The Best of Friday:

Paleo and MacGregor Burns. $8. 9 p.m. The Red and the Black. 21+.

Singer-songwriter David Andrew Strackany has toured extensively and exhaustively for years (seriously, check the tour history). Enjoy an easy, strumming indie-folk sound that invokes a sunny chorus of happy animals (think badgers playing flute, chiming lizards, maybe a tuba-playing elephant) all beckoning you into their traveling family fun van. Paleo isn’t all folksy fluff—-songs like “Cradle of Dust” pair ebullient and dark tones.

Superchunk, Tommy Keane, and Let’s Wrestle. $20. 8 p.m. 9:30 Club.

After nine years (read: a long-ass time) the Chapel Hill, N.C., indie rockers have returned with a new full-length, Majesty Shredding, on Merge Records. Since 2001, the band has made rounds where it counts: performing at the Daily Show 10th Anniversary Party, popping up at Coachella, and infusing the Destiny’s Child hit “Say My Name” (cornrows and colored leather bustiers excluded) with major shred power. The writing is on the wall: Superchunk is back.

The Caribbean. $9. 7 p.m. U Street Music Hall.

The effects of this show are guaranteed to be off-putting; there’s always something purposely askew in a song by D.C.’s The Caribbean. But the music is absolutely transparent. Each song off of The Caribbean’s 2007 release, Populations, seamlessly falls into the next, lulling you along until you’ve found yourself listening to the album in its entirety. Put this stuff on repeat. Do whatever you want. However, after the night’s pairing with More Humans and Insect Factory, the appropriate thing might just be to take time to reread The Giver.

The Best of Saturday:

H Street Festival. noon to 6 p.m. Free.

Despite the unfortunate collision of this years’ festival and Yom Kippur, the H Street Festival is this weekend’s can’t-miss event. Mosey on over to one of two music stages presented by the Rock & Roll Hotel. For a full musical lineup, check out the festival website. The promise of “six blocks of urban fun” and the prospect of delicious food cart nommage is too great.

Dark Star Orchestra: “Recreating a Grateful Dead Capital Centre Show in its Entirety.” $25. 8 p.m. doors. 9:30 Club. All ages.

The title is self-explanatory. This Chicago tribute band faithfully executes the uncanny. No word yet if Tipper Gore is slated to boogie and or perform with the band.

The Postelles, Hurricane Bells, Blackbells.$10. 9 p.m. DC9 18+.

The Postelles have opened for the reigning kings of catchy, Kings of Leon, but don’t hold it against them. The Postelles deliver catchy, to-the-point pop rock with retro, Phil Spector-inspired inflections. If the single “White Night” is any indication of what’s to come for this quintet of endearingly nostalgic youngsters, you’ll want to catch them again on their next swing through the District, Dec. 2nd at the 9:30 Club. Hurricane Bells is the newest project of former Longwave front man Steve Schlitz. It ain’t bad, either. He sounds like a less soul-ravaged M. Ward.

Kim Waters. $20. 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere.

If contemporary jazz is your bag or if you’re trying to seduce the high-waisted nylon lace panties off of your female companion, warm her up with the melodious saxophonic stylings of Mr. Kim Waters. If anything, get in touch with your long-lost 90s R&B soul-child.

Tittsworth, Alvin Risk, Steve Starks. $10. 10 p.m. U Street Music Hall: Hypnotic and contagiously danceable beats.

The Best of Sunday:

105 Voices of History Choir: 3rd Annual Performance. $20-$50. 5 p.m.Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Get your Sunday praise on with host Dr. Shirley Caesar, Kim Burrell, and one singer from each of the nations’ 105 Historically Black Universities and Colleges.

The Rest of Friday:

• Tabi Bonney, Phil Ade and DJ Heat. $12 pre-show, $15 doors. 9 p.m. Rock & Roll Hotel.

• Luke Brindley CD release party w/ Chelsea Lee. $15. 8 pm. Jammin Java.

• Nortec Panoptica Orchestra. Free. 6pm. Millennium Stage.

• No Age, Holy Fuck. $15. 9pm. Black Cat.
• America Hearts, Diehard, and Shark?. $8. 9 p.m. Velvet Lounge. 21+.
• Robbie Fulks Band and David Kitchen. $15. 9 p.m. Iota Club. 21+.
• Laura Viers and the Hall of Flames, The Watson Twins and Led to Sea. $22. 50. 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere.

The Rest of Saturday:

• HFStival 2010 featuring: Third Eye Blind. Billy Idol. Everclear. Ed Kowalczyk from Live. Presidents of the United States of America. Fuel. Lit. Marcy Playground. $35 – 50. 11 a.m. doors. Merriweather Post Pavillon.
• Scott Miller and Karl Straub. $15. 9 p.m. Iota Club 21+
• Subtle Body — $8, 9PM, The Red and the Black 21+.
• East Coast Caravan – Farewell Show  AND TNTrio – $10. 6pm doors, 7 p.m. show. Rock & Roll Hotel.
  
• Hello Babies, Lubec, Order. $8. 9 p.m. Velvet Lounge. 21+.
• LIVE WIRE: The Ultimate Tribute to AC/DC. $12. 7:00 doors, 9:00 show. The State Theater.
• Second Saturdays featuring: The Black Sparks, Gist. $8. 8 p.m. show.Black Cat
• Roadducks, Rock Ridge Freq Drive, High Fives Died in the 80’s. $5. 7:30 doors, 8 p.m. show. Jaxx. 21+.

The Rest of Sunday:

• Billy Bragg and Darren Hanlon. $35. 7pm doors. 9:30 Club. 
• Homay & The Mastan Group 2010 Tour Outside Presenter. $35 – $81. The Strathmore.
  
• Aaron Thompson, My Brother the Welder, Good morning Valentine. $8. 9 p.m. show. Velvet Lounge. 21+.
• Garland of Hours, MG Lederman. $8. 9 p.m. Black Cat.
• Jazz Mazurkas: Solo Piano Recital by Artur Dutkiewicz. $35. 5 p.m. American University Katzen Arts Center.