Dave Segal on 'Are you a cat?' tonight:

Galdr, Same-Sex Dictator, Are you a cat?

(Josephine) There's a lot of black magic floating around out there. Music is a great harness for it," says Jason Smothers, half of the Seattle group Are you a cat? with Josh Welbel. The statement belies the duo's cutesy name. Are you a cat? create music that crackles with demonic intensity. The bulk of the material that they've culled from multiple hard drives' worth of music and slapped onto CD-Rs occupies a rarefied realm of experimental abstract electronica that's mainly been the domain of mad geniuses like Conrad Schnitzler, Biota, and the Residents. Other touchstones include Gil Mellé's disturbingly microbial soundtrack for The Andromeda Strain and Bebe and Louis Barron's forlornly bleepy score for Forbidden Planet.

In Data Breaker:

Robert Armani, Jimmy Hoffa, Travis Baron, Grindle

(Baltic Room) I haven't heard everything in Armani's expansive catalog, which includes releases on labels like Djax-Up-Beats, Tresor, and Dance Mania, but what I have experienced makes a beeline for that peak-time zone when the effects of the drinks, drugs, and people's biorhythms all seem to be culminating in a mass hands-in-the-motherfucking-air celebration. Dude's output isn't exactly subtle, but, damn, it gets the job done with admirable single-mindedness. And with "Circus Bells" (the Hardfloor remix, but still...), which I first heard on Laurent Garnier's X-Mix-2: Destination Planet Dream and which instantly blew my mind, Armani has created one of the most distinctive techno anthems ever. The man ain't clownin' around. Kudos to the Knightriders crew for booking this Windy City heavy hitter.

And in Up & Coming:

Albino!, Publish the Quest, Jonny Sonic

(Nectar) Bands with exclamation points in their names put undue pressure on themselves. Talk about raising listeners' expectations! (I'm looking at you, Wham! and !!!) So, what about these Albino! cats? Do they earn their exciting punctuation? Depends how you feel about Afrobeat emulators whose skin lacks pigmentation (okay, only 9 of 10 Albino! members look to be white). Racial makeup aside, these Berkeley, California, musicians approach Fela Kuti's brainchild with a reverent, understated brio. They have Fela's big band's ability to sound at once militarily precise and joyfully loose, enabling you to orderly freak the hell out to their intricate percussive interplay and triumphant horn charts. DAVE SEGAL

Take a look at our online calendar for a complete listing of bands, DJs and live music.