GIGS OF THE WEEK

THE FEELIES @ CAT’S CRADLE, CARRBORO

The Feelies proved to be the missing link between the Velvet Underground, early REM, Yo La Tengo, Galaxie 500, Luna and other like-minded jangle-noise-and-drone acts. (Might as well throw in regionals The Kingsbury Manx in here, too.) The Feelies debuted with Crazy Rhythms in 1980, when short and loud or synth and pop were largely the musical orders of the day. Four of the nine cuts clocked in at over five minutes, including the opener, “The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness,” as aptly titled a song as could be given the band’s skittering rhythms. Guitarists Bill Million and Glenn Mercer wove sinewy and hypnotic guitar lines for which Keith Clayton and Anton Fier provided the propulsive rhythmic framework. After the band left Britain’s Stiff Records for A&M, and the rhythm section changed, the VU influence became even more noticeable — Mercer’s sing/speak vocals and the metronomic beats the most obvious examples. But when the label imprint Rough Trade crashed and burned it left dozens of bands — and much of the Feelies’ legacy — in the lurch, and after 1991’s Time for a Witness the band drifted into obscurity. So when last year’s Here Before emerged, surprise was soon eclipsed by joy at how the band sounded like it’d never been idle at all. Live, The Feelies have always been sneaky fiery, those long interwoven guitar lines inducing a pleasant euphoria punctuated by occasional noise-fits. A welcome return —John Schacht

Photo by Val Hollingsworth

THE HANDSOME FAMILY @ LOCAL 506, CHAPEL HILL & SNUG HARBOR, CHARLOTTE

The Handsome Family makes “music that mines the deep veins of fatalism in the Appalachian voice,” wrote Greil Marcus, which is his fancy-pants way of saying Brett and Rennie Sparks are some dark-ass motherfuckers. The 20-year songwriting collaboration between husband and wife Brett (music) and Rennie (words) has always reflected real Americana, echoing everything from medieval ballad to Appalachian holler to Tin Pan Alley and punk rock. Their songs explore the underbellies of society and humanity in general, whether they’re singing about cathedrals in Cologne or being drunk at noon. Shit gets so dark you only hope the words aren’t too autobiographical, but there’s also a thread of black humor running through their songs. That combination probably accounts for all the covers of Handsome Family songs you from the likes of Jeff Tweedy, Andrew Bird, Christy Moore, The Sadies, Sally Timms and Cerys Matthews, among others.  Live, the band consists of the happy couple on vocals — Brett with an electric guitar and Rennie with bass and banjo — alongside Jason Toth on percussion and glockenspiel. Fans will hear selections from the band’s rich catalog as well as new ones which are set to appear on a release early next year. According to Rennie, the latest batch of songs are about “wildebeest, giant caterpillars, woodpeckers, frogs and the glow worm at the center of the world.” In other words, wonderful business as usual.  —John Schacht

CALENDAR

Festival

Sept. 14-16: Jomeoke Music and Arts Festival (with Patterson Hood, Del McCoury Band, Stephen Marley and more), Pinnacle

September 13

• Cheap Time @ Broadway’s, Asheville

September 14

• Cheap Time @ The Haunted Mill, Belmont
• Faun Fables @ Conundrum, Columbia
• Molly Nilsson @ The Pinhook, Durham
• Blues Control @ Duke Coffeehouse, Durham
• Big K.R.I.T. @ Tremont Music Hall, Charlotte
• Jaill w/ Fergus & Geronimo, Naked Gods @ The Blind Tiger, Greensboro

September 15

• Molly Nilsson @ Apothecary, Asheville
• Jaill w/ Fergus & Geronimo, Co. @ Tin Roof, Charleston
• WHY? w/ Doseone, Serengeti, DJ Thanksgiving Brown @ Motorco, Durham
• Blues Control @ CFBG’s, Greensboro
• Turbo Fruits @ Broadway’s, Asheville
• Grohg @ The Milestone, Charlotte

September 16

• WHY? w/ Doseone, Serengeti, DJ Thanksgiving Brown @ Grey Eagle, Asheville
• Bombadil @ New Brookland Tavern, Columbia
• The Milk Carton Kids @ Altamont Brewery, Asheville

September 17

• Metric @ The Fillmore, Charlotte
• Guided By Voices @ The Orange Peel, Asheville
• The Album Leaf w/ Tycho @ Visulite Theatre, Charlotte

September 18

• The Album Leaf w/ Tycho @ Grey Eagle, Asheville
• The Adicts w/ The Bastages @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro

September 19

• Amon Tobin @ Brooks Center for the Performing Arts, Clemson
• Mount Eerie w/ Ghost to Falco @ Duke Coffeehouse, Durham
• The Album Leaf w/ Tycho @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
• Al Green @ DPAC, Durham
• William Elliott Whitmore w/ Samantha Crain @ Grey Eagle, Asheville
• Saint Vitus w/ Weedeater, Sourvein @ Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh
• Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby @ Berkeley Cafe, Raleigh
• Andy the Doorbum @ Snug Harbor, Charlotte
• Passion Pit @ The Fillmore, Charlotte