Friday 29
GOURDS This Austin quintet has positioned itself as a contemporary incarnation of the Band, and indeed its grasp on the full spectrum of American roots rock has grown more assured over time. But the Gourds have also become seemingly less intent on taking themselves seriously. The Gourds have always demonstrated an ironic, shaggy-dog sense of humor, recasting “Gin and Juice” as a rural ode to self-obliteration or retelling “The Three Billygoats Gruff” using members of James Brown’s band as characters. But on their most recent album, Blood of the Ram (Eleven Thirty), their silliness becomes an annoying distraction, from Kevin Russell’s absurdist wordplay to the exaggerated southern drawl Jimmy Smith uses to spit out lines like “I was loogin’ at the tackle / I came to buy a lure / I saw two bratty chillurn / Ain’t you s’posed to be in school?” And the last time I saw them, they seemed content to play up their goofiness at the expense of their rich musicality. 10 PM, FitzGerald’s, 6615 Roosevelt, Berwyn, 708-788-2118 or 312-559-1212, $15. –Peter Margasak
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Monday 2
NEW ORDER Few truly great bands have spawned as many yawner side projects as these legendary Mancunians. Barney Sumner and company frittered away the 90s in Revenge, Monaco, Electronic, and the Other Two, releasing only one album all decade as New Order, 1993’s lukewarm Republic. In 2001 they re-formed for Get Ready, which stood up well against the competition in the nascent neo-new wave, though it didn’t blaze any new trails. Their first album since then, 2005’s Waiting for the Sirens’ Call (Warner Brothers), doesn’t either–but it does combine the plaintive gray wonderment last heard on Low-life with the big bright sound they’ve swum around in since Technique, which makes for a fairly pleasant listen. The disc is marred by some typically clumsy moments–like “I Told You So,” which carries a nasty whiff of Ace of Base, and “Morning Night and Day,” a needless retread of Roxy Music’s “Both Ends Burning”–but even these tunes are better than the sum of the members’ outside efforts, and the rest are on the whole good fun from a band with nothing to prove. The Assassins open. New Order bassist Peter Hook also DJs Monday, May 2, at Smart Bar, 3730 N. Clark; call 773-549-4140 or see the listings for more. 7:30 PM, Aragon Ballroom, 1106 W. Lawrence, 312-666-6667 or 312-559-1212, sold out. All ages. –Brian Nemtusak
ADAM GREEN Three albums into his solo career, the cofounder of the Moldy Peaches seems to be hitting his stride. Gemstones (Rough Trade), released in February, sounds slightly slick and simple, but it has a comfy coffeehouse feel; it’s as if he’s determined to reinvent 60s Greenwich Village folk pop, but with lots of language that nice turtleneck-clad boys couldn’t get away with back then (the Fugs notwithstanding). And the layer of vulnerability that clashes so charmingly with his rude sexual bravado seems no more a put-on than, say, Paul Simon’s. Playing second is the Brooklyn quartet the Gnomes–not the up-and-coming local indie-pop band of the same name. Devin Davis opens. Green also plays Friday 5/6 at 10 PM at Schubas with openers the Gnomes and Stag Party. 9 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, $12, 18+. –Monica Kendrick
