This Weekend In Music: Three To See
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 1, 2013 7:15PM
Psychic TV's Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
Psychic TV at Reggie's Rock Club
Our own history with Psychic TV stretches back to the '80s. We followed along as they morphed from a wildly experimental group with psychedelic '60s leanings (the dark and dangerous side of that era as opposed to happy-go-lucky Flower Power) into an electronic dance outfit before becoming a wildly experimental group veering all over the place. One of our favorite memories of the band is of them at a Chicago warehouse rave in the early '90s as they came out and grooved with the crowd to draw them in for 10 minutes before screaming "You're all going to die!" over and over and over again. It's that subversion of expectations that has kept the group interesting and no one embodies that more than the (literally) gender-bending heart and soul of the group Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. The band is celebrating the 30th anniversary of what is probably still their most popular and accessible album Dreams Less Sweet so perhaps the set will focus on that. We honestly don't know what to expect from the show. The one thing we can be certain about is that it won't be conventional and you won't forget it any time soon.
Friday, Nov. 1, at Reggie's Rock Club, 2105 S. State St., 8 p.m., $25, 17+
Mannequin Men at The Empty Bottle
You can always depend on the local boys in Mannequin Men to deliver the goods when they hit the stage, even if sometimes that means literally falling down drunk and hitting the stage. Don't let their stage act which at times borders on a Replacements tribute fool you. This is a band with solid chops, an excellent instinct for writing catchy songs with riffs that will fill you up and send you out the door fully satisfied. In the middle of all this ruckus is Kevin Richard's scratchy vocals delivering lyrics that will hit you in the breastbone and cause your heart to thud a little harder in your chest.
Saturday, Nov. 2, at The Empty Bottle, 1035 N Western, 9:30 p.m., $10, 21+
My Bloody Valentine at Aragon Ballroom
It really is difficult to convey just how mind-blowing My Bloody Valentine's Loveless was when it came out in 1991. It was beautiful and loud and the guitars did things no one knew guitars could do. The songs were truly unique and often threw people for a loop; we're certain more than one person checked their cassette player during "Touched" to make sure the tape wasn't melting as it spun. Taken together Loveless was a wondrous smear of music that still reveals something new today every time we listen to it despite having heard it hundreds of times. It took bandleader Kevin Shields over 20 years to release the follow-up to Loveless, but m b v arrived—completely unexpectedly—earlier this year. Shields continues to find new and exciting ways to wrench unexpected beauty out of guitars cranked to 12, and while it's not a groundbreaking effort it doesn't disappoint. Live the band is famously, ear-bleedingly loud so if you're going to Sunday's show bring earplugs and then back ups for those because the combination of the band's gear and the echo chamber that is the Aragon Ballroom should prove punishing (though well worth it).
Sunday, Nov. 3, at the Aragon Ballroom, 1106 W Lawrence, 6:30 p.m., $25, all ages