Hear This

Buzz bands from both coasts converge on the bay this weekend to sate the hipster appetite for distraction. L.A.'s Moving Units worship at the altar of Robert Smith, injecting their very of-the-moment dance rock with a fat dose of post-punk. Like comrades in arms Interpol, the Faint, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Moving Units will get your skinny ass shaking with disco-chic ditties about dance clubs, drama, and drama at dance clubs. Dallas-born, New Yorkbased co-headliners the Secret Machinesresurrect the spacey psychedelia of Pink Floyd and Zep, crafting surprisingly expansive soundscapes considering they're coming from a modest three-piece. The trippy-dippy wall of noise arrives courtesy of multiple hat-wearing brothers Ben (guitar/vox) and Brandon (keys/bass) Curtis and drummer Josh Garza. Catch both bands Friday, Feb. 18, at the Independent; call 771-1421 or visit www.theindependentsf.com for more info.

Break out the black-light posters and the ganja: Silver Sunshine is coming to town. For the uninitiated, the San Diego quartet sounds exactly like what you'd expect a band called Silver Sunshine to sound like -- shiny, happy, groovy, man. The band likens its music to "a burning paper airplane crashing into a sugar cube." Right. Despite the fact that the Summer of Love ended, like, three decades ago, Silver Sunshine's knack for melody and songcraft keeps it from being just a dated novelty act. Sure, most of the band's songs were basically already written in 1967 by a couple of guys named John and Paul, but when you think about it, every other indie band rips off the Beatles, too. Silver Sunshine's just more honest about it. Gas up the van and head to Thee Parkside on Saturday, Feb. 19, to see Silver Sunshine along with the Time Flys and A Fir-Ju Well; call 503-0393 or visit www.theeparkside.com for more info.