Jane's Addiction in the late '80s and early '90s, and brought alternative music to the forefront once and for all by creating the once-again-mighty Lollapalooza, Perry Farrell has never had trouble keeping himself busy with project after project after project. Some worked well (his vastly underrated first post-Jane's Addiction band, Porno for Pyros), some were so-so (he directed the nearly impenetrable, far-too-obtuse-for-its-own-good film Gift), and one went nowhere (his post-rehab project, Gobalee, was abandoned before getting off the ground), but you can never fault Farrell for being boring. He's assembled a new band, dubbed Satellite Party, featuring, among others, his wife, Etty, and former Extreme (yeah, that Extreme) guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. Their debut album, Ultra Payloaded, also features New Order's Peter Hook, Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante, and Thievery Corporation on various tracks. It's a concept album about a musician and a "beautiful night nurse" who may or may not be dreaming when they decide to join an intergalactic party, whatever the hell all that might mean. If nothing else, Farrell always keeps it interesting. With Mink. 18+. $25. 8:00 p.m. 318 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612.338.8100. —Pat O'Brien

MONDAY 8.20

Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective
Loring Park
The unique Garifuna culture, centered in Belize, is a distinctive blend of West Africa, indigenous Caribbean, and Central America's Latin culture. It originated when survivors of a 1600s slave shipwreck off the coast of St. Vincent mingled with the island's indigenous Caribs. More than a century later, the entire community was exiled to the Caribbean coast of Central America. Relatively few, but fiercely independent, the Garifuna have their own traditions, language, and music, which singer/guitarist Andy Palacio and the Collective are making great strides to preserve. On their gloriously infectious Wátina (Cumbancha), the Garifuna sound shimmers like the sun dancing on azure Caribbean waters, mingling sly, percolating polyrhythms from a dozen different sources; undulating melodies whose joy is haunted by lingering shadows; yearning vocals that sometimes suggest Cuban son or drift into call-and-response; Spanish acoustic guitar flourishes; and electric passages that hint at juju and highlife. This is an inspired, relatively new tack from Palacio, a Belizean star and originator of dance-happy Punta rock. The Collective, meanwhile, is a loose assortment of leading Belize musicians, including the scene's 75-year-old godfather, Paul Nabor. Sponsored by the Walker (for free!) in Loring Park and matched with the 1954 film Magnificent Obsession, this is easily the biggest bargain of the summer. For a review of the film, please see page 47. With DJ Bill Kubezko. 7:00 p.m. Loring Park, Willow St. at W. 14th St., Minneapolis. —Rick Mason