Swans at Trees
Michael Gira's seminal post-punk outfit Swans, which dissolved in 1997 and re-formed in 2010, has one of the year's heaviest, most ambitious albums in the double-disc The Seer. It's a two-hour slab of complex, bracingly realized music that Gira has described in interviews as "the culmination of every Swans album to date." The frontman (and album producer) enlisted a variety of indie stars to contribute to the sprawling record, including Yeah Yeah Yeahs vocalist Karen O, Low's Alan Sparhawk and members of Akron/Family. Expect laser-focused intensity, a formidable artistic vision and staggering displays of musical skill. With Xiu Xiu.
7 p.m. Sunday. Trees, Dallas. $20-$23.
Passion Pit at College Park Center
Although it hasn't gotten the press of, say, Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe, one of the summer's undeniable singles was Passion Pit's stomping, addictive Take a Walk, from its new album Gossamer. That tune, along with others from the Massachusetts-formed electropop band's acclaimed debut, Manners, will be on full display at the relatively intimate College Park Center on the UT Arlington campus. It's the facility's second high-profile get of the year (after a sold-out Drake show in March), with white-hot rapper Flo Rida on deck for next month.
8 p.m. Friday. College Park Center, Arlington. $21.50-$29.50.
