Tonight: Dylan & White, C4RT, L.E.O.

IF YOU GO:

DETAILS: Bob Dylan and the Raconteurs at Agganis
DETAILS: L.E.O at T.T. the Bear's Place.
DETAILS: Campaign for Real Time at Great Scott

1. Generally we'd rather listen to Dylan on the radio than in the club. But the addition to the bill of Jack White, who's taken 2006 off from the White Stripes to take a victory lap with a real band, not to mention kiss the asses of aging rock stars from the Stones to Lou Reed, almost made us want to see these BU shows. Almost.

DOWNLOAD: Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour: The Devil" (mp3 via WhiteManStew)

2. Obsessed with the eccentric, overblown studiocraft of Electric Light Orchestra mastermind Jeff Lynne, mutton-chopped power-pop guru and Boston expat BLEU rummaged together members of the Black Crowes, Chicago, Papas Fritas, Hanson, and the criminally underrated Self to create L.E.O.’s Alpacas Orgling (Cheap Lullaby), a disc that pays homage to the sumptuously self-indulgent arrangements (but not the actual songs) of ELO. You don’t have to be an engineering nut or a pop lifer to appreciate the disc’s hyperbolic grandeur or its three-dimensional stereo separation, the product of four years, 12 studios, and countless guest appearances. But tracks like "Ya Had Me Goin'" sound as if they’d been unearthed from some velvet goldmine in the sky, a place where no falsetto is too false, no hook is too sugary, and any chorus worth singing is worth being sung by no fewer than 30 people. For tonight’s local CD-release party, Bleu is promising a reunion of his enormous Get Up Choir and other “special guests.” With openers the EVERYDAY VISUALS, the SNOWLEOPARDS, and the ANIMATORS.

DOWNLOAD: L.E.O., "Ya Had Me Goin" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Snowleopards, "Hipmatize Me" (mp3)

3. Hot on the heels of a triumphant two-week tour of the UK (in its review of a Newcastle gig, Brit Web ’zine PowPowPow said the band had the venue “on its hands and knees”), Boston’s own time-traveling, harmony-happy synth-rock polymaths the CAMPAIGN FOR REAL-TIME do a two-night stand at Great Scott to celebrate the release of their new 12-inch, Let It Rise (Wonderdrug/Curve of the Earth). The record’s A-side features four typically funky, bombastic new songs; the B-side comprises five remixes by a diverse crew of friends from Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou to electro-dance dudes Certainly, Sir. The record also comes with a CD version that includes a sludge-blues bonus track by Cave In/Octave Museum frontman Stephen Brodsky. The opening bands for the two shows are just as excellently eclectic: tonight it’s ROBBY ROADSTEAMER, HO-AG, and JOEY MOUSEPAD; tomorrow it’s HOORAY FOR EARTH, PROJECT MOVE, and BOSTON TYPEWRITER ORCHESTRA | 1222 Comm Ave, Allston | 617.734.4502.

DOWNLOAD: Campaign for Real Time, "In Your Dreams (Sir Certainly Remix)" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Hooray for Earth, "Simple Plan" (mp3)