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MONDAY 10/13
(MUSIC) If the idea of two sweetly harmonizing Norwegian women making nonchalantly brilliant electronic music doesn’t pique your interest, then you should probably reassess your aesthetics. Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg have been creating interesting and varied electronica since 2018, like a less flamboyant Björk—although the intimate, orchestral work of France’s Colleen may be a more accurate touchstone. But with this year’s Big city life, Smerz take a graceful leap forward with their songwriting and arranging skills. They exude that irresistible deadpan cool, like Wet Leg, but Smerz come off as more bedroom auteurs than arena-filling entertainers. The title track is rock-ribbed, bass-heavy electro-pop with an oh-so-haunting keyboard melody. The sassy, methodical electroclash of “Roll the dice” sounds like a more understated Peaches. “You got time and I got money” is the lowest-key seduction anthem you’ll hear all year and boasts the excellent line “Baby, can I see you naked? / Even though I love how you dress.” “But I do” is enchanting, slow-motion funk with entrancing vocal harmonies and a killer, subliminal bass line. It’s one of the songs of 2025. (Do you know how many songs have been released this year??) (Hidden Hall, 7:30 pm, 21+) DAVE SEGAL
TUESDAY 10/14
Good Things: An Evening with Samin Nosrat
(FOOD & DRINK) Samin Nosrat revolutionized the cookbook world in 2017 with her James Beard Award–winning manifesto Salt Fat Acid Heat, which educates readers on the four fundamentals of flavor, so that they can cook well intuitively. (The recipes for buttermilk chicken and autumn panzanella are fall staples in my household.) She reached a wider audience and charmed viewers with her warmth and gusto on her 2018 Netflix series of the same name, in which she traveled to various destinations to learn more about the four elements. Eight years after the publication of Salt Fat Acid Heat, her highly anticipated follow-up, Good Things, has arrived. It contains 125 of Nosrat’s most cherished recipes, from saffron roast chicken to nostalgic yellow cake with chocolate frosting, as well as advice, anecdotes about her adorable dog Fava, and meditations on how food can nourish community. Samin will join her friend, author and former Stranger staff food writer Angela Garbes, for a conversation about food, creativity, and connection. (Benaroya Hall, 7:30 pm) JULIANNE BELL
WEDNESDAY 10/15
‘The Little Foxes’ by Lillian Hellman
(THEATER) Set in a small Alabama town in 1900, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes follows Regina Giddens as she manipulates her way into receiving a hefty family inheritance in an era when sons were considered the only legal heirs. The story is the perfect example of how a lack of women’s rights can lead to a multitude of women’s wrongs—it’s the ultimate “good for her!” story. Since its original stage production, starring Tallulah Bankhead in 1939, the leading role has been revived for stars like Bette Davis (in the 1941 film adaptation), Elizabeth Taylor, Stockard Channing, Laura Linney, Cynthia Nixon, and more. This group of actresses alone speaks volumes about the drama and camp of this theater masterpiece. (Intiman Theatre, various times through Nov 2, all ages) AUDREY VANN
THURSDAY 10/16
(FILM) Sure, it’s no Sundance, Cannes, or Venice Film Festival, but SIFF’S DocFest is a pretty big deal. In the last five years alone, the festival has screened Academy Award nominees like 2022’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed and 2021’s Flee, as well as premiered heavy hitters like The Sanctity of Space. This year’s programming is possibly the best yet, with highlights like Sun Ra: Do the Impossible (about the dearly departed Afro-futurist jazz icon), A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint (following the life of the Broadway star and drag royal), and Steal This Story, Please! (about Democracy Now! journalist Amy Goodman). (SIFF Cinema Uptown, various times) AUDREY VANN
FRIDAY 10/17
Actualize AiR Fun-Raiser Carnival
(VISUAL ART) For the better part of two years, Actualize AiR has hosted a litany of fascinating art shows and experiences in the old downtown Seattle Coliseum building, from this summer’s Artists Doing: Nothing, a made-in-a-day performance experiment, to ICONS, a multidisciplinary exhibit from Alissa Dymally Williams and Noelle Whitaker that spread throughout several rooms in the partially unfinished basement. But there’s bad news for everyone who’s come to love stopping by during downtown’s Fourth Friday art walks: Actualize AiR lost their lease. But there’s good news, too! They’ve found a new space in Pioneer Square and will move in the coming months. To kick off their $40,000 moving cost fundraiser—and as one last goodbye to the Coliseum—Actualize AiR are throwing a “fun-raiser” with all your carnival favorites, including face painting, caricatures, airbrushed T-shirts, and cotton candy. It’s free, but you can buy bingo cards and raffle tickets to help ’em reach their one-night $15,000 goal. (The Coliseum, 6 pm, free, all ages) MEGAN SELING
SATURDAY 10/18
(MUSIC) Pinback hasn’t released a new album since 2012, but that doesn’t stop them from playing sporadic shows for their adoring and supportive fanbase. With their unique rock-influenced take on indie pop, the duo of Armistead Burwell Smith IV and Rob Crow craft complex tracks that have kept listeners engaged for over two decades. (Their song “Good to Sea” started my obsession with indie music in high school.) Their live shows are always energetic affairs, with moshing teenagers and song requests taken via paper airplane. Hasco Enjoyments, an instrumental band that describes themselves as “a musical group featuring baritone guitar, flute, synthesizers and saxophones played by an ensemble of iridescent bubbles,” opens the show. The LA-based ensemble has a song called “The Seattle Mariners Are My Favorite Baseball Team,” and while I’m not entirely sure why, I obviously love it. (The Showbox, 8:30 pm, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH
SUNDAY 10/19
(HALLOWEEN) You’ll never forget your first time watching the bananas 1977 Japanese horror-comedy technicolor phantasmagoria that is House. The story follows a teen schoolgirl named Gorgeous who goes on a summer trip to visit her aunt’s home in the countryside, along with her six friends: the brainy Prof, music-loving Melody, athletic Kung Fu, perpetually hungry Mac, gentle Sweet, and daydreamer Fantasy. One by one, the classmates fall victim to the house’s supernatural traps. This movie has everything: a disembodied head biting someone in the ass, a flesh-eating piano, mattresses falling from the sky, and an evil white Persian cat named Blanche. Really, it must be seen to be believed. Drag queen and self-described “bird-brained bombshell” Monday Mourning will give an introduction to the film, which is part of her “Mourning Sickness” series of camp and cult classics. (Northwest Film Forum, 7:30 pm) JULIANNE BELL