GIG OF THE WEEK

THE WEEKND @ THE ORANGE PEEL, ASHEVILLE

Listening to The Weeknd, one can almost feel tides shifting. On any of three free mixtapes released since last year, the once-mysterious R&B outfit, helmed by honey-voiced crooner Abel Tesfaye, leads listeners on a shadowy after-hours tour of a skewed, drug-warped vision of pop where lust topples frequently into obsession.

But not only is Tesfaye a master of mixing murk and melody, he’s a zeitgeist-tapping staple of music-blog headlines walking a sturdy tightrope between Internet-indie cred and mainstream pop infiltration. It’s little wonder The Weeknd has collaborated with and been publicly praised by fellow Canadian crooner Drake, whose millennial update of R&B slow-jams is often insular and woozy in the manner of Tesfaye’s. Dismiss it if you must, with your hipster straw-men and PBR&B epithets; side with producer Jeremy Rose who claims his early and uncredited involvement The Weeknd set the band’s aesthetic in motion. Whatever crowd is drawn to the music, and whoever’s ultimately responsible for it, there’s little argument that The Weeknd is among a vanguard of revisionists casting R&B in compelling (and darker, more delirious) directions. (See also: The-Dream, Frank Ocean.) Not many artists get make their U.S. debut on the Coachella main-stage.

In a week when NPR interns and indie-rock veterans swap blog-posts that fill Facebook feeds with long-overdue debates about the monetary value of music, The Weekend slips into Asheville with a great and growing catalog of free albums, commanding a $30 ticket. This tide is rising, for sure. —Bryan C. Reed

SHUFFLE PRESENTS…

Company, Estrangers, Drag Sounds, T0W3Rs, etc. @ CFBG, GREENSBORO/LOCAL 506, CHAPEL HILL/VISULITE THEATRE, CHARLOTTE

Kicking off with a triple bill of awesomeness in Greensboro tonight, Shuffle is sponsoring a trio of shows across the Carolinas to highlight bands in our latest issue – our 16th; suck it, naysayers! – which features Charleston indie rockers Company on the cover. You can read Grayson Currin’s in-depth piece on Company (coming to the website tomorrow!), and get a taste of the band’s ability to “twinkle like The Go-Betweens and sprawl like My Morning Jacket, slink like Built to Spill and smile wide and wink narrow like The Shins” here.

Joining Company tonight at CFGB in G-boro are Estrangers, whom our man-about-the-Triad Ryan Snyder justifiably praised as “a dual keyboard, twin-guitar foundry of sunny analog pop,” and Drag Sounds, whose VU-inspired vibes first tickled our ears back in January, as noted here. (You can check out both Triad acts on the Summer 2012 ¡El Guapo! Sampler here.)

We mosey up the road Friday night for another triple-shot of rock & roll goodness at Chapel Hill’s Local 506 when Company and Estrangers share the bill with up-and-coming locals T0W3ERS – of whose debut Music Editor Jordan Lawrence opined in Issue #16, they “excitedly reappropriat(e) anything that has seen success in the indie realm in the last half-decade…with nary a bump.”

Then, on July 7, Company will be joined by some super secret special guests at Charlotte’s Visulite Theatre to close out our Carolinas tour of rock & roll summer spectacularity. We urge you all to come out, support some great young bands making some great new music, and try to get us to buy you a cold oats soda (void where prohibited, your mileage may vary, etc.). –John Schacht

CALENDAR

June 21

• Shuffle Presents: Estrangers, Company, Drag Sounds @ CFBG, Greensboro
• Iron Maiden w/ Alice Cooper @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Charlotte
• Dex Romweber & The New Romans @ Duke Gardens, Durham
• Lower Dens w/ No Joy @ Kings, Raleigh
• Grace Potter & The Nocturnals @ House of Blues, Myrtle Beach
• Brave Baby w/ Heyrocco @ Visulite Theatre, Charlotte
• The Weeks @ Casbah, Durham

June 22

• Shuffle Presents: T0W3RS, Company, Estrangers @ Local 506, Chapel Hill
• Tab-One & Sunshine J (album release) w/ Joe Scudda, Median @ Kings, Raleigh
• Des Ark w/ Humble Tripe, Justin Robinson @ Casbah, Durham
• Alice Cooper @ Raleigh Amphitheatre, Raleigh
• Brave Baby w/ Heyrocco @ Motorco, Durham
• Temperance League w/ Wylie Hunter & the Cazadores, Mark Crozer & the Rels @ Snug Harbor, Charlotte

June 23

• The Weeknd @ The Orange Peel, Asheville
• Jimbo Mathus & The Tri-State Coalition @ The Pour House, Charleston
• Birds With Teeth (album release) @ Tremont Music Hall, Charlotte
• Tim Barry @ The Milestone, Charlotte
• The Young w/ Serfs, Little Bull Lee @ Snug Harbor, Charlotte
• Matrimony w/Ancient Stories @ Neighborhood Theatre, Charlotte

June 24

• White Lung w/ Joint D≠, Infección, Chemical Peel @ The Milestone, Charlotte
• Still Flyin w/ Dead Fame, D&D Sluggers @ Motorco, Durham

June 25

• Shovels & Rope @ The Pour House, Charleston

June 26

• Terrible Feelings w/ Infección, Black Zinfandel @ Slim’s, Raleigh
• In One Wind @ Emerald Lounge, Asheville
• Jill Andrews @ The Pour House, Raleigh
• Porter Robinson @ Neighborhood Theatre, Charlotte

June 27

• Lost In The Trees w/ Daytona @ The Grey Eagle, Asheville
• Bombadil @ Duke Gardens, Durham
• Los Campesinos! @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
• Jill Andrews @ The Pour House, Charleston