Friday 27
APPARITIONS As This Is Futuristic (Machine), the second album from this Lexington quintet, is an apocalyptic science fiction collection, with grim little stories about robots and vengeful angels and huddling survivors waiting to die. The lush, densely packed riffs and harmonies are sunny on the surface, but the songs have a sinister bite underneath–imagine the Flaming Lips turned dystopian and mean. SundayRunners and DJs John Ciba and James Porter open. The band also plays a free in-store at 2 PM at Tower Records, 2301 N. Clark; call 773-477-5994. 9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, 773-227-4433, $8. –Monica Kendrick
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ELY GUERRA When Mexican singer Ely Guerra put out her most recent album, Sweet & Sour, Hot y Spicy (Higher Octave), in 2004, I was bothered by her decision to abandon the breathier, more ethereal style of her earlier work in favor of a punchier pop-rock sound. But since then I’ve come to appreciate the way the songs keep pulling the rug out from under you with surprising shifts in tone, shape, and instrumentation. I still think her band lays it on too thick and that Guerra oversells some songs with ill-advised histrionics, but overall the record’s her strongest batch of tunes, and the production issues should fall away live, where Guerra’s magnetic stage presence is everything. Miguel Inzunza opens this show, the latest in a series of free concerts hosted by the Congress Theater featuring Mexican rock and pop acts. 8 PM, Congress Theater, 2135 N. Milwaukee, congresschicago.com. Free. All ages. –Peter Margasak
Sunday 29
Monday 30
Wednesday 1
