Whenever the Detroit trio Wolf Eyes comes to town, you can count on prismatic layers of art-damaged bleating, plop-stomp from cheap drum machines, calliopelike feedback, and tortured lyrics delivered with Wizard of Oz-style grandiosity–all processed through reams of distortion and delay. Since 1997 Aaron Dilloway and Nate Young have been coaxing obsessively dark noises from all kinds of equipment–from out of the mysterious black suitcases they haul onstage they’ve produced oscillators, reel-to-reel machines, a horn modified with pickups, and recircuited Casios. But when peripheral member John Olson signed on full-time two years ago the group’s compositional mind-set changed. Before, their malformed pops, clicks, and squeals flapped and skittered across loose grids, colliding only once in a while; on last year’s releases, Dread (Bulb) and Dead Hills (Troubleman), their soundscapes are overpopulated with hideous noises looped into hellish cries of war. And though each listening experience causes a certain amount of pain, you never know if it’ll be so grating you’ll end up with a headache or so beautiful you’ll want to die. Thursday, March 13, 9:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western; 773-276-3600.
