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GREAT LAKES MYTH SOCIETY This Michigan quintet–essentially the underrated Ann Arbor band Original Brothers and Sisters of Love minus the lone sister—made an icy splash with their self-titled 2005 debut, a wintry, dusk-dark collection of boreal folk rock. The new Compass Rose Bouquet (Quack! Media) turns up the volume a little and conjures some warmer weather besides: now the band’s postauthentic traditional sound includes some refreshing summertime swigs of beery Britlike bar rock (sometimes I want to call these guys the Spring Green Preservation Society) to go with the bleak balladry imported from Ireland via Chicago or from Norway via Minneapolis. Scattered Maize headlines, David Singer plays second, and the GLMS opens. a 9:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, 773-281-4444 or 866-468-3401, $8, 18+. –Monica Kendrick
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c Jorma Kaukonen As he’s gotten older, former Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen has returned to the traditional blues and gospel that first inspired him, but he still takes risks. His latest, Stars in My Crown (Red House), includes plenty of the stuff you’d expect from him these days–original takes on time-honored blues and gospel themes, plus rootsy covers of little-known gems, old and new–but he also delves into world music, poppy neo-gospel, and meandering instrumentals, with varying degrees of success. Like his idol, the fabled Piedmont-style guitarist Reverend Gary Davis, Kaukonen deftly juxtaposes contrapuntal rhythmic and melodic patterns in his fingerpicking, but his vocals are a bit less sure. He conveys a persuasive sense of dread on Johnny Cash’s “The Man Comes Around” but sounds subdued elsewhere, as if he’s worried he can’t quite live up to the intensity of the songs’ melodic and lyric themes. Nonetheless, a session with Kaukonen is a veritable workshop in nearly a century of fretboard tradition, and when he’s firing on all cylinders there are few who can top him. He’s joined tonight by mandolinist Barry Mitterhoff from Hot Tuna. a 7:30 and 10 PM, FitzGerald’s, 6615 Roosevelt, Berwyn, 708-788-2118 or 312-559-1212, $25. –David Whiteis
Since forming in Finland in 1991, CIRCLE have become one of the most forceful bands on the planet, not to mention one of the hardest to pin down. Stylistic leaps are their forte: heavy metal, Krautrock, drone, and space rock are almost always in the mix, but if you slap on any two consecutive records from their fat discography, there’s a good chance the music will take a U-turn between them. In the past two years Circle have released seven albums and EPs–Katapult (No Quarter) is the latest–that reference everything from Judas Priest to Satie. Metallic guitar licks and postminimalist piano riffs mesh and split in ever-changing combinations as singer Mika Ratto shifts between satanic howling and gothic crooning. What makes it all work is the group’s consistent emphasis on rhythm and repetition and their willingness to hold back at key moments, allowing the music to simply hover and breathe. –Peter Margasak
MIRANDA LAMBERT Unlike the soccer moms dominating the country charts, Miranda Lambert isn’t afraid to play the out-of-control bad girl–on her second album, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Sony/BMG Nashville), she often sings about taking guns and fists to no-good men. But there’s more to her than just a vengeful streak: her voice is powerful, if erratic, and it shines on both a raucous cover of Gillian Welch’s “Dry Town” and the amped-up old-timey original “Down.” Not bad for someone discovered on Nashville Star. Toby Keith headlines and Flynnville Train opens. a 7:30 PM, First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, I-80 & Harlem, Tinley Park, 708-614-1616 or 312-559-1212, $30.27-$69.50. A –Peter Margasak
MATTEAH BAIM With help from many notable friends, including our own Rob Lowe, the Metallic Falcons guitarist takes a solo flight: Death of the Sun (DiCristina) is a short collection of chilly, misty atmospherics for those who find Spires That in the Sunset Rise too strident and aggro. Baim leads with her will-o’-the-wisp voice, and the sparse, barely-there arrangements largely prove to be cunning musical misdirections–except when all the elements fall into place and stay there for long, shining moments, as on “Wounded Whale” and “Up Is North.” One may be tempted at such times to wonder what took her so damned long–but this is the New Bohemia, and the wandering is the point. Her backing band, Death’s Groove, includes Lowe and Butchy Fuego of Pit Er Pat; Josh Abrams & Chad Taylor open. See also Tuesday. a 9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, 773-227-4433 or 866-468-3401, $7. –Monica Kendrick
Okkervil River headlines and Jurado opens. a 9:30 PM, Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 N. Kedzie, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $15. A –Monica Kendrick
