friday10
Friday10
Regina CarterThe Flat FiveKilling JokeTennis
Saturday11
Black TuskClare BursonThe Hideout Holiday BallKilling JokePunch BrothersQueers
Sunday12
LatimorePunch BrothersThe Sword
Monday13
Nick Mazzarella Trio
Wednesday15
Andrew BirdNick Mazzarella TrioMy Chemical Romance
THE FLAT FIVE Earlier this year this five-piece group was chosen by the Reader as the Best Cover Band That Only Plays One Gig a Year, and there’s a surprisingly large amount of competition for that spot. The Five are Scott Ligon (principal arranger), Kelly Hogan, Nora O’Connor, Gerald Dowd, and K.C. McDonough—all connected to Chicago’s healthy alt-country scene—and at their annual shows they turn their powerful but creamily blended voices loose on a wide variety of pop, country, and folk from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, spiced with the occasional relatively contemporary number. The surprise of the set list is part of the fun, so don’t expect me to get specific here—I will say, however, that in past years they’ve done tunes by Dolly Parton, Asleep at the Wheel, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, the Staple Singers (a gimme, considering Hogan’s work with Mavis Staples), Tom Paxton, the Dukes of Stratosphear, the Beach Boys, the Zombies, Roy Orbison, and (unforgettably) the Magnetic Fields. No matter what the material turns out to be, you’ll be getting beautiful singing in a fun version of a wintry wassail, Hideout style. The Flat Five’s loose, almost improvised-sounding approach and often startling arrangements sometimes make it seem like they’re taking a great song apart to see what makes it tick—and they never fail to put it back together in perfect working order. 7:30 and 10:30 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, 773-227-4433 or 866-468-3401, $12. —Monica Kendrick
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
KILLING JOKE You can’t write a respectable history of postpunk or industrial music without prostrating yourself at least briefly before the 80s output of Killing Joke. This inimitable English band straddled punk, metal, new wave, and industrial, and if they’d never existed, everyone from Shellac to Rammstein would probably sound quite different. Since their glory days, they’ve made records in fits and starts, often with only two founding members, vocalist Jeremy “Jaz” Coleman and guitarist Kevin “Geordie” Walker—but the 2007 funeral of former bassist Paul Raven (who’d gone on to play in Prong, Pigface, and Ministry) brought Coleman and Walker together with the other two members of the original lineup, drummer Paul Ferguson and bassist Martin “Youth” Glover. The passionately committed reunion that resulted from that sad meeting produced this year’s Absolute Dissent (Spinefarm), the first album these four guys have recorded together since the early 80s—in 1982 Glover was replaced by Raven after he bailed on the band’s attempt to wait out the apocalypse in Iceland—and frankly it’s the best thing any Killing Joke lineup has done since that turbulent decade. I’m dumbstruck by how good it is, in fact—its roiling, ever-changing landscape of political rage, elegiac sorrow, and wry utopian yearning contains as many bustling intersections, diverse neighborhoods, and strange forms of life as any huge city. Bloodiest opens; see also Saturday. 10 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $20. —Monica Kendrick
PUNCH BROTHERS With their latest album, Antifogmatic (Nonesuch), the Punch Brothers—a quintet led by Nickel Creek singer and mandolinist Chris Thile—have made just about every previous notion of “progressive bluegrass” seem quaint. They haven’t totally abandoned explicit connections to their bluegrass roots—they still use the traditional combo of banjo, bass, acoustic guitar, fiddle, and mandolin, for instance—but Thile’s increasingly ambitious songs blend elements of the genre (including the occasional mountain breakdown) with folk-pop melody, chamber-music polyphony, and experimental dissonance. At first his writing seemed a bit schematic, and I got the impression that all he was doing was trying to challenge his bandmates—but after a couple of listens the sturdiness and inventiveness of his tunes convinced me otherwise. This is a deep, dizzying band that’s only started to achieve its vast potential. See also Sunday. 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, 773-525-2501, $25, $22 in advance. —Peter Margasak
LATIMORE Benny Latimore’s career-defining 1974 hit, “Let’s Straighten It Out,” established him as a tenderhearted sensualist—flawed yet penitent, fortified with hard-won wisdom, and ready to do anything necessary to redeem himself to his lady. Latimore’s now in his 70s and hasn’t hit the charts in years, but his aphorism-heavy blend of romance and self-deprecation continues to melt hearts along the dwindling but still-potent chitlin circuit. On his 2009 release All About the Rhythm and the Blues (LatStone), the self-styled Miami Sex Machine rounds out his usual mix of sensitive-guy anthems and good-natured gettin’-it-on songs with “Obama and the Fat Man,” which encourages the president to stand up to right-wing media attacks; “City Life,” which chronicles the grim urban realities confronted by a good-hearted country boy; and the title song, which celebrates the music and living culture of the blues—a gauntlet thrown down, given that even many southern African-American artists now treat the “b-word” as an epithet. Mr. Lee, Chicago’s ageless dancer, emcee, and comedian, will oversee the festivities. Vance Kelly and Nellie “Tiger” Travis open. 6 and 9 PM, the Zone, 16300 Dixie Highway, Markham, 708-369-0998, $35, $25 in advance. —David Whiteis
