With roots in both Washington, DC and Northeast Ohio (singer-multi-instrumentalist Nick Stumpf and former guitarist Matt Stinchcomb attended Oberlin College), New York's French Kicks styles itself as much after garage rock and hardcore as new wave. The band's new album, Swimming, is a real shift, though. Not as spastic and Gang of Four-influenced as previous releases, it's a pensive affair that finds the band putting the focus on vocal harmonies as Stumpf and guitarist Josh Wise share singing duties. The shimmering "New Man" and "Said So What" are some of the most gorgeous tunes the band's recorded. The Glasgow band Frightened Rabbit and locals Boatzz open at 9 p.m. at the Grog Shop (2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216.321.5588). Tickets: $10 advance, $12 day of show. — Jeff Niesel

THURSDAY, MAY 22

The BellRays

The BellRays' greatest asset has always been a deep understanding of the history of rock and the subtle ways that soul and punk and jazz dovetail into one big, bold hybrid. That understanding gives the music on its latest album, Hard, Sweet & Sticky, an impressive depth and impact. The band swings like the MC5 and the Stooges and then channels the jazzy rock anthemics of Cream, Mott the Hoople and Cold Blood, all of it shot through with an infusion of adrenalized punk ferocity. At the front end of this rock maelstrom is the indispensable voice of Lisa Kekaula, whose dynamic presence is the equivalent of a punked-up Janis Joplin and who effortlessly slides from soul testifier to punk priestess. The BellRays simultaneously revere rock's past while leading a charge straight into its tumultuous future. The Architects and Cobra Verde open at 9 p.m. at the Grog Shop (2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216.321.5588). Tickets: $10 advance, $12 day of show. — Brian Baker

Macabre

Maybe it's their sense of humor and understanding of the innate goofiness of death/thrash metal that's kept Chicago's Macabre going for so long. Formed in 1985 and self-dubbed "murder metal," the band's tunes focus on serial killers and mass murderers — not exactly unusual topics in metal — but they snarl with snark. Their Sinister Slaughter album cover took off on The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album art, with far less benign celebrities pictured, and the band incorporates nursery rhymes and folk ditties which in their hands become things like "There Was a Young Man Who Blew Up a Plane." Macabre is at the Jigsaw Saloon (5324 State Rd., Parma, 216.351.3869) at 8 p.m. with locals MSOD, Blessed Sickness and Cellbound. Tickets: $10 advance, $12 at the door. — Anastasia Pantsios

FRIDAY, MAY 23

Local H

Perhaps the only rock band to use the word "copasetic" in one of its songs (the 1996 hit "Bound for the Floor"), Local H is a Zion, Illinois-based duo that has somehow persevered for 13 years. Its latest album, 24-Hour Breakup Session, is its first studio release in four years. It's a concept album that chronicles the year after a bitter break-up and features the usual loud/quiet dynamics that have rightly earned the duo (singer-guitarist Scott Lucas and drummer Brian St. Clair) comparisons to Nirvana. Lions and Townhouse Suite open at 8 p.m. at Roc Bar (1220 Old River Rd., 216.771.6655). Tickets: $10. — Jeff Niesel

SATURDAY, MAY 24

Cleveland Jazz Orchestra with Carl Topilow

Cleveland Pops Orchestra founder/music director Carl Topilow is known for his bright red clarinet. He'll be breaking out the clarinet and indulging in one of his many musical loves - swing-era jazz - when he joins the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra for its "Kings of Swing" program, which pays homage to the swing era and its King of Clarinet, Benny Goodman. It takes place at Fairmount Temple Auditorium (23727 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood) at 8 p.m. Tickets: $15-$25. Call 216.521.2540 for tickets; go to clevelandjazz.org for more info. — AP

MONDAY, MAY 26

Rilo Kiley

When Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett parted ways after 2004's More Adventurous to pursue solo endeavors, it marked a temporary suspension of one of the most promising young bands of this decade. Between Lewis' sweet, twangy voice and Sennett's simple, understated melodies, Rilo Kiley became the poster child for lost, lovestruck twentysomethings. But as the band reconvened for last year's Under the Blacklight, much of that magic disappeared, replaced with boring, mature and overproduced pop tunes that pull in many erratic directions. Lewis is splendid as usual, but her band's influence is replaced with female backing vocals, slick dance beats and an abundance of lethargic, '70s Laurel Canyon riffs. Even when songs like "15" and the title track show glimpses of the band's past, there's nothing as instantly infectious as "Portions for Foxes." Still, the band remains a big draw amongst indie rockers and the Spinto Band and Nik Freitas make for compatible openers. The show starts at 8 p.m. at the House of Blues (308 Euclid Ave., 216.241.5555). Tickets: $22.50-$29.50. — Aaron Mendelsohn

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28

Firewater

Just over a decade ago, Tod Ashley — better known as Tod A — was riding point as the frontman for Cop Shoot Cop, one of the most brutally satisfying American punk bands of the '90s. Disillusioned and destitute, Ashley dissolved Cop and concentrated on the contents of a box of music he'd unearthed in a Russian thrift shop in New York City. Applying the joyful melancholy of the Eastern and Middle European music he'd found with his own punk roots, Ashley conceived Firewater, an odd confluence of old-world gypsy/klezmer and new-rage punk. Over the course of 11 years and five albums, Ashley's sonic explorations have embraced every style of ethnic music he has encountered with varying and dizzying results. Ashley's latest Firewater excursion and Bloodshot debut, The Golden Hour, comes after a particularly grueling period in his life. In 2005, his marriage ended, he felt disaffected in his NYC home and he questioned his need to make music. After traveling the Asian continent for nearly three years and writing and recording along the way, The Golden Hour details Ashley's musical journey as well as the strife that inspired it. Always a lyricist of the baldly honest Dylanesque camp, Ashley examines the state of the world and his own sorry ass with the same weary cynicism, underpinned with an evocative real-world music soundtrack. A good deal of The Golden Hour — the concussive "Borneo," the gently swinging "This Is My Life," the wistfully powerful "6:45," the jaunty "Feels Like the End of the World" — sounds like it could have been lifted from a Mekons session, albeit one conducted in a Pakastani market, and all of it builds on Ashley's clear fascination with klezmer, ska, gypsy jazz, Bollywood cinemascope, tango and all of the regional permutations in between. After a decade of fascinating ethnic music hybridization, The Golden Hour is Firewater's aptly named benchmark album. The Unsparing Sea and State Bird open at 9 p.m. at the Beachland Tavern (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124). Tickets: $10. — BB