Tonight’s a rare chance to see/hear Italian electronic-music legend Alexander Robotnick (aka Maurizio Dami) play live. Under the auspices of Medical Records (whose owner, Dr. Troy, is also DJing tonight), Robotnick had his 1984 LP Ce N’est Qu’un Début reissued in 2010. It’s gone on to sell out of two pressings and is now on its third. The album’s a cheeky charmer packed with new-wave-slanted synth pop and campy Italo-disco. Aglow with catchy melodies and fueled by irresistible rhythms, Début peaks with “Problèmes d’Amour,” a much-compiled club anthem that ricochets around your memory banks through a fantastic hook sung in French by Swiss chanteuse Martine Michellod. Robotnick’s gone on to cut many more records in the disco, electro, and techno veins, and even ventured into Indian meditational music, but one senses the crowd will be clamoring hardest for his 30-year-old material. With Airport and Chris Davis. Barboza, 8 pm, $15, 21+. DAVE SEGAL
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(Chop Suey) Oh, you New Bums guys are setting us up with that name. You’re preemptively forcing us to lower our expectations, you sly devils. Which is odd, because New Bums consist of guitarist/vocalists Ben Chasny and Donovan Quinn, whose regal histories include the psych-folk and mellow-rock peregrinations of Six Organs of Admittance, 200 Years, and Skygreen Leopards (Chasny’s also shredded with hard-rock stallions Comets on Fire). Whatever the case, New Bums looks/feels/sounds like a let’s-simplify-and-slow-down move—and very side project-y: two dudes with a couple of guitars and mics, playing hushed, dewy, pretty tunes for proverbial back-porch gatherings. Their Drag City debut LP, Voices in a Rented Room, is folk-rock orthodoxy manifested by two pros who’ve toned down their “Weird America” instincts to see if they can make the normals sing along. Don’t bet against New Bums in this endeavor. With Aykut Ozen and Case Studies. DAVE SEGAL
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This week’ Studio 4/4 gets soulful with New York’s Dennis Ferrer, who runs the respected Objektvity label. He favors a fairly traditional vocal-heavy, Afro-centric house-music style that will always have its hardcore devotees. If you want an apropos scenario in which to celebrate the influence of the late house pioneer Frankie Knuckles, you should catch Ferrer behind the decks. With Blueyedsoul, Brian Lyons, and Easy Hard. Q Nightclub, 9 pm, $12 adv, 21+ DAVE SEGAL
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And here's all our recommended music events—tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, and beyond!