MUSIC

Volta Bureau debuts at the U Street Music Hall tonight alongside Treasure Fingers. The local disco/house ensemble, with members Bernard Farley, Miguel Lacsamana, and Will Eastman, is basically a dance music power trio. Tonight they're just DJing, but check out their original productions on Soundcloud. 9 p.m.; $10.

A bunch of local indie rock guys (William Alberque, Brandon Moses, Alex Tebeleff, and Patrick Kigongo) are hosting a Factory Records Dance Party at LIV. They'll probably spin Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, Happy Mondays, OMD, and ESG; if they're badasses, they'll also spin Abecedarians and Biting Tongues. Doors at 9 p.m.; $5 after; 18+. Free crappy beer between 9 and 10 p.m.

Dame Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons read Shakespeare alongside Maestro Lorin Maazel and the Castleton Orchestra at the Music Center at Strathmore. Surprisingly, as of this writing, a few cheap ($25) tickets and plenty not-so-cheap ($150) tickets remain. 8 p.m.

Pusha T (of Clipse) and Cyhi da Prynce are playing a G.O.O.D Music concert somewhere in D.C. tonight, but the show's sponsor, Heineken, hasn't announced the venue yet. Since a beer company is sponsoring it, the show—wherever it is— is 21+. Cyhi da Prynce goes on at 8:30 p.m.; Pusha T at 9:30 p.m.; and it's hosted by Rob Kardashian's ex-girlfriend Adrienne Bailon. Weird. UPDATE: The show is at Lux Lounge.

Oh yeah, and after you see Swamp Dogg two times, stop by the Soul Train Dance Party (preceded by a probably interesting conversation) at the Folklife Festival's Motor City tent. Tyrone Proctor, an OG Soul Train dancer, will be there, and ?uestlove spins. 6 p.m.; free.

FILM

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers shows at Hirshhorn; in this 1956 sci-fi flick, "alien" is code for "communist," and aliens blow up the Washington Monument. 7 p.m.; free, first come, first serve.

Get lost, pal: A trio of 1960s road shows are on the docket at the Library of Congress tonight: "Then Came Bronson," "Route 66," and "Run For Your Life." 7:30 p.m.; free.

BOOKS

Singer-songwriter Josh Ritter reads from his well-liked debut novel Bright's Passage tonight at Politics & Prose. 7 p.m.; free.

TWEE AS FUCK

Jimmy Valentine's Lonely Hearts Club gets yarn-bombed, and DJ Sharkey provides the soundtrack. 5 p.m.; free.

Rick Ross. $25- $40. 9 p.m.- 3 a.m. Ibiza.

Rattler. Performing as the Misfits. 9:30 p.m. $10. Rock & Roll Hotel

Waka Flocka Flame (reviewed here) and Backyard Band. 10 p.m. D.C. Star. Call for reservations.

Serani. Mr. Vegas. Slick Rick. Free. 12 p.m. Howard University Yardfest

The Best of Saturday:

Bhangraween 2010 with DJ Rekha and special guest DJ Dredd $13-$15. 9 p.m. show.  Black Cat

The Rest of Sunday:

Maher Zain. $16-$40. 6pm show. Lisner Auditorium.

Bettie Serveert  8 pm. $15. IOTA Club & Café.

The Whispers. $75. 7:30 pm. Birchmere. 

Ganglians: "Lost Words"
Remember that scene in Animal House where John Belushi rips the guitar out of a hippie's hands and smashes it to bits against the wall? "Lost Words," by Sacramento's Ganglians, might insight a similar style of blind rage, at least for the hot tempered. Gilded in reedy falsettos and cascading waves of autumnal guitar, this is, ostensibly, a song about going to the grocery store.

Black Meteoric Star: "Death Tunnel"
A name can go a long way in techno. Were this song composed under a more upbeat moniker and given a title with a little more sunshine, it could easily be misconstrued as party music. But this is "Death Tunel," by Black Meteoric star, and as such, the track's pulsing sequenced synths suggest something more sinister. This is music for vintage-sci-fi dystopia and the darkest old-school Nintendo games.

Gang Gang Dance: "First Communion (TV on The Radio Remix)"
Less of a remix than a grudge-match between Manhattan and Brooklyn's two most widely discussed art-rock bands. But there are no winners or losers here, just judiciously programmed 909s. TV on The Radio hurls itself into one of the better songs from Gang Gang Dance's Saint Dymphna, stripping off some of the original's lush synthesizers and locking down the tempo to a steady, if jittery, pulse. It's hard to call it an improvement, but it's hardly a throwaway.

Tickets go on sale today for the University of Maryland's Second Annual Fall Semester Sound-Off, featuring hip-hop heroes of the DMV, Clipse and Wale. The show is scheduled for September 25th at the Grand Ballroom of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union, with openers Consequence and Southeast Slim kicking things off at 7:30pm. I'm not a student at UMD, and have no fall semester to sound off, but you can bet your keg that I'm excited.

Clipse consists of Virginia Beach brothers Malice and Pusha-T, two of the sharpest lyricists in gangsta rap's increasingly ludicrous, hyper-capitalist legions. The two have a fresh self-titled album with partners-in-coke Sandman and Ab-Liva as the Re-Up Gang, coming off their promising mixtape earlier in the year, We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. III: The Spirit of Competition. Clipse Presents: Re-Up Gang dropped in early August to some disappointed reviews, many of which pointed to the record's slinky production tactics as the culprit. It's true, the release is far from the icy genius of the Neptunes-backed Hell Hath No Fury; though the beats aim at mirroring Miami Vice flashiness with the cutthroat minimalism of their first two full-lengths, it comes off awkward and excessive among their clever, calculated deliveries. But a close listen to the brothers Thornton's lines will reveal proof that they've still got jaw-dropping lyrical stride, regardless of the backing track. Expect them to blow it up live as well.

Joining Clipse on the bill is Wale, born and raised in D.C. and Maryland. He's fresh off the release of his newest Mixtape About Nothing (his fourth mixtape overall), an eclectic outing filled liberally with Seinfeld samples and go go-sponsored kicks. According to an interview with Giant magazine, Wale has an upcoming, "guest-heavy" mixtape produced by North Cackalacky's own 9th Wonder, with his official debut album set to drop sometime next year, maybe? Regardless, the dude is definitely on the up and up, and it's exciting to see what will come of his vision and energy in the next couple years.

Southeast Slim is a fellow DC emcee who barks alongside cohorts C aka Mo Murda, Zo Wit No E, Big Dice, and Mean Eights. Slim has done production work for Wale in the past, and is a self-confessed Soulja Boy fan. Queens-based rapper Consequence rounds out the lineup, best know for his work with A Tribe Called Quest, of which his cousin Q-Tip was the leader.

Check the Student Entertainment Events' Web site for the details, which mainly involve going to the Hoff Ticket Office on UMD campus to purchase your pass.