CRITICS' PICKS

WEDNESDAY 6.2

Dave Holland Quintet

Julie Ling

L.A. hippie-folk troubadours Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

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Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant

1010 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403

Category: Bars and Clubs

Region: Minneapolis (Downtown)

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• Dan Auerbach
• Dave Holland
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• Indie Rock and Indie Pop

Dakota Jazz Club

Among the upper echelon of definitive bass players in contemporary jazz, Dave Holland has also distinguished himself as a composer with an unusually broad palette, bringing together threads stretching from swing, bop, and free jazz to avant-garde classical and folk. Miles Davis hired Holland for his Bitches Brew-era band and Holland never looked back, thereafter collaborating with the likes of Thelonious Monk, Anthony Braxton, Jack DeJohnette, and Sam Rivers. The many groups Holland has led include small ensembles, big bands, and his current stellar quintet, which includes saxophonist Chris Potter, trombonist Robin Eubanks, mallets ace Steve Nelson, and drummer Nate Smith. Holland's March release Pathways was recorded live at New York's Birdland and features the quintet with a horn section expanded to include Antonio Hart on alto, Gary Smulyan on bari sax, and Alex Sipiagin on trumpet. Those horns fire on all cylinders throughout the album as Holland—whose juicy tone anchors the rhythm section and sparks the tunes—and crew tear into dynamic new arrangements of older tunes like "How's Never?" and "Shadow Dance." There are more lyrical moments too, such as Potter's early soprano passages and Nelson's sparkling vibes work on Potter's "Sea of Marmara." But most of these Pathways flex their muscles amid particularly insistent grooves. $40 at 7 p.m.; $30 at 9:30 p.m. 1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612.332.1010. —Rick Mason

THURSDAY 6.3

Holy Fuck

Turf Club

Sure, the name sounds like it could be a teenage basement punk band, juvenile shorthand for "Hey, look at me!," but the sound that this Canadian quartet coax out of a dizzying range of organic, electronic, and makeshift instruments would probably cause you to sit up and take notice even if the group wasn't called Holy Fuck. That sound writhes and pulses like techno while it kisses rock's noisy side, but by not relying on computers to deliver the beats or the static, the band pass on genre structures in favor of a groove-centric flow that highlights experimentation. It's untamed, at times threatening to careen off the rails and into some dark sonic jungle as the drums churn and the synths squelch, but it sounds more vital and of-the-moment than what the vast majority of other bands touring this summer are playing. Maybe the name Holy Fuck doesn't function as a cheap attention-grabber—just a way to convey your level of surprise. With Nice Nice and Jonathan Ackerman. 21+. $12. 8 p.m. 1601 University Ave. W., St. Paul; 651.647.0486. —Ian Traas

FRIDAY 6.4

Caribou

7th St. Entry

You get the feeling that Daniel Snaith, the man behind Caribou, was kind of a nerd growing up. Not only does the guy have a Ph.D. in mathematics, but his music has an OCD-level of detail that smacks of the fanatical tendencies that belong only to the hopelessly geeky. But that's not to say that the music is uptight or robotic; there's a wealth of beauty in each of his albums, which are worlds unto themselves, documents of Snaith's fixation on particular musical trends. For his latest album, Swim, Snaith has parlayed his longtime interest in electronics into an exploration of modern dance music, allowing for tempos that beg for more than just a slow sway and breakdowns that flirt with euphoria. However, the frail falsetto and dour lyrics reveal a wounded soul at the core of songs like "Odessa" and "Found Out," a reminder that truly nerdy music doesn't come without at least a little heartbreak. With Toro Y Moi. 18+. $14. 9 p.m. 701 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612.332.1775. —Ian Traas

SATURDAY 6.5

She & Him

First Avenue

Operating under the relative anonymity of the moniker She & Him, the unlikely duo of actress Zooey Deschanel and alt-rock/folk musician M. Ward came crackling out of the ether in 2008 like some stray broadcast from mid-'60s pop radio. With Deschanel's bouncy, irresistible melodies, breezy considerations of romantic travails, and charming, willowy voice matched with Ward's arch guitar, smart arrangements, and vintage production wizardry, She & Him adeptly spun the dial to a sunnier—at least on the gossamer pop front—era. The duo's Volume Two confirms Deschanel's aptitude as a songwriter whose deceptively simple style resonates well beyond the tunes' initial sugary high. And Ward again is a magician as he juggles indelible harmonies, effervescent strings, twangy country-rock echoes, and zinging pop conceits from Liverpool through the Brill Building to the beaches of Southern California into a sound that's at once achingly familiar yet as fresh as it is nostalgic. The album's two covers—NRBQ's "Ridin' in My Car" and Skeeter Davis's "Gonna Get Along Without You Now"—are telling of the pair's sources, and if you had a big enough scorecard you could keep track as the references whiz by: Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Dusty Springfield, Buck Owens. But the abundance of less definitive threads prove that She & Him's wondrous synthesis is more original and forward-looking than might be suggested from the get-go. With the Chapin Sisters. 18+. $23. 6 p.m. 701 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612.332.1775. —Rick Mason

SUNDAY 6.6

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros/Dawes

First Avenue

Bands from Los Angeles are usually anything but subtle. Maybe it's the Hollywood culture or maybe it's just something in the water, but now we have the 11-piece juggernaut Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros on our hands, following an ever-growing list of recent L.A. bands (Silversun Pickups, Moving Units, the Airborne Toxic Event, etc.) to unapologetically wear their influences on their sleeves while never sounding like full-on rip-off artists. With Sharpe and company, led by former Ima Robot lead singer Alex Ebert, we are presented with a band who took elements from West Coast psychedelia and '70s funk and created a suntanned, less chilly version of the Arcade Fire. Sure, you're familiar with the story, but it's never been told quite like this before. Also making waves lately are Laurel Canyon contemporaries Dawes, who trade in dirtied-up folk rock in the vein of Neil Young and recorded their debut, North Hills, on analog tape to further the overall aesthetic. The digital age may be here to stay, but the world will always have room for bands that take great elements of the past and find fantastic new ways to present them—and above all else think in an album mentality, not just two singles and a truckload of filler. 18+. $20. 7:30 p.m. 701 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612.332.1775. —Pat O'Brien

MONDAY 6.7

Stacey Kent