If you go out, be safe, be cool.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Area post-rock fans have been suspended in agony over this one for a while now. For one, these legends never come here. Then, once an Orlando date was announced, the pandemic pushed it way out on the calendar. Now, COVID willing, it's finally happening. Guaranteed, it'll be a sonic odyssey. (7 p.m. Thursday, April 28, The Beacham, $29.50-$45)
Fanarchy Fest Two: Is there a genre more unreliable than pop-punk? Methinks not. In this wide, crowded and uneven domain, the term can denote anything from Tacocat to fucking Good Charlotte. And, tragically, the good ones are in the deep minority. Luckily, this showcase leans on the broad genre's better side with a big seven-band lineup from the I-4 Corridor that includes Wet Nurse, Vicious Dreams, the Palmettes, RushmoreFL, Critical Hits, Atomic Treehouse and Petty Thefts. The You Had Options podcast will also be streaming live from the mini-festival. (7 p.m. Friday, April 29, Will's Pub, $8)
Circuit Church showcase/Mata_ album release party: Orlando's Circuit Church isn't just a label, but an active scene-maker. And their outdoor live showcases in the Milk District have become a regular and safe magnet for the city's most experimental electronic heads. This special edition celebrates the album release for Orlando deep dance maestro Mata_, whose six-track State of Flow drops the day of the show. Filling out the all-local bill will be the introspective IDM of Blueshades and Void Machine, the musical guise of the mind behind DIY modular electronics builder Void Modular. There are few better peeks into the current state of affairs in the city's electronic underground than this live series. (7 p.m. Saturday, April 30, The Nook parking lot, free)
Battles, The Pauses, Flagman: NYC's Battles are another band that's not just notable but also seldom comes through Orlando. Since their brilliant emergence onto the scene in the late 2000s, they were immediately decorated as leaders on the vanguard of acts overtly trying to liberate rock music from its traditional ways. Since then, they've carried that torch like few can with an avant-garde vision of rock that's dynamic and playful. Live, they are a dazzling display of concept, invention and technique. (7:30 p.m. Monday, May 2, Will's Pub, $20-$23)
