The globally influenced dance-pop of trio The Very Best combine British club beats with East African tribal sound and vocal delivery, making for a unique debut in “Warm Heart of Africa,” elevating and thoroughly fun. Aside from guest appearances by Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig and M.I.A., The Very Best is made of Johan Karlberg, Etienne Tron and Esau Mwamwaya, the energized frontman. What makes this sound so thrilling is both its invention and its up-tempo enthusiasm—worldly, sexy, exotic, The Very Best ignite the flame between your ears. At the Pitchfork Music Festival, those rightfully bored by The Flaming Lips’ schtick shifted over to the smaller stage where this trio was playing, and the small dance party that erupted around the stage was a high point of the weekend. I expect nothing less at Bottom Lounge. (Tom Lynch)
The Very Best play October 29 at Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake, (312)929-2022, at 8pm.
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
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.
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.
