While All Go West is celebrating the local music scene in West Asheville, two indie-rock favorites will go head to head at The Grey Eagle and Orange Peel, dividing the remaining rock crowds and leaving fans to wonder, “Did I make the right choice?”
Akron/Family is an experimental rock trio with an unbridled aesthetic sensibility that ranges from pop-friendly sing-alongs and three-part harmonies to jazzy explorations of rhythm and phrasing. Its members make a habit of swapping instruments on stage, and the band’s live performances are notoriously cathartic and engaging. Akron/Family performs Saturday at The Grey Eagle. 9 p.m. $10/$12.
Yo La Tengo’s breezy, melodic indie rock is both gentle and abrasive, a paradox that’s kept the New Jersey natives a favorite of critics and indie-music fans for three decades. The trio’s extensive back catalog ranges from hypnotic, repetitive song structures that border on shoegaze to straightforward pop tunes inspiring legions after them, a la Belle and Sebastian. Yo la Tengo performs Saturday at The Orange Peel. 9 p.m. $18/$20.
