XIU XIU
9 p.m., Sticky Fingerz. $10.
While they’re a three-piece from San Jose, there’s no use in pretending that the critically-fawned over Xiu Xiu is anything other than the brainchild of Jamie Stewart, the brilliant avant-pop experimentalist who orchestrates the band’s challenging sound: confrontational and oft-disturbing but inexplicably revisitable. And they’re prolific, to boot. In eight years, they’ve released nine albums of David Lynchian arrangements draped upon intense, jostling and auteurian vocals. Ever confrontational, their album titles include “Knife Play,” “Fag Patrol” (Stewart is a bit of a gay icon) and their newest, “Dear God, I Hate Myself.” It’s been a while since Little Rock has seen an outfit this severe and uncommercial playing outside of house shows, so if you’re not attending as a fan, attend for the spectacle. Girl in a Coma and Noveller provide support.
—John Tarpley