While you wouldn't exactly call Raleigh's Bleeding Hearts retro, they do put you in mind of stuff you've heard before. Their long-awaited second album "Nothin' on But the Radio" (Doublenaught Records) opens with radio static that resolves into shotgun blasts of guitar, with riffs and tones suggesting everybody from Velvet Underground to 38 Special. But they don't trot out reference points for the purposes of revering or mocking. Instead, Bleeding Hearts simply tap into The One True Rock that so many of us grew up with, and you know what? It rocked then and it rocks now (even 38 Special). Bleeding Hearts show off the album tonight at Raleigh's Pour House.

Hard to believe that Citified is from right down the road in Greensboro, because "The Meeting After the Meeting" (Eskimo Kiss Records) sounds like it should have come from across an ocean. Long on chiming guitars and ethereal ambience, these seven songs are pure ear candy, especially for those with a taste for Britpop. Catch it live tonight at Slims in Raleigh.

Downtown Raleigh's Artsplosure Festival is this weekend, with a strong music component. Of particular note is Saturday's bill with Shalini (the latest lineup of which features long-ago R.E.M. co-producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon), Killer Filler, banjo bluesman Otis Taylor, blues chanteuse Janiva Magness and Nathan Asher & the Infantry.

Sunday brings The Old Ceremony, Eric Lindell and Jon Faddis Quartet, among others. Check artsplosure.org for details on times and stages.

Elsewhere this weekend:

Venerable guitarist Les Dudek plays Cat's Cradle in Carrboro tonight, while Virginia Coalition storms Raleigh's Lincoln Theatre; Southern Culture on the Skids play one of their semiannual hometown shows Saturday at the Cradle; Pneurotics unveil their new album Saturday at Chapel Hill's Local 506, on a superlative bill with Red Collar, Hammer No More the Fingers and Proclivities; and Walnut Creek's first big country show of 2008 is Tim McGraw on Saturday.

Furthermore:

Sunday's Bimbe Festival lineup at Durham Athletic Park features Raleigh neo-soul singer Cynthia Jones, currently having success on Billboard's gospel chart with her new album; RebusFest at Raleigh's Rebus Works has Loners, Monologue Bombs, the T's and other ace locals Sunday afternoon; 54 Seconds, a very solid atmospheric rock band from Texas led by the son of Robin Gibb (yes, that Robin Gibb), plays Monday at the Cave in Chapel Hill; behold the mighty awesomeness of The Sword at the Lincoln on Tuesday; and Duran Duran brings a little touch of the '80s to Cary's Booth Amphitheatre.

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