Olivia Tremor Control have returned from a long hiatus to prove, again, that they’re the most interesting act from Athens, Georgia’s fabled Elephant 6 collective. What makes OTC so enticing? They wield both a keen sense of melodic loveliness within psych-pop parameters and a knack for darkly whimsical abstractions that wriggle down some mighty strange, imaginary-soundtrackish wormholes. Expect many wondrous cuts from their two classic ’90s LPs, Dusk At Cubist Castle and Black Foliage, and more. (The Vera Project, 305 Harrison St, www.theveraproject.org, 7:30 pm, $15 adv/$17 DOS, all ages)

Dave Segal is a journalist and DJ living in Seattle. He has been writing about music since 1983. His stuff has appeared in Gale Research’s literary criticism series of reference books, Creem (when...