Pvris, The Drums Shake Up State Street

PVRIS IS BURNING BRIGHT: On Tuesday, April 17, Velvet Jones (423 State St.) hosts Pvris, the Massachusetts electro-pop band known for anthemic blasts of defiance and a little bit of angst. The group of high school friends will bless our beachside with their wintry East Coastal aesthetic and lead singer Lynn Gunn’s rich vocals, in between scorching Coachella gigs. They’ll be joined by the psychedelically inclined L.A.-based indie duo slenderbodies, who seem to sip from a similar mystic musical spring as MGMT, Glass Animals, and alt-J in their smoky-pad-laden seduction. Why wait until the next quake to shake your foundation, so to speak?

As zeitgeists go, Pvris taps into the recent multigenre trend of finding unity and strength in our real, vulnerable individualities, instead of the proud push-you-around posturings of performers in cock-rock past. Lead singer Gunn spoke recently with the Guardian about the strength and freedom that came her way in coming out as a teen and in reaffirming her identity all the more in the era of Trump. With great power often comes great vulnerability, and it’s on that deep level that Gunn and her bandmates continue to connect with a widening world of fans.

Fun fact: Fans of One Direction may recognize slenderbodies from their recent remix of Niall Horan’s “On the Loose,” to which they add a slinking, bumping beat. The Velvet Jones show starts at 7 p.m., though as of press time available tickets look hard to come by.

THE DRUMS-DIDDLYUMPTIOUS: The day thereafter, be sure to check out The Drums, who, ever since forming in Brooklyn a decade ago, have continued to be a pretty gosh-darn great rock band. We the Beat hosts the rowdy bunch of post-punk gents on Wednesday, April 18, at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club (1221 State St.), with L.A.’s SadGirl. This reviewer once upon a time saw The Drums put on an incredible show back in the day at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C., and I can vouch for their prowess.

Opener SadGirl, meanwhile, actually gives guitar lovers much to be happy about, with its energized, pounding surf rock gone semi-goth. Proclaimed one of L.A.’s Hardest-Working Bands by Oh My Rockness, the group is working through its misery with aplomb: plenty good to dance to as you toss your sorrows away. That show starts at 9 p.m.

SHARE OUR OUTER SPACE: Over at the Mercury Lounge (5871 Hollister Ave.) in Goleta, on Thursday, April 12, Baltimore’s Outer Spaces headlines with classic indie garage rock, along with Ventura’s VNLVX and S.B.’s Share (formerly known as Honey Maid). All will grace the always-inviting Lounge starting at 9 p.m.

Then on Saturday, April 14, we are offered up some “Psychedelic Provisions” in the form of Goleta groove masters Killer Kaya, who play with other wonderful wizards of wavy-gravy wails and shreds: Sherry from Austin, Texas, and Send Medicine from L.A. Who needs to wait for 4/20? Fun fact: With 38 different local time zones currently in use worldwide, “It’s 4:20 somewhere” has at least 76 post- and antemeridian applications, broken clocks notwithstanding (what’s up, Sza?). This show, meanwhile, starts at 9 p.m.

TUAREG TITANS: Last but not least, the following week, the Mercury Lounge and KCSB welcome the world-renowned revolutionary rockers Imarhan, from Algeria, on Thursday, April 19, at 9 p.m. Known for its searing, entrancing, guitar-driven desert groove, the group of friends captures the fired-up soul of its native Saharan sands through an urbanized, contemporary aesthetic. The group has risen as one of the forerunners of a multi-decade, multinational musical movement birthed from geopolitical strife, beginning in the late ’70s and early ’80s when youth combined electric guitars with traditional instruments to combat music bans. It’s rare our town welcomes talent from so far away — see them while you can.