ALARM’s editors and contributors share their weekend plans.
Thursday, October 30
GWAR, Toxic Holocaust @ House of Blues
What would a Halloween weekend be without GWAR? Chicago gets an early treat on Thursday as the satirical blood-and-guts metal band hits the House of Blues. One-man speed-metal outfit Toxic Holocaust opens with a high-intensity set of thrash riffs, push beats, and mini rock solos.
On an awesome side note, ALARM head honcho Chris Force once opened for GWAR with his punk/hardcore band No Way Out (not to be confused with multiple bands currently active with the same name).
Friday, October 31
Ravish Momin‘s Trio Tarana @ The Velvet Lounge
Compositional and inventive New York percussionist Ravish Momin spends Halloween in Chicago with his Trio Tarana, which joins him with violinist Sam Bardfeld and oud/saz player Brandon Terzic. The group’s incredible sound is one of Indian rhythms, modern and traditional fusion, and big, complex beats that keep listeners’ heads banging.
Momin was born in India, but his multi-cultural influence extends beyond his homeland and his residence; his style touches upon elements of African and East Asian music, and his percussive endowments include a list of instruments a mile long. For this Velvet Lounge performance, the Trio Tarana is joined by Chicago heavies Tatsu Aoki (bass, shamisen), Greg Ward (alto sax), and Doug Rosenberg (woodwinds).
Halloween parties
Halloween falls on a Friday this year, so we’ll be hitting up some parties. Now if only we could decide on some costumes. (Björk? The Tron guy? A sexy laser beam?)
Saturday, November 1
Graveface Records Day of the Dead showcase @ The Abbey Pub
w/ Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dreamend, Hospital Ships, and Kid Dakota
Promoting its upcoming Drippers EP, Black Moth Super Rainbow brings its synth-heavy, effect-laden psych hop back to Chicago for the second annual Graveface Day of the Dead showcase. Labelmates Dreamend, Hospital Ships, and Kid Dakota round out the show with pretty pop/rock creations. Costumes are encouraged!
Sunday, November 2
Zü, Yakuza, The Rempis Percussion Quartet @ The Empty Bottle
Italian art/noise/jazz/punk trio Zü spends the first of two nights in Chicago at the Empty Bottle, possibly the city’s most fitting venue for the group’s weird mélange. Zü’s collaborators range from Hamid Drake to Mike Patton to Dälek, and it gets a few interesting openers here: jazz-metal locals Yakuza and free-jazz mainstays The Rempis Percussion Quartet.
Sleeping
As daylight savings time ends, we’ll be getting an extra hour of sleep. Though this should be rather universal for regions that practice DST, this is especially important for music editor Jamie Ludwig, who is known to run on 3-4 hours of sleep per night. Unfortunately, this also means that it will soon be dark at 5 p.m. Bogus!