'Jagjaguwar CMJ Showcase': Parts & Labor+Home+Oakley Hall
Local boys Parts and Labor play the city's most succulent emo, though they are even now sending a copy of Sonic Youth's Sister to my house for saying it—this year's Stay Afraid paired avant-drumming with arena-worthy melodies. Their label mates Home, in a distinctly not-emo gesture, have apparently just written 20 different songs about fucking; Brooklyn bros Oakley Hall cleanse the palate with a more innocent and charming brand of country-rock for city dwellers. Also: Alex Delivery, Dirty Faces. Tonic, 107 Norfolk, 212-358-7501, 7:30pm.BARON
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'Kill Rock Stars CMJ Showcase' Deerhoof +Erase Errata+Mary Timony+Excepter
With Deerhoof's recent, rifftastic weirdo phantasmagoria The Runners Four, the crits finally caught up to this West Coast quartet. A new album—honed by a three-piece, and yes, they still rock despite being one man down—drops next year. Erase Errata's unruly disco art-punk brings box cutters and spin kicks to the party. After Mary T lost the key to her magical fantasy kingdom—where the proggy Eddie Van Halen–tapped guitar took front-row honors at the unicorn parades—her newer stuff is more streamlined and Helium-like, but sadly less interesting. With electro-noise bombardiers Excepter, now toying with bouncy beats and the faint outlines of song structures. Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel, 371 W 17th, 4pm, $22.BOSLER
'Merge Records Showcase': White Whale+Portastatic
Compared to Merge label mates like Neutral Milk Hotel and Arcade Fire, White Whale create somewhat high-concept, proggy guitar-based tunes that have more gusto than NMH or AF even though they love old-timey themes like trolling the high seas. Simply put, they don't sound like wimps. Since putting Superchunk on hold, Merge founder Mac McCaughan now tends to Portastatic. His well-executed indie pop has more politesse than his former band and is nostalgic for the golden years of college rock. With Richard Buckner and Broken West. Knitting Factory Main Space, 74 Leonard, 212-219-3006, 7:30pm, $10.O'DONNELL
Tokyo Police Club+Cloud Cult+Longwave
TPC may be latecomers to the dance-rock postpunk explosion, but their smeared-lipstick, sweaty-headband disco-fied jams are tight and catchy. The environmentally conscious Cloud Cult ooze whimsical indie rock like Modest Mouse on lithium. Longwave's slick, spacey Britpop works more as moods than songs. With solo Stroke Albert Hammond Jr., Land of Talk, the Drones, and Cadence Weapon. Mercury Lounge, 217 E Houston, 212-260-4700, 7pm, $12. BOSLER
Saturday 11.4
French Kicks+Bobby Bare Jr.
The cover of the latest by Brooklyn's French Kicks depicts with fruit a weird visual metaphor for female private parts; it's not an indicator of the band's classy blue-eyed soul-rock. The Tyde, from L.A., play tuneful, jangly retro-pop. Alt-country scion Bobby Bare Jr. recorded his understandably scrappy new album in 11 hours with help from guys in My Morning Jacket and the Trail of Dead. With Trick & the Heartstrings, the Mess Hall, Nethers, and the Bon Savants. Mercury Lounge, 217 E Houston, 212-260-4700, 7pm, $12.WOOD
The Grates+Mew+Annuals+Kevin Devine
Australia's Grates are a trio with a spunky little Karen O–like frontwoman, a girl drummer, and a dude guitarist generating cutesy garagepop best exemplified on the single "19-20-20." Denmark's Mew take free-floating keyboards, deep-space echoes, and heady prog and kraut influences distilled down into modern pop medicine. Their vocalist has an incredibly high-pitched, Jon Anderson–like voice. Safe as your little cousin's bar mitzvah are the sunny, syrupy songs from singer-songwriter Kevin Devine. With the super-dense and velvety layers of Annuals—highly individualized indie rock that's just as epic as it is subtle. Also: Fields. Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey, 212-533-2111, 8pm, $16.BOSLER
Shooter Jennings+Watson Twins+Oakley Hall
Jennings is the name here, but hardly the talent, pedigree notwithstanding. The Watson Twins backed Jenny Lewis on her latest, but their haircut-folk requires no frontwoman to carry it (though they could stand to do more than just whisper). Best here is Oakley Hall's mildly psychedelic (which is to say, inebriated) roots rock, a rebuke to indie bands scared of the heartland and red-staters who prefer country at Bud Ice potency. Also: Willy Mason, Deadstring Brothers, Matt Mays & El Torpedo. Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Pl, 212-777-6800, 7:30pm, $18.CARAMANICA
'Narnack Records CMJ Showcase': the Fall+the Ohsees+Iran
Given the countless seedy postpunk classics—not to mention the last few albums (the masterful Real New Fall LP and damned good Fall Heads Roll)—when these dudes and a lady are on, they are on! Unstoppable. And when they ain't, you still have the pugnacious and curiously still living godfather of band trainwrecks, Mark E. Smith, to watch. The Ohsees are the new effervescent folky pop project from John Dwyer of the Coachwhips. Iran are a new indie-rock project featuring TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone. With Yikes and Women & Children. Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel, 371 W 17th, 6pm, $22.BOSLER
