Minus Story

Minus Story is abashedly charismatic yet also scientifically dedicated to bringing the rock noise. It's like one of those chemistry-circus things that college students put on for elementary school kids — charming nerds in white coats making chemicals flash and explode. And if My Ion Truss is any indication, the Lawrence, Kansas, band's really stepped up the pyrotechnics from previous albums, favoring the plunk and the boom over the toot and the whistle, to paraphrase that old educational Disney cartoon. In fact, the instrumental side of Truss, with its swells and climactic drum grooves, gives the all-instrumental rock group Explosions in the Sky a run for its dynamite. (Fittingly, Explosions producer John Congleton was at the helm of Truss.) But Minus Story can be poetic, too: The lovely new track "Stitch Me Up" is an ascending trip of lilting dulcimerlike sounds, pummeling drums and Jordan Geiger's boyish keen.

9 p.m. Friday, April 11. Billiken Club, in the Busch Student Center on the campus of Saint Louis University, 20 North Grand Boulevard. Free. 314-977-2020.