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The arrival of Thanksgiving generally signals the cool-down of the touring season, when the holidays and treacherous weather make hitting the road a less-than-desirable activity for many musicians. So we’ve got a couple of weeks of action-packed offerings to take in before that happens, and every day brings a load of options. Tonight Chicago expat David McDonnell (Herculaneum) leads a strong local band at Constellation, the always charming, ever astonishing Kelly Hogan makes the trip south from her Wisconsin home for a show with minister of mope Mark Eitzel at the Old Town School, and veteran indie-rock jam band Built to Spill roll into town for a show at Metro. On Friday proto-backpack rapper Aceyalone performs at Reggie’s Music Joint, local bluegrass faves Special Consensus break it down at the Old Town School, and main Monkee Mike Nesmith visits City Winery. Saturday’s highlights include a set from Nashville dobro master Jerry Douglas at City Winery, slow-jam merchant Jaheim at the Arie Crown, and Fresh & Onlys member Wymond Miles doing it solo style at the Empty Bottle. Quasi-sinister, makeup-loving Chicago punk stars Alkaline Trio headline the Aragon on Sunday, while Minor Alps—a new project of Juliana Hatfield and Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws—make their Chicago debut at Schubas. You can read about four more shows from this week’s Soundboard after the jump.
Sat 11/16: Eli Keszler at Post FamilyEli Keszler is a remarkable percussionist whose precision and agility can make his high-velocity rhythms sound like slowly undulating waves of pure sound. “But his most exciting work involves installations, and he’ll present one at this event produced by experimental-music programmer Lampo,” I write this week. “It’s an adaptation of his piece ‘Cold Pin,’ which appears in several versions on last year’s Catching Net (Pan); he creates it by suspending varied lengths of piano string on the walls, equipped with pickups that amplify the often harsh, ringing sounds produced when motorized beaters strike the strings. The automated installation is harrowing and industrial, its ominous, ricocheting metallic tones reverberating in pulsing thrums and twangs.”
