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Contributors: Rick Cornell, Grayson Currin, Rich Ivey, Kathy Justice, Chris Parker, Chris Toenes

Thursday, August 2

Hackensaw Boys, Hideaway BBQ

Like The Avett Brothers, bluegrass is just the jumping off point for Charlottesville, Va.’s Hackensaw Boys. Their anxious, bounding energy is close to hardcore, as they bang their instruments within a thread of breaking. They’re celebrating the release of their fifth album in eight years, Look Out, which reverses course from the ballad-heavy Love What You Do, assuming a more aggressively upbeat tact. The dozen-track disc also features a pair of compositions by founding multi-instrumentalist Tom Peloso, who has been forced to cut back on his commitment now that he’s joined Modest Mouse full time. $8-$10/ 8:30 p.m. CP

Birds of Avalon, Sir Arthur & His Knights, Slim’s

You might not want to miss this show: The Birds are almost certainly Raleigh’s best ROCK band, and, what with their first home gone, Slim’s is Raleigh’s best rock bar. You most likely have $3 to spare, right? Suck it up, head downtown past the new gleam, slam some brews and listen to BOA indirectly chastise you for not knowing enough Thin Lizzy. They’ll be on the road until late September, so you may as well go have some fun now, Mr. and Mrs. Jaded Pants. $3/ 10 p.m. RI

Friday, August 3

Black Skies, *Sons, Local 506

Like Black Sabbath in a dryer, Black Skies rumbles with a low, repetitive throb that spreads like pancake batter. Staking out a deep, insistent groove, they clearly derive substantial joy from throttling listeners into submission. They’re joined by the more psychedelic-minded *SONS, whose swelling, melancholy roar is inspired by the shoegazers, but with a more oceanic reach. With The Rho Band. $6/ 10 p.m. CP

The Golden Boys, The Strange Boys, Dan Melchior, James Joyce Irish Pub

A new booking collaboration between WXDU and Bull City Records, this hopefully monthly series unites touring bands with locals in an attempt to bring the station’s varied programmingrunning from experimental and garage to soul and beyonddown from the airwaves and to the back patio of the James Joyce. Austin’s The Strange Boys make country-swill rhythm ‘n’ blues as haunting as all hell, while the glorious Golden Boys get bent on blues structures and psychedelic spillage. Durham newcomer Dan Melchior und das Menace will shout down your troubles. $5 donation/ 9 p.m. GC

Saturday, August 4

“P” Funk, Lincoln Theatre

“P” Funk is not a show as much as it is an experience. Check your expectations at the door, and shift your ass into four-wheel drive to better prepare for the deep groove and irrepressible bounce. Funk’s basis in gospel is evident in George Clinton’s disciples; the vibe is that of tent revival, with everyone on their feet, prepared to testify. Lose yourself in the crowd’s throb as the mutha gets turned out, funked up and crowned by the arrival of the mothership connection. No one makes a party like “P” Funk, and the best part is you’re invited. $12-$15/ 10 p.m. CP

Edsel 500, Straight 8s, Broad Street Cafe

It’d be easy to picture a rockabilly show at Broad Street’s Green Roomrolled-up sleeves, upright basses, wet PBRs holding court between the pool tables. That’s never happened to the best of my knowledge, but, just up the block, you’ll find the primal one-two punch of Edsel 500 and Straight 8s, the area’s two best bands when it comes to playing rock ‘n’ roll as though it’s just been invented. 9 p.m. RC

Dragonship, Robert Griffin & Taz Halloween, Cat’s Cradle

Though its name suggests long-maned Swedes finger-tapping power metal solos to the gods, Dragonship is a different animal. Reliant on Tolkienesque and an epic sense of concept shared by many of its metal non-brethren, the Chapel Hill quartet is closer kin to Fleetwood Mac or the Moody Blues tempered by heavily enunciated Celtic overtones. Tonight, Dragonship bestows its 90-minute rock opera The Elves’ Prophecy upon the Triangle. $10/ 8 p.m. RI

Sunday, August 5

Weird Al Yankovic, Memorial Auditorium

Weird Al has developed his musical comedy to the point where he is to song parodies what Ziploc is to baggies. He’s truly an underrated genius, expertly skewering pop’s lamest tracks, from The Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” to The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)” to Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’ Dirty.” Not only does he manage to nail the idiocy of the songs lyrics (as on the humorous, overly mundane narration of “Trapped in the Drive Thru”), but often also the simpering nature of the artist, as he does on the airheaded constipation/ incest/ decapitation-fest of the Avril-slamming “A Complicated Story.” $32.25-$57.25/ 8 p.m. CP

Paul Daniel, Andrew Kasab, The Pour House

Sunday evening shows at The Pour House generally give listeners a chance to nurse a weekend of hangovers, and tonight is no exception. Two local folkies make up this week’s Sunday soundtrack: Raleigh’s Paul Daniel focuses on the punch of the desolate, echoing the world-weary Springsteen or, better yet, a less-scruffy Pete Yorn. Cary’s Andrew Kasab works from the other side of the spectrum, turning his acoustic into a mouthpiece for emotion as he picks and strums his way through bluesy Americana rags. Free/ 7 p.m. KJ

Monday, August 6

Cloacal Kiss, Volume 11 Tavern

Easter, the last album from Raleigh four-piece Cloacal Kiss, grinds through eight tracks in 25 minutes, blood-curdling, tortured vocals flashing out over blitzing guitars and a heavy, agile rhythm section. A bit like Pig Destroyer with a more tempered charge or a more direct-attacking Dillinger Escape Plan, Clocal Kiss thrashes until it collapses, possibly taking you with it. With Mabus, Same Deep Water as You and Acerima. 8 p.m. GC

Calla, Local 506

The parched, spacious buzz and static of Calla’s early albums has slowly waned in favor of greater songcraft and smoother textures. Once content to offer a Velvets-like throb colored with distant atmospheric hum and crackle, they’ve reigned in the broad moody soundscapes and write with more purpose, particularly on their latest, Sanctify. The shadowy post-punk vibe of the album recalls Interpol, pulled a bit tighter and with better muscle tone. It’s much more efficient than anything they’ve released, and Aurelio Valle’s vocals sound particularly crisp, though reviews have generally favored 2005’s Collisions. $6-$8/ 9:30 p.m. CP

Des Ark, In the Year of the Pig, Daitro, Ampere, Nightlight

A loud one: Durham’s Des Ark will have passed through Florida with their sights set on the North when they stop in Chapel Hill as a trio. The Pigs bring minimal and maximal to new, almost convergent poles. Get there early for the French punk dynamics from Daitro and the louder-faster buzz bins in Ampere, hailing from Amherst, Mass. $7/ 9:30 p.m. CT

Wednesday, August 8

North Elementary, The Cave

With their third and latest album, Berandals, North Elementary gets moodier and more textural, expanding beyond the catchy jangle pop ring of the first two albums. “Lovesday Dead Down” begins in a bed of dreamy distortion and opens into a thick, synth-directed dance beat; “Well It’s a New Holiday” opens in a fuzzy, lo-fi haze; the acoustic, droning ballad “Concept of My Ghost (Japanese Honor)” verges on slowcore. There’s still plenty of neo-psych melodies, but they’re surrounded by arrangements with greater nuance and variety. $5/ 11 p.m. CP