The guide to the week’s concerts

10.12 BONNIE RAITT, SARAH SISKIND @ DPAC

Age hasn’t dulled Bonnie Raitt’s gifts: Her first album in seven years, Slipstream, proves that she remains as soulful and expressive as ever. Producer Joe Henry pens a couple of tracks. More important, he wrings a tight sympathetic sound on her behalf from his usual backing band. Her vocals sound deeper and grittier than usual, while the supporting cast supplies a blues-rock crackle to Raitt’s covers. Among the many exquisite choices are the gospel-tinged Henry/Loudon Wainwright III co-write “You Can Fail Me Now” and the greasy soul-rock of Randall Bramblett’s “Down To You.” The show is sold out, but there’s always the Internet. Sarah Siskind opens. 8 p.m. Chris Parker

10.12 IVAN NEVILLE’S DUMSTAPHUNK @ SOUTHLAND BALLROOM

If you’ve seen or heard Dumpstaphunk, you probably aren’t in need of convincing again. Founded and fueled by Neville offspring, they’re direct descendants of the Big Easy’s original funk trailblazers. They uphold the long heritage with loose, electrified jams. That said, these cats are definitely a generation removed, employing a more predictable modern palette that checks the usual suspects from JB and Bootsy to Kool & The Gang and Teddy Pendergrass. Still, they’re great players buoyed by intoxicating energy. Adherents won’t blanche, but casual enthusiasts might need more patience (or alcohol). The Jeff Sipe Trio opens. $12–$15/9 p.m. Chris Parker

10.13 LEAGUES @ THE POUR HOUSE

Former Triangle resident Thad Cockrell now fronts Nashville trio Leagues, which finds Cockrell deviating from the familiar territory of alt-country fare into indie-imbued pop-rock. Though the group plans to release a full-length early next year, its lone recording to datea three-song, self-titled EPcoats the handclaps and harmonies of classic power pop with a modern gloss. “Mind Games” is the spirited standout, leveraging the vintage feel of its soaring melody with a snappy rhythm and layers of chiming guitars and rousing horns. Wisconsin five-piece Foreign Fields opens; they channel the crisp chill of their home state with shimmering, electronically infused folk. $10–$12/7:30 p.m. Spencer Griffith

10.13 ADELYN ROSE, HUMBLE TRIPE @ NIGHTLIGHT

If there’s a common thread from Adelyn Rose to Humble Tripe, it’s subtlety. Given the brittle elements of Rose’s folk-leaning style, including woodwinds and wispy distortion, one might be tempted to term her songs twee. But the Wisconsin singer is indebted to a more traditional lineage of songwriting, leaning on the simple tunes and striking images of her forebears. Humble Tripe anchors its multifaceted folk with understated melody. Banjo prickles give way to graceful bongo taps and droning violin, never overpowering the softly piercing voice of singer Shawn Luby. Clinton Johnson, the solo guise of Schooner frontman Reid Johnson, opens. $6/9:30 p.m. Jordan Lawrence

10.13 PERFUME GENIUS @ ARTSCENTER

Put Your Back N 2 It is the unfortunately named second album of Perfume Genius, a Seattle songwriter who sometimes negates the seriousness of his work with flip irony or silly stunts. Still, the album obviates the abecedarian divide between delicate and destructive. Mike Hadreas quietly eases out emotionally fraught songs on guitar and piano, letting you get close enough to see the damage to the characters struggling in his songs. With Dusted. $13–$15/8:30 p.m. Grayson Currin

10.13 SUBURBAN NIGHTMARE FESTIVAL @ APEX MASONIC LODGE

When the Raleigh hardcore band Last Words played at Slim’s in August, lead singer Marina Madden made no secret of her distaste for performing in a bar. Espousing a straight-edge philosophy and naming friends whose age forbade their attendance, the band ripped through a vicious, spiteful set. Maybe they’ll be in a better mood opening this for-the-kids punk-and-metal spectacle. There will be no booze, there’s a 10 p.m. curfew, and the sets will be short enough to for eight bands to fit comfortably into a five-hour window. Between Last Words and the Brooklyn black metal headliners Mutilation Rights, attendees will be treated to D-beat purists No Tomorrow, local power-violence trio Abuse and four more. $10/5 p.m. Bryan C. Reed

10.13 THE DEMON BEAT, THE MERCATORS, BLANKO BASNET @ SLIM’S

The Demon Beat may be a West Virginia band, but the prolific power trio plays this Raleigh date as a release show for its new LP Less is Less. They don’t test their chosen form’s boundaries often, but this is not rock by the numbers. Rather, the band’s inward stylistic focus results in a punchy, R&B-reminiscent rhythm section over which guitarist and hollerer Adam Meisterhans bashes all the hell from his overdriven instrument. Look to Demon Beat buddy band Hammer No More the Fingers for a comparable local: It’s not much more than rock ‘n’ roll, and what’s wrong with that? Appropriately, Hammer guitarist Joe Hall’s new solo identity, Blanko Basnet, opens, followed by The Mercators. $5/9:30 p.m. Corbie Hill

10.16 DARK DARK DARK, EMILY WELLS @ THE PINHOOK

In the context of modern independent music, the terms “folk” and “metal” have become umbrella terms that embrace more space every the year. Consider Minneapolis’ Dark Dark Dark: The band’s new one, Who Needs Who, continues in the same expansive folk vein the band has inhabited since 2006. The title track opens in piano-driven ballad formcomfortable space for the bandbut suddenly takes an unexpected Klezmer-esque direction about halfway in. “Last Time I Saw Joe” has an Eastern European cabaret feel, while “Hear Me” patiently builds through delayed guitar and minimal drums to a Tori Amos-style vocal crescendo. Emily Wells opens. $10/9 p.m. Corbie Hill

10.16 LUCERO @ LINCOLN THEATRE

THE HOLD STEADY

FROM: Brooklyn
SINCE: 2004
CLAIM TO FAME: High tales and no fear of hoodrat friends

The Hold Steady were a captivating rock band that, out of nowhere, decided to pair incredibly intricate lyrics about the lifestyles and toils of an underbelly of punk-rock youth with the sort of blistering, solo-heavy rock ‘n’ roll those kids might’ve hated. For three albums between 2004 and 2006, that strategy was inscrutable, rendering a triptych of records where characters became people you started to care for or criticize, like Friday Night Lights actors duking it out in Minneapolis in the late ’80s. But since the release of the bittersweet and poignant Boys and Girls in America, the idea has stretched into something of a yawn, where the characters have grown tired of the roles they’ve played and the sounds have shifted toward a cloying and queezing Counting Crows-like softness. As some members have departed and others have focused on solo diversions, The Hold Steady’s of-that-moment chutzpah has faded, making them another band just trying to make another record. Sure, those old songs still feel like old friends, while the band that made them trudges ahead without the urgency that was once so intoxicating. Perhaps Spider Bags, who open, can remind them of it. With Natural Child. At CAT’S CRADLE. $18–$20/8:45 p.m.

VS.

SWANS

FROM: New York
SINCE: 1982
CLAIM TO FAME: High volumes and no fear of “Failure”

Swans were a mighty and multifaceted band that grew from the ugly din of early ’80s New York into, by the end of the decade, an aggressive, transgressive force of tumult and darkness. Between 1996 and 2010, they were silent as their founder and force, Michael Gira, explored new maneuvers in Angels of Light and life as a record label head. When Gira rolled the band’s stone away after nearly 15 years, the resurrection proved that the spirit and sounds of original Swanssustained blasts, roiling beneath explorations of human depravity and beastlinesshadn’t subsided in the least. But the band’s excellent first album back, My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, proved mostly a prelude for this year’s The Seer, a two-hour journey through brutality that eventually breaks open like thick storm clouds hiding the generous sun. Gira has always been at his best when he’s been unbridled, pursuing his passion of the moment to its terminus; The Seer, one of the most invigorating and urgent records in his lifetime of them, is a sound, set free. With A Hawk and a Hacksaw. At LINCOLN THEATRE. $18–$22/9 p.m. Grayson Currin

MONDAY, OCT. 15

TURBO FRUITS

FROM: Nashville, Tenn.
SINCE: 2006
CLAIM TO FAME: Pulpy, personal garage rock

The deal with these deep South bro-punks is that they keep it simple, stupid. They are literalists in lyrics detailing all the drinkin’ and smokin’ of tour life; they are traditionalists when it comes to conjuring up muscular riffs. Turbo Fruits continue a lineage of good ol’ boys with guitars, making rock music. It all sounds like some song you’ve heard somewhere. Their rarefied appeal is how they mine the familiar, retrofitting a whole history of garage riffs and crunchy, catchy solos. Turbo Fruits are proudly and refreshingly unambitious. With Lazy Janes and Petey. At KINGS. $6–$8/9 p.m.

VS.

JENS LEKMAN & TAKEN BY TREES

FROM: Sweden & Sweden
SINCE: 2000 & 2006
CLAIM TO FAME: Mannered quirky crooner & quirky mannered folkster

Both Jonathan Richman-like chamber rock savant Jens Lekman and Taken By Trees, the folk-fusion project of Victoria Bergsman, confound the expectations of the singer-songwriter tag. Appropriately, they appeared on a tribute to Arthur Russell, the “Buddhist bubblegum” composer, disco guru and troubadour known for knocking down musical borders. Both have also found their sweet, strange songs in commercialsLekman for washing machines, Bergsman via her old band, the Concretes, for Target. Indeed, they maintain their pleasant pop appeal, no matter how odd the swirl of instruments around their voices might sound. They are proudly and obsequiously ambitious. At CAT’S CRADLE. $18–$20/8 p.m. Brandon Soderberg