For Your Ears

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside
Launchpad
Friday at 9 p.m.
$12
21
If hip-hop isn’t your thing, the alternative rock of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down and Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside might be right up your alley. Both bands meet up for a one-two punch of Thao’s rock ‘n’ roll and Sallie Ford’s cruising soul.

For Your Consideration: Thao’s “We the Common (For Valerie Bolden)” is based on a prison interview with Valerie Bolden, a woman serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally stabbing her husband in 1996. The song leads to a clanking banjo ballad that’s as catchy as it is lyrically depressing.

Local H, Supercabra
Launchpad
Saturday at 9:30 p.m.
$10
21
Local H is a living, breathing history lesson in grunge rock. After finding radio success in 1996 with its sophomore release “As Good as Dead,” the band has quietly slugged on, playing crunchy grunge tunes that would make outdated flannel sweaters proud.

For Your Consideration: Local H’s “Another February” sounds like another angst-driven grunge song imported from the ‘90s to 2013.

The Sheds, Sweet Weapons, LA Haine, Against The Odds, Bright Night Lights
The Gasworks
Monday at 7 p.m.
$8
All ages
The Sheds are one of countless other tough-guy punk bands that remind listeners that man, life sure is tough. With their horn-rimmed glasses and faded ‘90s-band T-shirts, members of The Sheds do a fine job of repeating what other bands before them have said.

For Your Consideration: The Sheds drill their message home with “Self/Doubt,” in which the chorus sings, “These sad songs are the soundtrack to my life.”

Band of Horses, Roadkill Ghost Choir
Sunshine Theater
Wednesday at 8 p.m.
$25
13
Band of Horses is a Seattle indie rock band that plays music that’s catchy and lyrically simple. Lead singer Benjamin Bridwell rarely has anything to say, but that’s all right with me — the band’s loud, grandiose approach to playing music does all the talking.

For Your Consideration: There are only three lines making up the lyrics in “Is There a Ghost,” and yet Bridwell’s falsetto repetition of “I could sleep” will find itself a comfy place to rest inside your head for days to come.

Rose’s Pawn Shop, Next Three Miles, Houses of Light
Low Spirits
Thursday, April 18 at 9 p.m.
$8
21
Rose’s Pawn Shop is a California bluegrass band that doesn’t pull many punches. This isn’t always a bad thing, however. The music is simple and honest, and a good twang of banjo and violin goes a long way.

For Your Consideration: “Dancing on the Gallows” is an up-tempo tune that could find itself a home at any late-night walk through Old Town.

Alkaline Trio, Bayside, Off With Their Heads
Sunshine Theater
Monday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m.
$18.50
13
Punk legends Alkaline Trio and Bayside head to the Southwest to storm the Sunshine Theater’s stage. Alkaline Trio channels the intensity of the ‘70s and ‘80s, while Bayside dominates the emotional punk rock wave of the 2000s.

For Your Consideration: “I and I” is an optimistic pop-punk tune, with Bayside’s lead singer Anthony Raneri singing, “I and I, we’re taking control of our lives.”