Thursday, Jan. 10, Hospitality, TEEN, Household at Bowery Ballroom, $15
Hospitality have more a literary, storytelling bent while TEEN seem like they've been spending time incubating in the Stereolab. But both of these Brooklyn art pop groups feature percolating rhythms, nimble tempo shifts and winsome vocals, and both do it with such ease that it can be easy to not notice how hard they are working to make it all look like a breeze. This is an ideal bill for people who can scratch their chin and tap their toes at the same time.
Friday, Saturday Jan. 11-12, Purity Ring, Young Magic at Webster Hall, $20
Purity Ring almost certainly have the best song about loving someone so much that you want to rip out your ribcage and shove them inside your chest. At least in recent memory. The glitchy, constantly redrawing and erasing tracks this Canadian duo makes clashes pleasingly with singer Megan James' pure, lovestruck vocals, which can make unhealthy, obsessive love sound downright adorable.
Sunday, Jan. 13, WFMU Mini Record Fair/The Relatives, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Dot Wiggin Band, Arrington de Dionyso, Jonathan Toubin (DJ set) at The Bell House, $5/$20
Beloved independent radio station WFMU took a beating during Hurricane Sandy. The station was damaged and its annual record fair, which is one of the station's biggest fundraisers, had to be canceled. But the station has rallied, and this Sunday is a scaled-down version of the record fair, which will still be filled with all kinds of rare finds that you can brag about, then later on that night Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, DJ Jonathan Toubin and many more will play a fundraiser that will be healing and groovy in equal measure.
