Tonight! The Pack A.D. at the Gramophone. Tomorrow! Crocodiles at Cafe Ventana

I'm going to be out of town this weekend now (cue: awww), so that just means you'll have to go to these shows for me. Tonight at the Gramophone, slow-burning Canadian rockers The Pack A.D. are appearing, along with Fattback and the Belgrade Liberation Army (ex-Wormwood Scrubs). Like the White Stripes and bluesy-garagey bands of its ilk? You'll dig these cats.

MP3: The Pack A.D., "Making Gestures"

On Friday night, I highly suggest you head to Cafe Ventana -- yes, the place by SLU -- for a free, all-ages show with Crocodiles, the band that sprang from The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower. I am seriously bummed to be missing this. In our preview this week, Jonah Bayer says:

"Despite the title Summer of Hate, Crocodiles' debut is an ethereal nine-song collection of synth-driven pop songs that are avant-garde without being inaccessible. That said, the album does have its fair share of aggression -- it's just recontextualized into the pop paradigm so seamlessly that you'll get swept away in the band's sound without even noticing."

MP3: Crocodiles, "I Wanna Kill"