MELT-BANANA
This Japanese four-piece plays a dazzlingly intricate, perpetually wired, sometimes childlike, and nakedly joyous mix of hardcore, noise, improv, and pop, bringing the various subcultures together in a rapturous orgy of pure energy. K.K. Null took them under his wing in 1993, putting out their first album and giving them their earliest international exposure, and since then they’ve toured and recorded with luminaries both Japanese (the Merzbow collaboration of 1995, Merz-Banana, was a landmark) and American, including John Zorn and his posse, Mike Patton’s Mr. Bungle, U.S. Maple, Steve Albini, and Jim O’Rourke. Though they have a pages-long discography of cassettes, singles, and EPs, their latest, Teeny Shiny, on their own A-Zap label, is only their fourth proper album; it’s a squealing swerve ‘n’ jerk delight in its own right, but I’ve always thought of them as one of those bands you really have to experience. Friday, November 24, 7 PM, Fireside Bowl, 2646 W. Fullerton; 773-486-2700.
MONICA KENDRICK