American Evolution Festival Saturday, 6/9

Intended as “an alternative from the corporate-owned entertainment/news industry,” a multimedia cross-section of anarchists, mystics, activists, and environmentalists convenes for a noon-to-midnight festival of music, art, and film at the Belcourt Theatre. From jam bands to worldbeat, the musical acts include the Eastern-influenced ensemble Perfumed Garden, Transcendental Crayon Ensemble, Stoik Oak, Limestone and Joy, the Harveys, Head Czech, Leo Johnson, and Chris Durai. In addition, there’ll be belly dancing, drum circle performances, an art show, and booths of information on grass-roots causes. The day is rounded out at 5 p.m. by the first local screening of A Year in the Streets: WTO Seattle to the Bush Administration, a documentary on street-level activism by Eugene, Ore.’s Cascadia Media Collective, and a screening of Big Noise Films’ documentary Zapatista. The event is sponsored by Planetary Restoration Organization, a Nashville group that opposes globalization and promotes “[restoring] the planet to a healthy and harmonious state of being.” Tickets are $13 at the theater; proceeds benefit the Belcourt Theatre in its own evolution as an alternative entertainment venue. For more information, www.planetaryrestoration.com.

—J.R./A.W.

Thursday, 7th

The Blood Oranges/Tim Carroll Boston’s Blood Oranges were ahead of the alt-country curve even when they broke up in 1995; in some circles, they’re better known for launching the solo career of singer-songwriter Cheri Knight—who put out 1998’s fine The Northeast Kingdom on the E-Squared label—than for their own ahead-of-its-time bluegrass for indie-rock hipsters. The reunited team of Knight, Jim Ryan, and Mark Spencer brings its reunion tour to The Sutler—but unluckily for them, they have to follow opening act Tim Carroll, one of Music City’s least appreciated and hardest rocking guitarist/songwriters. The name of his new LP is Free Again, which tells where Carroll’s head is these days after his ill-fated tenure with Sire Records: At least the experience didn’t hurt his ability to craft wry country tunes and scorching Stones-y stompers. Expect Carroll to let his freedom ring loud and true live.

—J.R.

Spot Lite Nashville’s spoken-word and hip-hop communities have restarted their series of live performance gigs. The most recent one occurred at the now defunct Abstract Cafe, but the organizers have found a new location. Spot Lite will be held at 3rd & Lindsey, and once again it brings to the mic many of the city's finest hip-hop combines and spoken-word artists. The cast includes Utopia State, No Sleep Productionz, Iayaalis, J. Ivy & Taney Torae, spoken-word artist Keisha D. Rucker, Stephanie Rankin, and many others. Things get under way at 9:30 p.m.

—R.W.

Antarctica One might expect a band that has a name like Antarctica and titles all of its records by their total playing time to create vast epics of swirling monochromatic sound—aural documents of glacial change. And while there is an element of My Bloody Valentine-esque wash in Antarctica’s music, it is often in the bubbly context of ’80s dance-pop like that of New Order. They bring their pop minimalism to The End with Otherness and Metropolis (see below).

—C.D.

Otherness/Metropolis Opening for spacey synth-drone band Antarctica at The End are two next-wave techno-poppers from right here in Nashville. Otherness lean toward surging epics that recall vintage New Order, Depeche Mode, and OMD, while Metropolis tend toward morose, guitar-spiked ballads with Christian overtones. Both play music that is intensely personal, with electronic trappings that are surprisingly warm.

—N.M.

Nada Surf Nada Surf’s one hit, “Popular,” disappeared off the mainstream radar so fast that it’s easy to wonder if they were simply a product of our collective imagination. The band got caught in the typical struggles that too many young bands on major labels find themselves in. Their 1998 album, The Proximity Effect, was finally wrested away from Elektra and released domestically last year on the band’s own imprint, MarDev Records. The newer material took a gigantic leap forward in terms of songwriting, and thematically it reflected the maturity of a band that clearly still loved its indie-rock but had grown up considerably. Quietly confident and soberly emotional, The Proximity Effect was one of the year’s best. Reason enough to catch Nada Surf when they play the Dancin’ in the District’s Mello Yello Stage along with The Sheila Divine and Linger.

—T.A.

Patty Griffin Don’t hold your breath waiting for Silver Bell, the Jay Joyce-produced third album from this torchy folkie turned electric siren. Thanks to industry consolidation and the numb nuts of her ex-label, Interscope, the long-awaited follow-up to 1998’s Flaming Red languishes in record-company limbo and isn’t likely to surface—at least not anytime soon. Help her say a big ol’ screw you when she headlines Dancin’ in the District at Riverfront Park with special guests Atticus Fault, Kathleen LaGue, and Uncle Sideshow.

Friday, 8th

Kim Richey A first-rate singer-bandleader and genuinely great songwriter, Richey has to be the most unhyped—and unassuming—major talent in town. Witness her presence on the inaugural roster of the would-be hipster imprint Lost Highway Records. While there’ve been reams of copy cranked out about labelmates Lucinda Williams, ex-Whiskeytown frontman Ryan Adams, and Robert Earl Keen, you almost have to read the fine print to know Richey is signed to Lost Highway, even though she’s as good as the lot of them—and has the goods on both Adams and Keen. Richey plays with Bill Deasy at 12th & Porter.