Thursday 10.23
nFour Year Strong (Avalon); Labcoat (Urban Lounge); Miguel Mateos (Karamba)

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Friday 10.24
nBlaze Ya Dead Homie (Avalon); TaughtMe (Kilby Court); Prize Country (Burt’s Tiki Lounge); Dirty South (Hotel); Blood of Saints (Club Vegas); Ghostwriter (Bar Deluxe); The Black Angels, Furs (Urban Lounge—Read Article); North Platte Records Bash (Velour)

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Saturday 10.25
nVAST AIRE
nCannibal Ox’s 2001 debut The Cold Vein is one of the creepiest, smartest hip-hop albums to ever rise up from the underground, and Ox emcee Vast Aire’s solo work continues the New York City duo’s unsettling, intelligent tone. Aire—whose vast career also includes work with The Weathermen and collaborations with MF Doom, Aesop Rock, El-P and other inventive movers and shakers—is largely underrated and overlooked considering his powerful style. His delivery—as evidenced on the recent Dueces Wild —yes, that’s how it’s (mis)spelled—sounds like a record slowed to medium speed so that lyrics stretch nearly to the point of slurring, making an impact after hanging just long enough to let you digest the previous statement. Uprok Records, 342 S. State, 6 p.m. All-ages. Info: MySpace.com/UprokRecords

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MAIN STREET MUSIC CRAWL
nMountain Town Stages wisely organized its annual “fun”-raiser around the blistering beauty of Park City in the fall. Convincing people to drive up a canyon filled with sunset-colored foliage is not a hard sell. That said, we’ll do our best as well to get you to the Main Street Music Crawl. Less of a bar hop, more of a bar leap, participants start at the Star Bar for foot-stomping punk/country music by local Irish-rock favorites Swagger. After, the crowd swoops down to Miner’s Park for a “very special performance” before scattering to Sidecar, Shabu and Spur Bar & Grill for food and live acts The Rhythmites and Soul Survivors, and other surrounding private clubs for drinks and dancing. Proceeds benefit Mountain Town Stages, a nonprofit supporting and promoting PC/Summit County culture. Star Bar, 268 Main, Park City, 7 p.m. Tickets: MountainTownStages.com

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 • Also Saturday: The Academy Is (In the Venue); Norma Jean, Haste the Day (Avalon); Fetish Ball (Area 51); Le Raided (W Lounge); Oldtimer (Burt’s Tiki Lounge); Yelle (Urban Lounge); Slippery Kittens Halloween Hootenanny (Bar Deluxe)

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Sunday 10.26
n VON IVA
nYou never forget your first time seeing Von Iva. One of the best live acts around, the San Francisco electro-soul-punk trio owe much of their impact to powerhouse vocalist Jillian Iva who commands crowds like a whip-smart diva dominatrix. Confident, talented and often intimidating, she prowls the stage, climbing on speakers and atop drummer Kelly Harris’ kit. At one show, Iva toyed with her front-row stalkers, leaning over into one poor schmuck’s face before violently pushing his head back. It’s good, not-so-clean fun amplified by songs that stick in your head well after the lights come up and your tongue’s back in place. Von Iva’s recorded material is nothing to sneeze at either, from their killer eponymous 2004 debut to the 2007 LP Our Own Island and the brand-spankin’ new Girls on Film EP, their songs are saucy, sweaty grooves seeped in retro love. Speaking of Girls on Film, Von Iva will appear in Jim Carrey’s December film, Yes Man, playing as Zooey Deschanel’s band. Very cool, but, while Deschanel can sing, she doesn’t hold a candle to Iva. Hear for yourself tonight when Von Iva performs with current tour mates, Girl in a Coma, whose punk contains zero traces of synthesized street disco. Burt’s Tiki Lounge, 726 S. State, 9 p.m. Info: MySpace.com/BurtsTikiLounge

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 Monday 10.27
nThe Felice Brothers (Post Theater, Fort Douglas); Expendables (Avalon); The Dedringers (Bar Deluxe); Green Sky Bluegrass (Star Bar, Park City)

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 Tuesday 10.28
n ALEXIS GIDEON, SHELLEY SHORT
nWatching Alexis Gideon’s Video Musics, two things come to mind: “What the hell is this guy smoking?” and “Can I get me some of that?” The Portland-based multi-instrumentalist, formerly of the Chicago cross-dressing rap duo Princess, recently dreamed up a trippy video opera loosely based on Hungarian mythology and folk tales. Employing a cadre of electronic effects, looped guitars, animation/claymation, and his signature delivery (somewhere between Dirty South rappers on a steady diet of cough syrup, Mike Patton and Frank Zappa), Gideon unfolds six interlocking, catchy-as-hell songs that collectively deliver one serious multimedia mindf—ck. Just to give you a taste, the ultimate jam “Brimstone Blaine” involves a space-cowboy card shark who plays gin rummy with a princess against two ghosts with their souls at stake. Gideon—who also plays guitar in CarCrashLander, a killer band whose last Utah appearance at Slowtrain blew away all 10 people in the store—is currently touring with Shelley Short, a fellow Portland artist whose work is decidedly more straightforward, though no less impressive than her stage mate. Short’s latest LP, Water for the Day (Hush Records), is a quietly beautiful country/folk album fueled by her alternately searing/soothing voice. Opening track “Silver & Gold,” both activates and calms feelings of intense longing. Basically, Short breaks your heart to make it all better. The Woodshed, 60 E. 800 South, 9 p.m. Info: MySpace.com/TheWoodshedSLC

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PARTS & LABOR
nFor Mercury Rev’s new album, the band worked off electronic sounds and effects posted in online forums through the software application Reaktor, which enables users to compose and upload compositions for public use. Mercury Rev then folded in certain found sounds into their own writing and recording process for wholly unique results. Brooklyn’s Parts & Labor engaged in similar public outreach for their new album, Receivers, though they reached out directly to fans for the found sounds that helped flesh out their original material. The result is a pastiche of electronic noise—blips, squeals, fuzz, beeps, etc.—zipping in, out and around the controlled chaos of punk and post-punk drums, keys and guitars. It’s the type of album that grows infinitely more interesting with each listen. It’s also great for herky-jerky dance moves. In the spirit of community, reach out and jump with a stranger. The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 10 p.m. Tickets: 24Tix.com

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• Also Tuesday: Ray Lamontagne, Leona Ness, Paul Jacobsen (Great Saltair); Fear Before (In the Venue—Read Article); Michael Graves (Bar Deluxe)

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Wednesday 10.29
nDavid Lindley (The Depot); Missy Higgins, Joshua Radin (In the Venue)

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Coming Up
nGirl Talk (In the Venue, Oct. 30); Halloween Block Party (Hotel, Bliss, Lumpy’s, Oct. 31); Band of Annuals, The Devil Whale (Urban Lounge, Nov. 1); Electric Six, Local H (Bar Deluxe, Nov. 1); Copeland (Avalon, Nov. 3); King Khan & BBQ Show (Urban Lounge, Nov. 4); Devin the Dude (Bar Deluxe, Nov. 5); Eagles of Death Metal (Urban Lounge, Nov. 5); Tom Morello (The Depot, Nov. 7); Mickey Avalon (In the Venue, Nov. 12); Dragonforce (Great Saltair, Nov. 13); Fishbone (Bar Deluxe, Nov. 18); Matisyahu (Harry O’s, Nov. 26)