6 buzzworthy concerts coming to Charlotte in the next week

Making lo-fi ’90s indie rock for millennials or longtime devotees of Dinosaur Jr. or Yo La Tengo’s noisier tracks, Eric Smeal pushes his voice through a blur of distorted guitar, bouncy basslines and cymbal crashes that drive this local outfit, whose punky “Scribbles” is simultaneously warmly retro and refreshing. With Dumb Doctors and Taxing.

By day, Jason Hausman is an Emmy-winning sound designer who creates music for ads and film. Now you can hear what he’s up to outside of his day job. With Mirror Man, whose lead vocalist – Josh Daniel – is a bluegrass and roots musician and member of New Familiars.

This foursome of Charlotte music veterans – which has championed the sillier side of rock n’ roll since the ’90s – returns to the stage. Having worn all kinds of ridiculous matching costumes on stage (from flowers headdresses to period costumes), you can bet the band’s look will be as amusingly rocking as its sound.

A sampling of indie rock both local and national featuring Charlotte trio Late Bloomer and Thunder Dreamer, both of which are signed to 6131 Records. Also on the bill: Glimpses, which makes at once dreamy and mathy rock with noisy bursts of fuzz; and female trio Faye, which hopes to release its much-anticipated full-length later this year.

The Arizona folk duo of Ryan Green and Cameron Hood make rootsy folk music with nimble acoustic picking that makes them sound like a bigger band, and their pop sensibility places the pair stylistically between acoustic acts like Matt Nathanson and alt-pop vets Toad the Wet Sprocket.

It’s a math rock marathon of sorts when Charlotte’s self-proclaimed “mathstrumental” band teams with Connecticut’s the Most, which adds jazzy horns to its own instrumentals for a math-jazz hybrid; New Hampshire’s Perspective, which delivers its version with more traditional punk-roots and vocals; and Durham’s Youth League, which veers toward driving sonicscapes and shades of Minus the Bear-style rock.

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 1:30 PM with the headline "6 buzzworthy concerts coming to Charlotte in the next week."