Mission of Burma, 2wice (Live at Great Scott, 2008)

Mission of Burma, Academy Fight Song (Live at Great Scott, 2008)

As Justin Timberlake says, what goes around comes around: as the story goes, Mission of Burma took their name off a consulate building they happened to pass in New York.

Mission of Burma will play Great Scott on January 20, in what will be the band's most intimate hometown performance since their first-ever reunion gig (which was itself a secret warmup gig for their official reunion shows a few nights later) at the now-defunct 608 in Somerville, six years ago to the month.

We gather the gig is a benefit in some fashion for Myanmar (the country formerly known as Burma), and we'll add details when our Googling produces something reliable.

DOWNLOAD: Noel Heroux, "I Don't Want To Get Over You (Magnetic Fields cover)" (mp3)

It’s impossible to make a Magnetic Fields song sound any darker. Stephin Merritt cannot be out-baritoned. And as songs about doomed love affairs go, no one is likely to sharpen the streak of Meritt’s self-abnegating black comedy, of which this is among the best examples.

DOWNLOAD: Stephen Brodsky's Octave Museum, "Kid Defender" (mp3)

Cave-In fans who've grown beards while waiting for Brodsky's lo-fi, indie-folk solo output to crystallize into something louder are hereby warned not to miss his forthcoming disc Octave Museum (HydraHead), his most consistent outing since his unreleased-but-widely-bootlegged Static Intellect

You know us: we sweat E6. Long-time Elephant 6er Bryan Poole, who plays guitar in Of Montreal and bass in Elf Power, and his quirky, über-catchy LATE B.P. HELIUM open for Bloomington's the IMPOSSIBLE SHAPES at Great Scott | 1222 Comm Ave, Allston | 617.734.4502.

DOWNLOAD: The Late BP Helium, "They Broke the Speed of Light and Sound" (via You Ain't No Picasso)

DRIVE LIKE JULY's hyperactive-lunatic frontman, Silas Copathic, began his musical career as a mild-mannered trombonist in the Duxbury High School marching band. But as he came out of his shell and became more psy-chopathic (get it?) over the years, he started writing minor-key-melody-driven punk-metal tunes, perfected his scream, and put a band together.