Thursday
Inhale Exhale — Ohio post-hardcore outfit Inhale Exhale isn’t going to be breaking any molds anytime soon. But depending on your predilections, that might not be a bad thing. The guitars alternately trudge and lacerate, the drums pound and pummel and the vocal delivery trades off between singing and screaming. It’s a formula that hasn’t disappointed the band’s label Solid State yet, even if it might leave something to be desired by way of innovation. Local expatriate quintet Sent By Ravens joins the tour with a more approachable (read: non-screamy) style that still draws plenty of parallels to its tourmates. Double-pedal bass drums reign tonight.
B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 6:30 p.m., $8 ($10 under 21); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.
Friday
Hannah Miller — The easy comparisons here are to Rachael Yamagata and Feist, both of whom deliver similarly breathy, coffee-shop and oversized-sweater-ready singer/songwriter fare. But in addressing Columbia’s Hannah Miller — who on this night will perform with her full band, The Misadventures — such comparisons reveal little more than a vague sonic touchstone that could apply easily to hundreds, if not thousands of female songwriters. Beyond superficial sounds-likes, Miller’s arrangements subtly evoke sounds as disparate as Deep South folk, breezy pop-rock and ragtime while her voice caresses each note, coaxing out lovelorn ballads and meditative hymns with equal aplomb.
B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 9 p.m., $5 ($7 under 21); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.
Sunday
Brave Young — At the end of 2008, Greensboro, N.C.’s, Giant announced it would be changing its name to Brave Young. The transition has been slow, but steadily progressing — just like Brave Young’s music. From Giant’s beginnings as a downtempo doom-punk leviathan, the band has evolved into one of the region’s heaviest and most powerful instrumental post-rock outfits. Bowed bass guitar? Yup. Timpani? Yup. But far from self-indulgent (well, maybe not that far), it all adds up when Brave Young’s immense epics begin to take shape. Fusing elements of anything post-something, plus the evocative power of film scores and ambient music, the music literally becomes a moving presence in the room. Advent, featuring ex-members of Beloved, also plays.
B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 7 p.m, $4 ($8 under 21); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.
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