BONOBO MONKEYS AROUND WITH DOWNTEMPO FUNK
Bonobo—the malleable plaything of British producer Simon Green—has become one of Ninja Tune's most popular artists, by following in the tradition of stylistically fluid ensembles like the Cinematic Orchestra and the Herbaliser. Bonobo's new album, The North Borders, further hones Green's classy downtempo funk, augmented with delicately arranged chamber-orchestral strings and brass and artful male and female vocals—including a cameo by Erykah Badu. Expect mellow, mature pleasures aplenty. With El Ten Eleven and Kid Hops. Showbox at the Market, 7 pm, $20 adv/$25 DOS, all ages.
ODDBALL HOUSE RENOVATORS BOK BOK AND JIMI JAXON
Bok Bok (Alex Sushon, cofounder of the vanguard British future-bass label Night Slugs) stands as one of the London underground's most interesting DJs/producers of unpredictable, low-end-intensive dance music that zigzags in the filthy gap between grime and house. His tracks flare out of the post-dubstep jumble with a whimsical menace (paradox alert), setting you on exhilarating edge with fight-or-fuck feelings. Opener Jimi Jaxon heads up the Disco Droppings blog and the 7 Deadly label and is a resident for Decibel and Bottom Forty. Already an accomplished DJ, as witnessed by his set at last year's Decibel Fest, he's developing into a producer of sweet, off-kilter house and juke music. For proof, check out Jaxon's phenomenal tribal-gospel jams "Safari Zone" and "Third World America" on his Soundcloud page. Chop Suey, 9 pm, $10 adv, 21+.
THE MEDICATING TONES OF STACIAN, SAMANTHA GLASS, ORTROTASCE
ETG's Rx monthly—brought to you by No Sleep and Dr. Troy, the latter of whom runs the synth-music reissue label Medical Records*—continues to bring you a healthy diet of synth-powered music for your godforsaken Sunday nights. Ortrotasce (aka Nic Hamersly and Stead Thomas) make cold yet jaunty synth-pop, fizzing with fluorescent-gray melodies and decimated by vocals that make Stephin Merritt's sound gleeful. Madison, Wisconsin's, Samantha Glass (a dude named Beau Devereaux IRL) has issued the stunning Midnight Arrival, a record that combines space-rock guitar flourishes and kosmische-synth symphonics, flooding your neurons with nocturnal bliss. The more recent Rising Movements captures the otherworldly atmospheres and entrancing textures of analog-synth geniuses Mort Garson and J D Emmanuel. Milwaukee's Stacian deals in harsh, frigid blasts of ill-mannered synth that itch for screen time on the next great cult, dystopian sci-fi-film soundtrack. (*I've written liner notes for Medical.) Electric Tea Garden, 9 pm, $6, 21+.
