Angel Day makes freewheeling underground pop as Yesterdayneverhappened, and their new second album, The Demon at Dusk (Loveshock/Daybreak), zips around with such restless energy you might think they never sleep. The Chicago producer and vocalist has a knack for bricolage and an ear for the cutting edge, evident in the album’s effusive collision of dance music, hip-hop, and R&B; their local Daybreak parties book Black and Black trans artists working to reshape nightlife around the country. Day blends an ocean of sounds with great care, steering their songs into joyful abandon and stopping just short of unrestrained chaos. On “Brimstone Juju,” Day raps with unbothered cool over a craggy landscape built from jackhammer bass, a cyclone of drum ’n’ bass percussion, and reversed synth notes that sound like a haunted organ. It’s an impressive feat to maintain equanimity amid such pandemonium, and throughout The Demon at Dusk, Day provides a demonstration of how liberating it can be to ride out a tornado of your own creation. It’s often a great way to have fun too.
Yesterdayneverhappened This release party for The Demon at Dusk includes an interactive art installation. Ayeeyo, Swami Sound, El Brujo, and Marceline Steel open. Fri 10/28, 5 PM, Congruent Space, 1216 W. Grand, free, all ages
