For Your Ears

As I Lay Dying
Dec. 13
7 p.m.
Sunshine Theater
$22
All ages

You don’t need to decipher lyrics to realize this band is more than a little down in the dumps. The musicians’ challenge in expressing such heavy emotions is to share their visceral experience without punishing the listeners with sloppy caterwauling and hectic beats. Unlike many metal bands, “As I Lay Dying” produces a crisp, riveting beat rather than taking a seat in the fainting couch and bleeding over the audience. More empowering is iwrestledabearonce, an eclectic metal band also on the program, featuring a female screamer that rivals Otep Shamaya in her chilling delivery.

Qwazaar & Batsauce with Lady Daisey
Dec. 14
9 p.m.
Burt’s Tiki Lounge
Free
21

I think the name Batsauce alone is enough to justify seeing this group, so good thing the music is awesome — or, as we say on the East Coast, sick ill nasty. Most unknown rappers are unknown because they’re bad, but not Qwazaar. His rhymes are tight and imaginative, and the lyrics including engaging words and images such as “Cracks in the sky, counting them every day,” or “Checking for a pulse, this is just a uniform for being born.” Batsauce’s beats and background music are complex, and if you like Atmosphere, you have to go see this group.

Smallz One and BloodShot
Dec. 17
6:30 p.m.
Amped Performance Center
$5
All ages

Speaking of terrible rappers, there couldn’t be a better example than Smallz One. The title of her album is “The Diary of a Black Widow” and the song “Listen to them Cry” begins with creepy laughter over guitar strumming. Smallz One goes on to rap: “In my mind got to thinking who the f*** are they, those pathetic [indecipherable] they ain’t taking s*** away. Thinking about people who really piss me off.” She tries to make her voice sound as tough as possible, but the pathetic lyrics make her music humorous if anything.

14th Annual Anti Christ-Mas
Dec. 17
9 p.m.
The Launchpad
$12
21

This show is a grindcore fest to which all the Grinches and Scrooges of Albuquerque can escape. The headlining act, Bloody Phoenix, hails from California and doesn’t do a bad job stirring up a storm in the audience. The local acts following the band’s attempt to kill the holiday spirit have hopefully improved beyond the numbers they have available on MySpace. Like cubs working on their roar, the Burque bands will be groveling. Well-played or no, the show is a must for anyone in need of cynical company burnt out on the holidays.

Sugar Babies Burlesque presents: Generic Holiday Party
Dec. 19
9 p.m.
The Launchpad
$8, cash only
21

Techtonic Movement and the Red Light Cameras are the featured entertainment at this all-inclusive holiday show. The Red Light Cameras, now a year old, is an indie-pop band with cooing vocals that are both heartfelt and sassy. This female vocalist manages to sing without that nasally noise that plagues emotive singing. This is not to suggest she could do well on her own. The sunny, upbeat melodies temper her deep, raspy voice, a union of opposites that strikes just the right chord.

Reverend Horton Heat
Jan. 17
9 p.m.
The Launchpad
$20
21

These old rockers are still around, wearing fancy colorful suits to distract you from their balding heads. The music is described as “psychobilly:” according to en.wikipedia.org, a genre that combines rock-and-roll with punk. This is a pretty good description — his tunes are reminiscent of rock-and-roll old boys combined with The Clash, and then he sometimes goes on separate riffs that are distinctly ‘80s (his band first formed in 1985). I’m not sure if I would attend this, but maybe the younger generation of rebellious cowboys will.

AWOLNATION
Jan. 26
8 p.m.
Sunshine Theatre
$15
All ages

An odd kind of indie pop that probably prides itself on being undefinable, Aaron Bruno’s solo project AWOLNATION broke away from the help of major record companies in 2009 so Bruno could “write the songs that he felt he was meant to write,” according to en.wikipedia.org. This spirit of the songs is reminiscent of Christian rock’s optimism — a soaring feeling that anything is possible — but secular. Perhaps this explains the preoccupation with space exploration: if you spot an AWOLNATION space man in the area, report the sighting immediately to receive an AWOLNATION space helmet.