THERE’S SOMETHING GOING ON THAT’S ACTUALLY QUITE RIGHT
U.K. band Wire came of age in the first wave of punk, but they’re perhaps more responsible than any other band for pushing punk beyond its three-chord, rude boy roots into something more artful and articulate. Released between 1977 and 1979, Wire’s first three records — Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, and 154 — are as genre-scrambling, legacy-certifying, perfect a run you’ll see from any band. Their would-be fourth record, Change Becomes Us, never got recorded, as the band splintered and broke up until reuniting in 1985. Most of what they’ve released since then has been mediocre.

But earlier, Wire went back and recorded the material that would’ve been on their fourth album, and, wouldn’t you know it, Changes Becomes Us is good: a knotty, aurally dense art-punk document that slots in nicely behind that three-pronged opening salvo from the late ’70s. On Tuesday night, Wire will play at the Bowery Ballroom, with Bear in Heaven opening. Definitely don’t miss this one. Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, Lower East Side, Tuesday at 8 p.m.

A PRETTY SHOW, TONIGHT

California singer and songwriter Julia Holter makes deliberate, atmospheric bedroom pop, which scans at first as ephemeral until you discover the melodies bobbing to the surface of your mind days later. The muted keys and Holter’s lovely, high voice are haloed in reverb, making her albums rewarding headphone listens; although Le Poisson Rouge, where she’ll play tonight, makes for the perfect live venue. Plaintive freak-folkie Jessica Pratt will open. (le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, tonight at 7:30 pm.

OBLITERATE YR MIND

285 Kent is gonna be noisy tonight. Lexington, Kentucky-based psychedelic noise band Hair Police will play. Their music is grim, caustic and outre, lacking almost any rhythmic or melodic structure. It’s best experienced rather than “listened to.” Pharmakon, a fast-rising up-and-coming 22-year-old New Yorker in the experimental noise scene, will also play, giving lie to the supposition that the NYC noise scene was ever a boy’s club. 285 Kent Ave, Williamsburg, tonight at 9 p.m.

A FEW OTHER THINGS:

–Black metal technicians Krallice will play this weekend at Public Assembly, in case your ears stopped ringing after the Hair Police/Pharmakon show. Public Assembly, 70 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Sunday at 8 p.m.

–Transnational garage-rock band The Beets have been regulars around these parts, releasing records on Captured Tracks and Hardly Art. They’ll bring their care-free jangles to Glasslands next week. Glasslands, 289 Kent Ave, Williamsburg, Thursday at 8:30 p.m.