Slippery pessimist hypocrite master/ Conservative communist apocalyptic bastard/ Thank you dear God for putting me on this earth …”— A few lines from the pleasant and prescient song “Downer” by Nirvana.Mostly, I like this song because of Dale Crover’s drumming. It gives shape and drama to Cobain’s anxious political rambling. But it also reminds me that at Weekly Alibi, music literally trumps the obscene nonsense being spewed by the right wing. So dear readers, please digest our editorial content for this week, note the flagrant mierda being uttered by some candidates, report to your choice of municipal early voting centers and make the right decision. Then (and only then) put your societal and existential concerns on hold so that you can indulge in some good old rock while we all wait for the votes to roll in. Kurt would want it that way; trust me, we do, too.
Show Up!: Friday
Midnight Opera
Courtesy of the artist
Midnight Opera make a thing called art rock. They’re from Texas. Somehow this combination has resulted in a gorgeously gloomy and glammified form of rocanrol music that defies dreams and shoe-gaze impulses with a sultry sound that adds complex sets, costumes and makeup for sheer effect. The effect, ladies and gentlemen, is stunning, scream-like and awesomely sustainable. The quartet —Paul Alonzo on bass, Paul Grass on drums with guitarist Teddy Waggy (she plays a Blue Rickenbacker 360!) and keyboardist Nicole Marxen-Meyers singing—will be at Sister (407 Central NW) on Friday, Nov. 3. Gerunding and Veda Woolf open. Be there or be square, kids. 9pm • $5 • 21+
Show Up!: Saturday
Lords of Acid
Dan Santoni
Euro-American post-industrial freaks to the maximum Lords of Acid have a gig on Saturday, Nov. 4 at Burque’s Sunshine Theater (120 Central Ave SW). In case you wanna know, it’s part of their “Sextreme Fest” tour. Now that such uncomfortably fleshy stuff is out of the way, readers should probably know that this particular techno ensemble—featuring founder Praga Khan and lead singer Mea Fisher—is renowned for developing and promulgating a seedy, synthetic and sexually charged form of music that includes songs like “Rough Sex” and whole albums with titles such as Heaven Is an Orgasm. This band is guaranteed to blow listeners away with their abrasive yet strangely alluring sound. Fellow fun seekers En Esch and Wiccid begin the evening’s digital descent into debauchery. 8pm • $15 • 18+
Show Up!: Sunday
Billy Strings
Courtesy of the artist
Preternaturally talented multi-instrumentalist Billy Strings—AKA William Apostol—brings his banjo-, guitar- and manolin-playing self to Burque on Sunday, Nov. 5 with an appearance at the Dirty Bourbon Dance Hall and Saloon (9800 Montgomery NE). The youthful Michigan native is touring in conjunction with Austin’s latest and greatest bluegrass ensemble, Whiskey Shivers. These hardworking proponents of Americana—who for some reason sometimes eschew shoes in performance, but not a handy sense of intricate instrumentalism—are busy presenting the Whiskey Strings Tour at country-Western venues throughout the land. Asked about the whole tour dealio, Shivers’ front man, Bobby Fitzgerald, remarked, “We could have a really tough day, driving through bad weather on no sleep, feeling like shit, the sound is terrible, or whatever else is going on that day. And then as soon as we start playing, it all just kind of falls away. All of the sudden we’re having a good time again, and the momentum carries itself. That’s why we’re doing this, because we love it.” 7:30pm • $17 • 21+
Show Up!: Tuesday
Sadistik
Via Facebook
Cody Foster is Sadistik. He’s from the Jet City, after all, a place in space where all that rain makes for easy cruelty. He’s also one of hip-hop nation’s up-and-coming alternative rappers, a dude Vibe Magazine says makes intricate informed videos, an artist whose revealing work about his father has earned critical accolades. It’s all in a day’s work for the so-called “cigarette burn rap king” who attributes his success to obsessions with film, academia and family. His record Flowers For My Father spins subtle sentimentalism together with a heavy flow and unusually elusive production points to form a type of rap music that is evocative; diggably dark and deliriously dense. Sadistik performs at Launchpad (618 Central Ave NW) with Moor Gang rap collective member Nacho Picasso and openers Rafael Vigilantics and Upgrade on Tuesday, Nov. 7. If you don’t go to this show, I will have to mark you as L7 forever, mate. 8pm • $10 • All-ages.
Show Up!: Wednesday
Noname
Via Facebook
Chicago poet Fatimah Nyeema Warner has become a rapper known as Noname. Though she began her work while ensconced in the realm of the poetry slam, Warner segued into hip-hop nation after getting substantial critical recognition for her literary work in 2010; her recordings with Chance The Rapper led her to music. In 2016 she officially changed her name and gained further accolades with her own mixtape, a groovy thing called Telefone. Noname’s work as a hip-hop artist is uncompromising, deeply observational and focused on an intense vocal cadence that’s shrouded in a laid-back and sometimes quiet delivery. Noname is definitely part of the music world’s current avant-garde. Listeners owe it themselves to check her out at Launchpad (618 Central NW) on Wednesday, Nov. 8; she’s rolling on one of the more majestic roads being taken by hip-hop, you dig? 8pm • $20 • All-ages
