This year's headliner: Art Brut.

Noise for the Needy is back with five days of concerts supporting a great cause.

This year, the money goes to Transitional Resources, a mental health center and residential program in West Seattle. Last year, NftN supported the similarly unflashy Urban Rest Stop, a downtown drop-in center.

The defining quality of NftN is reality: The organizations it benefits really do help people, and its bands really are good.

The big band this year is Art Brut, from England. Its music is upbeat punk rock, over which "singer" Eddie Argos speak-shouts poetry that's self-referential and often darkly funny: "Formed a Band" is about forming a band; the single from new album "Art Brut vs. Satan" is called "Alcoholics Unanimous." Art Brut plays Saturday, one of seven NftN music events that day.

The bulk of NftN's acts are local; the best and most diverse all-local showcase is Throw Me the Statue (sophisticated indie-pop), "Awesome" (sophisticated comic pop), and Velella Velella (sophisticated funk), Thursday at the Tractor Tavern.

Find Noise for the Needy's full schedule at noisefortheneedy.org.