Maybe Silverchair started out this way. Tame Impala, an Australian three-piece mining psych indulgences and fronted by Kevin Parker, earned a bit of attention for last year’s “Innerspeaker.” The title alone might leave smoky rooms filled with long-haired layabouts contemplating the deeper meaning of human interactions. And while the band’s music references everything stoners desire from a rock troupe, a number of more established acts out there jam pretty similar fare into our collective ears.

For example, from an equally surprising Stockholm, Dungen’s been releasing well-wrought pastoral psych tracks for just about a decade. Relating lyrics in Swedish haven’t disallowed the group from making inroads in the States, though, mostly with gnarly looking door guys and booking agents. Still, listeners would need to rifle through the ensemble’s recordings, working back to 2004’s “Ta Det Lugnt” to find anything listenable. So seeing Tame Impala on the touring circuit’s almost as good, even if the Aussie band is gas-station swill to Dungen’s intelligentsia brew. Picky psych aficionados know the difference, while droves are sure to crowd into two nights worth of performances the Perth trio’s scheduled in town.

Since “Innerspeaker” was released just about a year ago, the recent release of “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?” as a single reeks of obvious capitalism. What’s more, the song’s just another staid love song besotted with leftover paisleys from Lower Haight. If nothing else, the trek from Perth points towards this cohort’s determination to make it in an American way. And since Tame Impala’s gone and figured itself significant enough for a two-night stand in Chicago, it might be setting itself up for a minor-key psych success if Parker’s songwriting can advance beyond passable approximations. (Dave Cantor)

May 3 and 4 at Lincoln Hall, 2424 North Lincoln, (773)525-2508. 9pm. $14. 18+.

RECOMMENDED

Devin the Dude is a specific kind of stoner. The Houston-bred MC chose to open what would become his most lauded disc, 2002’s “Just Tryin’ ta Live,” with a track on which an alien named Zeldar pontificates on reasons for returning to earth in order to score another bag of that sticky green stuff. Devin’s character seems to be a distant relative of Madlib’s Quasimoto. But, if you’re in the rap game, there’s a good chance you enjoy smoking every once in a while. Or whenever you grip the mic.

With his career centered on getting wasted and picking up stray women, listeners might be skeptical about the quality of Devin the Dude’s recorded lineage. Linking up with none other than Scarface and eventually DJ Premier and Dr. Dre should put all involved at ease. Reaching so far into Texas, the aforementioned production stalwarts christened Devin, granting him musical backing befitting the G-Funk era. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

There’s an act—Captured! By Robots—in which a principal player built a few robots to perform musical gestures. Instead of the end result approaching the magnificence of robots playing robotic-sounding rock tunes, it’s just a punk derivation. Battles, a New York City ensemble wheedled down to three members since Tyondai Braxton’s departure, actually sounds like robots composing and enacting those writings. Instead of a cold “2001” feel to the proceedings, the band peppers its mechanical-sounding works with a repetitious smattering of vocals, which in the past were contributed by band members.

While the group’s forthcoming “Gloss Drop” (Warp Records) was recorded with Braxton in tow, he jumped shipped near its completion. Forced to reassess not just the tracks which were laid down, but Battles as a whole, the remaining members opted to rework the songs they’d set to tape and invite a handful of vocalists to fill in any spaces vacated by Braxton’s wide-reaching musicianship. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

Taking the stage name The Mighty Sparrow doesn’t seem necessary if you already go by Slinger Francisco. Due to the Grenada-born singer’s penchant for constant movement, dancing and shaking while performing, his peers offered the nickname as a distillation of the man’s stage presence. That was over fifty years ago, but the Sparrow hasn’t slowed his dissemination of calypso music during that time.

Hitting as many continents on each of his tours as possible, the New York-based crooner has been able to adapt his music over time, taking cues from island stars as much as American jazz singers. What’s remarkable about the Sparrow’s recorded output is that mid-fifties’ recordings sport references to salacious women as much as political awareness and taxation. Releasing “Jean and Dinah,” a song touching on the oldest profession on earth, the Sparrow predated Max Romeo’s “Wet Dream,” a song censored by other island nations, by more than a decade. Read the rest of this entry »

Count Basie Orchestra

RECOMMENDED

The late Count Basie was one of the greatest bandleaders of his time, and his legacy continues as his orchestra—currently led by drummer Dennis Mackrel, the last musician to be personally hired by Basie himself—carries on performing and recording. Over its history, the ensemble has collaborated with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Tony Bennett, who recorded with Basie in the 1950s and renewed his partnership with the group with”A Swingin’ Christmas” in 2008.

Sharing the bill for the evening is the Marcus Roberts Trio, which has made its mark in the music scene since its inception in 1993 when Roberts started making his own records after a long period as a sideman with Wynton Marsalis, who encouraged him to start his own career as a bandleader.

Roberts’ sound is more traditional than most contemporary trios, following in the footsteps of the likes of Oscar Peterson and Nat Cole. However, the group has developed its own sound over the years. The trio, rounded out by bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis, plays from memory with no music on stage (or in the studio), which makes for more free improvisation and spontaneity. (Ernest Barteldes)

April 22 at Symphony Center at Orchestra Hall, 220 South Michigan, (312)294-3000, 8pm. $25-$85.

RECOMMENDED

On his first full release since 2007’s acclaimed collaboration with Anoushka Shankar, “Breathing Under Water” (Manhattan/EMI), drummer, DJ and producer Karsh Kale returns to his roots, presenting a collection of songs that evoke all his influences, which range from modern Indian music to electronica and independent rock.

Take for instance “Mallika Jam,” a tune filled with distorted guitars, tablas and smart lead vocals from Danish singer Anne Rani, who carries the edge of a leader of a garage band that is about to break. The title track is a true tour de force, with long instrumental interludes, Indian vocals and lots of electronic sounds—a recurring theme in Kale’s music.  “Avalanche” begins more like an acoustic track with piano, guitar and percussion, but then evolves into a theme filled with odd-timed beats and psychedelic-like strings.  Another standout is “Peekaboo,” a ballad with dark tones and almost whispered vocals from Monica Dogra—the only track to feature an upright bass.

On “Cinema,” an enigmatic album that took two years to produce, Kale took different approaches in the writing of the songs, often using piano and guitars instead of his more familiar Indian instruments. And the results are quite fascinating, with new discoveries at every turn. (Ernest Barteldes)

Karsh Kale
“Cinema”
(Six Degrees Records)

Illustration: Pamela Wishbow

In a world where you can fit 40,000 songs in the palm of your hand, the CD is becoming a distant memory; the vinyl record, practically a relic. And the record store? Obsolete.

Or so you might think. Record Store Day, a celebration of the glory of an in-person, physical, nitty-gritty music-buying experience, is in its fourth year and bigger than ever. Bands are releasing their music on vinyl again, because people still want to buy it. Kids born in an iPod age are dusting off their parents’ record player or buying a turntable.

“I’ve watched vinyl go away and in the past five years, I’ve watched it come back,” says Joe Bruce, owner of Groovin’ High, Inc. “The comeback has been huge with the under-30 crowd.”

With vinyl, you can play older music originally recorded in an analog format the way it was intended to be heard, on an analog player, catching all of the little nuances of the recording. Digitizing music breaks it down into small, discrete units of information that audiophiles argue aren’t as full-bodied as analog recordings, even if it’s hard to tell the difference with a mid-range speaker setup.

Regardless of what it really sounds like, people crave the tactile experience of buying and playing records. Read the rest of this entry »

Numero Group's garage full of records

Record Store Day 2011 is Saturday, April 16. For record store event locations, refer to the Indie Record Store Guide.

Beverly Records will feature an in-store performance by Waylon Jennings tribute artist Wail ‘n’ Waylon. 20-percent off all used vinyl.

Bucket O Blood will be hosting live performances of folk and punk music.

JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound will play at Cyklopx at1pm. 10 percent off non-RSD new vinyl.

Dave’s Records has an in-store performance by I Was Totally Destroying It at 4pm. Lots of freebies and giveaways. All used singles will be 50-percent off, and all 78s $1.

Dusty Groove America will be celebrating its fifteenth birthday. See story.

Gramaphone will have performers starting at 11am with Kevin Cunningham, DJ Demchuck at noon, Carla Starla at 1pm, DJ Limbs at 2pm, Ron Trent at 3pm, Nathan Larsen and Samone Roberts at 4pm, NewLife at 5pm, Justin Long at 6pm, Zebo at 7:30pm, and Andrew Emil at 8:30pm. Afterparty at Subterranean’s (2011 West North) monthly hip-hop, house and juke party “The Grind” from 9pm to 3am. Read the rest of this entry »

Exene Cervenka/Photo: Maggie St. Thomas

Bloodshot and Big Star join forces one afternoon in April. No, it’s not the plot of a trashy western—although actually, there will be one of those. It’s Chicago-based Bloodshot Records’ Record Store Day label party, at Paul Kahan’s roadhouse-cum-taquería, Big Star. Featuring an acoustic set by Ha Ha Tonka, an eighties-era silent western by punk-rock legend Exene Cervenka and exclusive Bloodshot releases, the afternoon should give fans of the label’s volatile musical brew an event as eclectic as its artists.

Although Bloodshot has sponsored performances at stores around the country for past RSDs, this is the first year that it has thrown a label party just for the day. “We decided to do it primarily because we’d been looking for some kind of event to partner with Big Star,” says marketing chief Pete Klockau. “Their focus on playing vintage country records in the bar coupled with our American-roots-music leanings just seemed like a good fit.” Read the rest of this entry »

Dusty Groove America’s conception was an accident, but that’s not putting a damper on their fifteenth-birthday celebration. “The whole business really came about almost as a mistake,” says owner and “fanatical” record collector Rick Wojcik, who started the store as an online-only outlet in 1996 as a way to sell some of the surplus vinyl he had been collecting from around the country.

While the music industry as a whole tanked, demand at Dusty Groove kept growing, and Wojcik decided to open a physical store by appointment only, eventually opening the store to the public seven days a week. Now they’re celebrating their success with free refreshments, games and prizes. Read the rest of this entry »