BAEBLE CONCERTS: deadboy & the Elephantmen at Maxwell's

Deadboy's similarities to the White Stripes are numerous – a female drummer, a raw minimalist style, and a modernized bluesman up front. They play three-chorded rock songs with visceral energy, funneling the group's Louisiana heritage into a swampy mix of headbanging percussion and heavily distorted guitar. But Deadboy and the Elephantmen like folk music, too, and singer Dax Riggs often ditches his Epiphone electric in favor of a simple, broad-bodied acoustic guitar. He's had a healthy dose of metal in his past, having headbanged his way through the '90s with sludge-rockers Acid Bath, yet there's something undeniably authentic to these simple, quieter songs. The vocals hang heavy, even when Diggs leaps into his falsetto, and Tessie Brunet isn't afraid to give the drums a rest by allowing touring bassist Alex Bergeron to pluck a simple beat. Loud blues and soft folk aren't always compatible, the Deadboy and the Elephantmen are seriously qualified matchmakers.

-Andrew Leahey