The Subjects
The Bell House; 2/24 at 7 p.m.; 149 7th St., Gowanus, Brooklyn; 718-643-6510
Fittingly, the Subjects — who churn out a lovely strain of catchy, hand-clappy pop — began in the classroom: Joe Smith and Dave Sheinkopf were teachers at New York’s Churchill School, and drummer Matt Iwanusa and guitarist Jimmy Carbonetti were their students. (Don’t worry, their parents knew.) Also on the bill are Arms and Uninhabitable Mansions, the side project from members of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Au Revoir Simone.
Midnight Masses
Union Pool; 2/24 at 8 p.m.; 1142 Myrtle Ave., Bushwick, Brooklyn; no phone
The Brooklyn band has friends in the right places: Their debut EP, Rapture Ready, I Gazed at the Body, was co-produced by TV on the Radio’s Gerard Smith, and they’ve also been in the studio with Conrad Keely and Jason Reece from … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. But it’s their own clear-eyed, melancholy tunes that have people talking.
Wild Beasts / Still Life Still
Bowery Ballroom; 2/26 at 8 p.m.; 6 Delancey St., nr. Bowery; 212-533-2111
Two exciting imports here, each with a flair for the dramatic — the U.K.’s sweetly vicious Wild Beasts, whose singer Hayden Thorpe is a heartbroken heartbreaker if ever there was one; and Canada’s Still Life Still, whose new album, Girls Come Too, has that alluring, paradoxical combination of exuberance and melancholy we love about their labelmates Broken Social Scene.
Surfer Blood
Market Hotel; 2/27 at 8 p.m.; 1142 Myrtle Ave., Bushwick, Brooklyn; no phone
Surfer Blood was the breakout band from last year’s CMJ Music Festival and just released their excellent debut, Astro Coast. They don’t surf, but they are from Florida, and their nineties-throwback sound would well complement a day on the beach.
Kidz in the Hall
Highline Ballroom; 2/28 at 7 p.m.; 431 W. 16th St., nr. Ninth Ave.; 212-414-5994
Ivy League rappers Naledge and Double-O are students of old-school hip-hop, and their new album, Land of Make Believe, drops March 9. As they told us when we took a drive with them earlier this month, “We straddled the line with the first two albums. This is where we define our sound.”