MONDAY
>> The City Veins are a strong local outfit that's been making their debut around town over the course of the past few months. They just formed in March and are already more mature and ready to bring the rock than a lot of bands with a lot more stage time. And hey, they have a blog! See what you're missing tonight at Solly's Tavern on U Street. 10 p.m.

>> Do you like noise? Do you like parties? If so, L.A.'s Mika Miko is the band for you. Catch them tonight at the Velvet Lounge with Japanther and Ingrid from Mass Movement of the Moth.

>> Three Stars and Unbuckled vets The Vita Ruins are starting a mini east coast tour tonight at Iota, with New York's Jaguar Club. 8:30 p.m., $10

>> Minnie Driver, chanteuse? See for yourself tonight at the Birchmere in Alexandria. 7:30 pm., $20.

TUESDAY
>> What's there to say about Wolf Parade that hasn't already been said? Enough people are ga ga for that big Canadian sound that their show at the Black Cat has been sold out for a long, long time. But it's August in D.C. — take your chances that people have wandered off to the beach and see about scoring a ticket.

>> Theremins, distortion, and building your band around a husband and wife duo? The Octopus Project seems to have followed several steps in the How To Make An Indie Band hand book. See if they're following those rules well at the Rock & Roll Hotel with Stereo Total. 8 p.m., $13.

>> 89-year-old Virginia fiddler Speedy Tolliver and The New Old-Time String Band will be delivering classic American roots sounds for free at 6 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.

>> Local act Baby Killer Estelle brings together a young piano virtuoso, a blast beat-loving drummer and a screamo-fixated vocalist to create songs that land somewhere between free jazz, cabaret and hardcore. With Margaret Thrasher, Trump Card and a mysteriously unannounced solo act at the aptly named "Corpse Fortress" in Silver Spring. 8 p.m., $5.

WEDNESDAY
>>The summer's a great time to trot out old-timers hitting the theater/state fair circuit. With August now waning, you're running out of time to catch classic, but possibly past-their-prime acts like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They bring their once-groundbreaking countrified rock to the Birchmere. With the Wrights. 7:30 p.m., $39.50.

>> You know your favorite local bands are really starting to grow wings when they embark on side projects. See how some of our favorite front men — Martin Royle of Washington Social Club, Mick Coogan of The Dance Party and Stephen Kilroy of Middle Distance Runner — fare as solo singer songwriters on the Black Cat's back stage. $8, 9 p.m.

>> There's no use in trying to hide your checkered past: DCist knows that you listened to Ska in high school. Now, you can either keep up the cooler-than-thou charade, or you can come out on Wednesday night and skank your ass off, for old times sake. Check out Last Martyrs of a Lost Cause with Beltway Alarms, the Ashwins and Ruckus at the Bobby Fisher Memorial Building. 6 p.m., $5.

THURSDAY
>> Fort Reno's season may have come to a close, but there's still great local music to be had this Thursday night. Bring your friends to the Velvet Lounge for some New Rock Church of Fire. We love them, and you will too.

>> If Wednesday night's little ska outing still has you tingling with nostalgia, head on down to the 9:30 club for a night with Less Than Jake and the punkier sounds of Against All Authority. $20, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY
>> Mocean Worker, the recording alias of jazz producer Adam Dorn, brings the funk to 9:30 for a show that will mix DJ drum 'n bass with live funk elements. Break out your dancing shoes. 'Bitter:Sweet & DJ Christine Moritz open. $15.

>> Salsa’s roots are in African rumba so when Congolese singer Ricardo Lemvo and his band Makina Loca play those Latin rhythms he’s just bringing the sound back home. He will be joined in his cross-Atlantic cultural journeys tonight at Zanzibar by Cuban violinist Alfredo de la Fe.

>> It's an Unbuckled bands extravaganza at the Rock & Roll Hotel. Well, just These United States and Deleted Scenes, but that's good enough for us. If TUS' tour diaries didn't warm you up enough to convince you to check them out, maybe a four band lineup (also including The Teeth and J Roddy Walston and the Business) will do the trick. 8:30 p.m., $10.

SATURDAY
>> Happy birthday Rock & Roll Hotel! Over the course of the year this club has helped turn H Street NE into a destination, and welcomed some amazing acts of all shapes and sizes. To celebrate their first anniversary, the indescribable Andrew W.K. is headlining, and a whole hell of a lot of other stuff is going on too. $20, 8 p.m.

>> If the weather's fine, an evening at Wolf Trap's "Summer Haze Tour" might be a very nice way to spend one of the last summer weekends. You may be too cool for G. Love, but we still hold a warm, sun-drenched place in our hearts for him and his cold beverages. 7 p.m., $25 - $38.

>> We've loved The Caribbean for a long, long time. Now other people are starting to take notice of this local gem. Catch them this weekend at Mount Pleasant's Lamont Park.

SUNDAY
>> Sub-Popper(s) Tiny Vipers — Jesy Fortino's confessional "acoustic/goth project" (their words, not ours) — swing into NE to play the Rock and Roll Hotel. She's just 24, but she's already picked up press in Spin after her release of Hands Across the Void. This time they're opening for ethereal Baltimore indie pop duo Beach House. Also with The Papercuts. Doors 8 p.m., $10.

>> When The Rentals came to town last year, they promised another stop after their new album was finished. Here we are in 2007 with a new EP, Last Little Life and the promised tour stop. See what Matt Sharp has to offer at the 9:30 Club. 7 p.m., $25.

>> Three words: Italian psychadelic rock. Jennifer Gentle, DC9, $10.

>> The sweetest guy to strum a guitar around D.C. is back. Catch Sean McArdle at the Velvet Lounge with Replicator, Rahdunes, and Lakes.

City Veins photo by Drew McDermott. New Rock Church of Fire drawing by Barf. Sriram Gopal, Steve Kiviat, Mehan Jayasuria and Graham Hough-Cornwell contributed to this week's agenda.