Sound Bites

Friday

Ahleuchatistas — Volatility is a virtue for Asheville trio Aheleuchatistas, the spastic instrumentals of which are prone to violent flurries of guitars and hail-storm drumming. What separates this from the math-rock hordes is the genuine tunefulness underlying the songs. The band’s latest, an expanded re-issue of 2004’s The Same and the Other, not only earns the distinction of bearing the imprint of famed experimentalist John Zorn’s Tzadik label, but also boils over frantic energy and superhuman precision. Chaos seems imminent: Dissonance is pierced with harmonic chords, melody is interrupted by frenzied, percussive plucking. But Ahleuchatistas are masters of their craft, ever in control of their musical maelstrom. B. Reed
Hunter-Gatherer: 11 p.m.; 748-0540, myspace.com/huntergathererbrewery.

Angie Aparo — Angie Aparo’s 2000 LP The American has all the trappings of a major label release — a charismatic singer, lush arrangements and a handful of moderate radio hits. (“Cry,” in fact, went on to be an even bigger hit with Faith Hill at the helm.) But it also carries all the stereotypical burdens of such a release — its failure to reach the same success as its influences (U2 and The Goo Goo Dolls are obvious touchstones) resulted in Aparo being dropped from Arista, leaving him to spend the time since his brush with success supporting three more LPs on the road. B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 8 p.m., $10; 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Saturday

American Gun — Like their forbears in Uncle Tupelo, Columbia sextet American Gun marries the pedal-stomp ruckus of bar-rock with old-time country’s twangy wisdom. Only where Uncle Tupelo’s world-weary drinking songs always seemed less then celebratory, American Gun stays in those wobbly blissful moments. Pair Tupelo’s “Whiskey Bottle,” a hopeless drinker’s lament, with the American Gun’s “Drunk Girls,” a bluegrass-tinged ode to its titular characters with enough propulsive energy hiding beneath its mid-tempo melody to keep it poised to explode into a bottles-held-high anthem. A bottle-neck slide guitar brings us back to the honky tonk as the song winds down to its lovelorn conclusion. Drunken love: it never gets old. B. Reed
Five Points Pub: 8 p.m., $5; 253-7888, myspace.com/5pointspub.

Tuesday

Fake Problems, Look Mexico — Fake Problems, a band of Floridian folk-punks equally indebted to Charlie Daniels’ Southern rock and swampy psychobilly as they are to Against Me! and (Young) Pioneers, is a natural fit with local headliners Of Angels and Lions, a trio whose gruff acoustic-punk follows the template set by Against Me!’s perfect debut EP. It’s certainly a more natural fit than the one between Fake Problems and their tourmates in Look Mexico. Fake Problems’ frenetic hollers and raucous Americana plays the foil to Look Mexico’s front-porch ease and rich, multifaceted pop. Vocal harmonies swell the chorus, horns pop and shimmy, and guitars slink and crash, giving the songs a basement party volume without any of the busted-speaker static. B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 7 p.m., $8; 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Free Times, 10/22/08