friday22
teitur This Dane from the Faeroe Islands is often compared to David Gray, but his forthcoming album, Stay Under the Stars (Equator Music), proves he’s more than just a sensitive pop singer–his melodies are far richer and more indelible, recalling Rod Sexsmith’s oddly shaped hooks. There’s plenty of easygoing acoustic strumming on the album, but Teitur throws a curveball with a string-laden cover of “Great Balls of Fire,” transforming the tune into a baroque melodrama, while “Boy, She Can Sing!” is an ebullient valentine driven by a simple piano riff, hand claps, and foot stomps. Swedish singer-songwriter Tobias Froberg opens. a 9 PM, Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee, 773-489-3160 or 312-559-1212, $13 in advance, $15 at the door. –Peter Margasak
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Psychic Secession (Load), the latest from Portland duo Yellow Swans, is the kind of album you sink into and have a hard time coming out of, one so violently invigorating it can change your mood from dreamy to despondent to hostile to emboldened and back again. It’s an industrial wasteland littered with rusty hinges, discarded pipes, dental drills, and cow carcasses, and no matter what narratives you wind up spinning as it stretches out before you–think of it as Rorschach noise–in the end they’ll always turn out evil. A translucent spider slowly weaves a shimmery web in a dark corner of the woods; a river of lava flows beneath the ever-shifting tectonic plates of a preprehistoric earth; time suddenly reverses and fog is sucked back into a bay; a piece of awful machinery stirs to life after years of neglect, and once it’s in motion there’s no stopping whatever horror it was designed for. –Liz Armstrong
rosanne cash Between the spring of 2003 and the spring of 2005 Rosanne Cash lost her mother (Vivian Liberto Cash Distin), stepmother (June Carter Cash), and father (Johnny Cash). So it’s no surprise that her latest album, Black Cadillac (Capitol), is suffused with themes of loss, memory, and perseverance. “Now one of us gets to go to heaven / One has to stay here in hell,” she sings on the title track, addressing her father, while on “Like a Wave” she intones, “I gave my love and it rolls like a wave / Back through history / On past the grave.” Cash’s lyrics are filled with details about her family, but that never keeps the songs from feeling universal–their poignance transcends her own experience. The music is an elegant brand of contemporary folk rock that effortlessly draws from blues, bluegrass, and Celtic strains. a 8 PM, Lund Auditorium, Dominican University, 7900 W. Division, River Forest, 708-488-5000, $37-$47. A –Peter Margasak
sadies Capable of backing both R & B neolegend Andre Williams and Neko Case, this quartet is far more versatile than the usual Americana combo. (I’m defining “Americana” loosely–they’re Canadian.) On their latest project, the forthcoming sound track to Ron Mann’s documentary on hot rodder and illustrator Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, Tales of the Rat Fink, they’re the little black dress of bands–their surf-cum-rockabilly-cum-honky-tonk sound is appropriate for nearly everything. Last month they released a blistering two-CD live set, In Concert Volume One (Yep Roc), drawn from a pair of Toronto shows last February and featuring cameos from pals like Case, Kelly Hogan, Jon Spencer, Jon Langford, and former Clyde Federal drummer Mike Bulington. The show kicks off with a screening of Tales of the Rat Fink at 9:30 PM. See also Thursday. Spencer’s group Heavy Trash opens. a 11 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, $15. –Monica Kendrick
Steinski headlines, Drake and Parker play third, Bird Show goes on second, and Kayo Dot opens. (Trapist, originally in the second slot, canceled shortly before press time.) This show is part of Adventures in Modern Music; see page TK for a complete schedule. a 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $15.
Cursive headlines, the Thermals play second, and Ladyfinger opens. a 6:30 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, 773-549-0203 or 312-559-1212, $17 in advance, $19 at the door. A
