Greg Davis

Dance/electronic

Richard D. James (a.k.a. Aphex Twin) once said, "Now that people can make music on a laptop and be in more places than just a studio, it's like folk music, and it's amazing that it's come around full circle after so long." Back in the day, folk musicians would travel the countryside equipped with their trusty acoustic instrument and spontaneously create music anywhere, anytime. These days, it's an ideal embraced by laptop musicians. But Chicago's Greg Davis takes the notion even further by combining the old idea with the new. He defines the term "laptop folk" by mixing acoustic guitars and electronic sounds. On his second full-length album, Curling Pond Woods (Carpark Records), Davis subtly interweaves acoustic songs sparsely doused with sing-songy, Brian Wilson-like vocals -- unsystematically emerging in and out of drones, field recordings and glitchy digital processing. Each tune is mellow and charmingly heartfelt. Think the pop-glitch of labelmate Marumari (also on the bill) and Thrill Jockey's Nobukazu Takemura mixed with the psych-folk of the Incredible String Band -- all fused by the randomness of John Cage.

Thu., March 25, 10 p.m., $7, with Marumari, Aunt Jessica and Lucky Dragons, Doc Watson’s, 216 S. 11th St., www.plainparade.org.

—Sean O'Neal

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