Wednesday

Jam bands
Disco Biscuits, 2020Soundsystem, Future Rock
Egyptian Room, 502 N. New Jersey St.
7 p.m., $12.50 (without ticket fees), all-ages
Like most bands in the rather insular jam band scene, if you've heard of Disco Biscuits, you're likely to head to this show; if not, you'll probably find it hard to forgive the band's awful vocals and strain to stay attentive through songs that stretch over 20 minutes. It's good enough as utilitarian dance party or head trip music - the band is named after a euphemism for ecstasy, after all - but not always rewarding as coherent improvisation. Live electronic bands 2020Soundsystem and Future Rock combine samples with electric guitars and drums, creating a trance-friendly mix to warm up for the main act. -Scott Shoger

Thursday

Rock
The Fray, Jack's Mannequin
The Lawn at White River State Park, 801 W. Washington St.
7 p.m., $32.50 (without ticket fees), all-ages
I hate to start another capsule by saying "you'll either already love or hate it," but this is a consumer's guide, and this is another band that makes predictable music that will hits on proscribed emotional and musical pressure points for listeners. All of which is to say, yes, The Fray sound much like Coldplay or Counting Crows; no, I wouldn't listen to an album by those bands doing anything but "research"; and yes, I also addictively consume music that I know will make me feel a certain way, just not these bands, and I try to listen to more unpredictable stuff at more adventurous times. Still, Fray lead singer Issac Slade's voice is the stuff my nightmares are made of: over-emotive and moaning, lacking any actual range, every syllable obsessively over-pronounced. -SS

Acoustic
Yonder Mountain String Band
The Vogue, 6259 N. College Ave., www.thevogue.ws
9 p.m., $20 advance, $25 door (without ticket fees), 21+
"Acoustic" really is the best way to describe Yonder Mountain String Band, a four-piece consisting of banjo, guitar, mandolin and bass that has the chops for bluegrass and old-time music but can also go further afield to Western swing, Cajun music, classic rock covers and more mellow folk in the style of the California Guitar Trio. -SS

Multimedia
The Big Roots Show with (Re)Collective Company, Tom Shinness, Cara Jean Wahlers
Locals Only, 2449 E. 56th St., www.localsonlyindy.com
8:30 p.m., $7, 21+
The (Re)Collective Company, a modern dance troupe that has put on programmatic shows about birth and war, has both talented dancers and a kick-ass live band that features several percussionists, strings, piano and auxiliary instrumentation, and that can move from African poly-rhythms to minimalist art music with just a pirouette. Nashville's Tom Shinness will bring a small wardrobe of instruments - a 1913 Gibson harp guitar, double-neck mandolin, cello and harp, along with some looping pedals and a whole lot of ideas about how to fit them all together. Cara Jean Wahlers will both host and play the show, performing on guitar with (Re)Collective member Grover Parido on cello. -SS

Friday

Illuminating music
Mpozi Tolbert memorial celebration
Spin Nightclub, 6308 Guilford Ave.
In the alleyway: 9:30 p.m., mural lighting with DJs Indiana Jones, Dicky Fox, Al Smashya, free, all-ages
In Spin Nightclub: Lyrics Born, 10 p.m., $12 advance, $15 door, 21+
Every July, the communities of Indianapolis and Philadelphia gather to celebrate the life of one of their local heroes, Mpozi Tolbert, a photographer and DJ who died in 2006 at the age of 34 while on the job as a staff photographer at The Indianapolis Star. An accomplished and powerful photographer, Tolbert also worked for Vibe Magazine and contributed elements to the album art for the Roots' Things Fall Apart. Tolbert was also a great DJ; his reggae and dub collection ran epically deep, and he was willing to haul his equipment anywhere and play for free, just to bring the good vibrations. Last year's celebration centered around the painting of a mural on the north wall of Spin Nightclub. This year marks the installation of solar powered lights to illuminate the mural. Lyrics Born, a founding member of pioneering West Coast label Quannum Projects, along with DJ Shadow, Blackalicious and others, will perform inside of Spin Friday night. His melodic rapping style is perfectly suited for the live setting, and sounds right at home over the live band that he tours with. Subject matter is varied, relatable and engaging, tackling everyday topics with lyrical dexterity. -T.J. Reynolds

Saturday

Rock
Pterodactyl, Early Day Miners
Vollrath Tavern, 118 E. Palmer St., www.vollrathindy.com
3 p.m., $7, 21+
Easy to pronounce, hard to spell, Pterodactyl is a nightmare for copy editors and poster designers everywhere, but does offer pleasures that make the name worth it, playing intricate, melodic and not so predictable indie-rock. I'm going to isolate just one song - "Return of the Native" - by the Bloomington collective Early Day Miners, and mine the essence of the band from it. Well, not quite, but "Return of the Native," from the band's most recent album, 2006's Offshore, seems to me to capture the band at its best - slow, mysterious (musically and lyrically), indebted to roots music, with guest vocals by Amber Webber from Black Mountain reminiscent of Low or Cowboy Junkies. -SS

Tuesday

Pop-punk
Warped Tour
Verizon Wireless Music Center, 12880 E. 146th St., Noblesville
12 p.m., $32 advance, $40 door (without ticket fees), all-ages
One of the few nationwide music tours that survived the great Lollapalooza fallout of the late '90s, the Warped Tour offers a cheap opportunity to see plenty of top-tier pop-punk, a little of the harder stuff and a lot of stuff that labels want to push. Smaller stages, eco-friendly efforts, activist tables and programs like the "BBQ band" (one band cooks for bands and staff in exchange for a spot on the tour) make the tour a little bit whimsical and grass-roots, despite prominent corporate sponsorship. On the main stage this year: 3OH!3, Alien Art Farm, Anti-Flag, The Ataris, Bad Religion, Chiodos, The Devil Wears Prada, Flogging Molly, Less Than Jake, NOFX and Underoath. -SS