Dr. Manhattan w/ Direct Hit, Handguns and Number 9 Hard

Illinois’ Dr. Manhattan released its first album on Vagrant Records and are regulars on the Warped Tour circuit, but they aren’t anywhere near the by-the-numbers emo-punk band that biography suggests. The group’s second album, last summer’s Jam Dreams, is a bizarre quirk-fest with shades of the art-punk of The Mae Shi, the nervy post-punk of Public Image Limited, the screamo of The Blood Brothers and the psychedelic fits of The Flaming Lips. It’s the type of restless, manic record that promises a spectacle of a live show. Tonight the group shares an $8 bill with one of Milwaukee’s smartest pop-punk groups, Direct Hit.