THE WEEK’S BEST
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
Style: Alternative rock with an oft-muted pulse and a rarely muted melodicism.
Backstory: With a name derived from a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song, Death Cab for Cutie emerged from Bellingham, Wash., with the 1998 debut album “Something About Airplanes.” Later, the quartet achieved something epic with 2003’s “Transatlanticism” and found substantial hits with 2005’s “Plans” and 2008’s “Narrow Stairs.”
Why you should go: “Thank You for Today,” out last August, lacks key member Chris Walla, who left after 2015’s “Kintsugi,” but the band retains a moody mingling of pop and rock, with frontman Ben Gibbard’s voice, somehow always yearning and almost dramatically alone, in the soft center. Death Cab’s discography should get a workout at this gig.
Openers: English modern-soul collective Jungle, Strokes guitarist and solo artiste Albert Hammond Jr., and ambitious UK indie singer-songwriter Barns Courtney.
Time and place: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the Rave, 2401 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Price: $41 to $53 at the box office, (414) 342-7283 and therave.com. — Jon M. Gilbertson, Special to the Journal Sentinel
TENGGER CAVALRY
Style: “Mongolian Metal” ain’t the half of it, but it’s a start.
Backstory: Nature “G” Ganganbaigal has Chinese and Mongol ancestry; he also has a music degree from New York University. His grasp of the current and the ancient informs Tengger Cavalry, the band he formed at the turn of the decade and which can cite coverage from CNN and interest from Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine.
Why you should go: The Cavalry’s latest album, this year’s “Cian Bi,” intertwines classic(al) heavy metal’s chugging rhythms and chiming guitars with Mongolian flute, guitar, fiddle and hoomei, aka throat-singing. After a winter breakup and a summer reunion, Tengger Cavalry is storming venues with energy and strangeness that speak to the band’s name, which translates as “the army of the sky god.”
Time and place: 9 p.m. Saturday, Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave. Price: $20 in advance at cactusclubmilwaukee.com. $25 day of show. — Jon M. Gilbertson
WONKY TONK
Style: Another cowboy hat thrown in the Americana ring, this time by a woman of particular promise.
Backstory: Born Jasmine Poole and raised in Kentucky, the person now known as Wonky Tonk started down her present path around 2008 in Cincinnati, where she and a low-fidelity disc called “Get on the Train” got adoring attention. A leap to Denmark and European touring, a return to Kentucky and a considerable number of years fortified her resolve to keep wonky-tonkin’.
Why you should go: Her second Wonky Tonk album, “Stuff We Leave Behind,” came out in 2015 and refracted her traveling through folk, country and rock and a clear voice that recall Jenny Lewis, Nikki Lane and Margo Price while they also wander, meaningfully, into their own land. Newer songs, plus nearly ceaseless touring, indicate Wonky Tonk’s urge to be singular.
Openers: S.S. Web and Pay the Devil, Milwaukee bands with powerful punk, C&W, folk and bluegrass influences among them.
Time and place: 9 p.m. Monday, Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave.
Price: $7 in advance, $10 day of show.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
KING’S X
Style: Hard-rock band whose spirituality has room for questions and for experimentation.
Backstory: The three men of King’s X began working together during the 1980s around Springfield, Mo., in cover bands and in groups affiliated with contemporary Christian music. By 1990, the trio had moved to Houston, toured alongside metallic and punk groups and gotten chart notice with its third LP, 1990’s “Faith Hope Love.”
Why you should go: If later, frequently darker albums didn’t keep King’s X moving commercially, they did move artistically with funk, pop, grunge and a broader sense of the numinous. The band’s most recent studio LP, “XV,” came out in 2008, and King’s X has lately been preparing a new album for 2019 and returning to the road to get loud and lilting.
Time and place: 8 p.m. Thursday, Shank Hall, 1434 N. Farwell Ave.
Price: $35 at location, (866) 4683401 and shankhall.com. — Jon M. Gilbertson