DAVIS REDFORD TRIAD
This isn't typical Data Breaker fare, but Davis Redford Triad will appeal to those into mind expansion, no matter what the methods. Led by Steven Wray Lobdell, who's played guitar with Krautrock legends Faust for the last decade, these Portland occultists possess the secret knowledge of sinister chords and tones to void your bowels--and transport your brain to the summits (and pits) of surreality. With guitars that sound like mythical beasts in various states of rapture and agony, DRT forge an other-worldly temple of kosmische Klang, as their best albums--1999's Ewige Blumenkraft and 2003's Blue Cloud--prove with guru-like intensity. Jef Brown, former member of masterly psych improvisers Jackie-O Motherfucker, joins DRT on guitar and sax, making this show a head's paradise. Fun House, 206 Fifth Ave, 374-8400, 9 pm-2 am, 21+, $5.
ARMIN VAN BUUREN, CHAD OWEN
Holland's Armin van Buuren is yet another member of the trance-DJ royalty, with many passport stamps and many more foot stomps from satisfied dancers. Inspired by '70s synth wizards like Jean Michel Jarre and Klaus Schulze, van Buuren started making his own music and spinning records at Leiden University in the mid-'90s. He soon fell in with DJ Tiesto and Ferry Corsten, with whom van Buuren shares a love for uplifting, soft-focus trance anthems that make you feel as if you're on an escalator to a cheesy version of Heaven. It's all nicey-nice and whiter than Tom Cruise's choppers. Hard-hearted cynics and skeptics should give van Buuren a wide berth. Premier, 1700 First Ave S, 888-221-7941, 9 pm-2 am, 18+.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 21
BAD BOY BILL, STEVE SMOOTH, DJ RYLE
Chicago DJ/producer Bad Boy Bill belongs to the self-aggrandizing school of performer, hyping himself frequently over hyper, stomping house and funky techno cuts that are as subtle as the Farrelly brothers' comedy. A flamboyantly athletic spinner, BBB caters to the ADD-afflicted, with mix CDs (the new Behind the Decks, for example) cramming 40 tracks into 65 minutes. Surprisingly, Behind the Decks finds BBB slowing the pace a bit and broadening the sonic palette to include Latin-flavored house. If you want to get your hormone levels off the charts and sweat liters of fluids, BBB is your dude. Showbox, 1426 First Ave, 628-3151, 10 pm-2 am, $15 adv/$20 DOS.
