Calvin Johnson has long been one of the weirder ducks in local music. He played a large role in not only popularizing Olympia and its vibrant music scene, but also helping to set the tone of the city's musical output in general, with his shit-fi alt-rock group Beat Happening and his founding of K Records.

The Hive Dwellers is Johnson's most recent project, and it finds him continuing down that weird path he set for himself back in the '80s. His guttural monotone is still front and center, and his arrangements are exceedingly off-kilter.

Full disclosure: this show is a fundraiser for the forthcoming Squeak and Squawk Music Festival, which I am booking. As I've said before, though, this is a show I would be telling you about anyway, regardless of my involvement. 

[The Space, with Lozen, Check Please, The Riffbrokers, $7, 9:30 p.m., 729 Court C, Tacoma]