If you're not in the mood for depressed kids dressed in black playing keyboards (or happy kids dressed in white playing harps), head up to Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios in Denton on Friday instead and catch the disco-punk die-hards in Girls Against Boys; the band's surprisingly dynamic new Jade Tree set, You Can't Fight What You Can't See, sounds like a hard-earned riposte to its lame late-'90s stint with Geffen. Clash-fixated New York agitproppers Radio 4 open, a pairing the outfit's dance-textured Gotham! suggests should be right-on.
Still not enough? Former Swirlies front woman Seana Carmody stops in at Rubber Gloves on Wednesday night, touring behind her fine new solo debut, Struts & Shocks. Like the underappreciated Swirlies, the record takes the trippy atmospherics the shoegaze set celebrated as a matter of casual fact; it's cool to hear how effortlessly singular Carmody's music still feels. Opener Emily Sparks doesn't sound quite so unique on What Could Not Be Buried, but her mild-mannered indie-folk should suit you if Azure Ray creeps you out. Former Sarge singer Elizabeth Elmore's new band, the Reputation, will also play stuff from its serviceable self-titled debut. Start your engines.