Tonight’s Concert Pick: The Builders And The Butchers at North Star Bar
The members of The Builders And The Butchers are all originally from Alaska, which might help explain their bleak and rustic take on the rest of America. Their music videos are set in 19th-century Southwestern mountain shacks. Houses are axed or burned down; characters are knifed or roped to trees. Their harsh, nasal choruses (which sound strikingly similar to those of their fellow Alaskans and former tourmates, Portugal. The Man) tell Cormac McCarthy-esque tales of extreme frontiersmen. Lead singer Ryan Sollee sings violent campfire stories over the sparse acoustic (and, more recently, electric) guitar lines. And the dueling drummers—one with the kick drum, the other with the snare—create a bipolar sound, perhaps drawn from the extremes of their far-northern home. The Builders And The Butchers perform with Damion Suomi And The Minor Prophets and Katie Barbato at 7 p.m. at North Star Bar; tickets to the all-ages show are $12. —Dave Simpson
Also playing: The Grand Nationals + North Lawrence Midnight Singers, When I Was 12 at World Cafe Live (8 p.m., $7); Acid Mothers Temple + Shilpa Ray And Her Happy Hookers at Johnny Brenda’s (9 p.m., 21+, $12-$13)