Not to offend all my bassist friends out there, but the Two Piece Fest West taking place this weekend begs the question: who needs ’em? Apparently not this collection of duos. Including numerous Bay Area acts along with out-of-towners ranging from Portland to Philadelphia, the lineup is full of aggressive, hard-hitting music that makes up for the lack of low-end with pulverizing beats, scathing riffs and pure attitude. Not to mention a surprising amount of diversity. There’s math-rock from Mountain View with Floral, the bone-shattering/heart-stopping grind of +HIRS+, sludgy fuzz in Tweak Bird, straight-up punk rock courtesy of 1994! and so, so many more.

The mini-festival starts Friday at 1234 Go! Records and ends suitably at 924 Gilman Saturday night. Two days, two members per band, plenty of killer music to go around.

Peter & Craig, 1994!, Blaster Dead, Floral
1234 Go! Records
March 6, 2015
7pm, $7 (all ages)

The Body, +HIRS+, Tweak Bird, plus many more
924 Gilman
March 7, 2015
4pm, $12 (all ages)