Pet Hospital, Fall of Snow, Beauxregard

Put a dainty slab of Oregon out-of-towner in between two whole-grain slices of local music and what do you get? Hands down, the worst lead-in to a Critic's Pick ever conceived, that's what. Portland's one-woman reverb fest Fall of Snow swoops into town to unfurl her ghostly resonance; think Boards of Canada remixing Kristin Hersh. Then Coppell trio Pet Hospital will close out the evening with clean, chugging guitar and drowsy vocals that produce comfy, mostly mid-tempo indie pop that would be right at home on Zach Braff's iPod. But we're showing up early and not just so we can secure a decent parking spot and try to duck paying cover. Beauxregard is some "don't miss" shit, hermetically fusing elements of early '80s British new wave, spacey acoustic lo-fi and all-out downright goodness.