Frameworks
With Gates, Tiny Moving Parts and Two Knights, 7 p.m. Thursday, May 8, at Three Links, 2704 Elm St., threelinksdeepellum.com
Rather than bitch online about an emo revival actually happening (or how it never went away), why not go and watch some of the most promising bands cut from the cloth of '90s post-hardcore? Both Gates and Tiny Moving Parts have new material to play their first time in Dallas, and Frameworks are promoting an explosive new album called Loom. Denton house show favorites Two Knights will open. You can call this twinkle, dadcore, spaz-rock or just emo, but the important thing is, none of these bands are aiming to become pop stars. They sing directly from their love-torn hearts, playing music that exudes an emotional catharsis that anyone can relate to, beyond screaming teenyboppers in DayGlo with baby-sitting money to burn. Eric Grubbs
Lady Antebellum
With Billy Currington and David Nail, 7 p.m. Friday, May 9, at Gexa Energy Pavilion, 1818 1st Ave., 214-421-1111 or gexaenergypavilion.net
For Lady Antebellum's Hilary Scott, fame came her way through a roundabout path. With the musical chops to outdo her female industry peers, Scott auditioned for American Idol twice and never even made it to the judges' round in the audition process. But like any underdog tale, she continued to pursue music — and follow in the footsteps of her famous mother, singer Linda Davis — eventually joining forces with Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood to form Lady Antebellum. Named for a style of houses, the country music trio has steadily increased with popularity among fans and credibility among critics since forming in 2006. Their most well-known song has to be the Grammy Award-winning "Need You Now," a drunken booty call of a tune that revels in the sort of poor decision-making that develops after one too many whiskeys. Paige Skinner
Christina Perri
With Birdy, 8 p.m. Friday, May 9, at House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St., 214-978-2583 or houseofblues.com/dallas
There are no two ways about it: Christina Perri's songs reach down into your soul and wrap themselves around the very fibers of your being. Ever since her song "Jar of Hearts" was featured during the 2010 season of So You Think You Can Dance, and the megahit "A Thousand Years" landed on the soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 the following year, there has been no denying that Perri makes anything but disposable pop. Her new album, Head or Heart, only furthers this belief as the first single, "Human," finds Perri being unapologetic about her inability to be robotic and conformist while keeping her feelings and emotions hidden. Perri dazzles with her ability to switch from understated vocals to a powerful delivery at the drop of a hat. It's damn near impossible not to like a woman whose singing makes you feel so alive. Brian Palmer
Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger
With Broncho, 8 p.m. Friday, May 9, at Dada, 2720 Elm St., dadadallas.com
Jakob, Lisa Marie, Arlo, Matthew, Gunnar and Miley. Each of these musicians has had to battle their twerking hearts out to emerge from the shadows of their beloved, iconic musical fathers. It may be just as well to pick a screwed-up band name to perform under. So while the only child of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, has released albums under his own name, he's more recently been active as one half of the intensely psychedelic duo Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, or GOASTT, alongside his romantic partner, Charlotte Kemp Muhl. There's no mistaking a bit of obvious sonic inheritance in GOASTT's latest release, Midnight Sun, a lush kaleidoscopic haze that, for better or worse, is reminiscent of John's gently epic Sgt. Pepper's-era work. Indeed, it will be worth catching this show for the aural effects more than it will be to stare at the son of a ghost. Kelly Dearmore
Wolfmother
7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 11, at House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St., 214-978-2583 or houseofblues.com/dallas
Andrew Stockdale has led Australia's Wolfmother for almost 15 years. In that time, Stockdale has basically reinvented the band on at least three occasions. Throughout it all, the band's retro, psychedelic metal muse has remained basically intact. The proof of such is on the recently released New Crown, another fine tribute to everything that is (sort of) great about Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Stockdale still can't sing to save his life, but the impressive deluge of tripped-out guitars more than compensates as New Crown sounds as vital as anything else in the band's sadly limited catalog. Darryl Smyers
Band of Skulls
With Sacco, 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, at the Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave., 214-824-9933 or granadatheater.com
With a name reminiscent of an '80s American hardcore band, Band of Skulls is actually an English power trio that has been making mostly impressive indie rock for just about a decade. Decidedly stylish, Band of Skulls have, for better or worse, been consistently compared to the Black Keys and White Stripes. While such comparisons have not proven especially apt, Russell Marsden and his two other playmates do mine some similar influences that manage to peek their way out of the garage rock roar. Himalayan, the band's newest effort, is a rather slickly recorded affair that neither hinders nor advances the band's stylistic credibility. But it is loud and the band looks absolutely fabulous. That counts for something, right? Darryl Smyers
