Thee Silver Mt. Zion

Photograph: Mark Slutsky

Bowery Ballroom; Tue, May 20.

We haven’t heard as much lately from Montreal’s Constellation Records as we did back when the label’s flagship act, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, was getting the rock underground hot and bothered with its anarchic space-punk explorations. Yet Constellation is still putting out records at a steady clip, and these days its highest-profile group is probably the one that began as A Silver Mt. Zion, but currently goes by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band.

In March, Thee Silver Mt. Zion (which includes several Godspeed members, including de facto frontman Efrim Menuck) released a powerful new album, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons; like most of the Constellation stuff, it’s long on guitar-based tone poetry and short on catchy melodies and toe-tapping beats. But 13 Blues is hardly pretty background music: “Blackout at the terror trials / It’s the sixth year of their wars,” Menuck seethes over screeching strings on the 16-minute title track. He and his bandmates—who should be sharp this week after a month of European touring—are unlikely to spare your eardrums onstage, where Zion’s jams usually get even jammier. (No word on whether Menuck plans to spare your imperialist American soul.)

Veteran Athens, Georgia, singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt is a new addition to the Constellation camp; last year’s North Star Deserter marked his first collaboration with the label and its musicians (as well as with Guy Picciotto of Fugazi). Tonight, expect his Southern-gothic storytelling to receive a blast of noisy Canadian soundscaping. (Thee Silver Mt. Zion also plays Music Hall of Williamsburg Mon, May 19.)