GIG OF THE WEEK

Photo by Jeremy M. Lange

Sept. 20

SPIDER BAGS w/ THE GOLDEN BOYS, LIMES @ KINGS, RALEIGH

Right now, Chapel Hill’s Spider Bags are the best they’ve been. They’re a proven live unit, condensed to a tight and stable trio comfortable enough with its set-list that the songs bend and warp to fit whatever mood frontman Dan McGee feels like steering them into. The band’s recently issued third album, Shake My Head, is one of the year’s best local releases, its wry lyrics cast perfectly against tangled twang that accelerates like punk rock. Lurching from punk sprints into psychedelic twists; from country moan to a staggering James Brown cover, Shake My Head captures the wild and versatile band as it is in the flesh. Records don’t often capture the rambunctious energy of the stage, but the loose, uninhibited performance on the album is due in part, perhaps, to the cavalcade of guests that found their way into the studio. Members of Austin, Texas’ Golden Boys were among those throngs. Sort of a spiritual brother-band to Spider Bags, The Golden Boys — and their frontman John Wesley Coleman — complement McGee and the Bags’ stagger and swagger with a buoyant pop-fueled sound skewed by the same sardonic worldview. Memphis’ Shawn Cripps also found his way onto Shake My Head, even earning a song title (“Shawn Cripps Boogie”). He’ll open this gig with his band Limes, whose 2011 outing Tarantula is a joyous mess of greasy twang and slacker drawl. —Bryan C. Reed

CALENDAR

September 20

• Girl Talk w/ ST 2 Lettaz @ The Longbranch, Raleigh
• Mount Eerie @ Grey Eagle, Asheville
• Some Army @ Soapbox, Wilmington
• Maps & Atlases @ Emerald Lounge, Asheville
• Holy Ghost Tent Revival @ The Whiskey, Wilmington
• The Farewell Drifters w/ Analog Daze @ Evening Muse, Charlotte

September 21

• Tift Merritt w/ Megafaun, Mandolin Orange @ Town Commons, Carrboro
• Girl Talk @ House of Blues, Myrtle Beach
• Twin Shadow w/ Niki and The Dove @ The Orange Peel, Asheville
• Elonzo @ New Brookland Tavern, Columbia
• Holy Ghost Tent Revival @ Visulite Theatre, Charlotte
• The Old Ceremony w/ Megafaun (acoustic) @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
• Joe Buck Yourself w/ 2013 Wolves @ Snug Harbor, Charlotte
• Some Army w/ Estrangers @ The Garage, Winston-Salem

September 22

• Shuffle presents: Temperance League, Company, Where’s Wolves @ Neighborhood Theatre, Charlotte
• Some Army (EP release) @ Local 506, Chapel Hill
• Billy Sugarfix’s Carousel w/ Beloved Binge, Ellertronic (three-album release) @ The Pinhook, Durham
• Junior Astronomers @ New Brookland Tavern, Columbia
• Bowerbirds @ Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw, NC

September 23

• Twin Shadow w/ Niki and The Dove @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro

September 24

• The Wombats @ Visulite Theater, Charlotte

September 25

• Mark Kozelek @ Grey Eagle, Asheville
• The Imposters w/ Almost People @ Motorco, Durham
• Drag Sounds (cassette release) @ Krankies Coffee, Winston-Salem
• RPE Duo @ Tate Hall, Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte
• The Corin Tucker Band @ Local 506, Chapel Hill
• Cate Le Bon @ Kings, Raleigh
• Chris Wilson & Planet Earth @ Evening Muse, Charlotte

September 26

• Fiona Apple @ The Fillmore, Charlotte
• Eternal Summers w/ Bleeding Rainbow, Yardwork, Blossoms @ The Haunted Mill, Belmont
• Stars w/ Diamond Rings @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
• Toro y Moi w/ The Choir Quit, Can’t Kids, Organos @ Motorco Music Hall, Raleigh
• RPE Duo @ Altamont Theatre, Asheville
• Andy the Doorbum @ Snug Harbor, Charlotte