Thursday, February 5
Tortoise @ The Empty Bottle (Chicago)
In August, jazz-brushed, hip-hop-infused post-rockers Tortoise dazzled a lunchtime crowd on a rainy day at Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion. The high-fidelity performance was one of the esteemed group’s last in Chicago, and now the Thrill Jockey standouts return to The Empty Bottle for their first small-setting Chicago performance since July.
The highly lauded group will be testing out material from its upcoming, unnamed album, due out on Thrill Jockey around June.
Friday, February 6
Thought You Knew (TyK) Pinup Calendar “Going to Press” Party @ Green Eye Lounge (Chicago)
ALARM contributing photographer Michelle Nolan took the photos for this 1950s-style pinup calendar, showing local lady bicycle riders in glamorous and relatively racy poses with their work instruments. Proceeds for all calendar sales go to The Chicago Women’s Health Center, and proceeds from the door ($5 suggested donation) go toward printing calendars.
Saturday, February 7
Mi Ami, onYou @ The Hideout (Chicago)
Squeaky, percussive, reverberating rock trio Mi Ami heads to Chicago in advance of Watersports, its debut full-length for Touch and Go due out February 17. Inspired by African disco and featuring shrieking, overdubbed vocals and spastic feedback solos, the trio’s sound is, to say the least, unique. Local abstract psych group onYou opens.