Built to Spill
8 p.m. Tue., Oct. 17
House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 310-4999; www.hob.com

The opening track of You in Reverse , the new album from indie-rock veterans Built to Spill, is an announcement of their return after a five-year recording hiatus. "Going Against Your Mind," the title of the eight-minute plus song, contains beautiful guitar reflections and energy-packed jams coming together to drive their sound forward while remaining encased in a sophistication evident in seven straight solid albums. Their live show is sure to be just as consistent, and will include sparse drums and intricate jams with three different layers of guitar that juxtapose thoughtfulness and explosive energy. Aside from initial comparisons to the broken song style of Pavement and the free jams of Neil Young, the band is best known as the coolest thing ever to come out of Boise, Idaho. What fans appreciate most is the band's loyalty to its indie-rock sound having consistently stayed underground despite more than a decade-long recording contract with Warner Bros. Tickets $15. — Sam Winston

FILM

Zombie vs. Mardi Gras with Ratty Scurvics' Singularity
9 p.m. Tue. Oct. 17
One Eyed Jacks, 615 Toulouse St., 569-8361; www.oneeyedjacks.com

When filmmaker Karl DeMolay evacuated from the Marigny after Katrina, he brought two shirts, a pair of pants, and the master tape of his 1996 film Zombie vs. Mardi Gras . After schlepping it clean to New York City and back, DeMolay finally managed to get the original print remastered in time for this tenth-anniversary DVD release, and you should be glad he did. It's a testament to the power of the film's cosmic oddness that it's remained a local underground legend for a decade — when for years it was nearly impossible to hear half of the movie. Now, this deeply disturbed fruit of DeMolay's, Mike Lyddon's and Will Frank's pooled imaginations is available in a remastered, partially redubbed and letterboxed DVD edition, with special features including behind-the-scenes footage and a post-Katrina interview with DeMolay and Frank. The film itself tells the story of the twisted MacGuffin, who after being crippled by vicious bead-grabbers as a child, conjures a zombie to take down the forces of Mardi Gras. While the undead protagonist lurches through crowds of revelers, his path of mayhem intersects with an obnoxious documentary crew, a disaffected French couple in the throes of romantic nihilism, a pair of space aliens, counterculture guru John Sinclair and Galileo, plucked from Purgatory to stop the zombie. The killer soundtrack, featuring songs written especially for the movie by Coco Robicheaux and Kenny Holladay among others, is now available as well, as a 24-track companion disc, Zombie vs. Mardi Gras Sings! All in all, Zombie! is one of the best artifacts of underground arcana New Orleans has produced, ranking with Morgus the Magnificent in our pantheon of weirdness. A must for fans of rock 'n' roll, naked breasts, ceremonial magic, minor gore and sarcasm. Ratty Scurvics, the Damn Frontier and Ratzinger play before and after the screening. Tickets $10. — Fensterstock

MUSIC

Peter Holsapple
10 p.m. Tue., Oct. 17
Circle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., 588-2616

Peter Holsapple, a member of the seminal '80s power-pop act the dB's, unfortunately left his adopted New Orleans for the more stable Durham, N.C., post-Katrina, depriving the city of his wonderfully named act, the People's Liberation Army of St. Bernard. Currently, he's been on continuous tour with the inoffensive soul-pop act Hootie & the Blowfish, and is happily popping back into town for this one-off show. The former Continental Drifter and Susan Cowsill collaborator will be playing his acoustic, countrified guitar rock, and hints that he might be joined by some all-star guest talent. Tickets $5. — Fensterstock

MUSIC

Eric Lindell
10 p.m. Fri., Oct. 20
One Eyed Jacks, 615 Toulouse St., 569-8361; www.oneeyedjacks.net

I'm betting that people who smoke a lot of pot just love Eric Lindell. And that's a plus — the New Orleans transplant and California native combines the sounds of both coasts seamlessly in a laid-back, feel-good groove that would convince even the most uptight pessimist that the sun's shining and all's right with the world. With Lindell's debut, Change In The Weather , on the storied Chicago blues label Alligator (home of greats like Hound Dog Taylor and Son Seals), you enter a genre-free happy zone, where vintage rock, meets classic ska, sunny reggae beats, swamp pop, upbeat Stax and Motown soul, gospel, laid-back rhythm and blues, sultry funk and Latin rhythms on the 14 cuts the label plucked from his multiple indie releases. His chilled-out and cheerful roots-style blending has garnered comparisons to the king of lazy-summer-day melody, Van Morrison, and he counts R&B and gospel greats like Jimmy Reed, Albert King, Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway among his influences, but Lindell adds an after-hours Frenchmen Street flavor to his sound that's all his own. Take someone who needs a happy pill to this show. Call club for ticket price. — Fensterstock

MUSIC

Gito Gito Hustler with the Black Rose Band
10 p.m. Sun., Oct. 22
Circle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., 588-2616

What is not to love about Japanese popular culture? They've given us Hello Kitty, green tea ice cream, televised competitive eating and computerized pets. Their Asiatic translations of Occidental popular culture, though, shine in a whole other ballpark of delicious oddness. The Land of the Rising Sun has graced us with the thunderous garage punk of Guitar Wolf, metal lunatics Peelander-Z and the all-girl bluegrass act Petty Booka, and now, if that weren't enough, they've hatched Gito Gito Hustler: four doll-faced young ladies — two of whom are sisters — who rock with the crushing ferocity of Godzilla, Mothra and Gamera slam-dancing in an unholy, monstrous mosh pit. The girls play high-speed, upbeat, forceful punk rock with high-pitched vocals that are as sweet as a candy necklace and pack a punch like a liter of hot sake. Supporting them is the Black Rose Band, a new local act stitched together from the remnants of Katrina-ruined acts, including Julian Fried, former guitar slinger for the futuristic, tightly wound punks the Detonations, and Harahan's own loose cannon King Louie Bankston. The result is tight, rockabilly-flavored garage with a rough Southern rock edge. Tickets $5. — Fensterstock