friday9
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cERIK M Since his earliest pieces 15 years ago, which roughly followed a path carved out by the great sound artist Christian Marclay, this French turntablist has continually expanded his sonic vocabulary. Most of his recorded output has been collaborative: teaming up with an international list of electroacoustic improvisers, including Toshimaru Nakamura, Otomo Yoshihide, Jerome Noetinger, Voice Crack, and Gunter Muller, he’s tended to deploy his electronic noises as part of a single massed sound rather than as one side of a give-and-take conversation. Even among this consistently strong work, his best collaboration may be 2004’s Archives Sauvees des Eaux (Angle), where he and French composer Luc Ferrari improvise using a stream of abstract samples stored on CD and minidisc, forgoing clear-cut structure to explore dynamics in density, movement, and juxtaposition. Shortly after Ferrari’s death in 2005, Erik M recorded another version of the piece with a small new-music ensemble, released last year on the CD Et Tournent les Sons (Cesare). The recent Sixperiodes (Sirr) contains six solo pieces composed for dance, theater, and film: “Les Paesines” generates a hovering, ominous ambience, while “Slide” is more suspenseful, with pointillist piano stabs ringing out like gunshots amid a glacial hum. These solo gigs, Erik M’s first in Chicago since 2000, are part of the Openport festival at Link’s Hall. On tonight’s bill he goes first, followed by performance artists Carolyn Bergvall, Jon Cates & Jake Eliot, and Galen Curwen-McAdams. See also Sunday; for information on other festival events see Section 2. a 7:30 PM, Link’s Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield, second floor, 773-281-0824, $12, $10 for students, seniors, and the unemployed. A –Peter Margasak
cPLASTICLAND Formed in Milwaukee in 1980, Plasticland was the third incarnation of a band that had already gone through two related genres, prog and Krautrock, to arrive at a sound that put it out in front of the mid-decade psychedelic revival. Like the best of their better-known peers–the Lyres and Rain Parade come to mind–they were able to back up their paisley pretensions and hairy fuzzbox spew with some very solid songwriting. And like those bands, they put out a few brilliant albums, peaking in 1985 with Wonder Wonderful Wonderland before winding down in the 90s. But they never quite disappeared, and tonight they’ll take a well-deserved bow for last year’s Make Yourself a Happening Machine, a stunning best-of compilation on Ryko that would have sent the buzzometer off the scale if these guys were hot young things. The Goldstars and Favorite open. a 9:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $8. –Monica Kendrick
shins All this “difficult third album” blather about the Shins’ Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop) is much ado about nothing: no indie-rock record debuts at the number two spot on Billboard with anything less than effortlessly palatable jangle and hooks galore. Granted, Wincing is a touch more outre by previous Shins standards, but all that really means is that instead of just sounding like the Beach Boys, it sounds like the Beach Boys harmonizing with the Flaming Lips while popping lithium pills inside an impenetrable neon igloo. Viva Voce opens. a 7:30 PM, Congress Theater, 2135 N. Milwaukee, 312-752-6601 or 312-559-1212, sold out. A –Jessica Hopper
VICTOR MANUELLE Arguably the preeminent salsa singer of the past decade, Puerto Rico’s Victor Manuelle keeps the classic Afro-Cuban groove at the center of his music, no matter how trendy its trimmings. On last year’s Decision Unanime (Norte) his concessions to popular taste don’t all work–crossover bids with reggaeton stars Don Omar and Hector el Father feel clunky. But in two cameo appearances pianist Eddie Palmieri raises the temperature with his granite-hard comping, pushing Manuelle’s improvisations into the red, and the coro singers on these tracks are no less than Cheo Feliciano, Adalberto Santiago, and Tito Allen. Manuelle may be eager to reach a younger demographic, but he sounds much more natural working with his predecessors. Jorge Celedon opens. a 6 PM, Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State, 312-462-6363 or 312-902-1500, $47.50-$87.50. A –Peter Margasak
spires that in the sunset rise When I first heard Spires That in the Sunset Rise about three years ago, I thought they were Chicago’s most likely candidate for induction into the emerging freak-folk scene. But on their third album, This Is Fire (Secret Eye), they make it clear they’re content to dwell in their own cracked universe. They take what sounds like a completely intuitive approach to such nonrock instruments as the spike fiddle, mbira, harmonium, autoharp, and bowed banjo, rendering their sounds almost unrecognizable without the aid of electronics. Brittle strings slide, twang, and snap over primitive, hypnotizing beats, and surprising sonic details constantly jump out, then recede just as quickly into the gurgling, ominous din. I don’t always understand what these women are doing, but I’m always beguiled. They open for the 1900s and Singleman Affair. a 8 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, $6. –Peter Margasak
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