Look, it’s simple: Every week we’ll be bringing you  all the information you can handle about the cool concerts to hit up in D.C. this week.  Don’t say we don’t love you.

• November 12 @ U St Music Hall PETE HOLMES

Pete Holmes is a comedian. He has appeared on pretty much every VH1 comedy show there’s ever been including the popular “Best Week Ever.” Pete’s also been on Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” as well as his own half-hour Comedy Central Presents, had his cartoons appear in “The New Yorker” and is the host of the Nerdist.com podcast “You Made It Weird.

You may like Pete Holmes if you like: Laughing, nerdy things.

• November 12 @ Rock And Roll Hotel ROKY ERICKSON

Like Syd Barrett, a common point of reference, Roky Erickson rose to cult-hero status as much for his music as for his tragic personal life; in light of his legendary bouts with madness and mythic drug abuse, the influence exerted by his garage-bred psychedelia was often lost in the shuffle.

You may like Roky Erickson if you like: Syd Barret, Howlin’ Wolf, The Rolling Stones

• November 13 @ 930 Club MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS

If you’ve tuned into the internet over the past couple of months (and you have), you might have seen Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ rise to internet fame with their videos for ”Thrift Shop” and “Same Love”.  The music is pop-catchy and intelligent, something not so easy to find in today’s chart toppers. To say we’ve been looking forward to this sold-out show since it went on sale is an understatement.

You may like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis if you like: Childish Gambino, Schwayze & Cisco, The Streets (sans the beats)

• November 13 @ Rock And Roll Hotel DEATH GRIPS

Death Grips is a difficult yet enthralling project, where the glitched-out productions of blastbeat drummer Zach Hill and keyboardist Andy Morin accent the violently yelled raps of vocalist Stefan Burnett. After a public falling-out with Epic Records, the band nonetheless continues to tour and provoke The Man.

You may like Death Grips if you like: Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Shabazz Palaces

• November 13 @ Warner Theatre HITRECORD WITH JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT

• November 13 @ Verizon Center THE WHO

Quintessential English Rock & Roll band, The Who head back on tour for the first time in four years, with the surviving members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend at the helm.  This time around they’re focusing on Quadrophenia, a concept album that boasts such hits as “Love, Reign O’er Me” “The Real Me” and “5.15”.  I mean, who doesn’t want to be enveloped in the sights and sound of an arena rock show?

You may like The Who if you like: The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, David Bowie, Music in general

• November 13 Otto Bar DEERHOOF

Categorizing Deerhoof has always been historically difficult in the history of music journalism/critique/discussion, if for no other reason than the fact that their plus-or-minus 11 self-produced albums are all over the map. Since 1994, Deerhoof have been writing/producing/performing tracks that are sometimes experimental, sometimes lo-fi, sometimes poppy, sometimes funky. Sometimes they’re a mix of all, sometimes none. But one thing is certain: their Tuesday show at Ottobar is going to be a lot of fun (and it’s certainly worth a drive up to Baltimore).

You may like Deerhoof if you like: Liars, The Fiery Furnaces, Dan Deacon

• November 14 @ The Hamilton THE REVIVALISTS

• November 14 @ Rock And Roll Hotel MIRAH

An indie act and killer songstress for as long as I can remember, Mirah writes the kind of pop music that hits the heart and gets stuck in your head, without making feel brain dead.  She’s sharp, witty and emotional.  Everything us girls love and more.

You may like Mirah if you like: The Blow, Azure Ray, Thao and The Get Down Stay Down, Jenny Owens Young

• November 15 @ U St Music Hall MATTHEW DEAR

It didn’t take long for Matthew Dear to catapult himself into the front rank of microhouse producers, emerging in the early 2000s with a string of high-quality releases for Spectral Sound, Plus 8, and Perlon. Dear broke out in 2003 with the singsongy single “Dog Days,” at once a DJ favorite and something of an indie crossover, and continued to switch between (and sometimes fuse together) track- and song-oriented material.

You may like Matthew Dear if you like: Ricardo Villalobos, Kraftwerk, Frankie Knuckles, Richie Hawtin, dude-babes making beats

• November 15 @ U St Music Hall ARAABMUZIK

A producer capable of using the Akai Music Production Center (aka the MPC, a drum machine and sampler) on the fly, AraabMuzik was inspired by the likes of Dr. Dre, Swizz Beatz, and Just Blaze but is known to incorporate samples from high-gloss trance singles into his output. The Providence, Rhode Island native creates hard-hitting beats swathed in dramatic strings, spiked with repetitive piano and synthesizer vamps, and switches between stripped-down and layered arrangements to equal effect.

You may like AraabMuzik if you like: Flying Lotus, Danny Brown, Clams Casino, ’90s trance

• November 15 @ DC9 ASH

The Northern Irish punk-pop trio Ash were tentatively formed in 1989, when childhood mates Tim Wheeler and Mark Hamilton received guitars for Christmas and established a metal act named Vietnam. Following a handful of shows, Vietnam adopted the Ash moniker in 1992 and added Rick “Rock” McMurray on drums. The musicians shared a love for the raw British punk of the Buzzcocks and crafted their musical talents to take the Brit-pop scene by storm at the start of the decade.

You may like Ash if you like: Well, damn, so many amazing 90s bands — Oasis, Teenage Fanclub, Blur, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Matthew Sweet, Super Furry Animals, Supergrass, Weezer

• November 15 @ Rock And Roll Hotel …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD

Most importantly, it was one of the first bands to receive a perfect 10 out of 10 score from Pitchfork for Source Tags And Codes. Revealing secrets of their longevity, the core members of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Conrad Keely and Jason Reece – are back with their seventh longplayer. Aptly titled, TAO OF THE DEAD, …Trail of Dead (also lovingly known to some as the band that won’t die) come back yet again with a surprisingly forceful yet sophisticated new album that evokes a refreshing nostalgia (paying faithful homage to Pink Floyd, Rush, Yes, and Neu!…yes NEU!).

You may like Trail of Dead if you like: At The Drive In, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Inteprol, Mercury Rev, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dismemberment Plan

• November 15 @ Warner Theatre CONOR OBERST

To deny Conor Oberst’s musical influence over what is arguably not one but two generations of songwriters by the age of 32 is at the very least contrarian and at very most completely incorrect. Oberst’s projects range from Bright Eyes to solo work, from Monster of Folk to Desaparecidos. He’s become one of indie/folk/rock’s mainstays, beginning his career in the glory days of Saddle Creek in the early ’90s and to see him live is somewhat of a retrospective of music/feelings/that one time in high school you held that one kid’s hand once.

• November 16 @ The Howard Theatre KAKI KING

Hailed by Rolling Stone as “a genre unto herself,” Kaki King is a true iconoclast, a visionary musician/artist whose singular work rightly stands out amongst the easily formatted. Over her decade-long career thus far, the Brooklyn-based guitarist/composer has recorded five extraordinarily diverse and distinctive LPs, performed with such icons as Foo Fighters, Timbaland, and The Mountain Goats, contributed to a variety of film and TV soundtracks (spanning Golden Globe-nominated work on Sean Penn’s Into The Wild to scoring – and appearing in as guitar-playing hand double – the acclaimed 2007 drama, August Rush), and played to ever-growing audiences on innumerable world tours.

You may like Kaki King if you like: Vetiver, The Books, Land of Talk, Final Fantasy, American Analog Set

• November 17 @ Rock & Roll Hotel THE SWORD

Coming to grips with the Sword’s unlikely genesis in the alternative music Mecca of Austin, TX, leads one to wonder whether heavy metal has finally become hip again. Depending on your generation, nothing will seem as simultaneously preposterous (Gen-X’ers who came of age during pop-metal’s heyday and don’t recognize it as an unrepresentative anomaly) or obvious (everyone else) when discussing a genre that’s spent the bulk of its 40-year history on the absolute fringe of rock culture. Some call their style “retro metal,” while others prefer the old term “stoner metal” — I think both are accurate.

You may like The Sword if you like: Mastodon, High On Fire (at Rock And Roll Hotel next Friday!), Wolfmother, Torche

• November 16 @ DAR Constitution Hall RAY LAMONTAGNE

Take a load off with some smokey, sensitive soul. Ray LaMontagne is so sensitive and such an outsider, in fact, that he avoided getting involved in music by spending his time reading Fantasy books in the woods and drawing Dungeons & Dragons characters. (Strangely endearing.) He subsequently became a musician, crafting four studio albums influenced by Soul, Motown, Country, Acoustic Rock and Folk, and is perfect for a date or some quiet reflection.

You may like Ray LaMontagne if you like: The Band, Van Morrison, Nick Drake, Stephen Stills

• November 17 @ Black Cat DARWIN DEEZ

You may like Darwin Deez if you like: Beck, The Strokes, Bombay Bicycle Club, Tokyo Police Club, The Drums

• November 17 @ DAR Constitution Hall ARETHA FRANKLIN

OK, D.C., let’s get a little diva up in here. Aretha Franklin is coming to DAR and she’s worth every penny. One of the world’s most influential soul singers (not to mention gospel, jazz, blues, pop, the list goes on), Franklin’s got a repertoire with some of the biggest hits in the history of music. She will probably perform “Respect.” She will probably perform “Think.” She will probably perform “Chain of Fools.” She will probably perform “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.” You should probably not miss this living legend.

You may like Aretha Franklin if you like: c’mon, get out of here if you need us to tell you what this soul queen sounds like.

• November 17 @ 930 Club DAN DEACON

Equally influenced by diverse artists like Devo, Talking Heads, Scratch Orchestra, Raymond Scott, and Conlon Nancarrow, electronic music composer Dan Deacon studied electro-acoustic and computer music composition at Purchase College in New York. Later in life he moved to Baltimore, MD, and became an instant figurehead of the city’s fledgling electronic music community, joining the Wham City collective and evangelizing his and his fellow whimsical peers’ “future shock” output.

You may like The Sword if you like: Matmos, Animal Collective, Caribou

• November 17 @ State Theatre LEZ ZEPPELIN

You’ve probably never seen Led Zeppelin and never will, unless you were born roughly 40+ years ago and/or you managed to get tickets to that show in London a couple years back–if the latter is the case, color us jealous). Luckily, Lez Zeppelin, one of the most famous and talented tribute bands in the world, is coming to the State Theatre this week and while it’s no Zepp, it’s the closest you’re going to get–let’s be real, as far as replicating one of the most famous rock bands of all time, seeing an all-female band slaughter these songs is pretty awesome. And, full disclaimer, the fact that they’re not Zeppelin might not even bother you given the fact that Lez Zeppelin shows–given the thumbs-up by the likes of Chuck Klosterman, Bonnaroo and sold-out audiences around the world–historically whip the audience into a frenzy. Dancing days are here again.

You might like Lez Zeppelin if you like: Led Zeppelin, obviously.

• November 18 @ Patriot Center Rick Ro$$, Meek Mill, Wale – The MMG Tour

In 2006, Ross founded Maybach Music Group, a label imprint that includes emerging rap stars Meek Mill and Wale. Maybach Music Group will bring Rick Ross, Meek Mill and Wale to perform a headline set with special guest Machine Gun Kelly and host DJ Scream at the Patriot Center.

You may like The MMG Tour if you like: Clipse, T.I., Young Jeezy

• November 18 @ Sixth & I The MAGNETIC FIELDS

When The Magnetic Fields came through town last spring, their show sold out almost instantly. Fast forward to November and their show at Sixth and I sold out too, leaving many in the Merrickless cold. If you got your ticket, congratulations, and you’ve got good reason to get pumped (if you didn’t get a ticket, try selling a kidney). The Magnetic Fields have become mainstays in the quirky-and-melancholy realm of “Indie,” with give or take 10 albums full of some flawless musings on love, bitterness, worry and living.

You may like The Magnetic Fields if you like: Yo La Tengo, Belle & Sebastian, Jens Lekman, the sound of your own heart breaking