KURTIS BLOW, DESTRO, L PRO, ROCKET ONE, BROWN CAESAR, OZROC, DJ SPARK(Mt. Tabor Theater, 4811 SE Hawthorne)If you need an idea of how long Kurtis Blow has been making hiphop history, the Harlem emcee had his first hit (1979's "Christmas Rappin'") three years before Lil Wayne was even born. Blow is the man from the oldest of old school, the rapper behind "The Breaks," and a true legend of the genre. Pay your respect, youngster. EZRA ACE CARAEFF
PETER WOLF CRIER, RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR, LITTLE HURRICANE(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Read our article on Peter Wolf Crier.
ICARUS THE OWL, LIGHTS OUT DANCING, ASTEROID M, THE LAST DEPARTMENT(Branx, 320 SE 2nd) Where have you been all my life, Icarus the Owl? The local quartet flew—owl pun, I'm awesome at my job!—under my radar for far too long, but that ends with the release of the Qualia EP, the follow-up to 2009's The Spotless Mind. An explosive and masterfully crafted exercise in precision post-rock, Qualia channels the energy of the earliest work of Minus the Bear—sans the self-referential jokes and distracting song titles—and the passionate gushing of Thursday. The intersection of math rock and late-'90s emo is not sacred territory by any stretch of the imagination, but Icarus the Owl do a commendable job of creating a sound that feels relevant among the stale output of their peers. EZRA ACE CARAEFF