8/2
Jeff the Brotherhood
After years of mixing it up in the Nashville indie-rock scene, brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall — nope, no one named Jeff here — finally made some noise with last year's We Are the Champions. It's about time. They had been making records since 2002 for their own label and were anchors of a decidedly less twangy music coming out of Music City for a decade (Jamin was a member of Be Your Own Pet, one of the city's best groups in the mid '00s). And their roots go back even further: Their dad, Robert Ellis Orrall, is a Nashville studio vet who wrote and produced songs on Taylor Swift's debut album. Jeff the Brotherhood's brand-new LP, Hypnotic Nights, is co-produced by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, who applies a little polish to the duo's primitive garage-rock fuzz. Not that it means much these days, but they're also signed to a major label now, so the extra muscle might do wonders for their career. They're not as accessible as the Keys, but a scuzzy rock & roll duo isn't as tough to sell as it used to be. — Michael Gallucci
Jeff the Brotherhood With Juiceboxx and Smooth Brain. 9 p.m. Thursday, August 2. Grog Shop. Tickets: $10; call 216-321-5588 or visit grogshop.gs.
Shawn Colvin
It's been almost 15 years since Shawn Colvin snagged a couple of Grammys for the excellent pyro fantasy "Sunny Came Home." But like all modern-day folksingers who managed to briefly sneak into the mainstream, Colvin quietly returned to making the introspective records she was releasing before the breakthrough. And of course no one but the most devoted fans have paid much attention since then. Too bad, because the new All Fall Down, a tie-in to her recent memoir, is her best album in years. – Gallucci
With John Fullbright: 8 p.m. The Kent Stage. Tickets: $36.50-$46.50.
8/3
Pomegranates
True to its name, Heaven, the fourth album by the Cincinnati dream-pop group Pomegranates, reaches for celestial heights. The quartet keeps things relatively simple over mournful piano, whispering electronics, and slow-marching percussion taps. This isn't blurry rave-up music; rather, it floats among different hues of white while dangling its pop possibilities just out of reach. That doesn't make it inaccessible, it just makes it something worth exploring. The band's quiet spell will catch you off guard. – Gallucci
With Kitten. 8 p.m. Musica. Tickets: $9.99.
8/5
Neon Trees
When the Utah synth-pop group Neon Trees released their debut album Habits two years ago, they came on like an annoying bunch of nostalgia-seekers eager for a quick fix of '80s new wave. You might remember "Animal" from the gazillion times you heard it in 2010. But two years later, with a nonstop touring schedule behind them and a new album to promote in front of them, they've grown into a surprisingly durable pop machine. The new Picture Show restlessly and eagerly jumps from one blast of 30-year-old British dance music (Depeche Mode) to another (New Order), and does it with Mechagodzilla-size hooks to spare. And while some of frontman Tyler Glenn's treatises on soul-draining phonies aren't very original ("Hooray for Hollywood" is even creakier than its title), he and his bandmates send it over with such enthusiasm, and with such conviction that they're the first group to ever think of these kinda songs, that it's easy to get sucked into their vortex of synth squiggles and mannered vocals. — Gallucci
Neon Trees With Walk the Moon and 21 Pilots. 7:30 p.m.,Sunday, August 5. House of Blues. Tickets: $20, $18 in advance; call 216-523-2583 or visit houseofblues.com.
Metal Hammer Trespass America Festival
Imagine being able to run at about 60 miles per hour. Now imagine someone suddenly dropping a massive brick wall in your path. Imagine your face, your arms, your entire fucking body slamming into that wall. That's pretty much the pummeling rush you'll experience at this half-day metal fest. The seven bands on the bill represent a wide range (pop metal, gloom metal, prog metal ... you name it) of the genre's offerings, with L.A.'s excellently named Five Finger Death Punch headlining. — Gallucci
With Five Finger Death Punch, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, Pop Evil, Emmure, God Forbid, and Battlecross. 5 p.m. Jacobs Pavilion. Tickets: $37.50-$40.50.
8/6
Jane's Addiction
Raise your hand if Jane's Addiction still matter to you. When the sleaze-metal band exploded out of the Los Angeles underground in the late '80s, it was like a mucus-heavy spit in the face of all the other spandex-sporting bands polluting the scene at the time. Their 1988 debut, Nothing's Shocking, still comes on like a bone-breaking body slam, and the 1990 follow-up, Ritual de lo Habitual, is a fractured milestone of '90s art-rock. But personnel shifts, infighting, side projects, and Perry Farrell's general fucking weirdness sidelined the group until 2003's Strays, a mess of a record. After an eight-year recording break, three of the original four members (bass player Eric Avery quit the band after a series of reunion shows) released The Great Escape Artist last year. And it's an even bigger mess than Strays. But Jane's Addiction's current Theatre of the Escapists tour is about celebrating the past as much as it is about pushing a new record. Which means most of it should rock pretty damn hard once it gets rolling. — Gallucci
Jane's Addiction With Mute Math. 7:30 p.m. Monday, August 6. Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica. Tickets: $27.50-$75; call 800-745-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com.
8/8
Steve Earle & the Dukes
Earle has been in a reflective mood lately. His last two albums – 2009's Townes and last year's I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive – look back on people who helped shape his life. The former is a tribute to the late singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt, who supported Earle when he started making music in the '70s; the latter includes 11 songs about mortality, mostly inspired by his father's death. He'll probably mix things up when he comes to the Kent Stage, so it won't be a total downer show. — Gallucci
8 p.m. The Kent Stage. Tickets: $33.
