In some ways Detroit trio SSM sound like they’re trying to be a nouveau disco band; they have the beat and hi-hat heat, but otherwise they miss the target entirely. Not that you can say exactly what it is these guys are up to: Their full name, Szymanski Shettler Morris, is a straight 70s-prog nod, and the artwork for their self-titled debut on Alive rips off the nude-girls-on-rocks thing from Houses of the Holy–only these ladies are buxom, have cockatiel heads, and are posed next to a spaceship against a nuclear sky. The band members all came up in Detroit’s garage scene–they’ve played in the Hentchmen, the Sights, and the Cyril Lords–but now they’re riffing on some fardled deep-space electro-rock. It’s like watching Brainiac prance around in Mick Jagger’s football pants and Capezios: oh so wrong, but somehow oh so right. –Jessica Hopper
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SSM headlines, the Watchers play second, and the Muldoons open. a 10 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $8.
