We all saw it coming. The Jackson Three.

Yikes.

SHELebration

Tonight at Millenium Park's Pritzker Pavillion, in tandem with the park's 5th anniversary the City is putting on a tribute to Shel Silverstein. There will be related music by Will Oldham, Bobby Bare Sr. and Bobby Bare Jr., Jon Langford and Sally Timms, and more. There will also be performances and readings from Shel's books.

Barb

A popular WLUW DJ, Barb Wire (a.k.a. Barbara Unruh), passed away last week from cancer at 49. The Tribune has a nice article about her.

The Boy Who Cried Freebird

Gaper's Block points to this Tribune article about the history of jerks shouting "Freebird" at shows, and it's origins in Chicago.

T-Mo

Not that I've listened to any music Travis Morrison has made since the Dismemberment Plan broke up, but Pitchfork points out that his website indicates he is retiring from music, relaxing in Brooklyn and inviting people to add him on Facebook, which I promptly have done (we'll see if he actually accepts). When did he move to Brooklyn?

Music Mags

Tough times in the music publishing industry- Vibe Magazine is closing down "immediately". Blender also folded last year, and the Source recently emerged from bankruptcy.

Lolla Aftershows

Lollapalooza has announced its after party schedule, with shows from bands like the Decemberists, TV on the Radio, Fleet Foxes and more around town at area venues, mostly the HoB, Metro and Double Door. See here for the full schedule.

Brooklyn

New York newspapers continue to chronicle the many ways in which Brooklyn hipsters and poor college grads deal with the recession. While some are forced to accept less trust fund money from their parents and scale down Williamsburg condo purchases from $900K to $500K, others just pitch tents in their friends' backyards for $100/month. "We have parents that could give us money to get an apartment . . . but it's nice to be independent" one says in true anti-trustafarian style. We'll see how long that lasts once the five people already living in a two-bed one bath apartment have to share that bathroom with the three squatters, much less attempt to bring home the ladies.

More insight into these fellows comes here.

Dirty Projectors

I just got the new Dirty Projectors album, Bitte Orca, this weekend and am still trying to figure out what I think of it as some people are freaking out about its awesomeness. I'll get a good chance tonight as they play a free show at Millennium Park with the Sea and Cake, where I'll be found in my best picnic garb. Pitchfork made it sound like Dave Longstreth has finally succeeded by reining in his weirdness, though on first listen I'm not finding the sound to be much different from Rise Above. Time will tell.

Wicker Park Fest Update

The other day I mentioned the lineup for Wicker Park Fest, happening July 25 and 26. Sadly, Silver Wrapper has an update that Jamie Lidell will not be playing at the fest per se, but as part of a special Wicker Park Fest afterparty at the Congress on the 25th- which costs $20. Which is not nearly as cool as the idea of seeing Jamie at a little stage on Damen Avenue for a $5 suggested donation. Way to get my hopes up, Silver Wrapper, only to have them come crashing down. Really, the Congress?

Girls Rock

Jessica Hopper, music critic for the Chicago Reader, Tribune and countless other publications, is putting out her first book, The Girls' Guide to Rocking, which gives young girls a complete "how-to" for getting into music, from starting a band to recording an album and setting up shows. It features quotes from Debbie Harry and the Go-Gos, and is being promoted through online videos starring members of Flosstradamus, Broken Social Scene and Girl Talk. Very cool! Makes me wish I had a resource like this when I was young. The Daily Swarm provides some excerpts from the book.

Lol-Fi

Pitchfork points to this hilarious interview with someone from a band named "Psychedelic Horse****", where in expletive-filled rants he dumps all over all the bands in the currently hot "lo-fi" scene (Wavves, Times New Viking, No Age, etc.) that he's ostensibly a part of. In line with Monday's post, one of the commenters calls him out as a trustafarian. Hilarious! And probably an apt reference for the singers of both of these bands too. Yikes, people.

I still can't wrap my head around what is so enjoyable about these bands. Granted, I've written off the genre completely after hearing and seeing Times New Viking, but pretty much any review that compares a band to TNV kills any chance of me wanting to listen to that record. If Wavves actually makes it to Pitchfork, I guess I'll have another opportunity to try it out, but I'm not keeping my expectations high.

Williamsburg

The Atlantic asks how the recession has impacted people making "nothing at all":

And then the recession came for hipsters . . .

Answer: Dwindling trust funds.

EDIT: on the heels of the above link comes a snarky posting from my favorite Wall Street tabloid blog, Dealbreaker, linking to a New York Times article on the same topic.

Very sad news. I saw Jeff Hanson open for the Decemberists at a tiny coffee shop in Madison back in 2003 when they were both on Kill Rock Stars. He had an incredibly unique voice that was initially shocking but ultimately beautiful. :(

Have you forgotten your mother and your friends? Long lost DJ Lazer will be fated to see MGMT this summer at the All Points West Festival at Liberty State Park. This is my decision. Now let's have some fun.

Marissa Nadler

One of my favorite songs of the moment: Ghosts & Lovers, by Marissa Nadler. Hear it on her myspace page.

Wicker Park Fest

Wicker Park Fest is back this summer July 25 and 26, and features another great lineup, including Jamie Lidell and the Junior Boys. How Chicago manages to get great lineups year after year for dozens of street festivals each summer is a mystery to me, but it's certainly part of what makes this city great.

Bands (schedule still TBD):
Jamie Lidell LATE NIGHT
The New Deal
Junior Boys
Tortured Soul LATE NIGHT
Big Sam's Funky Nation
Heavyweight Dub Champion
Mickey Factz
Company of Thieves
Van Ghost
Backyard Tire Fire
Two Fresh
The Wonderful World of Bald Eagle
Glossary
Autobody featuring Felix Moreno of Future Rock
B.S. Brass Band
plus ONE MORE SPECIAL GUEST!!!

Do Division Fest, Menomena @ Empty Bottle

It was a good weekend for music in Wicker Park/Ukranian Village. I only caught the last song from Portland, OR's Viva Voce; per a friend who saw them both at the fest and at the Empty Bottle the night before, they played exclusively music from their latest album, and not only were the set lists virtually identical both nights, but the jokes and between-song banter were too. Whoops. Handsome Furs also treated us to a set of exclusively tracks from their latest album, Face Control. Dan and Alexi sported new hairstyles since the last time I saw them, with Dan trading in his punk-mullet for a more boyish short on the sides, spiky on top look, and Alexi bleaching her dark hair blond (she can certainly pull off both). Their set was short but sweet (barely over 30 minutes); the married couple has great chemistry with each other and serious intensity on stage, though I was bummed we didn't get even one track off of Plague Park.

I skipped seeing Menomena at the fest on Sunday in favor of checking out their Empty Bottle show last night; I figured that since they're now more of a Metro band, it was a good chance to get to see them in the intimate setting of their early years. I was not disappointed; in addition to reminding me that "Strongest Man in the World" is unfailingly amazing, the guys were clearing having a blast. It was keyboardist Brent Knopf's 32nd birthday, and Justin requested that audience members give him 32 spankings after we all sang him happy birthday. His girlfriend also baked him a cake, and he blew out the candles on stage. Good times. Rumor has it that after a year and a half of doing their own thing they are back in creative mode and working on a new album; they did debut one new song featuring Brent on vocals that I thought sounded great. In an ongoing theme for the weekend, the majority of the set came from 2007's Friend and Foe; I was a little surprised they didn't mix it up a bit more as they aren't touring on a new album. Still, I won't complain, as I'll take whatever I can get from one of my favorite bands.

Wow, can't wait to see this band at Pitchfork, if they ever make it there.

Iron and Wine 5/13/09

I feel like Iron and Wine fans fall into two categories: those that prefer his earlier solo work, and those who prefer him more fleshed out with a full band. I definitely fall into the former; something about the quiet, hushed folk is just much more up my alley. Last year's Shepherd Dog just really didn't do it for me; I ultimately found it kinda boring, and it left me missing the intimacy of his early work. So after only seeing him with a full band at Pitchfork and on tour with Calexico, I was thrilled to see that Sam Beam was doing a solo tour, with fans voting on the set list. Here was my chance to hear songs from Creek Drank the Cradle, and in the intimacy of Schubas no less.

Having seen Iron and Wine at venues as large as Union Park and Congress Theater, I guess I didn't realize how incredibly personable Sam Beam truly is; I always assumed he was a shy, awkward one. Dressed in his best professor wear (collared shirt, vest and righteous beard), Sam was talkative, funny and easygoing, and it truly felt like "an evening with Sam Beam." My goal for the night was to hear "Lion's Mane" or "Faded from the Winter", and Sam treated me to the first, which was, without a doubt, the highlight of the night for me. As Sam put it, "Chicago really likes that green album", and many of the songs came from Endless Numbered Days. The only thing I could have done without was the audience sing-a-long during "Such Great Heights." There is nothing worse than hearing an audience singing louder than the performer.

Fan-voted setlist below. Head to playedlastnight.com for an mp3 copy of the evening's performance.

01. Intro
02. Each Coming Night
03. Cinders and Smoke
04. Flightless Bird, American Mouth
05. Lion's Mane
06. No Moon
07. Peng
08. Passing Afternoon
09. Free Until They Cut Me Down
10. Two Hungry Blackbirds
11. Sunset Soon Forgotten
12. Bird Stealing Bread
13. History of Lovers
14. Fever Dream
15. Stolen Houses
16. Mouth of the River
17. The Trapeze Swinger
18. Such Great Heights (Postal Service)

Sick!

Sorry for the lack of blogging over the past few days- I was on vacation in Boston and then came back in time to get a stomach flu! But I did see Iron and Wine at Schubas and Animal Collective at the House of Blues in Boston during that time, so once I'm feeling better I'll have full reports of each.

Cocker

Jarvis Cocker, with the help of his kids, has a hilarious take on the latest singles.

Radio Show Hiatus

Over the past few summers I've taken a break from the radio show to enjoy the sunshine on Monday evenings and recharge. This year, I've realized I need more than a summer to recharge; after 8+ years in college/community radio, it's become clear that I don't have the time I used to have to dedicate to a quality 2-hour show each week (part of this crazy thing called "getting older"). With the upcoming move downtown and management changes (all for the better, of course), it seemed like a good time to step back from the show for a bit. I plan on staying involved through the occasional subbing opportunity, but will take an indefinite break from the regular schedule. Still, I look forward to seeing how WLUW can grow and flourish in its new environment, and will hopefully return when I can make time to commit to the station again.

That said, I will continue on blogging, and I have some new, exciting music-related activities on the docket that I will report on as they come to fruition (oooh, suspense!). Thanks for listening!

That's a Dealbreaker Ladies

Two albums I've been enjoying of late come from a couple of emerging female artists: Bat for Lashes Two Suns and Marissa Nadler's Little Hells. Both have a darker edge that I'm loving, with Bat for Lashes offering a bigger, more theatrical sound to counter Marissa's subtler, folkier tunes. With St. Vincent's recent critical acclaim for Actor, 2009 is shaping up to be a good year for female musicians.

Best of thoughts. . . already!

It was just brought to my attention that come next year, 2010, we will officially be entering the next decade. Which means, not only will we be contending with "best albums of the year" lists this December, but also "best albums of the decade" lists. My head hurts just thinking about it! Tinymixtapes will be putting together one of its own, and apparently I need to start thinking now about what I'd include on it. What a terrifying prospect, especially considering how much my musical tastes have changed since 2000, and how little time I'll really spend with 2009's music. Yikes!

Dodos on TV

Indie-rock-in-commercials-watch: Just heard the Dodos' "Fools" on an ad for . . . Miller Chill. How quickly they rise.

Speaking of the Dodos, they had a show scheduled at Subterranean for July 25, but subsequently canceled for undetermined reasons. Sad.

Flight

Man, it's already Friday and I just realized I haven't blogged since Monday! Time is flying.

Amidst my busy week I was able to fit in a trip to the Arie Crown Theater to see Flight of the Conchords. Gapers Block reviews it here. Highlights for me: the show beginning with Jemaine and Bret coming out in cardboard robot heads singing my favorite season 2 song, "Too Many Dicks"; telling a catcaller in the audience he was "high on bong"; being joined by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (a.k.a., a guy on a cello).

Surprisingly no "Business Time", though.

Meanwhile, the Trib didn't seem too enthused. I think they're thinking about it a little too much.

Not a huge fan of the Arie Crown though. Strange how McCormick Place is really not that accessible by public transportation (just one bus from downtown), for such a huge destination. And it felt like watching a show in the stadium version of a theater, as opposed to a real theater like the Chicago Theatre or Civic Opera House.

Riots!

Pitchfork reported today about how U of Minnesota students rioted after Talib Kweli couldn't make their spring concert at the last minute due to flight problems. These pictures of the incident are amazing. So much for the Minnesota Nice. (Though it's hard to take something called "The Dinkytown Riots" seriously).

Reunion

Man, I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this to happen.

TMT Compilation

After a good two years or so of planning, Tinymixtapes has finally put out a charity compilation featuring original recordings from 11 TMT favorites. All proceeds go to the International Rescue Committee's work in Darfur. It's limited edition, so get your copy soon!

Tracklist:

Tiny Mix Tapes Vol. 1: Darfur
01. Jim O’Rourke - "Seven Stars"
02. Balroynigress - "Dress the Ship in Black"
03. WHY? - "Eskimo Snow (sock hop version)"
04. Frog Eyes - "Bushels (acoustic version)"
05. Burning Star Core - "Incurable Beauty of the Master’s Demise"
06. Xiu Xiu - "Farther On (Traditional)"
07. Mount Eerie - "Calf In Pasture"
08. Wooden Wand - "No Stranger"
09. The Flying Luttenbachers with Henry Kaiser - "Trapped in Ice"
10. nmperign - "Remote Sensing"
11. Dan Deacon - "I Have So Much to Donald"

Update: Pitchfork gives the comp some love.

Taste of Randolph

The lineup for the Taste of Randolph, this year the weekend of June 19-21, is slowly making its presence known. First up: Dr. Dog headlining on Friday, The Hold Steady headlining on Sunday.

Metronome

There's a new Chicago street fest coming our way this summer called "Metronome", to be held on Milwaukee at Armitage and Western (because not enough blocks in Wicker Park/Bucktown have a street festival in the summer! Not that I'm complaining!). From June 6-7, there will be two stages representing four genres: Punk, Rock, Folk and Electronic, each with a relevant sponsor (MP Shows, Empty Bottle, Chicago Bluegrass and Blues, and the Congress Theater, respectively). So far the Rock and Punk stage have lineups, with the Rock stage proving to be decently impressive:

8:30pm John Vanderslice
7:00pm Here We Go Magic
5:30pm Apostle of Hustle
4:00pm Kid Congo Powers
2:30pm Turbo Fruits
1:00pm Rock Plaza Central

The Metronome Celebration will benefit the Logan Square Neighborhood Coalition, which will distribute proceeds across all parts of the community through the Greater Goethe Neighborhood Association, the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce, Friends of Goethe School, Chase Elementary and a Sustainable Project Award that will help to provide a more sustainable life for area residents.

What's irritating Nicole today

Apparently Sigur Ros' "Hoppipola" is now the feel-good, uplifting trailer theme du jour. After getting thoroughly sick of what used to be my favorite track off Takk . . . from the ubiquitousness of the Slumdog Millionaire trailer over the last 6-8 months, Disney's new Earth Day movie, "Earth", also features the song wet to video of wildlife and nature running free. I can only imagine how many times I'll be seeing it between now and next Wednesday.

69 Love Songs . . . Illustrated

How fun- a group of comic artists are putting a blog together where each day they'll have an illustration/comic/short story/etc. based on one of the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs. Right now they're about 2 songs in.

And if you want to get in on the action, there are still some songs left for the taking.

Belated Junior Boys Review

The other week I was able to catch the Junior Boys at the Metro just before their latest album, Begone Dull Care, was released last week. I was looking forward to hearing the new stuff live (and am still looking forward to hearing on record if Amazon will ever get it to me, though apparently I should stop buying from them because their computer systems hate gays or something; if only Insound didn't require a $50 purchase to get free shipping!).

Anyhoo, as expected, what I heard did not disappoint, because frankly Jeremy Greenspan could sing virtually anything in his smooth, breathy voice and it would sound great. They opened with "Hazel", clearly the most single-worthy of the new stuff, and debuted probably 6-7 new tracks overall, some of which were immediately enjoyable and others that I'm looking forward to spending more time with. The energy level on stage wasn't as high as it was in the crowd however, where in front of me a 6'5" man I've seen at several dance-oriented shows bounced around the room with such joy and vigor you almost got over the fact that you were stuck behind a 6'5" man at a concert.

Opening for the Junior Boys was the hilarious Max Tundra. I'd read about him and assumed he was some sort of down-tempo electronic artist for some reason, but I was completely off base as he was this crazy little twee electro-popper that bounced around the stage with his arms flailing whenever he had the chance. He told us he was selling kosher soup with his merchandise after the show (not a joke) and wrapped up his set with some sort of electronic version of "So Long, Farewell" from the Sound of Music. Based on his (albeit very entertaining) show, I got the impression his music was a bit of a novelty and couldn't imagine what it would sound like on record, something that runs counter to all the glowing reviews he's received over time. Apparently under all that sunny twee glow there is subject matter about stealing his best friend's girlfriend, then subsequently breaking up with said girlfriend. Intriguing.

Headlines

Apparently no one at the Daily Swarm has ever read Tinymixtapes before.

Neko

A deep take on Neko Case's Middle Cyclone, an album which Amazon.com is currently holding hostage from me.

Tim Tuten

Whoa! The Hideout's Tim Tuten is going to work for the Obama Administration!

Fein Tunes

Today I discovered this awesome project by Senator Russ Feingold, endearingly called "Fein Tunes". He's asking his constituents to give him suggestions for new music to listen to as he travels around the state. His first new favorite band: Bon Iver. So much Wisconsin love I can hardly contain myself.

Out of the Loop

Man, I've missed out on a lot of great new releases over the past month as I've been out of town. Time to remedy that with a big online order:

Handsome Furs- Face Control
Neko Case- Middle Cyclone
Dan Deacon- Bromst
Marisa Nadler- Little Hells

Also looking to check out:
Bonnie Prince Billy- Beware
The Thermals- Now We Can See
Royksopp- Junior
Swan Lake- Enemy Mine

. . . but I didn't want to spend that much money at one time! Time to get fully into 2009 and see what my new favorite albums will turn out to be.

Gameboyz

Wired has a fun game: match the hip-hop lyric from the last 20 years with the piece of technology it refers to.

Man, hip-hop lyrics get pretty ridiculous.

P4k and the Flaming Lips

So I'm back from my vacation and hope I still have readers left after 3 weeks away!

Clearly the big news since I was gone is the Pitchfork line up, the vote-your-own-set-list set up for Friday, and the Flaming Lips headline slot. As various outlets have reported, the Lips were initially supposed to join in on the fan-voted set list fun, but almost immediately backed out, forcing Pitchfork to issue a correction. This earned the major ire of the Sun Times' Jim DeRogatis, who was thrilled about the fan-voted set list in the hopes that it would force the Lips to revisit older material and revitalize a stage show that has become a bit stale.

I guess have to agree with him. I'm probably one of the only people that greeted the Flaming Lips news with an "eh". I saw the Flaming Lips at Coachella in 2004, and while sure, the stage show is funny, in 45 minutes they played a whopping 3 songs, all from Yoshimi (and only after spending 10 minutes delaying the show so Wayne could get his giant bubble inflated). Festival shows don't really give the Lips enough time to do both the schtick and play actual music at the same time. And the schtick hasn't changed a whole lot in the 5 years since; their stage show has really become this pre-packaged, ultimately hollow thing that's not really about the music anymore but about how weird and silly they can be. I agree with Jim that festivals like Pitchfork are the time to do something really interesting and special, and when a stage full of animal costumes and a giant human hamster ball are no longer special, it might be time to revisit the formula.

Vaca

Hello faithful readers,

In order to escape the daily depression that is our economy, I'm heading out tomorrow on a much-needed vacation to Southeast Asia. As a result, expect blog posting to be virtually non-existent for the next couple weeks (unless I discover some incredible Cambodian indie rock band that the world just needs to know about ASAP) (unlikely). Hopefully I'll return to amazing weather, a Dow back at post-2000 levels, politcal unity and a plethora of jobs for all! Or at least some good shows in April, and a decent Pitchfork lineup. Cheers!

Spinal Tap Tour! (Sort of)

According to the Sun Times, Spinal Tap "members" Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will be hitting the road for a six-week tour starting in April, with a stop at the Chicago Theatre on May 30. Sadly, they will be going on tour as themselves, rather than as their alter egos- i.e., no wigs, outfits or minature Stonehenges. They'll also be playing songs from A Mighty Wind. Oh, and it will be acoustic. As McKean says at the end of the article, 'the partners are “trying to figure out a way to do [Spinal Tap’s bass opus] ‘Big Bottom’ on three acoustic guitars” and said some incarnation of “Stonehenge” “is possible.”'

Bird Video

The video for Andrew Bird's first single, Fitz and the Dizzyspells, which was filmed during his surprise shows at the Hideout with marching band divas Mucca Pazza, is now available on his website. Check it out!

Netbooks

This article in Wired about the rise of the Netbook is incredibly fascinating- not necessarily music-related, per se, but definitely has implications for how we listen to music on our computers.

Rock for Food

Obviously if you are a reader of this blog you, like me, love music. Perhaps you, like me, also have a deep love for fine dining and Top Chef. Maybe, unlike me, you have a lot of spare cash sitting around, which ostensibly could be donated to teaching low-income children to rock. Well then, this news is for you! Rock for Kids is auctioning off an excellent dinner experience for you and five of your friends on ebay. See details below.

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Win a Top Chef Experience!

The Top Chef Finale is finally here! Who will be season 5's Top Chef? Will it be Hosea? Stefan? Carla? If you are as excited as we are to find out, shout Hoodie Hoo!

After the final dish has been prepared, and the winner has been announced, Rock For Kids knows you will still be hungry for more! That's why we're offering you the chance to move beyond watching Top Chef, and allowing you to experience a Top Chef contestant in action!



Top Chef Season Five contestant Chef Radhika Desai, in conjunction with Between Boutique Café and Lounge where she is a Chef, is offering a truly unique experience to one lucky Rock For Kids supporter!

Radhika will prepare a private dinner for 6 in the winner's home. This package includes wine pairings donated by Between Boutique Café and Lounge's wine distributor who is also a sommelier and will explain the pairings.

Following the dinner, Rad will give the party a dessert cooking lesson, and they can eat the dessert afterwards! She will also leave aprons for all of the guests.

100% of the proceeds go to Rock For Kids, and the winning bid is tax deductible.
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Want a more affordable way to "check out a Top Chef in action", sans large tax-deductible donation? Check out Dine with Dale at Relax Lounge every Thursday, where season 3's runner-up is cooking a weekly $25 3-course meal until his new restaurant, Town and Country, opens later this year. I'll be there next week!

Book recommendation

If you're looking for a light, humorous read about the music industry, I recommend checking out Dan Kennedy's Rock On: An Office Power Ballad . Rock On provides an inside look into working for a major label in the midst of the industry's downward spiral. His overgeneralization of what it means to work in a 9-5 corporate environment gets a little old, but the insight he provides into the general patheticness of major label management is hilarious, and timely.

TicketNation

LiveNation + Ticketmaster = Scary. From the Reader.

Iron and Wine News

Iron and Wine fans, take note: Sam Beam's putting out a double album of rare unreleased/out of print tracks called Around the Well, and he will be going on a 5 city, 10-date "intimate" tour in support. This is great news for those of us that loved his early solo work but have been less enthused by the more produced, full-band sound of late (i.e., me). Chicagoans will have two shows to choose from: the Lakeshore Theater on May 12 and Schubas May 13. The Schubas show will undoubtedly sell out quickly, so get your tickets when they go on sale tomorrow, February 20, at noon.

But wait, there's more! Beginning March 6 fans can go to the Iron and Wine website and vote on what songs he'll play at each show.

UPDATE: Tickets sold out in minutes, and the website seemed to have trouble handling the traffic. I'll be there though!

Sad

Word on the street: Touch and Go Records is shutting down.

Update: Shutting down their distribution arm.

WLUW news

With new WLUW management finally in place, changes are starting to happen at the station (none of which involves programming or volunteers, as I'd always expected). WLUW will be moving into a new and improved downtown studio space this summer at Pearson and Wabash, at Loyola's downtown campus. The tower will remain at the Rogers Park campus, however, so there will be no change to the broadcast area.

Also, check out the website to see what songs are playing now, which can be followed on Twitter (though why anyone would want to be updated with every song playing on WLUW at a time, I'm not sure). A brand-new website will also be put into place in the near future, something that has been on the agenda for quite a long time.

Meanwhile, WLUW turns 30 this year! Except a musical celebration in the next few months.

New-ish Beirut

Very cool under-the-radar Beirut news, courtesy of Gapers Block: Apparently Zach Condon composed the soundtrack for a Mexican film that ultimately was not used. A local Chicago record label, Obey Your Brain, is putting the score out on vinyl, along with a few other unreleased Zach Tracks. You can hear March of the Zapotec next Tuesday, February 17 at a listening party at Sonotheque. Performances by Golden Birthday Magical, Beautiful (ft. Mucca Pazza members) to follow.

Selling clothes is evil, except when its not

So within the span of a week, Pitchfork is up in arms about Liz Phair partnering up with Banana Republic as she further eschews an indie aesthetic she hasn't held herself to for 15 years, while Kim Gordon shilling for Urban Outfitters is virtually excused because Sonic Youth is "now on Matador". Nevermind how Urban Outfitters co-opts indie culture while the ultra-conservative CEO funds his right-wing ideologies (see: political contributions to Rick Santorum). Not to mention the number of times I've heard Cut Copy, TV on the Radio, Junior Boys and countless other Pitchfork favorites blaring in Banana Republic stores. Down with corporate suits, up with ironic PETA shirts!

I get it, Pitchfork thinks Sonic Youth is still making good music and Liz Phair isn't, but you can't pick and choose your sell-out stories, which in these days' indie-mainstream culture should be rendered irrelevant anyway.

Bling blong

CNN takes a look at how in this economy, hip-hop stars may be wearing less "bling". They also use the term "jewels". They ultimately determine that "it's unlikely that bling will go away completely." Thanks, CNN.

Megapreg

Once again, a big thank you to People.com for keeping me up with the latest indie news- surprisingly not about indie rock couples for once!- that a pregnant M.I.A. will be "rapping" at the Grammy's on her due date. I wasn't aware that she was a "rapper", or that her music could even really be called "hip-hop", but cheers for trying, People.com.

Apparently there will be also be a long-awaited(?) Blink-182 reunion post Travis Barker's plane crash. Tune in Sunday!

Bruce on Evilmaster

Last year I mentioned the news that Ticketmaster bought TicketsNow, a "secondary market" ticket broker (i.e., glorified scalper), and was directing traffic for sold out tickets from the Ticketmaster website over to TicketsNow. The amount of conflicts of interest in this set up are too numerous to count. Apparently Bruce Springsteen just realized this as his upcoming tour went on sale and is working with a NJ congressman to investigate. Ticketmaster agreed to stop directing Springsteen fans over to TicketsNow- for his show, at least.

From Gapers Block.

Secretary of the Arts Pt. 2

Last week I posted about a petition being sent around from Quincy Jones to get a Secretary of the Arts in place. NPR has a small piece on what this would entail, with point-counterpoint.

Les Savy Fav

I caught Les Savy Fav this weekend at the Epiphany Church, which as this Radio Free Chicago review points out, Tim Harrington fully embraced. Between the priest collar and the constant church and prayer references, Tim desecrated all that is holy with his constantly gyrating nude belly. As we made our way out of the venue, I saw him race through the crowd only to stop at the door, where I got to shake his hand as he invited me to come back next Sunday at 10.

Flight of the Conchords!

Flight of the Conchords* are coming to the Arie Crown Theater (2301 S. Lakeshore) on April 28. A variety of presales are going on this week, starting this morning at 10am; the official public onsale is Saturday at 10am. I've already secured my seats thanks to the presale; get yours quickly before Saturday at 10:05 as last time they came to Chicago it sold out in minutes! I'm also intrigued by this "Arie Crown Theater"- learn more about the venue here.

*I don't think I really realized "Conchords" was cleverly misspelled until Blogger's new spellcheck feature just told me it was supposed to be spelled "Concords". Call me slow.

Man, Pitchfork is having some ridiculous technical difficulties this week.

Dan the Man

As mentioned previously, Dan Deacon continues to step it up with each subsequent live show, most recently performing in Brooklyn with a full band. Now he's taking that full band on the road, with a stop at the Metro on May 7. This I gotta see.

Burlington Fun

Radio Free Chicago is hosting a DJ night and a record release party this Wednesday. Check it out.

Secretary of the Arts

From the inbox today:

Dear Artist:
Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, The United States has never created such a position. We in the arts need this and the country needs the arts--now more than ever. Please take a moment to sign this important petition and then pass it on to your friends and colleagues.
http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html

Bird

Andrew Bird Month continues as ABCNews gets on board the Bird bus with an interview with Andrew Bird called- yes- "Bird Is the Word".

Return to the Air

After an extended holiday hiatus, I'm back on the radio starting tonight. I've temporarily given up on trying to record the show for podcasting purposes due to rampant technological difficulties, so if you want to listen and aren't typically in a car on Monday nights, I suggest listening online at wluw.org.

Flight

Check it out, an interview with Bret and Jemaine on the AV Club.

Another one bites the dust

Sad, LA's Indie 103 is shutting down and going online, probably to be replaced by hispanic or religious programming.

Will Oldham

Bonnie "Prince" Billy is one of those artists I've been wanting to see forever, yet every time he comes to Chicago (not often), I have a conflict. So it goes again, as he comes to the Vic on March 14th in support of his new album, and I will be out of town. Fate does not want me to see this man, for some reason.

In the meantime, I'll just read this New Yorker profile on him and cry into my hot chocolate.

Songs in the Key of Blago

Whoa- this is awesome. The Red-Eye had a songwriting contest inspired by Rod Blagojevich's claim that he likes to jog because it "keeps love in your heart". They picked their six favorite original songs out of 36 entries, with the top songs posted on the website and the winning entry set to a video montage of Blago running. The winner, "Bla-Go", by the Keith Harrison Band, is a pretty clear standout over the other five if you ask me, though John Garvey's "Blah Blah Blah" also has its moments.

You can see the Keith Harrison Band play the winning song on WGN tomorrow, January 14, during the WGN midday news.

Awdio

I guess there's a new website that broadcasts live music from clubs and concert venues called Awdio. Smart Bar and Sonotheque shows are available live on the site if you're ever at home and in need of some hot beats.

Jeffrey Lewis

So last year I saw this guy Jeffrey Lewis open up for Super Furry Animals and Times New Viking. Only caught a couple minutes, but he did this pretty funny singing + comics routine. Turns out he, like Andrew Bird, has a Measure for Measure blog on the New York Times website. Find out what his 2008 was like in comic form through his most recent posting. Awwww- cheer up Jeffrey, at least you played with some pretty awesome bands all year long!

More Andrew Bird

The Andrew Bird promo push continues with this great article in the New York Times Magazine that looks back at his career and the expectations for him going forward. I got my pre-order for Noble Beast in this morning (along with my pre-order for Animal Collective's new one, which apparently if it had been released a couple weeks earlier would have topped everyone's best of 2008 lists. C'mon guys, it's only five days into the year!).

WSJ

Even the Wall Street Journal has picked up on Bon Iver.

More indie rock love

My indie romance updates via People.com gets a doozy with this announcement that Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard are engaged. People.com failed to tell me that they were ever dating though.

Chicago in DC

Chicago music comes to the Inauguration!

On Monday, January 19th, the Black Cat in Washington DC is hosting a special pre-inaguration bash presented by The Hideout and Interchange, featuring short sets by Andrew Bird, Tortoise, Waco Brothers, Eleventh Dream Day, David "Honeyboy" Edwards with Michael Frank, Ken Vandermark, Jon Langford, Sally Timms, Freakwater, Icy Demons, and Judson Claiborne (basically, the standard Hideout favorites). Tickets are $50, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Future of Music Coalition and the Chicago Public Schools marching bands program. Chicago residents can purchase tickets at the Hideout. So if you're one of the lucky ones to have a DC friend with a couch to crash on for free, this would be a great way to experience Chicago in DC.

Speaking of Andrew Bird, on January 3 you can stream Noble Beast in its entirety at NPR Music. The album comes out January 20.

Best of 2008

Nicole's favorite albums of 2008:

15. Bonnie "Prince" Billy- Lie Down in the Light
14. Why?- Alopecia
13. Neon Neon- Stainless Style
12. Department of Eagles- In Ear Park
11. Dodos- Visiter
10. Fleet Foxes- Fleet Foxes
9. She & Him- Volume One
8. The Acorn- Glory Hope Mountain
7. TV on the Radio- Dear Science
6. Santogold- Santogold
5. The Helio Sequence- Keep Your Eyes Ahead
4. Wolf Parade- At Mount Zoomer
3. M83- Saturdays=Youth
2. Cut Copy- In Ghost Colours
1. Beach House- Devotion

Not sure if my inability to get to 25 was due to a "just ok" year of music or my lack of exposure to a lot of new albums.

Best albums from 2007 I didn't discover until 2008:
Yeasayer- All Hour Cymbals
Bat for Lashes- Fur and Gold
Le Loup- The Throne of The Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly
Low- Drums and Guns
Burial- Untrue

Favorite songs of 2008:
Santogold- "L.E.S. Artistes"
Why?- "Fatalist Palmistry"
Neon Neon- "Raquel"
Helio Sequence- "Keep Your Eyes Ahead"
Hot Chip- "Ready for the Floor"
M83- "Kim and Jessie"
Beach House- "Heart of Chambers"

More year-end fun

TinyMixTapes has its annual year-end extravaganza up today. I was less involved in its production then in previous years, though my list was still thrown into the mix. I'll post my favorites tomorrow.

Andrew Bird @ Hideout, 12/15/08

Last night's Andrew Bird show was a fun, intimate time with everyone's favorite violin-looping, whistling Chicagoan. As Tim Tuten eloquently explained before launching into a diatribe about how everyone at the Hideout would soon be bailing out all the Republican Douchebags in Wrigleyville who made bad investments and brought our economy down, whatever that meant (though his delivery was good, I think the guy has been taking some stand-up comedy lessons in his spare time), the Hideout purposefully didn't oversell the show so we could enjoy our personal space while experiencing excellent sight lines of the men on stage.

Dosh played a short 30-minute set of his ambient electronica+drumming with Mike Lewis on saxophone and bass to warm up the crowd before the main event. Andrew Bird and his touring band (currently Martin Dosh- drums, Jeremy Ylvisaker- guitar, Mike Lewis- clarinet/bass) took the small stage, which was barely able to fit the spinning horn speaker he's been touting around lately. Turns out these two small shows were added in order to get footage for the album's first music video, with secondary opportunities to preview the entire new record and let the band practice the songs live. This aspect of the show proved to be necessary, as there were several times where Andrew needed to stop and restart songs, or a pedal didn't work properly; however, in a setting like this one, the mistakes only made the show feel that much more quaint and intimate, like we were a part of something special and behind-the-scenes that the crowds at the Riviera or Millenium Park would never get to see.

"Fitz and the Dizzyspells," the track warranting the video, was clearly the most poppy, radio-friendly of the record, featuring plenty of hand claps as well as the members of Mucca Pazza roaming the crowd while the audience flailed around; by the second time we ran through the song (yes, we heard it twice in a row for video purposes), I had a feeling it was a song I could easily get sick of, catchy though it was. Much more interesting were "Souverian", a darker song than we're used to from Andrew Bird that had more layers than I thought possible from Bird's looping, and a drum machine-driven song apparently developed when Bird heard a Dosh song he liked and decided to add violin and vocals. This Dosh-inspired song made for an interesting departure that I thought would make for a great collaborative album between the two in the future (Bird noted that "Simple X" was also a Dosh song he added to, interestingly enough).

Towards the end the band gave the audience some familiarity with "Imitosis," "Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left" and "Tables and Chairs." It was interesting hearing these older favorites next to the newly unveiled tracks; Andrew Bird could probably play these in his sleep, and it was interesting seeing the confidence and energy during these songs compared to those that clearly needed more practice. Again, it only added to the intrigue of seeing the beginnings of what these songs will be when they are ready to take them on the road.

Onion's Favs

It's year-end list time! I'll post mine at the end of the week. Here's the Onion's top 30; I think we're looking at another TV on the Radio number 1 sweep (though not on my list).

Bird Show

Man, those Andrew Bird shows took longer to sell out than I thought it would - last time he played the Hideout it sold out in about 20 minutes. I guess that one was better publicized beforehand. I'll be there on Monday, can't wait! If you missed out, he'll be back at the Civic Opera House in April.

Andrew Bird show

If you're quick, head over to ticketweb for tickets to see Andrew Bird and Dosh at the Hideout this Sunday and Monday. The show was just revealed in Andrew Bird's fan newsletter this morning, and tickets went on sale at 10am. Go!

Rod

Radio Free Chicago posts a musical tribute to our great governor Blago, a.k.a. "The Hair."

Common

Common on how Obama as president will change hip-hop, as delivered to CNN.

If you haven't seen it yet, "Prop 8- The Musical" is pretty stellar, and star-studded.

Readers' polls

Tinymixtape's hilarious sendup of a "Readers' Poll", their answer to Pitchfork's "Readers' Poll", where you can select from of surprisingly short list of albums they pick out for you with one lone space for a write-in vote.

Venus

Got nothing to do tomorrow? Check out the latest Venus issue release party:

Dan Deacon

Dan Deacon continues to innovate with his live show, this time by pulling together a 15-member live band (not unsurprisingly comprised of members of his B-More collective, like Ponytail and Videohippos) to preview cuts from his forthcoming album, Bromst. I'll be very intrigued to see how his weirdo-spazzy electronica will translate to actual instruments. Sadly there's only one Brooklyn date down with the full band, but perhaps he'll take it on tour after his album drops in March.

Les Savy Fav returns!

Finally, Les Savy Fav is coming back to Chicago in a form that is not the Pitchfork Music Festival with a stop at the Ephiphany on January 31. What a great venue to see LSF- Tim Harrington will have wide open spaces to run around and truly be a part of the audience. Get your tickets now!

Ikea

It's not often that my regular music websites and my regular interior design websites have the same story:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/news/win-a-date-with-ikea-and-pavement-070464

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/147713-win-a-date-with-ikea-with-a-member-of-pavement

Accolade

Here's an interesting story in the NYTimes about an all-girl Saudi rock band making music even though Saudi code means can't play in public.

TNK 2009

Schubas has some teaser info on the annual Tomorrow Never Knows Festival:

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14 - SUNDAY, JANUARY 18
9 PM // 18+

Schubas' indie-winter-music festival returns. Initial lineup includes...
Bishop Allen // Cursive // Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson // Thunderheist
The Donkeys // Tulsa // Colourmusic // Bear Hands // The Disappears
Pretty Good Dance Moves // The Wonderful World of Bald Eagle // Alla // Vacations

Rock Dives

Gapers Block presents a run down of their favorite Chicago dive-y rock bars.

Chuck on Axl

Chuck Klosterman reviews Chinese Democracy for the A.V. Club. Pop culture overload.

Joanna + HSBC

Indie-music-in-commercials-watch: Joanna Newsom's "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" is in an HSBC commercial. However, nothing about the commercial seems to fit with the melancholiness of the song (one of my favorite Joanna tunes), nor have anything to do with banking. In fact, until Prefix described the plot in this blog post (with video), I didn't even understand what was going on in the commercial, even though I've seen it about 6 times now. Tip of the Hat to Prefix; Wag of the Finger to HSBC's advertising department.

Year-end

Whoa! It's now mid-November and time to start thinking about year-end best of lists. Yikes! In addition to my own list, be sure to check out the annual year-end extravaganza, which will be out on December 17.

P4k Book Fun

What kind of person buys a Pitchfork book?

Not hatin', just wondering . . .

But you can get your fill with the book release party at Sonotheque next Tuesday, or go see the editors read from it at the Lincoln Park Borders tonight (and get it signed by the editors?)

Looks like they are truly going on one mad PR blitz! Kind of makes me want to go just to see what sort of crowd a book signing will attract . . .

Radley

And the PFFR continues to follow the Radley medical story . . .

From the Empty Bottle:
Radley would like to take a moment to thank everyone who donated to his relief fund. There is still work to be done, so come to the Empty Bottle on Sunday, November 16 for the Radley Benefit Dance Party featuring: DJs ALEX VALENTINE, HOLOGRAM TRAV, HUGSEN KISSUS & MILES RAYMER. Tickets are only $3 and all proceeds will be going to the Radley Relief Fund. Did we mention drink specials? How about $3 Bells all night! Come on down, drink, dance and help our dear old friend Radley.

I think at some point Radley needs to give a speech to all his ardent supporters.

Dizzee Politics

Politics and music (and race) continue to intersect with Dizzee Rascal's apparently "controversial" appearance on a BBC news show discussing race and British politics in the wake of Obama's victory.

Yes I can take a break . . .

Well, now that we can all catch our breath, I'm going to take a much-needed break from constantly scouring the internet (and at some point in there, working) to go hang out in Portland, OR for the weekend, land where indie rockers go to retire. That means no show on Monday, but look for a return to music discussion on Tuesday.