Dan DeLuca's Mix Picks: Listen to the new tune from Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile
Aussie and Philly guitarists team up, the National celebrates a new album, a bluesman comes to Delaware.
The National. The Matt Berninger-fronted band featuring multi-instrumentalist songwriting brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner arrives on the heels of the release of their seventh album of brooding, sophisticated indie rock, Sleep Well Beast. Sunday at Union Transfer.
Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile, "Over Everything." The first single from Lotta Sea Lice, the forthcoming collaborative album between the left-handed Australian guitarist and the right-handed Philadelphia one is a charmer. The song finds the hirsute rockers trading droll observations and gnarly guitar licks, and its video features each singer lip-synching the other's lines. It's adorable! Playing the Tower Theater on Nov. 3.
Selwyn Birchwood. The new-breed bluesman who graduated not from the school of hard knocks, but from the University of Tampa with an MBA. He's a fiery electric guitarist who also makes the rare bluesman move of switching over to lap steel. Wednesday at Saint Georges Country Store in Saint Georges Del.
Queens of the Stone Age. Josh Homme's heavy California desert-rock outfit, back on form with Villains, their strongest work in years, featuring the ZZ Topish riff rock of the lead single "The Way You Used to Do." Thursday at Festival Pier.
L7: Pretend We're Dead. Sarah Price's documentary about the Donita Sparks-led fierce female grunge-era foursome features interviews with Joan Jett, Shirley Manson, Exene Cervenka, and others. It'll be released on video in October but gets a Philly premier screening Friday at PhilaMOCA.