Live Music Roundup: Saturday, May 9

In addition to the Bassnectar show at Showbox at the Market (pictured to the left, and described after the jump) and the Abstract Rude show tonight at Nectar (you can read Gabriel Teodros' interview with him), all this is happening tonight:

Bassnectar, Gift of Gab, Sidecar Tommy at Showbox at the Market, 8 p.m., $20

Bay Area jock Bassnectar (aka Lorin Ashton) has a balls-out sonic and performance style that's made him a club and festival circuit favorite (he's a headliner on Lollapalooza this year with a who's who of electronica, including MSTRKRFT and Simian Mobile Disco.) He puts dub-step, hip-hop, breaks, and much more through his production meat-grinder and then plastic wraps it in everything from a cataract of synths to a torrent of rhyming. The end result is something he calls "omnitempo maximalism." Which you might take to mean that, if Bassnectar were a writer, he'd be David Foster Wallace--stuffed to the gills and loving it. Besides Blackalicious rhymesayer Gift of Gab, he'll have a custom-built sound system in tow tonight that's sure to melt the walls. KEVIN CAPP

AfterMath at Tost, 9 p.m., $5

In the decade since he left Seattle, former Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin has covered a lot of musical ground, doing the L.A. studio thing, studying percussion traditions around the world, and keeping up Tuatara, the cinematic-rock band with R.E.M. guitarists Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey. All of these strains--along with Martin's jazz training at Western Washington U--come together in this new quintet, formed when Martin moved back home a few months ago. With some of the shrewdest progressive-groove players in town--including trumpeter Dave Carter, ubiquitous Joe Doria on keys, and fat-toned Brett Joseph on sax--this loose collective mixes funk, Afro-beat, Afro-Latin and a deep swing. Just two gigs in, AfterMath definitely adds up, and their first-Saturday shows at ToST are going to be a highlight of the new-jazz month. They'll be joined this time by the Nigerian-British singer Adama (a sometime collaborator with Tuatara), the local Senegalese drum master Thione Diop, the Circle of Fire dance crew, and who knows who else. MARK D. FEFER

Baby Gramps, Daddy Tree Tops at the Bit Saloon, 9 p.m.

Highly conspicuous anywhere outside of a ZZ Top impersonator's convention, Seattle's own renegade steel guitarist Baby Gramps literally sounds like a flesh-and-blood Muppet who's just a little worse for the wear. Gramps alternates between a high-pitched squeal and throaty growl that would make both Jim Henson and Tuvan singers proud. With his rusty strings and completely unrefined playing style, Gramps appears to aspire to folk and Django-era jazz guitar, but keeps both feet planted in the dirt of American roots music at its most raw. His playfully absurd lyrics, however, transcend both. And, while Gramps might initially look like he'll appeal to children with his silly antics, he's just as likely to make 'em cry. At the same time, Gramps would no doubt incorporate the sound of a screaming child with panache. "Do you believe in faeries?" asks Gramps on one of his songs. Whether you do or you don't, you'll have little doubt that Gramps is a creature in a class all by himself. SABY REYES-KULKARNI