Friday 7
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HOCKEY ISLAND I doubt any of the countless hot bands in Williamsburg have even heard of Hockey Island–they’re unsigned and have yet to release a full-length album. But if they keep writing material as good as the stuff on their two self-released EPs, all that’s gonna change real soon. Guitarists Virat Shukla and Greg McKenna originally played under the name in Baltimore in 1999, but that incarnation fizzled and the two parted ways. After separate stints with Bawmer pals the Oranges Band, they reunited in NYC last spring, and it sounds like they hit the ground running: “Everything Twice,” from the Chopping Block EP, shares the Oranges’ sleight-of-hand grooves and nonchalant melodicism (imagine Weezer after a beer and a lay, or maybe just a Xanax), and Shukla’s voice has the easy polish most pop rockers would sell a thumb for. Sleepwalker Defense, the Late Nights, the Lesser Events, and the DeeTees open. 9 PM, Nite Cap, 5007 W. Irving Park, 773-794-1317, $6. –J. Niimi
BRIJ NARAYAN Brij Narayan, one of the greatest living players of the sarod (a lutelike 25-string instrument), learned from the best: much of his schooling in Indian classical music came from his father, sarangi master Nam Narayan, and he also studied under Ali Akbar Khan. His uncle and first teacher, tabla player Chatur Lal, seems to have had the greatest impact on him; Narayan is a fluid melodist capable of transcendent extended improvisation, but he also plays with a dazzling rhythmic ferocity. At his most intense he produces flurries of notes in dense, neatly articulated clusters that never sound murky, followed by brief respites that seem just as much about heightening the tension-and-release dynamic as giving his fingers a rest. He’s joined by tabla player Abhijit Banerjee. 8 PM, Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st, Oak Brook, 708-798-2025, $20, $10 students. All ages. –Peter Margasak
Sunday 9
KMFDM The institutional dysfunction of the American political system has a funny way of keeping bands like KMFDM relevant in spite of themselves. Though the group’s now winnowed down to cofounder Sascha Konietzko and some hired guns on the new Hau Ruck (Metropolis), the current version doesn’t sound or look all that different from the original model. The trashy, shiny-as-a-buzz-saw industrial metal pop they helped perfect with songs like “Virus” remains their stock-in-trade, and a dozen years past their heyday they’re still dealing out agitprop–hell, Aidan Hughes is still supplying their faux-Soviet-poster album art. But as the reign of George II has rendered yesterday’s hyperbole today’s truth, their down-with-the-tyrant rants sound more prescient than ever (though perhaps “ineffectual” is the better word). Acumen Nation opens. 7 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, 773-549-0203 or 312-559-1212, $28.50. All ages. –Brian Nemtusak
THE PRAYERS & TEARS OF ARTHUR DIGBY SELLERS If their epic moniker and album title The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia (Bu Hanan Records) didn’t clue you in, Prayers & Tears is all about the words. While front man and lead brain Perry Wright means well (props for positing erudite nuggets like “pluripotency” next to lowbrow spit like “fuckin’”), this song cycle/concept album about a divorcing couple suffers from his frosty grad school distance and clunky polemics. It’s a sleepy slowcore adaptation of Pedro the Lion’s sound and penchant for Christian morality plays; that said, the indie orchestral arrangements and vulnerable narratives may endear Prayers & Tears to fans of the Mountain Goats, who headline. Prayers & Tears plays second and Bellafea opens. All three bands also play at the Empty Bottle on Friday, October 14. 9 PM, Open End Gallery, 2000 W. Fulton, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $13. All ages. –Jessica Hopper
