Doughty showing off his work.

​This weekend is going to be busy in the Valley of the Sun. Not only is New Times invading Club Red/Red Owl for Soundcheck Festival 2012, featuring Glass Heroes, Sugar Thieves, The Love Me Nots, Father Figures, Jason Devore, Crusher Sound System, The Insects, and many many more, but there are scads of other great shows popping off: One Be Lo takes on Stray Cat tonight, hip-hop Hybridist Moe'Z plays Long Wong's on Saturday, and Raphael Saadiq brings some soul-power to the Lenny Kravitz gig on Sunday.

But that's not all. This weekend will be an especially busy one for painter Deon Doughty. Doughty is a familiar sight at Tempe shows, where he can be seen with his easel and paints. He's in the middle of crafting a series of Tempe-rocker paintings, dubbed his Blue and Gold series. He started on April 20, 2011, and plans to wrap up a series of 20 by April 20, 2012.

Doughty, who works in web development for Village Voice, is pretty excited about this weekend's Mergence show. He stopped by the office to show off his painting of Mergence frontman Adam Bruce. He just wrapped it up and is heading to the Crescent Ballroom on Saturday, February 11 to show it off to the band. Once he wraps up this series, he'll be moving on to his stage series, where he'll paint an entire scene: full band on stage, gear, and audience. "I just want to expose the Tempe scene," says Doughty. "These are my favorite bands."

Mergence's concert is one of our "must-catch" concerts this weekend. Read on for more.

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Chris Conley of Saves the Day

​It's official, folks: Emo is cool again. Don't believe me? Listen to "Fall In," the third track on the highly buzzed about Attack On Memory from Cloud Nothings. The song is straight out of the late '90s/early 'aughts emo playbook: Strained vocals, frantic drums, and the kind of guitar tone that defined albums by Braid, The Promise Ring, and Texas is the Reason.

It reminds me of something from Four Minute Mile by The Get Up Kids, and a time right before "emo" started earning the ridicule it regularly received from old-school punkers. Plenty of those older emo dudes are still kicking around -- including Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids, who is scheduled to perform tonight at Crescent Ballroom as part of the Where's the Band? tour. He's joined by Chris Conley of Saves the Day, a band with one perfect album to its name (Stay What You Are) and some other pretty good ones, as well as Ace Enders (The Early November), Evan Weiss (Into It. Over It), and Anthony Raneri (Bayside), which is kind of like Nirvana touring with Bush, Silverchair, and Puddle of Mudd, but hey, who's keeping score?

Despite the snark, Where's the Band is one our shows to catch this weekend. Read on for more must-see gigs this weekend in the Valley.

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Bobby BrandNew

​Okay folks, start 'yer engines: It's looking to be a pretty good weekend for music in the Valley of the Sun. You've got a lot of choices to make. Do you want to take in the hippie-dippy good vibes of Citizen Cope? The anything goes, doom metal-to-psych punk Sundown Showdown festival? How about Mouse Powell and Phoenix hip-hop legends The Insects? What about a very adult (well, by their standards anyhow) performance by They Might Be Giants?

But perhaps you're looking for more options? Well, you want 'em, we got 'em. Tonight's performance by Bobby BrandNew at Red Owl ought to be a good weekend kickoff. The Phoenix via Los Angeles and Texas rapper has an airtight sound, demonstrated on "The People's Champ," with a funky, grooving soul intro into a club banger that doesn't sacrifice any of the soul. (Plus, there's a really funny shit/toilet seat joke. Works for me!)

Read on to hear Bobby and read four more recommendations.

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Chris Hinkle

​Though it's not quite as impressive (or unlikely) as the recent story of Peter Frampton's long-missing-but-now-returned guitar, the story of how Tucsonian Brian Lopez reconnected with his favorite guitar is still a pretty cool one. "I received the guitar as a gift from a family friend. It meant a lot to me and my family," he says of the Les Paul that was stolen at a gig in December.

"Long story short, the guitar really meant a lot to me. It didn't matter to me how much it was worth, even though it is a finally manufactured guitar. It was really distraught about the whole theft. Recently my cousin saw an ad on Craigslist, advertising a similar guitar. They bought it at a swap meet, and I turned out it was my guitar. I had the serial number. So now it's back safe at home."

And was it any worse for the wear?

"It looked like my guitar case had been stolen by a 7-year-old girl," he laughs. "Somebody drew all these pink and purple stars and dumbass drawings on my Gibson case. Other than that, nothing is wrong. I just had to scratch those off immediately."

Fans will have a chance to hear the guitar, and songs from Lopez's forthcoming album, Ultra, due on March 6, tonight at Crescent Ballroom. Should be a good show -- such a good one that we're selecting it as one of the five shows you should see this weekend. Listen to Lopez and peek at more must-see suggestions after the break.

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​Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky, or at the very least, a little disturbing.

Apparently the folks at the uber-hip Sticky Fingers dance party got the memo: tonight the crew of resident DJs host spastic noise-makers Melted Cassettes, described by the crew as being akin to "Aphex Twin,Skinny Puppy or something you'd hear in a futuristic club on another planet."

DJ TrashTalk joins in the festivities, spinning along side the resident DJs at the popular Bar Smith affair.

Give Melted Cassettes' "otherworldly club jams" a spin after the break, and check out four more must-see concert suggestions.

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AWAL

Crusher Sound System

​Pickster One, Scottie Does, and Dumperfoo don't unite as Crusher Sound System too often, but when they do, it's worth catching.

I saw the trio back in April, and the mixture of Pickster's excellent song choices ("Rock With You") and the heavy live drums of Does were irresistible.

The supergroup teams up tonight at Crescent Ballroom, with an opening slot provided by Mouse Powell. Read on for four more must-see concerts to soundtrack your weekend.

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North Dakota

​See also:

Phoenix New Times New Year's Eve Guide

Ring in the New Year With These Local Shows (Minibosses, Meat Puppets, Futurekind, Gin Blossoms, Sugar Thieves

We owe a lot to The Meat Puppets around here (you know, our name and all), so we're always happy when the Kirkwood boys are back in town. But their gig at the Clubhouse is hardly the only worthwhile show going down Saturday night. New Year's Eve is popping with shows all over the Valley.

Read on for a special, extra-sized edition of Shows to Catch This Weekend, New Year's Eve Edition.

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​You excited to see hometown heroes Jimmy Eat World on the night before the night before Christmas?

Well you better have grabbed tickets quick, because the Wooden Blue Records Reunion Show, featuring a classic Phoenix lineup of Haskel, Aquanaut Drinks Coffee, Halema'uma'a, and Jimmy Eat World, is officially sold out.

For the few hundred folks who make it in, enjoy. Crescent Ballroom has made quite a splash since opening in the fall, and a show like this is likely to be one that folks talk about for a long time.

Someone shout out a request for "Anderson Mesa" for me.

Didn't get tickets? Well, stop your sobbing. There's other shows going down this Holiday weekend in the Valley of the Sun, and because we like you so much, we'll share them with you. Think of it as our gift to you.

Enjoy your time off, Phoenix. We're taking a few days off, too, and we'll be back on Tuesday, December 27, stuffed with cookies and buzzed on eggnog. Hope your holiday is a wonderful one.

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Lustmord

​Field recordings made in crypts, caves, and slaughterhouses combined with eerie, ambient electronics. Sound like your idea of holiday cheer?

Exactly. There probably won't be a lot of green and red at Saturday, December 17's Lustmord gig at Club Red, but that's the idea. Since the early '80s, British musician Brian Williams has been performing for folks dressed mostly in black.

The should should be a nice, nihilistic cleanser for your decked halls. Read on for four more shows that should help make this weekend feel a little less devoted to Christmas shopping.

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What Laura Says

​Well, it's Friday.

You know, I feel like there was some song that made a big splash this year about Friday...but...I can't quite remember it. Must not have been that catchy.

Your weekend is not doubt packed with holiday parties to attend, but in case you need a break from all that merriment, we're happy to offer some musical alternatives.

We've already discussed upcoming gigs by X, Cake, Puscifer, Soda, and the Blind Boys of Alabama, but here are five more shows that will help ease the pain of mistletoe dodging and white elephant-gifting.

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