Boy Eats Drum Machine,w/  Control Keys, 5H1F7Y, & DJ Johnny Whitney @ Neumos | 7/21 | 8PM | $6 at the door

Jon Ragel, otherwise known as Boy Eats Drum Machine, is a solo act out of Portland, OR. BEDM is equal parts DJ, savage saxophonist, poet, performance artist, and a music geek with wicked kazoo skills. Prone to jumping around on stage while performing his relentlessly catchy tunes makes BEDM not only a fun show to watch but one you’ll find yourself dancing along to.

Hotels w/ The Secret History & Bandolier @ Nectar Lounge | 7/21 | 8PM | $6 at the door

Bumbershoot 2009 Photo by Jason Tang Photography

Sticking with the hook-heavy and catchy theme, let’s journey over to Nectar to catch local synth-rockers Hotels. Heavy and melodic dream-pop tunes alongside searing garage-rock songs that will be found stuck on repeat in your head days later, make Hotels a unique mix of all the things that actually make pop music worthy.

Flight Of The Navigator

Also playing at Nectar is the New York-based group, The Secret History (TSH). TSH is dark indie-pop in bed with 80′s glam at it’s finest. Sure to grab your attention and get you dancing The Secret History’s debut album, The World That Never Was, was released earlier this year. According to blogcritics.com writer Jordan Richardson, “And like all good pop music, The World That Never Was is an elegantly human album. With fresh pop hooks, spacious guitar and glowing vocal harmonies, The Secret History’s first LP is one with beauty and simplicity pouring from its chords.”

Miniature Tigers w/Blunt Mechanic & The Spinto Band @ High Dive | 7/21 | 9PM | $8 In Advance

Photo: Esther Hyejin Chung

Apparently Wednesday night is indie-hybrid night here in the Emerald City so let’s round out your selections for the evening by peeking in at the High Dive. Local rockers Miniature Tigers and Blunt Mechanic will be joined by The Spinto Band hailing from Delaware. SSG’s Nick Larzalere had this to say about a recent Miniature Tigers set:

With the Miniature Tigers, the ice was finally broken. I have also seen the Miniature Tigers a few times; most notably when they last came to town and played an Azteca Mexican Restaurant. With a much more indie sound and occasional banter, the band was doing everything to win the crowd over. All of them except for vocalist Charlie Brand came out wearing the same T-shirt, fulfilling a promise made earlier that day. Playing mostly songs off their forth-coming album, there was also the occasional older song, mainly “Tell It to the Volcano” and “The Wolf.” They left out “Cannibal Queen,” which was just fine, because for several songs Alex Gerber broke out the rain stick and made it rain.  The Miniature Tigers have never let an audience down, and their simple instrumentation and harmonies are infectious. – April 13th, 2010

I’ll be honest, I don’t know a damn thing about this band but I do know what I like when I hear it and I LIKE The Spinto Band. I like their name, I’m digging their sound, and I’m loving the live videos I’ve spent far too long watching over the course of the last couple days. The Spinto Band is new to me but have been around for well over a decade.  Discovered over the course of my research: cleverly written pop-driven tunes, psychedelic harmonies, weird drum beats, and a video depicting the acoustic version of their song “Later On” played with the various items found on a kitchen table; enjoy them all folks.

“Oh Mandy” performed on La Blogotheque

“Later On” performed on someone’s kitchen table