Weekly Concert Picks: 10/22 – 10/29
October is a month jam-packed full of bands touring through town with their latest releases. To help you cut through the noise, we’ve put together a list of our concert recommendations for the upcoming week.
Monday, October 23rd: Boris at Thalia Hall
I’ve never seen Boris live, but someone told me they “shred” and it takes something very real to get a total stranger to vouch for you that hard. The Japanese experimental band are decades into their career, and with over twenty-four albums under their belt, it’s pretty impressive that they continue to churn out projects that have staying power in the “drone” circles. For this show, they are celebrating the 25th year of existence and touring their new record Dear, a mix of nostalgia and adventure that is bound to manifest itself pretty intensely in a live setting. 8:00 p.m. at Thalia Hall, 1807 S Allport, $20, thaliahallchicago.com
-Max Totsky
Tuesday, October 24th: Chelsea Wolfe and Youth Code at Metro
It’s the spookiest week of the year, and there’s nothing spookier than the piercing misery that goes into Chelsea Wolfe’s songs. She’s always been on the darker side of gothic chamber rock, but her latest album Hiss Spun is a dismal exercise in purging the psyche only to torment it. It’s also her heaviest, which means she will be performing with a very newfound aggression. Fresh! 8:00 p.m. at Metro, 3730 N Clark Street, $21, metrochicago.com
-Max Totsky
Wednesday, October 25th: Girlpool at Logan Square Auditorium
Wednesday, folk punk duo Girlpool is descending on Logan Square Auditorium with Philly rockers Palm and local trio Lala Lala in tow. While Girlpool is headlining the event, Wednesday offers a dynamic triple bill with groups spanning from angular rock to dense grunge punk. On tour for most of Fall, guitarist Cleo Tucker and bassist Harmony Tividad of Girlpool are building on the abrasive roots they laid with their debut Before the World Was Big by bringing a drummer into the mix. Powerplant, Girlpool’s sophomore release, offers a more expansive version of the caustic, candid punk for which they’ve become known.
6:30 p.m. at Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 North Kedzie Ave; emptybottle.com
-Maddy Ashmun
Wednesday, October 25th: Making Movies at Schubas Tavern
Making Movies, an American band, is playing their third album I Am Another You, at Schubas on Wednesday, October 25. Based out of Kansas City, MO, the group consists of two sets of brothers. I Am Another You is replete with unique Afro-Latino rhythms and represents a form of protest, featuring the message: We Are All Immigrants. The album has received positive reviews from Remezcla, Clrvynt, and American Songwriter and was listed on NPR’s Alt.Latino “Favorite Music of 2017 (So far).”
8 p.m. at Schubas Tavern, 3159 N. Southport Ave; $12, www.lh-st.com
-Leah Dunlevy
Thursday, October 26th: The Lemon Twigs at Thalia Hall
Long Island sibling duo The Lemon Twigs are bringing their brand of 70s’ rock to Chicago this Thursday. With their most recent EP, Brothers of Destruction, out September 22nd, the D’Addario brothers continue to expand their repertoire of quirky pop with songs that range from smart to saccharine. Still a young band (Michael and Brian D’Addario are 17 and 19, respectively), The Lemon Twigs are sure to light up Thalia Hall Thursday with their signature flair and unbridled energy.
8 p.m. at Thalia Hall, 1807 S Allport St; $16; thaliahallchicago.com
-Maddy Ashmun
Thursday, October 26th: Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith at Schubas Tavern
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is playing her newest album The Kid at Lincoln Hall on Thursday, October 26. Smith integrates mellow vocals into synthesized sounds representing organic processes including rustling leaves and weather. She further used visual aids as a catalyst for her work or creates imagery to match her compositions. Her fifth studio album Ears was received well by the music community, featured in end-of-year album lists by sources including NPR and Norman Records.
8 p.m. at Schubas Tavern, 3159 N. Southport Ave; $15; www.lh-st.com
-Leah Dunlevy
Friday, October 27th: Nai Palm at Lincoln Hall
This Friday, the Melbourne-based band Hiatus Kaiyote’s lead singer Nai Palm will be debuting her solo album, Needle Paw. On this very day, the self-taught composer, instrumentalist, producer, vocalist, and poet will be performing at Lincoln Hall, Chicago along with a special guest, who has yet to be announced. Nai Palm, who championed the world over and musical icons like Questlove, Erykah Badu, Anderson Paak, and the late Prince, will be showcasing her new sound: the end result of a self-imposed challenge to explore immortality and timelessness within music by stripping away production to spotlight what she believes to be the core of the human soul, the voice. Fans can expect extremely honest, beautifully transparent, and complexly vulnerable arrangements of her guitar playing and layered vocals —Homebody and Crossfire/So Into You, the two singles from Needle Paw already out, are exactly that. About the main message behind this album, Nai Palm proclaimed, “I want to remind people that there are humans behind the music. Not just compression and reverb. The urgency for accuracy is not human. The exposed process is human, without the cheat codes.”
8 p.m. at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N Lincoln Ave; $25, www.lh-st.com
-Lizzie Zhang
Saturday, October 28th, Ariel Pink at Thalia Hall
If you’ve thought about Ariel Pink as a presence even a little bit, it’s hard not to have a strong opinion about him. If you’re like me, you’d think the absurdist pop deconstructions that exist in sketch-like forms on albums like the essential Pom Pom or the more recent Dedicated to Bobby Jameson, it must be fascinating to see how his clammy, lo-fi melts into the air in a bright space like Thalia Hall. 8:30 p.m. at Thalia Hall, 1807 S Allport, $26.75, thaliahallchicago.com
-Max Totsky
Sunday, October 29th, A Thrilla Music Festival at Subterranean
Sunday night, a collection of local artists is descending on Subterranean for a night packed with fresh Chicago music. Jean Deaux, R&B singer and collaborator with top-notch talents like Mick Jenkins, Mykki Blanco, and Smino, leads the event, supported by equally as exciting local artists like rapper BIGBODYFIJI and up-and-coming singer Sundé. With a bill that is as deep as it is wide, A Thrilla Music Fest makes for a unique opportunity to see a collection of promising local talent in one place.
7 p.m. at Subterranean, 2011 W. North Ave; $5-15; www.subt.net
-Maddy Ashmun
Sunday, October 29th, The Courtneys at Beat Kitchen
Sometimes music is nice. Nice music is nice to hear live. Especially where it’s jangly, it has some twang to it, it’s clearly reaching for some sort of simplistic bliss. It’s a good time, and it sounds an awful lot like what seeing Vancouver ban the Courtneys at Beat Kitchen this Sunday would be like. The singer is the drummer! Wild. 8:30 p.m. at Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont Ave, $12, www.beatkitchen.com
-Max Totsky