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You can draw a nuanced line from Double Dagger’s atypical art punk to the fact that two-thirds of the Baltimore band runs a graphic-design studio known for its clean and witty inventions, but really, the first thing you need to know is this: Double Dagger’s visuals are fantastic. That they look like pasty everymen puts them in a string of nerdy post-hardcore groups stretching from Frodus to Lightning Bolt—-and like those bands, Double Dagger juxtaposes its members’ ostensible plainness with destructive, unpredictable live sets. (Stand close to the stage, and expect to make physical contact with frontman Nolen Strals.) The songs include two-minute ragers, lengthy and elliptical dirges, and way more intellectual wankery than an outfit with no guitarist should be able to get away with. It’s too bad this tour is Double Dagger’s last: This band isn’t meant to be remembered through the inevitable posthumous releases. 8 p.m. at Black Cat Backstage. $10. (Jonathan L. Fischer)
MUSIC
British electronic musician Mark Fell will perform pieces from his album Multistability at Artisphere tonight. Fell follows local sound artist Richard Chartier, who will focus on excerpts from A Field for Mixing, his recent album of field recordings. 8 p.m. $15 (donations welcome).
City Paper contributor Steve Kiviat recommends tonight’s Baaba Maal concert at Birchmere, which he predicts will be very different from the Senegalese singer’s last show in town.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s Hanson at State Theatre. 8 p.m. $30-$35.
BOOKS
New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson is not a pushover, normally. But when it comes to dogs, she is their doting servant. Hear all about it tonight when Abramson reads from her book, The Puppy Diaries: Raising a Dog Named Scout, at Politics & Prose. 7 p.m. Free.
David M. Kennedy is known for his work on the Boston Gun Project, an anti-crime initiative that took an alternative approach to preventing gun violence. Tonight he discusses his book Don’t Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America at Busboys & Poets’ 5th & K location. 6:30 p.m. Free.