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Arts & Music

Advance Notice: The Week in Concerts 11/9-15

Consider me your new social secretary, here to sift through the week in music so you don’t have to, providing pithy commentary where absolutely necessary and rants/raves wherever else.

Mon – 11/9

  • Alela Diane / Marissa Nadler @ The ArtsCenter in Carrboro – Alela Diane’s music may be California neu-folk, but it’s inspired by the oldest ilk of balladic warbling and amorous waltzing.  The songs are not sickly sweet, so much as old, weary, idyllic.  Her dulcet tones and gentle fingerpicking will make you want to run through fields, start muttering stanzas about “brambles” and fall in love just so you can break it off and go weep on some mountainside (or maybe that’s just me). These and other visions just $10 and as a bonus the lovely Marissa Nadler opens.
  • The Blakes / The Jackets @ Local 506 – Given The Blakes mix of Strokes-esque pop hooks with rattling garage rock, it’s a pity this brother duo hasn’t had more traction.  Their self-titled debut has been in my regular rotation off and on for two years, thanks to bouncy rockers like “Don’t Bother Me” and “Two Times.” Cough up the $8, it’s bound to be a good time.
  • Blind Pilot  / The Low Anthem @ Cat’s Cradle – I confess I don’t really care about Blind Pilot, but I do love (love.) The Low Anthem.  These kids went from recycle crew to wildly popular featured artists at the Newport Folk Fest all in one year thanks to the strength of 2008’s Oh My God, Charlie Darwin.  Buy it, or at least download “Charlie Darwin.” Seriously, oh my god, $10 adv / $12 day of the show.

Monday is hard.

Wed – 11/11

  • Jackson Browne @ DPAC – Hey look, it’s Jackson Browne, oh yeah and it’s $30, $40, or $55.
  • Chris Knight @ Lincoln Theatre – Little known, but much respected Kentucky songwriter flaunts his roots for $14 adv / $17 day of the show.

Thurs – 11/12

  • Lake Inferior / Honored Guests / Gift Horse @ Local 506 – Release show for a new 10″ from Lake Inferior. Get into the show and pick up a copy, all for $7.

Fri – 11/13

  • Alejandro Escovedo / Lambchop @ Reynolds Theatre $28, $22, $5 for Duke Students
  • Eileen Jewell / Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles @ Berkeley Café $10 adv / $12 day of the show
  • Minus the Bear / The Temper Trap / Twin Tigers @ Cat’s Cradle $18 adv / $20 day of the show
  • The Travelin’ McCoury’s @ Pine Cone $21-$23 Pine Cone members; $23-$25 general public

Fri/Sat – 11/13-14

  • The 5th Annual Black Beard’s Lost Weekend @ The Cave $7 each night – Purportedly, “a filthy, primal garage rock festival of the lowest and most repugnant order,” this thrashing in Chapel Hill’s oldest tavern features (if their names are to be believed) a riotous lineup.   Friday night, Pinche Gringo and the Lonesome Chihuahuas, Satan’s Youth Ministers, The Humms, and Trashcans take the cave.  Thursday, Dirty Little Heaters, The Electric Cycles, Nervous Habits, Rough Hands, and Thee Crucials, round out the calamity.  I can’t vouch to the quality of any of these bands, but I doubt they’d want me to.  Just $7 each night to lose your weekend.

Sat – 11/14

  • Dan Auerbach / Jessica Lee Mayfield / Justin Townes Earl @ Cat’s Cradle – Taking a step out from under The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach comes to lambaste the Cradle with his own brand of dirty spook rock.  For his gritty grooves, you’ll have the pleasure of waiting through honky-tonk charmer Justin Townes Earl and indie folk maiden Jessica Lee Mayfield.  It’s not a bad package deal for $20.
  • Fin Fang Foom / Ben Davis and the Jetts / Maple Stave @  Local 506 – Scrappy, locals Fin Fang Foom and Ben Davies and the Jetts, are throwing a joint release party, probably so they can fight over who has the more bad ass new record.  We’re in for that kind of duel. $Free. Need I say more?

Sun – 11/15

  • Langhorne Slim / Dawes @ Cat’s Cradle – Should you find yourself restless Sunday evening, there’s hardly a better place to wander than in earshot of  Langhorne Slim.   Although, a friend tells me his new record, Be Set Free, amounts to a disappointingly overwrought polishing and repackaging of his old shtick, that old shtick is pretty fertile ground.   Whatever qualms the new record may or may not warrant, it’s doubtful the live show has lost the rambunctious spirit that gave Slim and his cohort street cred in the first place.  Catch them setting ’em up and knocking ’em down again for just $13 adv / $15 day of the show.
  • Joshua Radin / The Watson Twins / The Kins @ Lincoln Theatre – Australian pretty boy brothers, then creepy close (aka twin) harmonies, and then probably a lot of crying. I mean that in the nicest way possible.  $16 adv / $18 day of the show
  • Hallelujah the Hills / Anders Parker @ Local 506 $8