By Tom Lynch

The Airborne Toxic Event lead singer Mikel Jollett’s voice sounds bizarrely similar to Eric Bachmann’s creaky, throat-clogged delivery from his Archers of Loaf days. At least on “Wishing Well,” the opening song from the band’s debut 2008 self-titled full-length. In other places Jollett’s voice shape-shifts from an Ian Curtis-like baritone to a eyeliner-donning emo-ite to something of a wad of Julian Casablancas and, eh, Mike Ness. Totally weird, and kind of annoying, yet transfixing in the way it makes you want to hear what comes next. The band’s name of course is a blatant reference to Don DeLillo’s modern classic “White Noise,” which one could see inspiring more frowns than nods of recognition, because not many people like a pack of smarty-pants indie-rockers, but nobody likes a pack of smarty-pants indie-rockers from Los Angeles.

Thing is, while all of the elements combined should be a recipe for cataclysmic disaster—or at least something entirely forgettable—The Airborne Toxic Event has a spark of natural youthfulness and heart-on-sleeve desperation, the kind that only comes with an undeniable fearlessness. Fearless to say what you mean, to sound like your heroes, to lay it all out there and fuck-all if you can’t get into it. Pitchfork was offended by the band’s blunt nature, awarded the record a 1.6 rating and unfairly went for the jugular, essentially branding the group a rip-off act. The Airborne Toxic Event has survived the attack—jangly guitars matched with arcing keyboards and Jollett’s adaptable voice and thinly veiled lyrics comprise the record’s ten well-rounded rock songs. Fast and quick and hard and heavy, the thing is over before you know it. “Sometime Around Midnight,” which starts with a delayed guitar lead pretty enough to be of Explosions in the Sky’s catalogue, was named the alternative song of 2008 by iTunes—the band’s played Letterman and Conan, too—and both of tonight’s sets at Schubas are sold out. Going somewhere, indeed, no doubt helped by the blood-and-guts live shows.

So blood-and-guts are the performances that on the morning Jollett and I are to speak, he’s been forbidden by his doctor, having come down with a case of laryngitis. “It’s the first time we’ve ever had to reschedule shows,” says guitarist Steven Chen. “The doctor seems to think he’ll recover within two days or so. But he can’t talk. He’s like, ‘I’ve never felt this way before.’ We’ve had to alter the sets [recently], so he could sing quietly, lower.”

Thus the band’s back in LA recuperating, a rest you can’t say is undeserved. After touring extensively in 2008 in support of the record—which included a “30 Shows in 30 Days” stint in the UK this past November—and having much of 2009 scheduled away, The Airborne Toxic Event needs a bit of downtime, even if it’s only a few days.

“I feel like, ever since the album came out, we’ve been touring nonstop,” Chen says. “I could look back and see some breaks, but only like a week or two. It’s been crazy. You have to readjust the idea of what it’s like to travel. You’re living on the road, you need to make sure you’re eating well. On nights you spend in your hometown you [want to] stay in as much as you can.” People are like, ‘So, did you enjoy Portland?’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah, it was dark, there was a stage, there was beer, people screaming. It was just like Seattle and San Francisco.’”

Not all of it was so torturous, however. “We did work in some extra time while we were in Paris,” Chen says. “Most of us had never been there, so we just stayed there for the weekend because, I mean, it’s Paris.”

The album’s been settling for a while now, you’d think playing the same songs night after night would make a musician anxious to write and perform new songs. “We definitely are feeling the impulse,” Chen says. “Everyone in the band’s minds are racing—everyone’s working on Garage Band on their computers in the van. We found we have no time to rehearse, but we’ve been working on new stuff. We steal rehearsals at soundchecks. Ideally, we need the downtime [to work on new material], but there’s so much going on, it makes it more difficult. It’s a good problem, you can’t really complain. We’re really grateful. We know these things don’t happen easily. We’re trying to do as much as we can without killing ourselves with laryngitis.”

February 28 at Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, (773)525-2508, at 7pm & 10:30pm.

On the outskirts of DeKalb, there is a 30,000-square-foot warehouse where Jim Cicero of Light Pollution lives by himself. Cicero and Matt Evertt, the band’s drummer, originally leased the warehouse, but Evertt has since moved out and only Cicero remains.

Light Pollution also uses the space to rehearse and record. “There are separated rooms with vents that create amazing natural reverb and other weird stuff,” says Cicero. While he is unsure of the benefit, if any, that living alone in a space so big has had on his personal life, he is confident that it has been positive for the band. “I think it’s done everything good for the band, having everything set up so we can spend as much time on something as we need.”

Light Pollution, a band that formed when Cicero moved to DeKalb to attend Northern Illinois University, started as a folk-rock ensemble, but has moved into a more calculated, more vocal-oriented group, not necessarily experimental or ambient, but according to Cicero, a sound that is in the vein of Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.” “There are a lot of layers and noise behind the songs,” says Cicero. “I think the biggest transition is to come from being used to having this formula and now just being able to do whatever kind of freely.”

In the folk-rock days, the band was outfitted with an accordion and horns, and now, there are still violas and horns and other instruments in addition to the traditional rock line-up of guitars and drums, but the difference is that the band only uses the extra sounds when they feel that they will serve a purpose. “There are songs where if strings don’t fit, we’re not going to put them in there,” says Cicero. “It kind of just depends on the individual song. If we think something fits and we can play it, we’ll do it.”

Light Pollution is one of my favorite local bands lately. Their sound will not stay confined to that warehouse in DeKalb. The songs are well crafted and stay true to the band’s creative integrity while keeping the ability to reach mainstream pop success. Carried by vocals and supplemented by interesting instrumental arrangements, Light Pollution’s sound is extremely enjoyable.

On Friday, Light Pollution will play as a part of the Amplify New Music Series at Schubas, a monthly showcase of new music. But even though they are still first being noticed by some, Light Pollution has been paying dues since 2005 with shows in DeKalb and Chicago and in various cities around the U.S.

The band is currently close to finishing another album, the follow-up to its self-titled, independently released EP. “It’s very, very close to being done, probably another week of tracking,” says Cicero. “After that, we’ll see what happens.” The band has a few short tours in the works as well as some festival dates this spring and summer. (Todd Miller)

February 27 at Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, (773)525-2508, at 10pm. $10.

RECOMMENDED

Swedish songwriter Emil Svanangen—better known as Loney Dear—has crafted five records of lonely, hyper-sensitive, partly electronic bedroom-pop, most recently the Polyvinyl-released “Dear John,” my favorite record of this young year so far. In offering a split of brooding atmospheric pop songs like “Airport Surroundings” and “Under a Silent Sea” and gentle atmospheric pop songs like “I Was Only Going Out” and the gorgeous “Harsh Words,” Svanangen benefits from a voice that takes comfort in its fragility and somehow drives forward with great internal strength. (He’s been touring with Andrew Bird and has reportedly nearly upstaged the violin virtuoso.) The record’s best moment is the gleeful sunshine melody of “Summers,” which features a penetrating hook that’s been racing through my head for what seems like eternity. It’s fantastic work, if a little on the precious side—but anyone who’s ever gotten a “Dear John” letter should be able to look past Svanangen’s delicate nature. (Tom Lynch)

March 1 at Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, (773)525-2508, at 9pm. $10.

The journey that finally brought the members of The Glide to where they are now was one that saw them first as a cover band playing songs by Billy Idol, Devo and Men Without Hats. After high school, and realizing a desire to make original music, the band took some time off and regrouped. Its next incarnation is described by keyboardist James Little as “kind of Interpoly, Arcade Fireish music.” But according to Little, that didn’t seem to be working either. “We had always really wanted to do kind of a dance-electronic thing, but it wasn’t really coming out as dancey or electronic as we really wanted.” Amidst talk of members calling it quits, singer and guitarist Darius Laskas kept at it and he came back with a sound that the band was quickly drawn to, and the songs that Laskas wrote during that four-month period are songs that the band is still playing four years later.

The band’s sound is closer to The Faint than to Arcade Fire these days. The drums are becoming more and more electric with acoustic toms being traded for electronic triggers. But that’s the extent of the computerized help that you will find The Glide using. Other than that, they are still a live band, with two guitars, a bass guitar, keys/synthesizers, cymbals, a snare and a kick. “We use small samples, but none of them are longer then ten seconds long,” says Little. “Everything that happens is at least being triggered by somebody. We try to keep everything as live as possible.”

The Glide often finds itself in different live music environments, being a band that can cross genres easily. One night in December, they were at Bottom Lounge playing with Yourself and the Air, a straightforward rock band. But on other nights, they are on bills that are packed with electronic musicians. Really, all that matters, though, is playing for as many people as they can. “We all collectively agreed that to us the most important thing is getting the music into peoples’ hands and not worrying about getting a dollar amount back on it,” says Little. For this reason, The Glide offers its debut EP, “Ceremony,” for free on the band’s Web site, theglidemusic.com. “Our whole concept has always been to try to get the music to the people as easily as possible without charging them four or five dollars for a couple of songs that they’ve never heard before.” (Todd Miller)

February 26 at Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, (773)281-4444, 9pm. $8.

RECOMMENDED

The singer from famed nineties noise group The Scissor Girls already has a handful of solo records under her belt, all driven by her wide-ranging, inviting voice. From a deep and warm bass the Chicago songstress can reach a pretty, vulnerably brittle falsetto, and she’s always backed by her expressive piano playing. On “How Will You?” her new record on Drag City, Azita enlists the help of Chicago musicians Matt Lux, John Herndon and Emmett Kelly, and it feels like a Chicago record should feel, especially during these harmfully cold months. Not to say it’s all gloom and doom, there are “upbeat” numbers, but with a voice like this it’s hard not to reflect and have another whiskey. Pretty tame stuff compared to the work from earlier in her career, but no less impressive, and, in its own way, just as daring. (Tom Lynch)

March 2 at Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, (773)276-3600. Free.

RECOMMENDED

After years playing and performing straight-ahead and Brazilian jazz, this native Chicagoan (she currently resides in New York) has emerged with “From This Place” (Tilapia Records), an inspirational disc based on the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Backed by a group that includes musicians from her working quartet (Donny McCastlin, saxophones; John Patitucci, bass; Scott Latzky, drums), Witowkski sings and plays music that could easily fit within the format of a mass—including “Kyrie,” “Gloria” and “Sanctus” set to original music. Going in a more sacred direction, however, has not changed her jazz tendencies—tunes like the bluesy “Let My Prayer Rise (Psalm 141)” and “Song of Simenon” would not at all be out of place in a club—all the improvisation characteristic of the genre are present there, and can be fully appreciated by those who don’t plan to set foot in a house of worship anytime soon. The music is rich and enjoyable regardless of one’s religious leanings. (Ernest Barteldes)

February 28 at LaSalle Street Church, 1136 N. LaSalle, (312)573-8821, at 7pm. Free.

RECOMMENDED

Among the young breakout voices to emerge in the national jazz scene of late is this Oregon-born singer and acoustic bass player, who at 23 years of age has already become a professor at her alma mater, Boston’s Berklee College of Music. In addition to that, she has appeared and recorded with the likes of veterans like Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny (who has mentored her career from the start) and many others. On her self-titled major-label debut, Spalding demonstrates that she is an artist in development who keeps an open mind, avoiding the trappings of niche genres. She skillfully takes on a diverse array of styles ranging from samba, Latin, hard-driving jazz and R&B. Such eclecticism probably would not work in less confident hands, but she revels in these multiple directions without sounding pretentious at any given time. Spalding is a talented singer, bassist and tunesmith who is willing to take risks and explore different influences as a tool to explore her creativity. She has undeniable talent that might quickly include her among names like Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller—just wait and see. (Ernest Barteldes)

March 4, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, (773)728-2000, at 9:30pm. $5 suggested donation

RECOMMENDED

Ever wish you could have been there for the world premiere of a work by Beethoven? Well, you still can, and you don’t need a time machine nor an airline ticket to Vienna. A newly discovered Beethoven piano trio will receive its world premiere not in Vienna, nor in Carnegie Hall, nor the Library of Congress, although those venues were all considered and will get performances of the work down the road. But for now, Chicago takes the spotlight as the chosen venue for the world premiere of the Beethoven Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Hess 47 by the “Beethoven Project Trio,” formed for the occasion by local artists pianist George Lepauw, cellist Wendy Warner and violinist Sang Mee Lee. It seems that Lepauw, who resides in Paris and Chicago, was told about the unknown piece by Dominique Prévot, president of the Beethoven Association of France.  Working with New Hess Catalog of Beethoven’s Works editor James F. Green, Lepauw was able to secure the score and permissions and with help from the Chicago consul generals of France and Germany, the newly renovated and intimate 1926 500-seat Murphy Auditorium was chosen as the site for the world premiere. Two other “lost” Beethoven works will receive their North American premieres on this concert—which will also be broadcast live on WFMT 98.7 FM and which will be recorded for later release—along with the “Archduke” Trio, the most famous and familiar of the Beethoven Piano Trios. (Dennis Polkow)

March 1 at Murphy Auditorium, 50 E. Erie, (312)291-0291, 6:30pm. $20-$70.

RECOMMENDED

Best known for his work as a songwriter and guitarist with Norah Jones (he penned several songs for her first two albums, including the Grammy Award-winning “Don’t Know Why”), New York-born Jesse Harris has had a long career as a singer-songwriter in his own right. In the meantime, he has also worked as a producer and touring sideman for the likes of Sasha Dobson, Jonathan Harris and many others. If that weren’t enough to keep him out of mischief, he also wrote the score for the soundtrack of the Ethan Hawke vehicle “The Hottest State.” Harris is currently on tour promoting his upcoming disc, “Watching The Sky” (Mercer Street), a record that is heavily influenced by Brazilian music—an obsession he has lived with for the last few years. “I’ve been listening to Brazilian music since I was a kid—my dad introduced me to the album that Stan Getz did with Jobim and Joao Gilberto [the iconic "Getz/Gilberto," released in 1965] and the records that Herbie Mann did—my dad was attracted to Brazilian jazz-fusion,” he says over the phone from New York. “Later on I discovered Gilberto Gil from friends when I was pretty young and from then here and there I would listen to things but it was really when I went to Brazil in 2002/2003 that I bought a bunch of records and really got into it, and later I discovered early Jorge Ben and Gilberto Gil records, and Gal Costa and everything like that and it really became an addiction—every chance I got I’d buy Brazilian records.” For his Chicago stop in support of Joshua Radin (he also plays in Radin’s band), he keeps things pretty low-key, performing backed solely by his six-string banjo and a percussionist—a format he developed as he hit the road. “I was going to go solo, but the record company said that it would be better to have a percussionist,” he says. “At first I was doing acoustic guitar and percussion, and would play banjo on a few songs, and every time I played banjo I had a lot of fun, and then every time I picked up the guitar I got bummed out, and eventually I started playing only banjo.” (Ernest Barteldes)

March 3 at Park West, 322 W. Armitage, (773)929-1322, 8pm. $18.

RECOMMENDED

The relationship between Pierre Boulez and Elliott Carter goes back over fifty years, when both were already legendary avant-garde composers on opposite sides of the pond. As Boulez began his performing career—largely due to the fact that his music was so demanding that most performers didn’t know what to make of it, let alone how to perform it—Carter’s music was right there being performed alongside of Boulez, particularly during Boulez’ controversial music directorship of the New York Philharmonic. Both had rejected contemporary attempts to continue down well-traveled roads and both made developing their own, unique musical language and sound a top priority. How remarkable that Carter, who turned 100 on December 11 and whose centennial is being celebrated worldwide, and Boulez, who turns 84 on March 26, are both still plugging away and neither has given an inch in terms of their groundbreaking spirit of adventure. Of the various Carter tributes, none is likely to be more significant than this rare performance by Boulez and members of the Chicago Symphony of Carter’s 1976 bicentennial song cycle “A Mirror on Which to Dwell” for soprano (Jo Ellen Miller) and chamber orchestra based on poems of Elizabeth Bishop. Carter’s fascination with Bishop’s poetry about nature, love and isolation was in part due to what he described at the time as “a clear verbal coherence as well as an imaginative use of syllabic sounds that suggest the singing voice” and their “almost always…secondary layer of meaning, sometimes ironic, sometimes passionate, that gives a special ambiance, often contradictory, to what the words say.” The concert also features works by younger protégées of Boulez: Nigerian born Swiss composer Hanspeter Kyburz’s “Réseaux” for flute, oboe, violin, cello, piano and harp and French composer Bruno Mantovani’s “Streets,” the timbres of which are meant to evoke the crowded streets of New York City. (Dennis Polkow)

March 2, Millennium Park’s Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, (312)294-3000, 8pm. $10-$20.