thursday29
Thursday29
Tortoise 2.0Zomes
Friday30
Tift Merritt
Saturday31
Mwata Bowden EnsembleCultsLightning Swords of DeathNight BeatsAndrew W.K.
Sunday1
Night BeatsAram Shelton Quartet
Tuesday3
Seu Jorge & Almaz
Wednesday4
Bob Log III
ZOMES The bio accompanying Zomes’ self-titled album on Holy Mountain claims that the band’s sole member, Asa Osborne, uses a human tooth as a guitar pick. It’s the kind of one-sheet tidbit that you just know is too perfect to be true, but Osborne’s former gig as guitar god for Lungfish—a band devoted to transcending all sorts of musical and nonmusical conventions—makes it kinda believable. Osborne remains dedicated to trance-inducing riff repetition, not only on guitar but on drum machines and keyboards as well, though Zomes’ peaceful, meditative vibe is the flip side of Lungfish’s third-eye-opening apocalyptics. Between the sparse arrangements, loose performances, and no-fi production it sounds like an unearthed 78 from a prewar drone scene that never existed. Jason Urick and Flower Man open. 9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, 773-227-4433 or 866-468-3401, $8. —Miles Raymer
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TIFT MERRITT Seattle producer Tucker Martine brings a scaled-down grandeur to Tift Merritt‘s See You on the Moon (Fantasy), opting for intimacy over spectacle in showcasing her delicate post-Emmylou vocals. The country-soul groove of the opener, “Mixtape,” gets its juice from hand claps and a meticulously pitched string arrangement all played by Eyvind Kang, but the focus is on the singer’s beautiful delivery, which is streaked with a fitting vulnerability on songs that grapple with the difficulties of communication. Though I still like Merritt best on more upbeat, extroverted material—the sleek, driving “Papercut” is my fave here—she’s found a way to handle ballads without resorting to twee coffeehouse sentimentality. She almost makes Anne Murray’s stink bomb “Danny’s Song” palatable, and that’s really saying something. Dawn Landes & the Hounds open. 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, 773-525-2501, $18. —Peter Margasak
saturday31
LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH This Los Angeles four-piece may have a corny name (taken from a Japanese cult film in the “Lone Wolf and Cub” series) that makes them sound like a joke band or at least a hipster-metal outfit, and they may live in one of the sunniest, shiniest cities on the planet, but the thrashy black metal on their second full-length, The Extra Dimensional Wound (Metal Blade), goes to extreme measures to capture the atmosphere of a dark, bone-littered Scandinavian cave. These guys work so hard at ambience and brutality that they sacrifice memorability—put the album on shuffle and it’s not always easy to tell which of the eight tracks you’re listening to. But it’s such a powerful sound—”Paths to Chaos” and “Invoke the Desolate One” are particularly hair-raising—that I found myself unbothered by the sameyness. Forty-five minutes isn’t too long to spend revelling in a murky grind that’s nasty enough to make your eyeballs bleed. Jungle Rot headlines; Lightning Swords of Death, Woe of Tyrants, Trials, and Pathology open. 9 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 2109 S. State, 312-949-0121 or 866-468-3401, $15, $13 in advance, 17+. —Monica Kendrick
