Music Top 5: November 2021

Photo: Sebastian Mlynarski & Kevin J Thomson

1
CHVRCHES
(Aragon Ballroom)
The synth-pop trio from Glasgow, like many bands, recorded its latest album (“Screen Violence”) in isolation, which ratcheted up the intensity and drama.
November 19

2
NICK LOWE
(Park West)
The show billed as “Nick Lowe’s Quality Rock & Roll Revue” finds the indie demigod teamed with the band Los Straitjackets, his collaborators on his most recent EP, 2018’s “Tokyo Bay.”
November 20

3
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS
(City Winery)
Stephin Merritt’s indie-pop outfit gets to tour at last with its latest album, “Quickies” (released in 2020 just as the pandemic hit), which features twenty-eight tunes of sometimes breathtaking brevity.
November 16-19

4
GENESIS
(United Center)
Apparently dinosaurs still walk the earth; though that’s not really a fair label here, because unlike the dinos, Genesis survived by evolving. In its first tour in thirteen years, we’ll see whether it still is.
November 15-16

5
CIRCUIT DES YEUX
(Thalia Hall)
At press time, “-io,” the latest album by the alternately adventurous and lavish Circuit des Yeux (a.k.a. Chicago’s Haley Fohr) had not yet dropped, but the first single, “Vanishing,” is a legitimate stunner.
November 21

Robert Rodi

Robert Rodi is an author, spoken-word performer and musician who has served as Newcity’s Music Editor since 2014. He’s written more than a dozen books, including the travel memoir “Seven Seasons In Siena,” and his literary and music criticism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Salon, The Huffington Post and many other national and regional publications.
Contact: robert@newcity.com