Rock Picks

You expect whimsy out of a band calling itself Bombadil, and this Durham group delivers whimsy in spades on its new album "A Buzz, A Buzz" (Ramseur Records). Like the strange and mystical character from Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," Bombadil sounds wide-eyed and a little spacey, flitting from one peculiar image and unusual sound to the next. It's rustic folk as played by young people on the lam from their marching band, and it's pretty danged charming (especially live). Bombadil marks the album's release tonight at Carrboro's Cat's Cradle.

Elsewhere tonight: Yo La Tengo hasn't put out anything new in a while, but French Kicks fill that sonic void rather nicely, at Chapel Hill's Local 506; contest winner Inflowential plays its "mtvU campus invasion send-off party" at Raleigh's V21; venerable bluesmen John Dee Holeman and George Higgs play a benefit show for Music Maker Relief Foundation at Raleigh's Longview Center; Goner, Loners and Patty Hurst Shifter make up a fabulous rockin' triple-bill at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh; and Widespread Panic opens the 2008 outdoor-concert season with the first of two nights at Raleigh's newly rechristened Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek (see page 17).

Saturday: The Daily Tarheel's "Diversions" show at Local 506 features some of our best local bands, including Hammer No More the Fingers and Future Kings of Nowhere; the equally fantastic Red Collar plays Durham's Sirens Lounge (then moves over to Tir Na Nog on Thursday); and if you're looking for a post-Widespread Panic nightcap, there's American Aquarium at Raleigh's Pour House.

Furthermore: Lou Reed and Melt Banana come to Durham's Carolina Theatre Monday (see page 3); Japanese bluegrass band (?!) Surf & Turf plays Raleigh's Berkeley Cafe on Tuesday; Wednesday brings the great melodrama of American Music Club to the Carrboro ArtsCenter, Josh Ritter to the Cradle and ex-Spin Doctor Chris Barron to Local 506; Thursday, it's the always great and sardonic Tommy Womack at the Berkeley, Less Than Jake at Raleigh's Lincoln Theatre and the Connells playing a Pour House benefit for N.C. Senate candidate Josh Stein.