Destroyer will be playing tonight at the Black Cat.

TUESDAY

Perhaps the most esoteric New Pornographer, Dan Bejar has also amassed quite an enthusiastic cult following for his work as the creative force behind Destroyer. This year’s foray into soft rock territory, Kaputt, has earned him some of his highest acclaim in roughly five years. He’ll be playing the Black Cat tonight with excellent Philly rockers The War on Drugs. $15, 8:00 p.m.

>> Comet Ping Pong: Bare Wires and Maybe, Baby. Free, 9:30 p.m.

>> Red Palace: MEN (featuring JD Samson from Le Tigre), Romy, Painted Face. $12, 8:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY

Remember when Weezer was releasing universally accepted records and Minus the Bear’s songs were as clever as their song titles? Hammer No More The Fingers does and have done us the favor of distilling all of the essential songwriting elements into straightforward (but not boring) rock and roll songs. They’ll be hitting Red Palace to celebrate the release of their second album Black Shark (which comes out today) with some local friends from Caverns, Deleted Scenes and Zoos of Berlin. $8, 8:30 p.m.

>> Black Cat: Club Scout (record release), Monument, Teen Mom. $8, 8:30 p.m.

THURSDAY

Although they’ve been through some stylistic shifts over the past thirty-five years or so, art-rock heroes Wire are perhaps most well-known for their early material where they paired syncopated guitar riffs with vague but memorable lyrics. They’ll be performing at the Black Cat, which only seems right considering how many times we’ve heard “Ex-Lion Tamer” on the Red Room jukebox. Weekend opens. $20, 8:00 p.m.

>> Birchmere: Colin Hay, Chris Trapper. $29.50, 7:30 p.m.

The Black Lips will be back at the Black Cat on Friday night.

FRIDAY

DCist has rushed to see Atlanta’s flower punks The Black Lips possibly every time they’ve been up here in the past four years, but their strong showing in Austin this year (where they had the unenviable task of following Bad Brains) proves that their songwriting chops may have eclipsed their rowdy reputation. Their new songs are the best sounding since 2007’s “Veni Vidi Vici”. That said, they might still make out with each other and toss beer on you. Their tourmates for this Black Cat show are the Vivian Girls, who previewed some of their new songs for us this summer. Moon Women also open. $15, 9:00 p.m.

Or, if you prefer your southern garage-rock sounding more like southern rock than like raucous punk music, The Whigs will be at the 9:30 Club for the “Get Out of the Garage” Tour. $15, 7:00 p.m.

>> a href=”http://www.redpalacedc.com”>Red Palace: Ha Ha Tonka, The Spring Standards, Lucius. $10, 9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY

Junior Brown has been straddling the line between country and rock and roll since the ’80s, converting many a country music naysayer and opening for established rock acts at arena stadiums nationwide. He’ll be at the Birchmere tonight. $25, 7:30 p.m.

SUNDAY

The Old ’97s have remained a consistently active and fantastic alt-country act since the early 1990s, releasing either recorded or live material nearly every year. They’ll be at the 9:30 Club with Teddy Thompson. $25, 7:00 p.m.

For something a little more dissonant, challenging and psychedelic, two bands on London’s Fire Records — Philadelphia’s Bardo Pond and New Zealand’s Surf City — will be blowing both minds and eardrums at the Black Cat Backstage. $10 in advance / $12 day of show, 8:30 p.m.