Oct. 23
Music
Be Good Tanyas
Some of the finest purveyors of sepia-toned old-timey sounds, Vancouver’s Be Good Tanyas whisk together the scatterings of John Steinbeck’s dust bowl with the slow drawl of southern gothic to create songs that conjure images of moonshiners on the lam and hobos hopping trains bound for nowhere. Every now and then, they toss in a sly anachronism to remind you this isn’t your grandma’s bluegrass. This evocatively soulful troupe of dusty-trail wanderers will seduce you with their subtle coupling of bygone-era themes with a 21st-century sensibility. (Todd Lavoie)
With Ana Egge
8 p.m.
Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
$20
(415) 771-1421
www.theindependentsf.com
www.begoodtanyas.com
Music
Cursive
Three years after The Ugly Organ, Cursive find themselves in an unenviable position: how do they follow up a monolith? With Happy Hollow (Saddle Creek), the band builds a mythical Midwestern town that is happy on the surface, but upon a peek through the windows, this happiness is revealed to be hollow. Vocalist-lyricist Tim Kasher sets out his thesis on “Opening the Hymnal/Babies”: “The beautiful truth of it is, this is all we are/ We simply exist/ You’re not the chosen one/ I’m not the chosen one.” Musically, Happy Hollow moves between guitar screeches and nickelodeon keyboard riffs, but it’s the horns that never seem to stop punctuating the fact that if God isn’t dead, he’s certainly on vacation. (Duncan Scott Davidson)
8 p.m.
Fillmore
1805 Geary, SF
$18
(415) 346-6000