Friday 3
EXPLODE AND MAKE UP Local quartet Explode and Make Up is a hardcore supergroup of sorts, featuring members of 88 Fingers Louie, the Bomb, the Methadones, and others. They make much of being “old” (i.e., thirtysomethings) and seem to embrace the notion of hardcore becoming another genre of old-man music with a tradition, like the blues. Fine by me, if the songs are as raw, tight, and passionate as the ones these guys play. Holy Roman Empire and the Holy Fire open. 7 PM, No Exit Cafe, 6970 N. Glenwood, 773-743-3355, $6. All ages. –Monica Kendrick
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AM SYNDICATE This Austin band’s six-piece touring lineup includes members of . . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and Rhythm of Black Lines, and in the studio half a dozen more folks join in. But their new Empire (on the local Sickroom label) doesn’t suffer from too-many-cooks blandness: its elaborate, slightly frenzied, and oddly romantic set of squirmy and serpentine indie prog is informed a bit by world music, jazz, and the band’s dark rock roots, and gets safely swept away on its own current, with the drums as a rudder. A Light Sleeper and Death Ships open. 9:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $7. –Monica Kendrick
CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO See Tuesday. 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand, 312-670-2473, $20.
RAHIM When I reviewed Rahim’s Jungles EP in these pages last summer, I made some snarky rock-crit crack about it sounding like the headphone mix from a Gang of Four session. But on Ideal Lives (Frenchkiss), the forthcoming debut full-length from these New Yorkers, they’ve redeemed themselves–and forced me to redeem myself for being so quick to dismiss them (and for being a jagoff). They’re obviously smack-dab in the middle of the kind of creative deluge that only the luckiest bands ever manage to cultivate; their songs are overflowing with ideas as well as the energy needed to glue them all together. “KlangKlangKlang” opens with a basic postpunk three-ring circus, with each instrument’s rhythmic figure straining against the others, but it ends with a surprising variation on “trading eights”: one break features guitar and intimate fingertips on hand drums, another sounds like it was recorded with a mike placed down the hall, and so on. Plus their remake of “Enduring Love” (from Jungles) reinforces its latent pop qualities without dampening the high-strung vibe. Thunderbirds Are Now! headline and Call Me Lightning opens. 7 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, 773-281-4444, $10. All ages. –J. Niimi
