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John Gruntfest, Megan Bierman, and John Niekrasz, Carlo Costa's Minerva
Sat., May 18, 9 p.m.Jazz
New York-based Italian drummer Carlo Costa—who recently came to town with the quartet led by bassist Shayna Dulberger—has a trio of his own called Minerva, where he balances composition and improvisation in exquisite tension while maintaining a beautiful restraint. Lots of jazz-related groups make a point of blurring the same line, perhaps hoping it will speak to the level of intuition and rapport within the group, but for Minerva it feels like a secondary concern—the group seems most interested in creating pieces that flow logically and with a discernible shape, no matter the method. On the 2011 album Saturnismo (Between the Lines) Costa, bassist Pascal Niggenkemper, and pianist JP Schlemgelmilch write material that assigns improvisation a support role in navigating composed material: in Costa’s “Noctural Patterns,” for instance, planned silences and stretches of improvisation separate terse composed gestures. “Dream Machine,” on the other hand, is fully improvised, but even then the band focuses on structure: single-note piano flurries (some damped inside the keyboard) and hypnotic arco bass lines seem to coalesce with inexorable logic around Costa’s delicate snare-drum patter. Minerva has the instrumentation of a classic jazz piano trio, but it often feels like a modern chamber ensemble, with Costa using his kit to produce tone colors and abstract melodic lines—though Niggenkemper’s brisk “Let’s Go, I Don’t Know” bears traces of Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols, and Schlemgelmilch’s churning “Battle Cry” has the melodic splendor of the Bad Plus. —Peter Margasak A trio of John Gruntfest, Megan Bierman, and John Niekrasz opens.
donation suggested
773-342-4597Turbonegro, Mount Carmel
Sun., May 19, 8 p.m.Rock, Pop, Etc
After the 2009 departure of dangerously charismatic front man Hank Von Helvete, 20-year-old Norwegian “death punk” institution Turbonegro would’ve been justified in ditching their denim and calling it a day. Instead the band went on hiatus while seeking a new vocalist and eventually picked Tony Sylvester, a burly Englishman who cut his teeth singing for hardcore bands such as Dukes of Nothing and served as president of the London chapter of the Turbojugend—the band’s rabid fan club, whose seemingly omnipresent denim-clad legions undoubtedly contributed to Turbonegro’s choice to soldier on. Last year’s Sexual Harassment (Scandinavian Leather) proves that decision sound. Coated in Kiss-style glam and sometimes just as flat-out ridiculous as that band (“Shake Your Shit Machine”), the album benefits from Sylvester’s gruff, throaty vocals—a departure from Von Helvete’s relatively sassy singing—and the hard-ass rock ’n’ roll licks that guitarist Euroboy can lay down at will. Though Turbonegro are experts at anthemic party rock (“Mister Sister”), an evil punk ’n’ roll track such as “Dude Without a Face”—which is so over-the-top it’d make Alice Cooper blush—deepens the band’s weirdo mystique. Over the years their collective image has evolved into some kind of cross between a sailor, a 50s street tough, and Ziggy Stardust. —Kevin Warwick Mount Carmel opens.
$25
Die Kreuzen, We Are Hex, Canadian Rifle
Sat., May 25, 9 p.m.Rock, Pop, Etc
Though long overlooked in music-history books, Milwaukee’s Die Kreuzen were a crucial part of the posthardcore puzzle. Formed in 1981, they released their self-titled debut, which laid out the connections between hardcore and metal, in 1984—by which time labels such as SST, Touch and Go, and Homestead were all releasing records by independent bands that had emerged from punk but bucked its limitations. Die Kreuzen played with a punk ferocity and velocity—bassist Keith Brammer and drummer Erik Tunison formed a precise, heavy rhythm section—and the combination of Brian Egeness’s metallic, serrated guitar and Dan Kubinski’s scorched howl seemed to anticipate the tortured, brutal screech of death metal, which was coming around the bend. Starting with their next album, 1986’s October File, Die Kreuzen began easing up on the tempos and moving into an arty hard-rock sound, with Kubinski mastering a proto-metal cry and Egeness finessing an almost prog-rock tone. The band went on to make a couple more albums (like the others, for Touch and Go), but after Egeness left in ’92, Die Kreuzen’s days were numbered. Last year the group reunited—with former Couch Flambeau guitarist Jay Tiller replacing Egeness, who declined to participate—and they’re bringing their career-spanning show to Chicago for the first time in more than two decades. —Peter Margasak We Are Hex and Canadian Rifle open.
$17
