Today, pop connoisseurs sometimes have to look long and hard to find the sounds that satisfy, but Thursday and the 21st, Schubas is hosting a pop trifecta featuring three distinctive approaches to creating a three-minute slice of heaven. MAGNETIC FIELDS mastermind Stephin Merritt weaves elements of disco, New Wave and Brill Building songcraft into often beguiling electro-pop nuggets of arch observation and desperate romantic longing. Former Scud Mountain Boys frontman Joe Pernice now leads the PERNICE BROTHERS, who favor a more orchestrated baroque pop that swaps the Scuds Eagles-isms for a Left Banke savoir-faire. And AMERICAN ANALOG SET’s 1997 LP, “From Our Living Room to Yours” (a woefully overlooked gem), used a handful of keyboards, guitars and percussion to produce a dreamy, trippy tapestry of minimalist hooks. Magnetic Fields, the Pernice Brothers and the American Analog Set perform Thursday and Aug. 21 at Schubas. 3159 N. Southport Ave. 773-525-2508.
THE A LIST
Joe Ely, Saturday at House of Blues: The fact that veteran Texas songwriter Joe Ely has been asked to open tours by both Merle Haggard and the Clash tells you everything you need to know about his superlative rawhide rock. Ely’s new LP, “Twistin’ in the Wind,” is yet another bang-up honky-tonk ‘n’ roll fusion perfectly spiced with folk, Tex-Mex and Cajun accents. 329 N. Dearborn St. 312-923-2000.
Front 242, Wednesday and Thursday at Metro: Not only have these Belgian beat masters endured long enough to see the techno-industrial genre they pioneered become a hot commodity, but they also can gloat that their best work remains more imaginative, more savage and more interesting than most of the knob twiddling that now passes for “cutting edge.” While Front 242’s music might technically be “disco,” it’s disco pulled from the belly of the Beast. 3730 N. Clark St. 773-549-0203.
NRBQ, Saturday at FitzGerald’s: Too non-serious for the highbrow crowd, too quirky for radio programmers and far too original to become mainstream pop stars, NRBQ has spent the last 30 years performing its alternately groovy or goofy “omnipop” for a group of fans who must qualify as the happiest cult in the face of the Earth. If you want to know why they’re smiling, pick up NRBQ’s new “You Gotta Be Loose” live LP, and swing by this set. 6615 Roosevelt Rd., Berwyn. 708-788-2118.
Other concerts
Culture Club, Saturday at the Rosemont Horizon: It’s hard to believe now, but Culture Club was once seriously touted, in some corners, as the next Beatles. But the Club’s legacy actually rests on a handful of coy, cuddly, gender-bender come-ons rather than on any indelible album-length achievements. The original Club has reconvened for this tour to support a new “greatest hits” package. Howard Jones and the Human League also perform. 6920 Mannheim Rd., Rosemont. 312-559-1212.
Rod Stewart, Sunday at the World Music Theatre: Where some guys react to middle age by splurging on a Corvette and a dye job, Rod the Mod has made a long wished-for “rock and roll” LP entitled “When We Were the New Boys,” a collection of covers by the likes of Oasis, Primal Scream and Skunk Anansie. Give the man a “B” for effort, but the recent re-mastered reissues of Stewart’s classic first four records only underscore the futility of this somewhat lukewarm gesture. I-80 and Harlem Avenue, Tinley Park. 708-614-1616.
Seven Mary Three, Thursday at House of Blues: Tapping into teenage angst like a motivational speaker pumping up sales sharks with fervent, platitude-strewn spiels, Seven Mary Three hit it big a few years back with its vein-popping, anguished yet derivative alt-rock. But inspirational tirades are less rousing the second time around, so the quartet’s new LP, “Orange Ave.,” opts for a lighter, more jangly delivery, which only highlights the band’s second-rate songwriting. 329 N. Dearborn St. 312-923-2000.
Psychotica and the Impotent Sea Snakes, Friday at the Double Door: At the risk of sounding like a grousing old grandpa, the good thing about the original wave of glam-trash rock shock troops (Alice Cooper, Bowie, NY Dolls) was that they possessed both talent and bad taste. That’s somewhat less true of this Mancow-led freak show, which features a goth-glam hermaphrodite, Psychotica, and transvestite punks, Impotent Sea Snakes. 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave. 773-489-3160.
Esthero, Thursday at the Double Door: This Toronto duo joins an ever-spreading slough of male-female combos (Mono, Portishead, Morcheeba) that splice jazz, hip-hop, drum n bass and more into an electric potluck pop. Less adventurous than it at first sounds, Esthero’s music relies on languid bossa nova grooves and the dexterous voice of its eponymous singer (who can sound like Bjork and Tracey Thorn) for its lightweight allure. 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave. 773-489-3160.
Also: Skatalites, Friday at Metro; Yellowman, Saturday at the Cubby Bear; Ted Nugent, Tuesday and Wednesday at House of Blues.
