Time magazine essayist Roger Rosenblatt recently penned a piece in which he stated: “Fact is, I don’t like thinking much. … Most of the time, I’d take a sentiment over a thought.” Rosenblatt’s piece perfectly caught the tenor of our era, a time when musicians like Limp Bizkit and Eminem — musicians whose music is all feeling and little thought — have become superstars. Limp Bizkit and frontman Fred Durst are classic rebels without a cause who spew verbal venom and corrosive power chords at targets so vague one can only assume the band simply enjoys the rush of rage. Rapper Eminem — perhaps the era’s preeminent spokesperson for anger and fear unfiltered by rational thought — has been no less successful, thanks to his skill at fusing his dubious messages to undeniably great grooves, grooves one can really, you know, feel. Limp Bizkit, Eminem and Papa Roach perform Monday at the Allstate Arena. Sold out.
King Crimson, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Park West: Even for a band whose music is only fitfully soothing and pleasant, King Crimson has outdone itself dissonance-wise with its new LP, “The Construktion of Light.” If the band’s legendary ’70s work sometimes found the group transcribing nightmares into sound, the new record — bookended by two surprisingly weak tunes — is the sound of cybernetic seizure, a cold, digitalized clash of high-tech gear that the HAL 9000 might’ve grooved to as it drifted pointlessly through deep space in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” An uncompromising but only intermittently rewarding opus. Sold out.
Koko Taylor, Saturday at House of Blues: Koko Taylor would deserve peerage among the blues aristocracy simply for her longevity and past achievements, but her typically hard-driving new LP, “Royal Blue,” proves that Taylor still earns all the tribute she gets. It’s a measure of Taylor’s greatness that she can make a bunch of freshly baked originals and even a Melissa Etheridge cover sound as rip-roaringly classic as a Ray Charles chestnut, but such is the power of her voice and musicianship. 329 N. Dearborn St. 312-923-2000.
Cinerama, Saturday at the Empty Bottle: Best known as the architect of the Wedding Present’s brash, no frills pop ax rush, David Gedge has shifted his new outfit, Cinerama, in the direction of elegant, orchestrated Serge Gainsbourg-esque Euro-pop. But WP devotees needn’t despair; beneath all the strings and accordions on Cinerama’s new LP, “Disco Volante,” purrs the rugged rumble of classic Gedge songcraft, and the hooks are akin to the Wedding Present’s best. 1035 N. Western Ave. 773-276-3600.
Screeching Weasel, Saturday matinee and Sunday evening at House of Blues: Using the Ramones as its template and suburban boredom/romantic angst as its grindstones, Chicagoland’s Screeching Weasel has firmly secured a place in local lore as one of the area’s best, most resilient and most identifiable punk bands. Led by the inimitably and often hilariously angry Ben Weasel, the band recently added to its 15-year legend with “Teen Punks in Heat,” a 20-song buckshot blast fired off with a perfect blend of raw passion and crafty tunefulness. 329 N. Dearborn St. 312-923-2000.
Other concerts
Rancid, Thursday at the Riviera Theater: Well, the choice is yours: You can either give the raging new self-titled Rancid LP a spin, or you could give yourself a haircut using a three-speed Lawn Boy mulching mower. The experience should be about the same. After making a career out of emulating the Clash, Rancid has reinvented itself as a slash-and-burn hardcore act, and on “Rancid” the quartet spits out wide-angle anger in a molten thrash meltdown. 4746 N. Racine Ave. 312-559-1212.
Hootie & the Blowfish, Thursday at House of Blues: Just a few years ago, many critics were citing Hootie & the Blowfish as a bold new benchmark in pop inconsequentiality, but the arrival of true numskulls like Limp Bizkit and Eminem has given seeming depth to Hootie’s thimble of soul. The band is back on the road supporting a new odds and ends compilation, “Scattered, Smothered and Covered,” that nicely captures its boundlessly affable sound. 329 N. Dearborn St. 312-923-2000.
Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise, Thursday at the Park West: The slow, steady rise of Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise is one of those archetypal success stories where a convergence of good luck, incessant touring and a good story line lift a band into the limelight. The band was formed after a chance meeting between a blind street busker and a leaderless group of jamming musicians, and its accessible, familiar pop-funk-soul hasn’t exactly hindered its popularity. On its latest LP, “Time to Discover,” the group ably reprises the sound — but not necessarily the memorable songwriting — of classic ’70s rock-and-soul. 322 W. Armitage Ave. 312-559-1212.
Also: Bob Dylan, Tuesday at McGaw Hall (Evanston); Fairport Convention, Wednesday at FitzGerald’s.
———-
For more, see metromix.com
