Tonight in Cleveland - July 24th edition

Tonight is like a city-wide battle of the bands contest, but instead of competing for $50 and the right to take home the chick in white jeans with the hairsprayed bangs, the competition is over which show you are gonna see. Here are your choices, in order of the official CB ranking, with my favorite choice first ... the Afternoon Naps at bela dubby.

Option 1) Afternoon Naps with openers Iji (Seattle) and Watercolor Paintings (Santa Barbara)

Sure, the Naps are locals, but that doesn't mean they aren't the awesomest indie pop this side of Camera Obscura and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Plus, I've been just digging Iji since I checked out their myspace page once I saw they were opening. Watercolor Paintings is also super tight, so you have a full night of fun with this one. Plus, when was the last time you went to bela dubby?

Option 2) The Veils with Foreign Born and Faces on Film

Waterloo Road might just have the biggest bang for your buck tonight, the above indie pop goodness notwithstanding. Between the FREE birthday in-store featuring Brent from Menomena playing tracks from his upcoming Ramona Falls release beforehand at Music Saves and the also FREE post-show DJ party (DJ'd by The Veils) also in honor of Music Saves, the actual Veils/Foreign Born show itself might be somewhat of an afterthought. However, it shouldn't be, as both bands are on top of their respective games right now, with both bands recent releases (The Veils have Sun Gang off Rough Trade and Foreign Born has Person to Person off Secretly Canadian - BOTH are available at Music Saves for purchase before/during/after the show) getting rave reviews from smart critics all over the country.

Option 3) The Very Knees with The Library is On Fire and My Device

If you don't want to go twee and you don't want to kick it in Waterloo, your next best bet is to hit up everyone's favorite Clevo dive venue, Now That's Class. Local heroes The Very Knees are set to release a ripping new record soon, and everything I've been hearing about Brooklyn visitors The Library is on Fire is positive.

Point is - you have at least three solid options tonight, so before you finish that sentence when you whine about nothing to do in Cleveland, slap yourself in the face, shut up, and pick one of these shows to go to.