Here’s an early head’s up about Wednesday night’s Devotchka show at Sokol Underground. A little bird close to the show tells me that opening band McCarthy Trenching will, in fact, be the all-star line-up featuring Maria Taylor, Steph Drootin and Conor Oberst. We saw this lineup open for M Ward Sept. 6. Fact is, Dan McCarthy is just as good when he’s playing with his non-all-star lineup His music is lilting, folky waltzes with a hint of Neil Young in the guitars. Oberst might throw in some harmonies, but he’ll mostly just concentrate on being a faceless accomplice. Devotchka has become a hot property after contributing music to the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. Last time they came through they drew a few hundred — this time it could be a sell-out, especially with the added star power.

Moving on… Here’s a well-written review from The Dallas Morning News of Cursive’s Nov. 25 gig at The Gypsy Tea Room. I generally don’t agree with the writer, who can’t help but pigeon-hole Cursive as an emo band. His comparisons to Fall Out Boy betray him — Cursive doesn’t have much in common with that band, so if he went to the show expecting that sort of performance he was destined for disappointment. Says he: “But with little exception (the raucous, whippy solo break on “Martyr” being one), its activity level didn’t measure up to a normal emo act, almost as if it chose not to expend the energy lest it lost its rep as the Emo Band With Indie Clout.” Right. I can’t imagine anyone wanting a rep like that.

Tonight, Minneapolis trio The Slats, sounding like a cross between The Cars and Guided By Voices, takes the stage at O’Leaver’s with Des Moines’ Beati Paoli. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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