Play Girls

-- Ladytron, a Liverpool, England electro-pop quartet, is notoriously hit-or-miss. The consolation is that all the hits are direct ones. Playing with Datarock. Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., 7:00pm. $25.

Weird Sounds

-- Somerville's Weird Records presents a showcase of bizarro music sure to leave you scratching your head, wondering why your ears are bleeding. The highlights include Warmer Milk, a Lexington, KY band that recalls the atonal shambles of the Godz and the heyday of the ESP record label, and Fat Worm of Error, a Northampton outfit that might single-handedly revive the No Wave in Western Mass. P.A'.s Lounge, 345 Somerville Ave., 8:30pm. $7/$10.

The Breaks

-- Brian Coleman knows a few things about rap music. He has written two books, Rakim Told Me and its expansion Check the Technique, that provide the oral history -- and the retrospective liner notes -- for rap's classic albums. From Schooly D to the Wu-Tang Clan, with pitstops at 2 Live Crew's swimming pool and Too $hort's street corner. Coleman will lug his mountain of vinyl across town tonight for a special installment of the Beat Research series. Enormous Room, 567 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, 9:00pm. Free.

Image from Fat Worm of Error's Myspace page.