You’re clear to start counting down the days to Noise Pop. This Thursday begins 11 wondrous days of music/film biz takeover in San Francisco. The pre-party starts Thursday with famed electro act !!!, and doesn’t end until Caribou shuts off the lights at the Fillmore March 2. We’re Jessie Spano-excited.

Tuesday: Cursive at Great American Music Hall

When in doubt, embrace nostalgia. That’s essentially the credo adopted by virtually every band who produced a seminal album in the early 2000s. Indie rock trailblazers Cursive are currently jumping all over that bandwagon, celebrating the reissue of their 2003 breakthrough album The Ugly Organ. But trust this is an album worth celebrating, and the track below, "A Gentleman Caller," still stands as a defining song for turn-of-the-century emotive types (speaking for a friend).

Friday: Lotus at The Regency Ballroom

Jamtronica is a thing, and Lotus makes it an ok thing to like. The experimental electronic dance/post-rock band just released a self-title album that’s earning praise all over. The album builds on confidence of its first two releases — Hammerstrike (2008) and Oil on Glass/Feather on Wood (2009) — which put the Pennsylvania band on the national radar.

Friday: Touché Amoré at The Chapel

Los Angeles post-hardcore band’s latest album Is Survived By is a winning, jarring exhibition of a bare, exposed, welcoming psyche. If you’re looking to get into hardcore and need an accessible gateway band, Touche Amore fits the bill. Melody converges with raw instrument-beating for irresistible hook-manufacturing. And vocalist Jeremy Bolm is just that force. Leave your pom poms at home, but bring your shoulder pads.

Saturday: Sonny & The Sunsets at The Chapel

Are Sonny & the Sunsets the quintessential San Francisco band? I’m not quite sure what makes a San Francisco band a San Francsico band, but I have to think it should include some psychedelic aspect, a dose of weird, something that sounds Haight-Ashbury-an, must allude to weed, and the beach, and is just pretty chill. That’s essentially what Sonny and the Sunsets are. This will help put the pieces together:

Follow @ChrisTrenchard for more words like these.