MILK MUSIC, THE WOOLEN MEN
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Olympia-based Milk Music's 2013 full-length, the irreverently titled Cruise Your Illusion, was one of the records that spearheaded the "'90s revival" before that term had any semblance of mainstream ubiquity. (Since then, French Toast Crunch and JNCOs have both made surprising comebacks.) Cruise is sort of an alt-rock nostalgia junket, shamelessly flaunting its influence from at least three generations of indie forebears, from the Velvets and Crazy Horse, to Hüsker Dü and the Replacements, to Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement, executed pretty brilliantly even if it is inexcusably derivative. What eccentric frontman Alex Coxen lacks in artistic identity he makes up for with an innate understanding of what makes rock music so cool—and Cruise Your Illusion is the type of record that makes you feel cool just for knowing it exists. MORGAN TROPER


TOPS, TENDER AGE, SATSUMA
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) As part of Arbutus Records, the same collective that helped shape the likes of Grimes and Majical Cloudz, the Montreal-based quartet TOPS employs a strong DIY recording approach in crafting their lush and polished music. Last year, the band released their second LP, Picture You Staring, a collection of crisp and airy pop that came together over the course of a year spent writing, recording, and mixing in the Arbutus warehouse space. Songs like "Way to Be Loved" and "Outside" are stunning showcases of the band's straight-shooting and unobscured methods, which allow the strength of their songwriting to take center stage. Tonight, TOPS are joined by noise-pop outfit Tender Age and the C86-inspired jangle-rock of Satsuma. The two Portland bands are part of the rising tide of promising dream-pop acts that sound ready to submerge the city in a thick sea of melodic haze in the very near future. CHIPP TERWILLIGER


ENUFF Z'NUFF, MADAME TORMENT, DIE ROBOT
(Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy) Underneath that regrettable, self-conscious hair metal luster, Enuff Z'nuff was always more of a true-blue power-pop band than anything else. Songs like "Fly High Michelle" and "New Thing," off the group's self-titled debut, simply sound more indebted to the Beatles than any of metal or hard rock's antecedents, and that's a good thing. Unfortunately, having caught the tail end of the hair wave, Enuff Z'nuff put too many eggs in the wrong basket at the wrong time, and had a difficult time maintaining an audience, even after abandoning the cock-rock veneer. The group's best record is 2000's 10—a collection of near-perfect guitar pop, kickstarted by saccharine-sweet "There Goes My Heart," that largely fell on deaf ears (unless we're talking about in Japan, where the group have a pretty significant fanbase). The band is currently on tour in support of their latest record, a covers album titled Covered in Gold. Original lead singer Donnie Vie, arguably the band's most distinguishing asset, is sadly nowhere to be found. MT