friday27
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You Am I You Am I have long outlived their buzz-band years, when they were hyped to the gills by the likes of Soundgarden and Sonic Youth. Lee Ranaldo even produced the first two records, which somehow made sense despite the quartet’s seedy British Invasion vibe (except they’re Australian, so think louder and drunker). Convicts, which dropped last year and was released on Yep Roc in January, is a hooting, decadent mess, like a cheerful rounds-buying lush who’ll take a swing at you when you least expect it. Plus it’s got an edge that recalls Tim Rogers’s work with Radio Birdman. The Smoking Popes headline, You Am I plays second, and Four Star Alarm opens. a 9 PM, Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee, 773-489-3160 or 312-559-1212, $18, $15 in advance. –Monica Kendrick
saturday27
FIONN REGAN Nowadays practically anyone specializing in gentle acoustic music attracts comparisons to Nick Drake, and Ireland’s Fionn Regan doesn’t discourage them with his carefully articulated guitar work and hushed, almost conversational singing. But his debut, The End of History (Lost Highway), also reveals some clear limitations: he consistently plays like an infant is sleeping nearby, and he’s powerfully satisfied with his own lyrics. On the talking blues “Put a Penny in the Slot,” the detail is charming at first (the items he’s pilfered from his ex’s house include “cutlery, a table cloth, some Hennessy, and a book on presidents deceased”) but soon starts to feel precious (“For the loneliness you foster / I suggest Paul Auster / A book called Timbuktu”). On focused tunes like the chilling “Snowy Atlas Mountains,” though, Regan does more than hint at his promise. John Kimler opens. a 7 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, $10. –Peter Margasak
cDANDI WIND This busily bizarre Montreal-based synth-pop duo (or trio, if they’re playing with a live drummer) suffers from a glamorous affliction: excess imagination. Tossing out ideas in an anxious frenzy to clear their heads, they create all sorts of improbable new genres–bubblegum ragtime humpcore, Ren Faire industrial cabaret, avant-unitard noise. They say they “want to boogie” with the urgency and malice of a street hood trying to goad you into a knife fight. Front woman Dandilion Wind Opaine uses her voice as percussion, growling, spitting, and hiccuping when she’s not hammering in an aggressively flat monotone. She and keyboardist Szam Findlay have the best stage outfits this side of the electroclash outbreak–ballet jester mime, majorette hooker cowgirl, black-metal art monk–and Opaine is all about modern-dance gymnastics, hoochie moves, and horror-movie faces. If there’s anything for her to climb, she will–even if it’s just a tall guy in the crowd. Next time this band comes around, tickets will cost twice as much if you can get them at all. Aleks & the Drummer open; Curtis Vodka and Flufftronix spin. a 10 PM, Funky Buddha Lounge, 728 W. Grand, 312-666-1695, $8, RSVP to outdanced@yahoo.com for reduced admission before 11 PM. –Liz Armstrong
ANA LAAN On her forthcoming second album, Chocolate and Roses, this Madrid-based singer-songwriter slinks into and out of various styles, moods, and languages whenever the fancy strikes her. Aided by producer Leo Sidran, she manipulates samples of her own voice to craft elegant yet playful arrangements that give her catchy tunes a lighter-than-air grace, putting a blissful, slightly careless gloss on tales of leaving a marriage in midlife and finding new romance. Her shy charm and use of electronics remind me of Juana Molina, but at heart Laan is relatively traditional, both in her slightly loungey melodies and in her more direct subject matter. Whatever language she sings in–Spanish, English, French, Swedish–she conveys a genuine sense of tasting long-denied pleasure. W.W. Lowman and Algernon open. a 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $7. –Peter Margasak
