It’s a sparse musical landscape where the xx roam, with clean guitars, post-punk bass swagger and sparring vocal interplay between the cooing of guitarist Romy Madley Croft and bassist Oliver Sims, who also spends a fair amount of time mumble-harmonizing below Croft’s come-on verses, too. Anchored in space with machine beats making the most of the sparse arrangements, the xx are a revelation in minimalist grooves. Their self-titled debut album—produced by the xx’s own beatsmith/button-pusher Jamie Smith—was released earlier this year, and tonight’s show supporting headlining dance-rockers Friendly Fires is the group’s first trip to Chicago. (They will open for Hot Chip next spring.) Primed and ready to break big, this might be the last chance to see the xx in an intimate venue. (Duke Shin)
December 1 at Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake, (312)666-6775, 9pm.
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.
