Friday 20
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MELK THE G6-49 Listening to Melk the G6-49’s Glossolalia (Joyful Noise), it’s almost impossible to believe that there are only two musicians in this Indianapolis band, playing bass and drums. Somehow they’ve found a way to get all the power of a quartet, complete with a resident guitar hero and a mad-scientist electronicist, without having to deal with two extra guys in the van. I suppose it’s fair to peg them as another abstract-noise-rock outfit in the vein of the Melvins, Thrones, or Godheadsilo, but that’s a bit like saying all sculptors who work in marble are alike. It’s not the material, it’s how you shape it, and Melk the G6-49 creates a terrible beauty with their up-and-down, quiet-yet-menacing dynamics. On (take a deep breath) “The Instantaneous Mobilization of All the Resources in the BURROW and All the Forces of My Body and Soul,” the extended build-back-up-and-fade that closes the track takes you somewhere fresh and cold where the grass is the wrong color. Behold! the Living Corpse headlines; Conifer plays third, Melk the G6-49 plays second, and American Heritage opens. 9 PM, the Note, 1565 N. Milwaukee, 773-489-0011, $5. –Monica Kendrick
MIC ONE WITH DJ RISKY BIZNESS & THE BAND The liner notes to This Is Me (Liberte), the 2003 album by local MC Mic One, say his songs reflect “my thoughts, my experiences, my feelings.” But he has a habit of recycling other artists’ concepts: his personification of hip-hop as a woman on “Why U Wanna?” is a nod to Common’s “I Used to Love H.E.R.”; “Chemically Enhanced,” his celebration of drugs and excess, is reminiscent of Eminem’s “Drug Ballad”; and “Suicide Note,” the morbid penultimate track on the disc, echoes Notorious B.I.G.’s self-loathing “Suicidal Thoughts,” the finale of Ready to Die. And his appearance–blond locks, blue eyes, carefully sculpted facial hair–is more Backstreet Boy than B-boy. But his punch line-heavy lyrics (“Mic’s so def I come equipped with closed caption”) are more entertaining and have more irreverent wit than most commercial hip-hop, and he reportedly shifts into other genres onstage, scattering Radiohead and CSNY covers among his own tracks. The band for this show includes a drummer, guitarist, bassist, and violinist performing alongside DJ Risky Bizness; Mic One also plays acoustic guitar. Cefore X. Plosives opens, the Cankles play second, and Reap plays third. 9 PM, Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace, 773-478-4408 or 866-468-3401, $8 in advance, $10 at the door, 18+. –Kabir Hamid
QUEER IS FOLK FESTIVAL Underrated local singer-songwriter Scott Free hosts this annual pre-pride month celebration of queer boys and girls with guitars. Two highlights: Nedra Johnson adds a richly orchestrated hip-hop flourish to the traditional wry-angry-political lesbian confessional, and on The Billy White Acre Sessions (Fang), Dudley Saunders brings an eerie, smoky, hallucinatory mountain air to his hard-bitten songs of struggle and recovery. Jill Sobule headlines. Also on the bill: Shelley Miller & Anthony Whitaker, Coat with Libby Reed, and Namoli Brennet. 8 PM, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, 773-728-6000 or 866-468-3401, $20 in advance, $22 at the door. –Monica Kendrick
MICHAEL J. MILES Local musician and educator Michael J. Miles is a walking repository of music history with a knack for drawing odd but illuminating connections. He’s written and performed theater revues on such topics as the influence of Africa and Ireland on American song, propaganda and rhetoric (using examples from the likes of Big Bill Broonzy and Stevie Wonder), and how Chicago is reflected in music. His latest album, New Century Suite (Right Turn on Red Music), features collaborations with jazz singer Jackie Allen and banjoist Bela Fleck, among others; the record also includes studies of bottleneck guitar and the 19th-century banjo and renditions of pieces by Bach and Richard Thompson. a 7 PM, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, 773-728-6000 or 866-468-3401, $20, $16 seniors and kids. All ages. –Monica Kendrick
Wednesday 25
