friday16
cbaby teeth On the cover of Baby Teeth’s second full-length, The Simp (Lujo), bassist Jim Cooper is moping in a jacket and tie at the California Clipper’s handsome bar, looking like he just failed the audition for Bryan Ferry’s spot in Roxy Music, and from the first track to the last the band splurges like a soused middle manager on an expense account, indulging in almost every kind of flourish you can cram into a pop record–itchy disco strings, bursts of sunny a cappella harmonies, wicked hair-metal guitar solos, even a slide-whistle-and-slapstick vaudeville breakdown. The music here is a quantum leap from their debut–it’s filthy, oily lounge glam with nods to the Bee Gees, Queen, and CCR popping up exactly where they shouldn’t, and the boys drive home the whole arch monstrosity with gut-wrenching sincerity. Front man and keyboardist Abraham Levitan has abandoned his Pearly Sweets handle but not the bushy-tailed prankster persona that goes with it, and between the Simp sessions and this release party the band added its first full-time guitarist, Michael Lyons of Clyde Federal and Violins. Baby Dayliner and the Bitter Tears open. a 10 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, $10. –Monica Kendrick
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
cholly golightly In a culture where excess is ubiquitous, it’s easy to appreciate England’s Holly Golightly, a woman with a rare grasp of rock’s simple pleasures. For more than a decade she’s produced a steady stream of rootsy punk-driven rock, lending it a range and subtle pop sensibility that her one-time mentor Billy Childish could only dream of. It’s been almost three years since Slowly but Surely, her last and arguably most accessible album, but she’s finally dropping something new. Credited to Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, You Can’t Buy a Gun When You’re Crying (Damaged Goods) is Golightly and longtime bassist Lawyer Dave ambling through a collection of rural blues and old-timey country originals, plus a couple of covers. Although there are some overdubs, mostly it’s basic guitar with bass accompaniment. Recorded at home, the album has the feel of a hootenanny–with just two people. Screaming Yellow Zonkers open; Golightly plays a Brokeoffs set and then a full-band set. a 10 PM, Subterranean, 2011 W. North, 773-278-6600 or 800-594-8499, $12, $10 in advance, 18+. –Peter Margasak
c KURT ELLING In polls and reviews, readers and critics have converged to name Kurt Elling the most accomplished male jazz vocalist of his generation. So now it comes down to how good he’ll ultimately become–a question only partly answered on the new Nightmoves, due April 3 on Concord. The disc brims with his best pure singing yet: he brings exuberant command to Betty Carter’s “Tight” and focused restraint to a setting of the Whitman poem “The Sleepers.” And on its many ballads his musicianship–intonation, dynamics, ornamentation–proudly challenges that of past pop and jazz giants. Yet the overall arc, from the treacly title tune (almost redeemed by Elling’s sinuous baritone and gimlet phrasing) to Duke Ellington’s emotionally uplifting “I Like the Sunrise,” feels more tortuous than flowing. The range and ambition that drives Elling to write soaring lyrics to historic horn solos (like his excellent adaptation here of Dexter Gordon’s 1976 “Body and Soul”) can prove counterproductive when it comes to packing his ideas into an effectively paced album. But those same qualities help him create the most consistently grand concert performances any singer or audience could want–especially for
a 4 and 7:30 PM, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, 773-728-6000 or 866-468-3401, $22, $18 kids and seniors. A –Peter Margasak
$7. –Liz Armstrong
lost in. Menomena headlines and Land of Talk opens.
