Troika's top 10 music sets

Correction (Nov. 6 12:04 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly states the number of national tours that Chapel Hill band I Was Totally Destroying It has been on. It has been on two. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

Correction (Nov. 6 12:29 p.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the day for Pipe's Troika set. The band actually plays tonight at 12:15 a.m. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

Featuring the bulk of the area’s best artists, this year’s Troika Music Festival will be almost impossible to navigate. In that vein, I have assembled my top 10 sets for the Durham event. If you stick close to this, you’ll have a hell of a time.

1. Megafaun: 7:45 p.m., Thursday at Durham Central Park

Boasting one of the state’s best records, Megafaun will be a must-see at the festival’s kick-off. Combining experimental elements with plain-old pickin’ ’n’ grinnin’, the Durham trio creates a uniquely invigorating folk sound.

2. The Love Language: midnight, Saturday at Broad Street Café

The Love Language, recently signed to Durham’s Merge Records, adds jubilant big-band froth to Stuart McLamb’s tales of love and loss, as the Chapel Hill band turns heartache into pop perfection.

3. Bowerbirds: 11 p.m., Thursday at Durham Performing Arts Center

Delicate yet brutal, Raleigh’s Bowerbirds use a spare arrangement of pounding drums and breezy acoustic melody to frame Phil Moore’s picturesque transcendental musings.

4. Birds of Avalon: midnight, Friday at Duke Coffeehouse

Hard-edged and psychedelic, Raleigh’s Birds Of Avalon are the area’s premiere classic-leaning rock act. Featuring roaring guitar lines and the piercing howl of Craig Tilley, these birds soar.

5. Pipe: 12:15 a.m., Friday at Broad Street Café

Reunions are always interesting, and this one is no exception. Tight and furious, Chapel Hill’s Pipe was one of the best punk rock bands in the area’s packed ’90s lineup, and it seems unlikely the band will be rusty enough to change this too much.

6. I Was Totally Destroying It: 11 p.m., Friday at Duke Coffeehouse

This Chapel Hill band turns clean, synth-driven pop-rock into a wallop of youthful energy. With its second national tour just behind it, IWTDI will be in fine form.

7. Lonnie Walker: 11:15 p.m., Saturday at Duke Coffeehouse

Hooking the old-school folk delivery of early acoustic Dylan to well-crafted indie rock, Brian Corum and co. have one the most unique sounds in the area. And there’s no better way to hear it than live and in person.

8. The Beast: 7 p.m., Thursday at Durham Central Park

If there’s one thing lacking in this year’s Troika line-up, it’s hip-hop. But the bill does have one standout in this regard. Durham’s The Beast combines music that ranges from lounge jazz to salsa with Pierce Freelon’s creative and expressive rhymes.

9. Hammer No More the Fingers: 10:30 p.m, Friday at the Trotter Building

Bouncing along on muscular bass lines as expansive guitar lines fill up the room, Durham’s Hammer turn three instruments into an assault of well-crafted indie rock large enough to conquer most any venue.

10. Caltrop: 10:15 p.m., Friday at The Pinhook

Imposing doesn’t begin to cover it. Chapel Hill’s Caltrop is a leviathan of lumbering guitar, bass and drums that roars louder than most any band in the area. It’s an explosive formula that makes this quartet one of the South’s best heavy acts.

Honorable mention

Red Collar - 11:30 p.m. Saturday at the Trotter Building

Bellafea - 11 p.m. Friday at the The Pinhook

Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.