Small White

In bands and in swimsuits, it can take a certain courage to sport a two-piece. But from Birthday Suits to Ratatat, show posters and CD bins are peppered with more and more artists who find liberty in bondage, who thrive under the sonic pressures of working with two little instruments. Consider Small White. The local duo, who at times echo the soaring guitar melodies of the aforementioned Ratatat and at others the grinding arrhythmia of Knife World, fashion a shape shifter's sound that is a baffling expansion of the two-piece configuration, and on their long-overdue debut full-length, Do It Till It Ends, the hooks come fast, stretch out, but never overstay their welcome. Supporting them are Les Deux Magot, another local duo whose sound, a distant shear conjured with guitar and drums, is unseemly and thrilling, and as bracing as a broken tooth. With Gumbi. 21+.
Fri., Aug. 1, 9 p.m., 2008