Years ago in the hazy hours of my early 20s, a cute little crust-punk girl took me to see Melt-Banana, this wild noise rock band from Japan. The guitarist wore a surgical mask and thrashed out some of the uncanniest sonic lacerations I’d ever heard. Singer Yasuko O’s hyperventilated chirp somehow kept up with the highly technical riffs and breakneck rhythms. Melt-Banana have developed a concentrated following of aural masochists here in the states and the UK based on delivering sets like the spectacle I witnessed that night. (Chop Suey, 1325 E Madison St, www.chopsuey.com, 8 pm, $14, 21+)