Friday 13
MOONLIGHT TOWERS One might complain that the music this Austin quartet plays lacks regional flavor, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing: lots of Austin bands claiming to have regional flavor sound as phony as a plastic shaker of “Cajun seasoning” that’s actually 40 percent MSG. I’m racking my brain for some way to resist the glistening, hard-surfaced, perfectly molded power pop on the Moonlight Towers’ second album, Like You Were Never There (Spinster), but the only complaint I can make is that listening to a bunch of their songs at one sitting feels like too much–the same way one hard butterscotch candy is the best thing in the world but a whole bag makes your mouth hate you. This show is part of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival; for a complete schedule see page 34. Manishevitz headlines, the Spinto Band plays third, and the 1900s play second. 9 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, $12. –Monica Kendrick
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Sunday 15
IMOGEN HEAP Paste magazine recently compared Imogen Heap to Madonna and Kate Bush, and those two are definitely influences–the songs on Heap’s solo debut, Speak for Yourself (Megaphonic), are multivalent and complex like the ones on Ray of Light and Hounds of Love. But the album sounds more like a feel-good, Euro-techno version of a Postal Service record, with some added Top 40 ultrasheen. Heap’s strong voice (with her British accent evident in the trills) can shift from husky to delicate, and the dynamic juxtaposition of skittering beats and power synths against cello and piano propels her ornate dramas to great heights. Zoe Keating opens. 7 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, sold out. All ages. –Jessica Hopper
JASON ANDERSON It’s apt that “The Hospital,” a piano-driven ballad on Jason Anderson’s The Wreath (K), sounds a bit like the theme from a soap opera (The Young and the Restless, to be exact): the album is filled with the drama of the lovelorn. On “I Was Wrong” Anderson sings plaintively, “How many letters / How many breakfasts / How many I need yous did we send, spend, and plead?” The words tumble clumsily in uneven cadences, so quiet they sound like they were recorded in a confessional booth, backed with simple acoustic strums, cello, and brushed hi-hat. The pace and mood remain pretty steady throughout the record; even at its most upbeat it sounds like the Pastels with a crippling case of seasonal depression. Anderson, who also performs and records under the name Wolf Colonel, is a deft songwriter, and his old-school K Recs lo-fidelity simplicity is grown-up sounding and austere. It’s nice to know that in a genre currently populated by dudes perfecting their Conor Oberst imitations, someone knows how to pull back on the reins. The Heligoats open. 8 PM, South Union Arts, 1352 S. Union, 312-850-1049, donation requested. All ages. –Jessica Hopper
