Thursday, November 21, 2013

This week's hot concerts

Paint Fumes
Friday  10 p.m., Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St., $5, www.snugrock.com
The Charlotte garage rock trio makes a pit stop during its current national tour - it's first outing since frontman Elijah Von Cramon was hit by a car last winter. According to Von Cramon the frantic garage rock of it's full-length debut is evolving, so catching the band now may give you a reference point to where it's heading. With Temperance League, Free Clinic, and Black Market.

King’s X
Saturday  6:30 p.m., Amos’, 1423 S. Tryon St., $17-$20, www.amossouthend.com
Whether lumped in with hair metal acts on “Headbanger’s Ball” or loosely aligned with grunge, the progressive Midwestern trio always had an original sound melding metal, funk, prog-rock, and soul capped by Doug Pinnick’s church-ready pipes that garnered the group acclaim from critics and peers.

Vadim and Marina Kolpakov
Saturday  7:30 p.m., Midwood International & Cultural Center Auditorium, 1827 Central Ave., www.ihclt.org
The renowned 7-string Russian Romany guitarist, who toured as part of the Kolpakov Trio on Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour and now calls Charlotte home, joins his dancer wife and Tatyana Thulien for an evening of gypsy, Eastern European and Spanish flamenco music and dance.

A Silent Film
Saturday  8 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St., $12-$15, www.neighborhooodtheatre.com
The Oxford alt-rock band has spent a lot of time cultivating a fervent US fan base. It jumped from Evening Muse to The Fillmore in record time thanks in part to its Snow Patrol-like intelligent story songs and emotional pop anthems. Die-hard fans will revel in ample new material at Saturday’s show.

Carbon Leaf
Saturday  8 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $16-$20, www.visulite.com
The apparently prolific Virginia outfit who managed to straddle Dave Matthews-style rock and the rootsier sound that was regionally red hot during the late `90s returns on the heels of the October release of its PledgeMusic-funded album “Constellation Prize” - it's second record in a year.

Porter Robinson
Saturday  9 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $30, www.livenation.com
The Chapel Hill-based electro-house DJ and producer has gone from choice opening act for some of EDM’s biggest headliners to top-billing on marquees himself, charting his own singles, and remixing for Lady Gaga - and he does it all without the benefit of a kitschy DJ name.

K. Michelle
Sunday  7:30 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $33, www.livenation.com
The music business needs its characters, so bless the scantily-dressed, Target-shopping, VH1 reality star come R&B singer who speaks her mind, pushes buttons with a knowing wink, and is proud to be “doing me” on her long-awaited, R&B No. 1 full-length “Rebellious Soul.”

Jonathan Richman
Sunday  8 p.m., Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St., $15-$18, www.eveningmuse.com
To one generation he was the frontman for the Modern Lovers. To another he’s that guy that pops up and sings in “There’s Something About Mary.” To the peers that have covered his songs and even written their own about him, Richman is a revered, veteran songwriter who many credit with unwittingly influencing generations of punks.

Dave Rawlings Machine
Monday  8 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St., $25, www.neighborhoodtheatre.com
Gillian Welch’s better half pilots this rowdier, fuller outfit of revolving all-stars. This time he and Welch join forces with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Punch Brothers’ Paul Kowert and Willie Watson (formerly Old Crow Medicine Show) for a night that’s anything but predictable.

MGMT
Wednesday  7:30 p.m., Amos’, 1423 S. Tryon St., $28.50-$35, www.amossouthend.com
The Grammy nominated psychedelic art-rock band hasn’t repeated the success of its initial hit “Kids” with two follow-up albums, instead trading that early electro-pop charm for endearing psychedelic moodiness. It comes across as an act raised on Beck, Flaming Lips, and Pink Floyd - colorful, sometimes fun, and strange (hence its powerful and disturbing recent video).