This Friday’s TWOFER features two bright, albeit dichotomous bands, headlining two of my favorite venues.

Cruise over to Firebird on the 3rd and be treated to Austin trio Pure X touring behind their LP, Crawling Up the Stairs (on b&w swirl vinyl, if you’re into that sort of thing), which will be released May 14th. These guys lean toward the hazy, billowy, deep feelin’ tunes including total gut-wrenchers like “Someone Else” and lighter-sounding though still moody tracks like “Things in my Head”. They also covered Willie Nelson, which is never not cool.

Based on my unscientific and highly accurate show sixth sense, Pure X is the type of band that we haven’t heard of yet because we’re in St. Louis and we’re still going apeshit over cupcakes (the food, not a band). What I’m saying is we tend to be a smidge behind – not that there’s anything wrong with that – but we should all thank The Firebird for doing its best to keep us fresh [to death]. Show specs here.

The other side of our TWOFER coin lands at Off Broadway, with the long-awaited release show for St. Louis Americana mainstay Grace Basement. Wheel Within a Wheel is the band’s first full-length release following 2009’s Gunmetal Gray. I was lucky enough to interview GB’s leader and songwriter Kevin Buckley earlier this month on the birth of the record, his songwriting process, and more.

Despite his multi-instrumental talent, Buckley plans to bring his biggest lineup ever of backing musicians to the stage on the 3rd. Cassie Morgan and the Lonely Pine opens; she’ll updoubtedly treat us to the tracks from her gorgeous 2013 RSD 7″ release, A Day Longer. I will never tire of seeing kind and honest fellow St. Louisans putting out quality creative work. Friday at OB will be a good night for that sort of thing. Pertinent show details here.

What’d I miss? Well, The Heavy Anchor is hosting a BDR Records Showcase for those looking to punk out to the tunes of The Welders, The Retros, Philosophic Collage, and Max Load lovingly covered by Kimi & the Underwires, Bunnygrunt, Spelling Bee, and Trauma Harness respectively. At five bones, this is your loud and wild deal of the month.