Into pioneering electronic music? Or maybe super-underground black metal? Well it’s a good weekend to be in Chicago. Tonight Kraftwerk plays a massive 3-D concert at the Riviera, and this weekend we get the fifth installment of the Cathedral of the Black Goat festival. Good weekend if you have tickets already, that is, because both are sold out. Sorry guys.
But don’t worry! If you’re looking to take in some live music, there’s still a whole lot to see and hear. Tonight there’s Earth at Empty Bottle and Purling Hiss at Hideout. Tomorrow there’s Skaters at Bottom Lounge, and a throwback set with Boyz II Men and Bobby Brown in Hammond. New Bums play at Hideout on Saturday, while TLC brings another nostalgia fest to Hammond.
This, of course, is just a small sampling of what’s happening this weekend. After the jump, check out some more hot picks from our writers.
Fri 3/28: Carsick Cars at Permanent Records and Burlington
Chinese Sonic Youth enthusiasts Carsick Cars make two appearances in town on Friday: a free in-store at Permanent followed by a later gig at the Burlington. Leor Galil says, “Carsick Cars are unabashed fans of Sonic Youth, probably the best-known group with roots in that explosion of NYC postpunk—the Ministry of Culture yanked Carsick Cars off a Sonic Youth concert in Beijing in 2007, but later that year they got to tour Europe with their idols. Carsick Cars’ brand-new third album, 3 (Maybe Mars), sometimes sounds like Sonic Youth’s more hypnotic material, while other tunes have a strong garage-rock swing; ‘Wild Grass,’ for example, starts out like a jangly 60s garage burner, then bleeds into a psychedelic jam. With help from coproducers Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3) and Hamish Kilgour (the Clean), Carsick Cars manage to combine transcendent beauty and ruthless catchiness—the engrossing, ethereal guitars on ‘White Song’ seem to bring time to a halt.”
Local rock ‘n’ roll duo Redgrave headlines the Hideout on Friday. “These lick-heavy chunks of stripped-down, bluesy garage rock seethe with the out-and-out power of front woman Angie Mead, who’s not only a total shredder but also hoots and hollers with the best of them when she’s not swallowing the room whole with a soulful wail,” writes Kevin Warwick. “Songs like these are meant to be played in clubs with no more than four beers on tap and decade-old cigarette burns in the carpet.”
Sun 3/31: Rich Halley 4 at Hungry Brain
Seattle tenor saxophonist Rich Halley brings his quartet to town on Sunday. Peter Margasak says, “He’s released plenty of excellent quartet material on his own Pine Eagle label, and this weekend he rolls through town on a rare midwest tour with his superb working group—drummer Carson Halley (his son), Los Angeles trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, and bassist Clyde Reed. Halley’s scrappy recordings, among them the recent Crossing the Passes, sound a lot like the brawny, unfussy postbop that’s popular around these parts. He balances melodic generosity against a biting tone, which complements Vlatkovich’s garrulous, fatback sound; the two horn men dash off wry contrapuntal lines, comment upon or prod each other’s improvisations, or simply trade phrases. Reed’s muscular presence keeps the group anchored even at its most frenzied moments, driving each tune inexorably forward.” Halley also plays at Skylark on Monday night.