Raleigh
Dropsonic, The Needles
Slim's DowntownAtlanta's Dropsonic dropped its fifth LP, Low Life, in February, bringing new intensity to their squalling, chunky roar. Think shuddering late-'80s alt-rockers Jawbox and Arcwelder, just with a grimier bounce. The Needles have thoroughly digested the Stooges blasting Thunders like Thor, and squealing away like a nitro funny car given a fill-up by Cheetah Chrome. $3 rock bill blasts off at 10 p.m. Chris Parker
Chapel Hill
Le Weekend, Audubon Park
The CaveAfter their Chapel Hill pop-punk band V. Sirin broke up, David Nahm and Matt Kalb kept making music. Here, their current projects, Nahm's Audubon Park and Kalb's Le Weekend, pair in a testament to the incestuous pop-rock enclave responsible for so many area bands. Audubon Park's playing a homecoming of sorts, since Nahm moved to Virginia to practice law. The gig should be a night of bright, off-kilter and ultimately self-effacing pop. Things start at 10 p.m. Chris Toenes
Chapel Hill
Fin Fang Foom, Kerbloki, Monsonia
NightlightLong-running Chapel Hill band Fin Fang Foom flirted with its genre's pervasive neoclassical bent on 2006's Native Tongue EP, which featured cellist Cynthia Main. Now that Main has left the group, it's back to playing a more 1990s-redolent, guitar-driven style of post-rock. This is its first show back home after wrapping up its European tour on May 17. Monsonia, whose membership includes former Track and Field studio engineer Nick Petersen, shares Fin Fang Foom's guitar-centric emphasis on weight, texture and hypnotic repetition. Durham's Kerbloki offers a respite from all the heaviness with its Beasties-baiting, golden-age hipster-hop. The show begins at 10 p.m. Brian Howe
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