FROM HIS FORMATIVE faux-country sulk-alongs in the Scud Mountain Boys through variably named pop rock ensembles, Massachusetts' Joe Pernice has carved out a genius niche insufficiently explained as retro jangle, depressive indie folk, Nick Drake meets the Velvet Underground via Emitt Rhodes, or what have ya. Yours, Mine and Ours (Ashmont), the latest disc by one of his projects, the Pernice Brothers, offers the perverse intensity of abstract lyrical depressionism heightening the pure melodic love of tracks sweeter and smarter than anything that Big Star, Todd Rundgren, and the Shoes combined could've contrived. Falsettos strain toward guilty pop heaven; listeners strain to understand why Joe and the band aren't all the rage. Perhaps they're just too good. Decide for yourself at their two local shows. The Pernice Brothers play at the Starry Plough with Warren Zanes and Heavenly States and at Bottom of the Hill with Warren Zanes and Bay Guardian art director Victor Krummenacher. Sat/5, 9 p.m., 3101 Shattuck, Berk. $10. (510) 841-2082; Sun/6, 9 p.m., 1233 17th St., S.F. $10. (415) 621-4455. (Dennis Harvey)