Okkervil River, The Elected

Their home is the beer-soaked dives of Austin, but Okkervil River is just as comfortable in the rustic woods of New Hampshire or on a train to post-Reconstruction Kansas City. They've been known to belt out Appalachian murder ballads, but more often the songs are Will Sheff's coming-of-age confessionals rife with metaphor and allegory, not to be confused with the juvenile journal entries of Death Cab for Cutie or even more retch-inducing emo drivel. Onstage, a quiet intensity builds as Sheff and mates bare their souls for all. And when the cauldron boils over Crazy Horse-style, expect red faces, raw-throated cries, thrashed mandolin and guitar strings, a battered and bruised Wurlitzer, and lots of violent head-bobbing, both on- and off-stage. When Okkervil River is on (which is most every night), it's one of the most intense acts you'll ever see. Rilo Kiley-related pop craftsmen The Elected (signed to Sub Pop) close the show.