This week's Sonar multimedia festival features European organizers bringing some severely cutting-edge sounds to Chicago, but you needn't wait till Thursday to get your innovative noise fix. The annual Adventures in Modern Music fest, corralled by the Empty Bottle and British music mag The Wire, starts a day earlier: today! And what an opener: a concert by the Rhys Chatham Trio, featuring the acclaimed minimalist guitar composer with Tim Barnes and Chicago's David Daniell. Mind you, it's a trio show, so don't show up expecting the 200-guitar thing, "A Crimson Grail," even though that album just came out. Expect plenty of long tones and occasional guitar thrashing, though, starting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Museum for Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago. Tickets: $20, members $16, plus student tickets are $10 and subject to availability, mcachicago.org.

Other concerts throughout the weekend include the very awake Sleep (Thursday @ Logan Square Auditorium) plus shows at the Empty Bottle, including Cave, Efterklang, High Places, Buke & Gass, Wooden Shjips and Ahleuchatistas.