DAT POLITICS
The French laptop quartet DAT Politics isn’t afraid of a funky beat or a little pop melody, so if you’re looking for electronic abstraction, go see Oval on Saturday instead. On the band’s two albums, Villiger (A-Musik) and Tracto Flirt (Tigerbeat6), cheesy hooks played on rubbery-sounding synths bounce through a minefield of ominous tones, deliberately tinny electro beats, liquefied samples, stuttering electronic glitches, ghostly hiss, and noisy decay. The group–three members of which also work together in the more sober Tone Rec–doesn’t subscribe to a particularly strict aesthetic: some pieces are suspended in a murky, melancholy softness, while others strut gaudily across a shiny surface. The constant motion between these extremes is what keeps things compelling; hopefully the live set is every bit as inconsistent as the recordings. Thursday, September 21, 7 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western; 773-276-3600.
PETER MARGASAK