Chapel Hill
The Warlocks
Local 506In The Warlocks, former Brian Jonestown Massacre sideman Randy Hecksher has explored neo-psychedelia drawn from the blood of the trinity of My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3 and The Jesus and Mary Chain for a decade. True to the Velvets’ liturgy, The Warlocks arrive drenched in copious distortion, clothed in billowing drone and drifting in fits and starts through a spacey, pupil-dilating haze. Their latest, The Mirror Explodes, moodily curls through the veins with a pulsing threat of violence. Guitars clang and echo as though propped against the brick walls of a grimy alley. The Morning After Girls and The Vandelles precede The Warlocks at 9:30 p.m. Admission runs $10. Visit www.local506.com. Chris Parker
Carrboro
The Fiery Furnaces, White Rabbits
Cat’s CradleI’m Going Away, the sixth album from Chicago-raised, Brooklyn-based, brother and sister duo of Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, might be their most song-focused, frill-free record since their 2003, out-of-the-garage basher, Gallowsbird’s Bark. That doesn’t set the stability standard very high, though: In the six-year interim, the Furnaces have crafted a congested rock opera (2004’s Blueberry Boat), a fictionalized biography about and sung by their grandmother (2005’s Rehearsing My Choir) and a sprawling pop album full of backmasked vocals (2006’s Bitter Tea). But I’m Going Away generally abides its rhythm-and-blues propulsions. Eleanor delivers the detail-driven songs in measured, deliberate tones, and the band stomps on the beat carefully, faithfully. But, like Steely Dan on a wire, The Fiery Furnaces implant esoteric impulses where you least expect. On “Drive to Dallas,” a woozy, love-lost soul shuffle, Eleanor relates her woes easily enough, purring them while the tears dry. Twice, however, the band launches into discordant sprees, Matthew’s guitar bending Pops Staples’ taste into a mess of awkward angles and bloody hands. It’s these startling shifts that make even the most staid (and tuneful) Fiery Furnaces record worth several close listens. If you’re drawn to the pop aplomb of Spoon and the measured melodrama of The Walkmen, Brooklyn’s White Rabbit, who open, might be your new favorite band. Pay $13-$15 at 9:30 p.m. Visit www.catscradle.com. Grayson Currin
