Tonight: Los Campesinos! at the Showbox, Jonathan Richman at the Tractor

Jon Bergman

Los Campesinos! with Signals. Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151. 8 p.m. $20. Los Campesinos! are an indie-rock collective in the vein of Belle & Sebastian, only they're more punkish and much noisier. The eclectic instrumentation on the Welsh septet's third full-length, Romance Is Boring (part of which was recorded at a Seattle studio owned by Jason McGerr of Death Cab For Cutie), includes trombone, piccolo, and flugel horn, and lots of brash, shouty melodies. The wacky lyrics Gareth Campesinos! (all seven members have taken Campesinos! as their surname) also pack a frankness to them that's both disarming and realistic, as on the record's title track, when he sings, "You're pouting in your sleep/ I'm waking, still yawning/ We're proving to each other that romance is boring." ERIN K. THOMPSON

Jonathan Richman, with Tommy Larkins. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599. 9 p.m. $12. On Jonathan Richman's Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild, the seminal songwriter revisits "Old World," a notable track from his previous band, Modern Lovers. "Well, the old world's a thing of the past/The old world's fading fast/Well I/I say goodbye to the old world," he croons in the new version. It's an odd sentiment for a guy who refuses to get a cell phone and "has nothing to do with the Internet" but there is wisdom in those words even if Richman doesn't take his own advice. A goofy performer best known as the creepy troubadour in There's Something About Mary, it's easy to get distracted by his silly onstage dances and overlook the profound observations sprinkled throughout his music. Don't. SARA BRICKNER