Sound Bites

Thursday

Part Bear — I’ve always hated the word “cigs” for no reason I can rightly discern, and there it is, 33 seconds into Part Bear’s “Velvet,” glaring at me, taunting, teasing, smiling crookedly. It’s distracting. For a moment I forget what’s happening. I feel like an old man hearing rock music for the first time and being agitated out of a Benny Goodman coma. What the hell is this?! I’ll tell you what it is: It’s Athens-bred garage rock, some potent brew of sweat, libido and cheap beer — and, yeah, cigs. It spits the word defiantly. I’m all riled up. Gimme a cig. B. Reed
Wet Willie’s: 8 p.m., free; 779-5650.

Shallow Palace — When Shallow Palace sneers, there’s no room for nonsense. Hell, there’s no room for anything other than the band’s take on guitar-driven hard rock. Citations? Stooges and Stones. Petty and Pink Floyd. Costello and The Clash. Add a touch of Cursive here and there and that sounds about right. The quintet headlines a local showcase that also features The Reverie, Cats and Cobras and The Fossil Record — all of whom reach just far enough outside the alt-rock mainstream to be interesting without losing any accessibility. It’s a rock show, not an art museum. B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 7 p.m., $4 ($8 under 21); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Friday

Marry a Thief — Auto-Tune adversaries beware: It might be time to give up on indie-pop. Imogen Heap used it to gussy up “Hide And Seek” and Bon Iver’s newest EP features an a capella track that runs Auto-Tune all over Justin Vernon’s lonely croon. So it seems as if Columbia’s own Marry a Thief is ahead of the curve, then, adopting the warbly, distant and computer-generated timbre for itself. And to great effect: See “Honestly Bored” and its despondent coldness as compared to the band’s warmer, guitar-driven cuts. Different songs call for different sounds, and Marry a Thief, recognizing that, pushes its own sonic boundaries to evolve instead of just playing it safe. The Fire Tonight and This Machine is Me also play. B. Reed
Wet Willie’s: 8 p.m., free; 779-5650.

Saturday

The Vinyl Strangers — Athens’ Vinyl Strangers love guitar pop and aren’t afraid to show it. Clearly, the quartet is well-schooled in the genre. A proto-R.E.M. jangle ‘n’ sway rides the Byrds/Big Star sonic template by the book: chiming chords and buoyant rhythms meeting smooth melodies and Beach Boys harmony. And frontman Joe Guerzo’s voice sometimes carries a vaguely Stipe-ish timbre, giving credence to the Strangers’ hometown — and, by proxy, the Comboland pop that inspired R.E.M. Too often reverence trumps originality, but The Vinyl Strangers keep it fresh by turning their unabashed love of pop into sincerity and injecting top-notch lyric construction, resurrecting standard structures with clever twists of phrase, casual rhymes and developed narratives. B. Reed
Wet Willie’s: 8 p.m., free; 779-5650.

Free Times, 1/14/09