Roadtrips

The Norwegian dudes Samoth and Ihsahn -- two thirds of the dark entity known as Emperor -- are regarded as something like the Lennon/McCartney of black metal. The band, however, are perhaps more famous outside the metal world as the outfit that kept losing its members to the penal system for murder, assault, and church arson. They would like you to know that's all behind them now; they've long since bared their corpse-painted faces and focused on their, uh, musical legacy. Their latest, IX Equilibrium (Century Media), is slick thrash with classical aspirations -- and sounds a bit like Slayer covering the soundtracks to the old Looney Tunes cartoons, with Philip Glass sitting in on icy keys. Too goofy. They're headlining a Stateside tour with Witchery (whose EP of covers on Necropolis, Witchburner, offers photos of the most buxom and least-clothed vampire-slaying nun we've yet encountered), Peccatum, Borknager, and Devine Empire, which stops at the Palladium (508-797-9696) in Worcester on July 16.

From black metal to the only slightly less menacing figure of Frank Black, the occasionally supernatural-obsessed former Pixie whose new Pistolero (spinArt) -- credited to Frank Black and the Catholics, with local guitar god Rich Gilbert aboard -- has been rightly hailed as a return to top form (see "Cellars by Starlight" in Arts, page 18). He's at the Lucky Dog Music Hall (508-363-1888) in Worcester on July 16, and at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on the 17th. And then on to "Decay Será, Será" event at the Space (508-753-0017) in Worcester on July 17 -- which sounds like something metal kids woulda come up with but is in fact a gathering of the psychedelic space-rock crowd that of late has been found lurking around the Fitchburg Planetarium. An evening of "music, art, machinery, nihilism, and light summery snacks" (let's see those Emperor dudes top that!), "Será" features local Terrastock alums Abunai!, who just released their second disc, The Mystic River Sound (Camera Obscure), as well as Cul de Sac, Moon Patrol, and lots more. And finally, the monstrous becomes warm, fuzzy, and downright cuddly in the hands of punk-popsters the Groovie Ghoulies, who are at the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on July 19 and at the Middle East on July 20.

The 13th annual Green River Festival (413-773-5463) in Greenfield has a hearty roots bill with the swingin' Hot Club of Cowtown, Stash, and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys on Friday the 16th, then continues on the 17th with Martin Sexton, Kelly Willis, Great Big Sea, Rod Piaza and the Mighty Flyers, the Hot Club again, and fuzzmaster Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men -- who are also at Cambridge's House of Blues (617-491-BLUE) on the 16th. If you've still got a hankerin' for Cajun spice after that, head to the Fruitlands Outdoor Amphitheatre (617-876-4275) in Harvard on July 18, where Grammy winners Beausoleil hold court. A longer haul, but worth the trip, is the Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival, July 15 through 18 on Rothvoss Farm (888-946-8495) in Ancramdale, New York, which features the likes of the Austin Lounge Lizards (your guess is as good as ours), the Del McCoury Band, Natalie MacMaster, the David Grisman Quintet, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, and more than a dozen others.
-- Carly Carioli