Wed., April 17, Metric

I'm excited that Metric is coming to town for many reasons. Chief among them is that 2012's Synthetica serves as an excellent soundtrack for picturing one's life as a video game. Other reasons: Lead singer Emily Haines, formerly of Broken Social Scene, plays a mean tambourine, and her sweet-and-whiskey-sour vocals have been much emulated in the recent wave of digital pop, but rarely matched. Live, the band has perfected that I-could-hardly-care-less vibe without seeming like dicks, and it's fun to see the crowd's interpretive dance moves to 2009's hit “Help I'm Alive,” when the chorus asserts over and over again that Haines' heart keeps “beating like a hammer.” 9399 Old Davis Road in Davis, http://ilovemetric.com.