Friday 10
BOHMAN BROTHERS The Bohman Brothers seem hell-bent on taking the piss out of the experimental- and improvised-music scenes, blurring the line between high and low art and introducing deliberate absurdity. Not that the London duo can’t be serious: Adam Bohman cofounded the heavy electroacoustic improv group Morphogenesis and worked in the unruly London Improvisers Orchestra, and his brother, Jonathan, is director of the London Musicians’ Collective. But they’re hardly ever somber. Part of Adam’s 1999 solo album, Music and Words (Paradigm Discs), is a narration of a mundane trip home for the holidays, replete with deadpan commentary that’s as amusing as it is irritating–and the musical tools pictured in an inner-sleeve photo look like the contents of a junk drawer. The tracks on A Twist for All Pockets (Rossbin), the duo’s 2002 debut, are built on layers of blink-quick sounds from heavily treated string instruments, percussion, electronic devices, and other objects never intended to be instruments; the album’s not exactly wacky, but there’s an inherent ballsiness in music that’s so dense, twitchy, and impatient. Lampo, the organization that’s bringing the duo here for its Chicago debut, says this show will be a mix of spoken word, musique concrete, and improv, but given how sprawling the Bohman Brothers are, even that broad description sounds narrow. 9 PM, 6Odum, 2116 W. Chicago, 312-666-0795, $12. All ages. –Peter Margasak
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RIDDLE OF STEEL On its second album, Got This Feelin’ (Ascetic), this Saint Louis trio of post-Jawbox hipsters moves into the neoprog neighborhood of Geek City. It’s lighter and poppier than their 2003 debut, Python, and they make heroic efforts to unite postpunk artiness, indie-schlub amiability, and prog ambition. What they wind up with is a dreamy collection of cleverly orchestrated moments that hang together as songs but don’t exactly stick in the head. I never thought I’d say something like this, but Dennis DeYoung’s show-tune skills might’ve come in handy. Colossal and Unique Chique open. 9:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 800-594-8499, $8. –Monica Kendrick
BLACK BEAR COMBO This local outfit spent Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and the band and the city took to each other nicely; according to Black Bear Combo’s Web site, it played one straight gig, one vegan barbecue, and two parades. Their wild, sax-driven bacchanalia is more or less street jazz, but with an avant-Gypsy flavor; spurts of giddy free improv burst out of its lusty tango romanticism. Lil’ Isaac Johnson opens. 9:30 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, 773-227-4433, $7. –Monica Kendrick
