Thursday

Dyslexia 33

Perhaps one of the most prolific lines ever written for the silver screen was when Woody Allen said, “Comedy equals tragedy plus time.” I dig bands that use this as their mantra and don’t take life quite so seriously. With tongues firmly implanted in cheeks, Dyslexia 33 use life’s s@#%ty experiences to pen comical gems with an aggressive pop-punk attack and put the F.U. back in fun.  The band has seen many members come and go since its inception back in 2002.   Now reduced to three — Chris on guitar and vocals, Mo on Bass and vocals and Rob on drums — they use speed, volume and wit on such ditties as “She Must Be Gay,” “Ode to Porn” and “Hot Girls Don’t Crap.”  With bands such as KISS and Pantera as their musical influences, the band rocks hard, yet unlike most garage rock bands, the troublesome trio actually knows their instruments intimately and creates melodic textures among the chaos. The trio’s self-titled 2005 debut has garnered much attention, and the band’s music is already turning up on indie film soundtracks, TV shows and more compilations then you can shake a stick at.

Dyslexia 33 join Who Cares, Brent Amaker and The Rodeo, and Rockon for “White Trash Night” at Hell’s Kitchen. — Tony Engelhart

[Hell’s Kitchen, 9 p.m., no cover, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003] 

Friday

Garett Brennan

Garett Brennan takes you from the roots to the rafters, and all the way to the mountain top with his acoustic jungle folk rock, using a blend of backwoods harmonies and lyrics that make you wonder if he’s quite serious or not. Song titles such as “Red Panties” and “Pancake Preacher” tell the tale of a rural route to the man’s heart. He also wrote a song called “Lady of the Mountain,” which he says is a “tune about a kick-ass vegan girl.”

Most of the pictures on his Web site reflect the singer’s affinity for the higher peaks in life (he’s a self confessed ski bum), but his affiliation with Clif Bar shows how down to earth he truly is. In the summer of 2005, Clif Bar teamed up the Utah-raised singer-songteller-poet in a national campaign called “Keep-it-Simple” to promote environmental responsibility. Also, one percent of his Little Cottonwood album sales benefit an organic farming research foundation based in Santa Cruz, Calif. That rocks.

Check him out as part of the South Sound Acoustic Concert Series Jessica Raymond of The Blackberry Bushes. — Angela Jossy

[Plenty! Restaurant, 8 p.m., $5-$10, 200 Fourth Ave. W., Olympia, 360.705.3716]

Sunday

Crazy for Jane

Germany has always been ahead of the times and offered up cutting edge film, art and home décor.  Just as the Bauhaus period changed modern furniture design, the music has been equally influential with bands like Kraftwork, who pioneered the electronica movement.  At the time, most listeners found the music too strange to embrace, but it was gradually accepted as other artists followed their lead.  Like Kraftwork, the Berlin-based Crazy for Jane is just strange enough to influence a hoard of young songwriters and musicians, but too bizarre to ever be accepted by the mainstream.  The brother-and-sister duo of Josepha and Philipp combine folk-pop based around an acoustic guitar and flawless harmonies with an ultra modern jazzy twist.  Lyrically they can be playful and campy or poignant and moving.  Their debut, Desperate Serenade (2006) is introspectively fresh, as each song is like tearing pages out of separate books and piecing them together to create a new one.  While Josepha is the primary vocalist, Philipp shines on a couple tracks.  They are currently working on the finishing touches of a sophomore disc, Do You Have Jane, which will be release this spring. — TE

[Café Vita, 5 p.m., all ages, 124 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.754.8197]

Wednesday

Kareem Kandi Band

Jazz is the only purely American music and the one genre that has embraced elements of all musical forms.  This is why it is always exciting to find young artists who push the boundaries to create their own unique style, and Kareem Kandi is one musician who does just that.  The Tacoma-based sax player —along with Mason Hargrove (guitar), Osama Afifi (bass), Jacques Willis (drums), performs a style of jazz that incorporates blues, funk and rock. Kandi, who lists his influences from such renowned jazz greats as Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane, plays in a free-style manner that sounds improvised.  Even though Kandi is the leader, the rest of the band is encouraged to take solos, and each band member is an intricate part of the overall outcome of each and ever tune they play. The two-year-old quartet performs classic standards, but it is their original material that has won them accolades from jazz enthusiasts throughout the Northwest.  Currently, the band isn’t peddling a CD, but Kandi has enough material written to release three or four discs.  However, he is making a concentrated effort to get these compositions to tape and hopes to have his debut out sometime this year. — TE

[Trosper’s Bar & Grill, 7-9 p.m., 709 Trosper’s Road S.W., Tumwater, 360.753.6626]