Friday 22
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LOVE STORY IN BLOOD RED This show is a release party for Love Story in Blood Red (available for free at www.lovestoryinbloodred.com), the second full-length from this local band led by former Spiveys and Means front man Jason Frederick. The record has moments that are frighteningly good in a wild-eyed and hooky Modern Lovers way; the songs are straightforward and primal, and Frederick sounds twitchy and wired, as if he were constantly anticipating shocks from an electrified discipline collar. 9:30 PM, Buddy, 1542 N. Milwaukee, 773-342-7332, $7 suggested donation (includes a copy of the new album). All ages. –Monica Kendrick
SUPERPITCHER Electronic music is a night creature by nature, and Superpitcher’s nocturnal. Not campy goth vampire nocturnal, not raver hamster nocturnal, but obsessive nocturnal–he’s like the tired-eyed guy who can’t fall asleep until the neighbors are getting ready for work. Upon blastoff of his latest DJ mix, Today (Kompakt), I thought, Here we go again: another lonely German shoving us up a womb, feeding us muted bass, and singing us fluttery Polygon Window lullabies. But after about two minutes it’s clear that what threatened to be a New Age underwater exploration is filled with lonely sea-creature cries and seam-ripping electric eel shocks. You won’t get whiplash listening to it, but it ain’t gonna put your legs to sleep either. The Suburban Knight and M50 open. See also Wednesday. 10 PM, Smart Bar, 3730 N. Clark, 773-549-4140 or 312-559-1212, $10 in advance, $12 at the door. –Liz Armstrong
THREE BLUE TEARDROPS This trio played a key role in building something like a local rockabilly scene during the 90s but broke up at the end of the decade, done in by passing trends, label woes, and loss of momentum. They reunited in 2003 and they headline this show, the Midwest Psychobilly Gathering, even though their sound is more traditional than psycho. But the emphasis here is more on gathering than on psychobilly or even the midwest: openers G-String hail from France. Koffin Kats, the Massacres, and Rigor Phallus also play. 7 PM, Bottom Lounge, 3206 N. Wilton, 773-975-0505 or 866-468-3401, $8 in advance, $10 at the door, 18+. –Monica Kendrick
Wednesday 27
DANILO PEREZ WITH ANGEL MELENDEZ & THE 911 MAMBO ORCHESTRA Panamanian-born pianist Danilo Perez has lived in Boston since the mid-80s, but some of his most exciting projects have Chicago roots–his large-scale composition Suite of the Americas, for example, premiered at the 1999 Jazz Fest. After a performance at the 2002 fest, he went to HotHouse to see Angel Melendez & the 911 Mambo Orchestra, arguably the city’s best Afro-Cuban dance band, and ended up sitting in with them for most of the night. (His dad, Danilo Sr., sang a few songs as well.) That spontaneous collaboration led to this show: following a short set by the orchestra, Perez will join in to premiere a new composition he wrote “in honor of Chicago.” A pair of percussionists from Panama will perform on some additional songs chosen and sung by Perez’s father. These days Perez is best known as a member of the Wayne Shorter Quartet, whose intuition on the new Beyond the Sound Barrier (Verve) is dazzling. But Perez’s new trio CD, Live at the Jazz Showcase (ArtistShare), better displays his knack for shaping modern improv with strong injections of Latin rhythms and oblique harmony–and further strengthens his Chicago ties. The King Marching Jaguars open. a 5:30 PM, Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, 100 N. Michigan, 312-742-1168. Free. All ages. –Peter Margasak
