Soundadvice

Get Out!

There's an off-kilter charm to Tavo Carbone's oddball, old-timey pop that makes you want to get a shoe-shine on your way to Franklin Fountain. Vocally, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter is reminiscent of the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, while musically he employs the same quirky, whimsical sensibility that ensconced of Montreal's early material. Essentially a solo act, Carbone's been known to employ orchestral flourishes to flesh out his skeletal acoustics including, at one point, a 17-piece backing band. Don't forget to wax your handlebar mustache.

—Kevin Pearson

Thu., Feb. 5, 8 p.m., $10, with Extraordinaires and Jimmy Cousins and the Crime Spree, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.

Not only does Kentucky-raised, New York-based Dawn Landes co-own a recording studio, but she also apprenticed as a sound engineer working alongside artists such as Philip Glass, Ryan Adams and Josh Ritter. It's that curious combination of musicians that informs Landes' own songwriting, a minimalist mix of pop and country, bluegrass and folk.

—Kevin Pearson

Mon., Feb. 9, 9 p.m., $10, with The Submarines and The Morning Benders, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.

Indiana natives Murder by Death sound like they're looking for a saloon brawl or high-noon showdown. They're fond of cowboy ballads and rock songs about the devil and whiskey. Their Desert Series albums tell of an antihero's beginnings and end in a 21-song set.

—Dianca Potts

Sun., Feb. 8, 8:30 p.m., $13, with The Builders and the Butchers and Fake Problems, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

New Wave New York twee-poppers The Pains of Being Pure at Heart sound like The Jesus and Mary Chain running into Johnny Marr at the bar. Tracks like "Everything with You" and "Stay Alive," from their self-titled debut, are upbeat and dreamy thanks to boy-girl vocals by Kip Berman and Peggy Wang and addictive melodies.

—Dianca Potts

Sun., Feb. 8, 8 p.m., with Brown Recluse Sings and The Depreciation Guild, $10, Kung Fu Necktie, 1248 N. Front St., 215-291-4945, kungfunecktie.com.

Radio Moscow

Signed to The Black Keys' former label, Radio Moscow crib their caustic, blues-infused psychedelia from the Akron, Ohio, duo, making it perhaps a tad easy to write them off as mere copyists. It doesn't help that the Keys' Dan Auerbach also produced Radio Moscow's forthcoming album, Brain Cycles (Alive Records). Yet, while the blues base is the same, this three-piece tops it off with a slew of classic rock overtones (Hendrix, Cream, Allman Brothers) that suggests they've spent just as much time playing Guitar Hero as they have studying Muddy Waters.

—Kevin Pearson

Fri., Feb. 6, 9 p.m., $10, with Dead Man and Serpent Throne, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.