9
TUESDAY
For earnest, muscular, three-piece rock bands, Chicago can’t be beat. For earnest, muscular, three-piece rock bands with good singers, Chicago does not rank very high. The Windy City reliably produces power trio after power trio with a singer who sounds as if he (and it’s always a he) were at the tail end of a nasty bout of sinusitis. Taking Pictures (which occasionally uses the suffix “of Chicago”) will not disappoint fans of Pinebender, the Karl Hendricks Trio, or Don Caballeroof which it shares members with the latter two. Friends Are Ghosts, Taking Pictures’ first full-length, features remarkable guitar-bass-drums interplay and some of the worst vocals to grace a record in some time. Live, there’s always the chance that singer Mat Daly will eighty-six the bored-sounding, adenoidal moans and just play guitar, which he does very well. Taking Pictures plays with Three Second Kiss at 9 p.m. on the Black Cat’s Backstage, 1811 14th St. NW. $5. (202) 667-7960. (Andrew Beaujon)