London post-rockers Stereolab always denied the “Marxist-rock” label that critics persistently attached to them, but any band with John Cage references, roots in obscure German 1970s avant-garde movements and a well-documented record of socio-politically charged lyrics positions itself in some pretty deep intellectual territory and easily becomes the official rock band for third-year poli-sci grad students. These experimental-rock veterans just released one of their more mellow efforts, “Chemical Chords,” a sixteen-track album that alternates between their trademark Burt Bacharach lounge-rock and playful sixties xylophone-pop. There’s a certain lightness to this version of Stereolab, a relaxed weightlessness that guides the strings, horns and organs and keeps the band an arms length from the slow-jam distortion of their 1990s incarnation. Vocalist Laetitia Sadler pretty much sounds as emotionless as ever, but songwriter Tim Gane rarely arranges a song that isn’t conceptually mesmerizing, helping “Chemical Chords” to succeed where novices would incessantly bore. (Andy Seifert)
October 10 at Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield, (773)618-8439, 8pm.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
