Hit Pick

The Tarmints help break in a new performance space with a triple-bill show that includes the Cool-Rays and the Fifth Utility. On Saturday, December 29, the three bands will share the stage of the newly restored Oriental Theatre on 44th Avenue and Tennyson, a space now used by the Artists’ Collaborative Theater as well as the occasional rock-and-roll trifecta. Each of the bands on the bill has a different specialty: The sounds originating in the Cool-Rays’ heads tend to go (power) pop, while the Tarmints’ smart rock navigates dark, demanding places. Relative newcomer the Fifth Utility has an auspicious debut with the dense, post-punk Misanthropolis. Combined, they make for a solid, powerful and pleasingly diverse night of indigenous sounds.