Sequoyah Prep School These boys aren't the new kids on the block, but they are beginning to stand out with their Southern charm. It's good time music, for good old boys and girls, with an edge that just barely leaves a scratch but is still so good it makes you want a band-aid anyway. Something is in the water in the Carolinas, and everybody just needs to keep drinking up. With Flagship. Visulite Theatre (Sam Webster)
Castanets Raymond Raposa is Castanets, and through four previous full-lengths, Castanets has been good; often more than good. But with his upcoming September release, Texas Rose, The Thaw & the Beasts, Raposa has taken the Great Leap Forward. Here, the San Diegan channels his inner Willie Nelson into his tightest songs yet, adding the gothic accents (processed beats, synths, howling guitars, etc.) that embellish his best previous work and here take him in even more compelling directions. The result is luminous and organic, songs that glow through the dark like phosphorescent jellyfish viewed in sparkling high-def. (Speaking of which, fans of Matthew Houck's Phosphorescent, especially, should take note this, too, is beautifully fucked-up folk-twang.) With Ma Turner (of Warmer Milks) and Bo White. Milestone (John Schacht)