Seminal alt-rock group the Pixies recently announced a rare Silicon Valley tour stop arriving this February.

The band plays San Jose Civic on February 22 with openers  indie pop duo Best Coast as part of an extended leg of their most recent world tour.

The Pixies, in their heyday of the late 80s/early 90s, were one of the most influential bands to shape alt-rock and indie rock. Pitchfork ranked the Pixies second album Doolittle as the fourth best album of the 80s, and their third album Bossanova as the 28th best album of the 90s. Even Kurt Cobain revealed in a 1994 Rolling Stones interview that “Smells like teen spirit” was heavily influenced by the Pixies. He said, “I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.”

After an extended break the band reunited in 2004 with a headlining (behind Radiohead) slot at at Coachella, followed by several subsequent tours. They released the song “Bam Thwok” in 2004 and then “Ain’t that pretty at all” to the Warren Zevon tribute album, Enjoy Every Sandwich. Just recently in June of 2013, bassist Kim Deal quit the band and was replaced by the Muffs’ Kim Shattuck. Days later, the Pixies released their first single in almost a decade, “Bagboy”, followed by the four song release, EP1, their first official release since 1991’s Trompe Le Monde.

Tickets for the San Jose concert are $50 and go on sale tomorrow at 10am. More info.

Here is a new video Pixies just released for their song “Andro Queen,” from EP-1, released in September of 2013:

San Francisco’s Li Xi finds an odd place between worlds. They mix vintage 60s synthesizers and modern electronics, as well as an obvious love for superbly strange pop music from the past and sonically sophisticated indie rock.

The modern lens they use to reinterpret older, weirder psychedelic-pop music creates a more restrained dreamy sound that gives that is both haunting and gorgeous, soothing yet uncomfortable, vibrant but retro.

Like some of today’s more popular indie bands, (Beach House, Vivian Girls, etc.), Li Xi mix old and new sounds to create is a decidedly surreal sound. While not as sunny as some of the other related bands producing similar music, Li Xi particularly take influence from unknown 60s pop-singer Margo Guryan, whose psychedelic, jazz-pop record, Take a Picture, was a little too offbeat even for the late 60s.

Li Xi soften some of Guryan’s stranger psychedelic arrangements, as well as her tendency towards cute vocal hooks, to create a sound that is more somber. Li Xi are currently working on their debut 7-inch this year on 20 Sided Records, the label that released Ugly Winner’s latest LP.

Li Xi play the Blank Club at 9pm on Friday April 19. Tickets are $8.

Tribute albums are trouble, because they’re usually terrible. And tipping your hat to a band like Fleetwood Mac is a complicated act, not to mention one that requires singular talent. There’s plenty of the latter on Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac which includes indie favorites The Kills, Best Coast, J. Mascis, and Antony, among others.

I’m not saying discard (or delete?) your copy of Rumors just yet. In particular Best Coast singer Bethany Cosentino’s cover of “Rhiannon” exchanges the wailing melancholy for a bit of vapid pop sweetness, and it’s not great. If anything, the album is more of a nod to Fleetwood Mac’s legacy, and even the most curmudgeonly fan might appreciate the reminder. The album is set for release on August 14th, and also boasts diverse covers by Lykke Li, Washed Out, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy.

Lee Ranaldo Band featuring J Mascis “Albatross”
Antony “Landslide”
Trixie Whitley “Before The Beginning”
Billy Gibbons & Co. “Oh Well”
Best Coast “Rhiannon”
The New Pornographers “Think About Me”
Marianne Faithfull “Angel”
Lykke Li “Silver Springs”
Karen Elson: “Gold Dust Woman”
Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy “Storms”
Washed Out “Straight Back”
Tame Impala “That’s All For Everyone”
Craig Wedren with St. Vincent “Sisters of the Moon”
The Kills “Dreams”
Gardens & Villa “Gypsy”
The Crystal Ark “Tusk”
MGMT “Future Games”