Danish metal band Volbeat, reunited Harlem hip hop crew Dipset and plainspoken folkster Waxahatchee are among the musical delights on deck this week in Seattle music.
Kathleen Hanna: Riot Grrrl Then and Now Lecture
7 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, at The Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., Seattle; $23.50 (206-784-4849 or www.stgpresents.org).
It doesn’t get nearly as much attention as grunge, but another relevatory musical-cultural movement came out of the Northwest in the ’90s. As the leader of Bikini Kill, Kathleen Hanna was one of the key figures in riot grrrl, a women-led hardcore punk movement, and on this lecture series, she puts the movement and her life into context.
Volbeat
7 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, at the WaMu Theater, 800 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle; $36.50 (206-381-7555 OR www.wamutheaterseattle.com). With Anthrax, Crobot
Danish metal band Volbeat looks to the American West to inform its sound, a mix of heavy metal, country and rockabilly. Its most recent album, 2013’s “Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies,” is the audio equivalent of a warped classic Western, and it features former Anthrax guitarist Robert Caggiano.
Matt Pond PA
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7 p.m. Thursday, April 30, at The Tractor Tavern, 5231 Ballard Ave. N.W., Seattle; $15 (206-789-3599 or www.tractortavern.com). With Young Buffalo
Since 1998, singer-songwriter Matt Pond and his band have played the sort of agreeable, mildly rootsy indie-folk that was most fashionable in the mid-2000s. Fittingly enough, this tour coincides with the 10th anniversary of Matt Pond PA’s 2005 album “Several Arrows Later.”
Folklife Pre-fest Party
8 p.m. Friday, May 1, at The Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., Seattle; $10 (206-441-7416 or www.thecrocodile.com). Gabriel Teodros
Sasquatch! gets all the hype, but Folklife is the Northwest’s most down-to-earth music destination on Memorial Day weekend. This show is a prelude to the 44th edition of the festival, and it features rising local rapper Porter Ray (an artist to watch, according to this paper) and shape-shifting jazz-and-everything-else ensemble Industrial Revelation.
Lusine
8 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at the Nectar Lounge, 412 N. 36th St., Seattle; $12 (206-632-2020 or www.nectarlounge.com). Manatee Commune, Pezzner, Emerald Strata
This bill groups three producers from the Northwest with diverse takes on dance music. Lucine (Jeff McIlwain) releases debonair, porcelain-smooth electronica on Ghostly International; Bellingham’s Manatee Commune makes naturalistic downtempo beats; and Pezzner’s specialty is the house realm.
Jeff Austin Band
7 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at The Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., Seattle; $18.50–$23.50 (206-784-4849 or www.stgpresents.org). With Fruition, Poor Man’s Whiskey
Yonder Mountain String Band is one of the United States’ most-recognized bluegrass acts, a constant presence on showbills and at festivals. In 2013, YMSB mandolinist Jeff Austin left the group, and this solo project should sate any fan of modern bluegrass.
Young Fathers
8 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., Seattle; $15 (206-709-9442 or www.neumos.com). With Mas Ysa, Murder Vibes
After winning the Mercury Prize in 2014, Edinburgh experimental hip-hop group Young Fathers followed up with an album seemingly engineered to generate irate comment threads on the world’s music blogs: “White Men Are Black Men Too.” The multiracial group raises questions about race and identity with songs that scan as hip-hop divorced from any obvious context.
Waxahatchee
8 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at The Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., Seattle; $13 (206-441-7416 or www.thecrocodile.com). With Girlpool, Knife Pleats
After splitting from P.S. Eliot, a band she started with her twin sister, Katie Crutchfield began writing and performing music on her own, as Waxahatchee. In April, she released “Ivy Tripp,” her third album of rough, plainspoken folk.
The Diplomats
8 p.m. Monday, May 4, at The Crocodile, 2200 2nd Ave., Seattle; $30–$35 (206-628-3151 or www.showboxpresents.com).
Formed in Harlem in the late ’90s, hip-hop collective The Diplomats (better known as Dipset, and comprising Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana and Freekey Zekey) released two palette-expanding albums in the early 2000s before disbanding due to artistic differences. Reunited since 2010 and with more than 10 years since its last album, a long-rumored followup is in the works.
Doldrums
8 p.m. Monday, May 4, at the Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave. N.W., Seattle; $12 (206-784-4880 or www.sunsettavern.com). With Moon King
At Capitol Hill Block Party in 2013, one of the best performances I saw was from Doldrums. It was cacophonous and freewheeling (and also quite danceable), full of noisy loops that seemed poised to self-combust at any moment. After recording his second album, leader Airick Woodhead has expanded the group’s live show from solo to full band, which should only build on the spectacle.