Pictureplane, Dog Leather, September 17 at 285 Kent, $10
When it comes to dirty DIY electronic music, nobody does it better than Pictureplane. Think Prince, if he only played house shows -- a scuzzily charming, sex-obsessed electro that sounds like conventional forms of house and drum & bass but rolled around in the dirt for a while. It's astonishingly good, and at a venue such as 285 Kent, there's not much else you'd want to hear. -Drew Millard
G-Side, The Block Beattaz, September 18 at Glasslands, $12
Sadly, the G-Side we've come to know and love is no more. The Alabama hip-hop duo recently announced that rapper Yung Clova was no longer a member of the group, leaving rapper ST on his own. ST will finish G-Side's planned tour as G-Side, but he'll be accompanied by his go-to producers Block Beattaz. The duo excelled at creating full-bodied Southern hip-hop fueled largely by the Block Beattaz' "Slow Motion Sound," rapping charmingly about how rapping about going to foreign countries and exotic locales had actually afforded them the ability to go do that stuff. Despite the fact that G-Side's working as a skeleton crew, this current tour has been getting rave reviews. Indeed, half of G-Side is better than no G-Side at all. -DM
Kurt Loder, Rob Sheffield, Julie Klausner, September 20 at The Bell House, $15
So, if you are reading this right now you likely care, at least a little, about both music and people writing about music. If so, then you likely can't do better than this bill, which features Rob Sheffield, the Greatest Music Critic to ever do it (and a total hoot in public engagements) mixing it up with legendary Rolling Stone/MTV crank Kurt Loder (what has he been up to, anyway?) and podcast queen Julie Klausner, who is not a music critic per say but certainly has strong feelings about musicians. Knowledge will be dropped, obscure bands will be lauded. -Michael Tedder
All Tomorrow's Parties, Friday, September 21-through Sunday, September 23 at Pier 36, $199
The venerable music festival All Tomorrow's Parties has developed a reputation for immaculately curated, happily small scale music nerd getaway weekends. Dudes even got Suicide to play one of their jamborees. This year's edition had some hiccups, though. It moved from New Jersey to New York for the first time, and lost both the intimate away-from-the-world vibe the festival had worked hard to maintain, as well as headliner Louis C.K. But organizers and guest curators The Afghan Whigs rallied, nabbing rising alt-soul star Frank Ocean for a top slot (let's hope he doesn't bring John Mayer) and stacking the mid-range with solid gets like garage gods The Hot Snakes, soundtrack-of-your mind pros Dirty Three, rap agitators Death Grips and reliable standbys like Lee Ranaldo and The Roots. Also, The Afghan Whigs will play a set, and it will likely include this song, and that's all you need in the world. -MT
