No less sensuous than The Eternal — and undercut with judicious guitar slash and burn; punk and hardcore being less of a bedrock on this watery retreat — Veckatimest might as well be nicknamed "The Ravishing."

GRIZZLY BEAR

June 21–22, 9 p.m., $22.50

The Fillmore

1805 Geary, SF

www.livenation.com

SONIC YOUTH

Aug. 2, 8 p.m., $35.50

Fox Theater

1807 Telegraph, Oakl.

www.apeconcerts.com

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SONGS IN THE KEYS OF LIFE

A project that started life as a "casual keyboard club" and took on a life its own, Au Revoir Simone tends to get led around by the quirks and whims of its instruments. For instance, one of the all-female trio's most important keyboards upped and broke at the start of its current tour, adding an element of chance to music-making. "You plug into some room and it might start crackling and making noise," the group's Erika Forster says good-naturedly while traveling through Tennessee. "It's a good lesson in 'Let's see how you're doing today ...''" About 50 "feisty" keyboards were layered throughout the threesome's new Still Night, Still Light (Our Secret Record Company). On the album, Forster says, "We talked a lot about the idea of distance and how that came into play in terms of distance from home and from the people we love and from your own heart." Now Au Revoir Simone is looking forward to making that distance between them and a certain keyboard sound shrink: the musicians found a replacement for their busted Casio MP70 in Santa Clara after scouring the country with the help of friends on Twitter and Facebook.

AU REVOIR SIMONE

With the Antlers, Findlay Brown, DJ Victoria Bergsman

Sat/13, 9 p.m., $16

Bimbo's 365 Club

1025 Columbus, SF

(415) 474-0365

www.bimbos365club.com 2