Grimes at Mercy Lounge (and Grimey's) vs. Gotye at the Ryman [Wednesday Round-Up]

Zeitgeist showdown! Or foreign pop experimentalist showdown. Or ... whatever you like. Canadian synth-pop songstress Grimes will appear tonight at Mercy Lounge, and

, Belgo-Aussie Sting-alike Gotye will hit the Mother Church. You could of course skip both and go to local singer-songwriter

. But for the sake of argument, let's say you're really torn between Grimes and Gotye — let's say you're that one undecided voter. Let's weigh your options. First up,

:

You know something’s up when Taylor Swift trades in the guitar-driven feel of her previous hits for a Max Martin four-on-the-floor dance groove. What’s up is this: Electronic dance music is well on its way to becoming the dominant pop flavor of the moment. And Grimes sits at its eccentric indie fringes, riding glitchy, synthy beats with a vocal sound a bit like a girlish young Madonna caught up in an Enya-like, reverb-cocooned trance. What Grimes — the Canadian singer-songwriter Claire Boucher — does has been called witch house, which is kind of a silly genre descriptor as these things go. But it does get at the built-in distance between her performances and the listener. Her latest album Visions is intriguing because from track to track, it conjures an evanescent alternate reality. —JEWLY HIGHT

Right on. Thanks, Jewly. Also, Grimes will appear at Grimey's today at 4 p.m. — there was

and everything. And if you're wondering what to wear to that,

.

Now, I wonder what Adam Gold has to say about Gotye ...