THURSDAY 6.13The Cutthroats 9 -- Chris Spencer unleashed a new band, The Cutthroats 9, after his other band, noise rock specialists Unsane, disbanded. The Cutthroats 9 have a similar attitude and a guttural sound that'll make your teeth clinch down as to make eyeballs bulge. The blues undercurrents are still there and the sound is a bit more contoured (if that's possible), with Spencer's brutal Fender swinging through the air. It's unfortunate their self-titled debut record is now hard to find due to their label, Man's Ruin, folding. Fat City (Shukla)
Dar Williams -- Critical Dar-ling Williams' last offering, The Green World, was one of the better folkie releases of its year. It was polished for VH1 consumption (which didn't work), but Williams' trademark, emotionally charged songwriting remained, reflecting her in all its wonderful eccentricity. Word has it she's touring with a band this time around, helping to flesh out the sound she's heretofore carried primarily with just a weathered old acoustic guitar. Great Aunt Stella Center (Davis)
FRIDAY 6.14Poprocket / Django Haskins / The Shiners -- After two years with the group, bass player Jeffrey Larish has left Poprocket to do the Lou Ford thing full time. Head Poprocket Jay Garrigan and drummist Shawn Lynch will play in the meantime as a garage-y sort of duo. The band's also planning to do some recording later next month at Winston-Salem's Electromagnetic Radiation Recorders, with a new bass player who they won't yet name. All I can tell you is it's a guy (they're gonna kill me). A white dude. Plays rock bass. Collects records and such. Drinks beer. / Django Haskins, recently relocated to Chapel Hill from New York City, might be one of the more underrated straight-up-pop Costello-like performers on the East Coast. Poignant, funny, and a showman all at the same time. Nice rapier wit, too. I said rapier. (Davis) / Virginia's Wes & Jyl Freed were the leaders of the long-running and respected Americana band Dirtball. After Dball imploded, the Freeds gathered up like-minded comrades to come up with a new band and its own agenda of Appalachian rock, The Shiners. There are bits of bluegrass, swing and plenty of southern twang. The still is gurgling a fresh batch of hooch and the mountains are hollering, so you'd better listen. The Evening Muse (Shukla)
Zendik Music Festival -- Zendik Farm is a commune of sorts boasting a collective of artists, musicians, dancers and craftsmen living and working onsite. This event is their second annual summer music festival and runs for three days with the majority of the bands performing on Friday and Saturday. Charlotte's own popsters Major Nelson and rockers Babyshaker have been lined up along with Townhall, Laura Blackley Band and Zendik's in-house outfit Arol & the Zendik Project, a sorta Nico for the new century. Check Zendik.org for a full lineup of bands and info on the farm's inhabitants and their philosophical musings. Zendik Farm, Mill Spring (Shukla)
SATURDAY 6.15David Wilcox -- A calm and serene storyteller, Wilcox also spins witty tunes on his acoustic guitar while a perfectly honed voice enhances the whole aura. Wilcox is a singer-songwriter based in Asheville, and listening to his music is like putting on a warm overcoat on a particularly chilly evening. Don't look for any tricks on the six strings or any attitude from the mic as he presses forth plugging his new album, Live Stories and Songs (W.A.R). Neighborhood Theatre (Shukla)
The Rocking Horse Winner -- On their newest, Horizon, singer Jolie Lindholm's voice continues to lie at the front of the mix, though her Harriet Wheeler-like voice expands and expounds over more adventurous, rock-based terrain this time around, forsaking mope for hope on more songs than not. Fans of TRHW's last, State of Feeling Concentration, won't feel lost, but it may take a bit of time to adjust to the more indie-fried sound. That said, it's probably worth showing up to see even if she just wailed into a trash can all night. Females with siren-like voices fronting indie bands are not uncommon, but to find one who uses it more like a pickaxe than a bulldozer is rarer than you might think. She works at the emotion, surrounds it, and presents, rather than flattening, you with it. Oh, and the band's pretty good, too. With First Night On Earth, Charlotte's own fine electro/ethereal rockers. Tremont Music Hall (Davis)
MONDAY 6.17Ben Folds -- One of the few similar pop musicians who tops Folds' style of rock craft is the one and only king of geek rock, Elvis Costello. Now Folds has left behind his old band, Ben Folds Five, and jumped into a spiffy solo record released last year and appropriately titled Rockin' the Suburbs. Folds does extra duty by playing most of the music and creates fresh rock with piano as the lead instrument, tempered with an illuminating rhythm covering. Tremont Music Hall (Shukla)
WEDNESDAY 6.19Songwriter Night -- Nice bill here, featuring ex-Lodestafarian Jeff Williams, who's now currently showcasing some of his best stuff yet since leaving the confines of a band; the fractured, weblike style and sanguine voice of Kate Felder; the multi-talented Mike Mitschele, doing the acoustic guitar thing this time around; and the Quixotic Jay Garrigan, now doing more of a garage thing (and rather well, as recent shows have proven). The Evening Muse (Davis) *
