FUTUREBIRDS, THE WHIGS
8 p.m. Stickyz. $10 adv., $12 day of.
Athens, Ga., has long seemed like some kind of rock ‘n’ roll faucet, where you just turn the handle full-blast and out comes Pylon and R.E.M. and Love Tractor and The B-52s and Matthew Sweet and Widespread Panic and a bunch of those Elephant 6 bands and The Drive-By Truckers and it just keeps on gushing outta there.
On Sunday, you can catch a couple of Athens’ current torchbearers, with the languid, gentle psych-country-rock of Futurebirds and the effortless-sounding, Petty-informed power-pop of The Whigs. The Whigs just last year released “Enjoy the Company,” quieter compared to the trio’s raucous earlier albums, but a totally enjoyable listen, perfect warm-weather driving music.
The Futurebirds have a new long-player called “Baba Yaga” coming out on Fat Possum April 16. It’s named after this scary Russian forest witch that they probably invoked back in the day to scare little Misha or Evgeny into acting properly. There’s nothing scary about the record though. It’s a baker’s dozen of chiming, leisurely paced tunes soaked in spectral, gorgeous pedal steel.
Are you looking to wind down your weekend with a couple of restorative drinks and some excellent tunes? Look no further. Collin vs. Adam will open the show with their metronomic, electro-informed pop.