It’s been a year since Yeasayer’s debut album “All Hour Cymbals” hit the shelves, and while it undoubtedly has cemented itself as one of 2007’s idiosyncratic triumphs, it never really answered the question, “What the hell is this?” Upon first listen, “Cymbals” makes the afro-centric beats and traditional pop sensibilities marriage work better than Paul Simon or David Byrne or Sting ever dreamed of. Repeat listen reveals the album to be even weirder: a children’s choir, a perfect album closer than sounds like it could be on the Beach Boys’ “Party!” and menacing, creepy chants, all forced to coexist. The Brooklyn quartet deserves credit for mixing seemingly unmixable elements and still coming out on top with a head-scratchingly cohesive, enjoyable album that sounds just as marketable to Ethiopia as it is to indie radio. (Andy Seifert)
October 28 at Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake, (773)525-5300. 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.
For “Want” of a Change: A Preview of Rufus Wainwright at Ravinia Park Rufus Wainwright isn’t the first singer-songwriter to reinterpret earlier work through an orchestral lens. And much of Wainwright’s third and fourth albums, “Want One” and “Want Two”—whose twentieth anniversaries are the prompt for this new tour—is fully scored. But when Wainwright hits the Pavilion stage at Ravinia tonight, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be behind him.
