“Saki is not just your typical record store,” says manager Adam Hirzel. “This place is built to host bands and artists.” At most in-stores, band and equipment are crushed into a corner while audience members vie for space between rows of records, but Saki has a stage and pushes its magazine shelves aside to make room for fans. Last weekend, Saki took advantage of these resources to celebrate its first year, with beers, bands and birthday cake. The two-day event attracted both long-time supporters of the store, chatting with bandmembers and employees, as well as new customers, wandering the aisles and wondering why they had never ventured this far west on Fullerton. Outside, people smoked cigarettes and petted dogs. Inside, locals Tiger Bones, sweaty and serious, played dark psychedelic-tinged garage rock as a child danced around. Read the rest of this entry »

Alexandra Petersamer

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Mahler composed “Das Lied von der Erde” after his mammoth Eighth Symphony and subtitled it “Eine Symphonie,” but given that Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner had all died after writing a Ninth Symphony, he superstitiously refused to place that ominous number on the work and felt that he had somehow cheated fate as a result. Ironically, Mahler would go on to write a Ninth and even an un-orchestrated Tenth Symphony, which he would not live to complete.

To these ears, “Das Lied” has always been more of an orchestral song cycle than a symphony, consisting as it does of six songs based on medieval Chinese poetry loosely translated into German from French and liberally paraphrased and sometimes expanded upon by Mahler himself.

As such, its maximum impact is largely dependent upon the artistry of the two vocal soloists—tenor and alto are specified, although baritone is given as an alternative for alto—not only in terms of singing ability and sheer power to cut through a full orchestra when needed, but each must have a wide arsenal of vocal timbres and dynamics that appropriately approximate the range of moods expressed in the songs themselves; like all great lieder artists, each needs to be a master storyteller. Read the rest of this entry »

Band dynamics are tough to lock down. When musicians find others that click, they tend to stick together. Leave it to Ten-Speed, a trio of dedicated artists playing experimental rock with folk tendencies, to be spokesmen for this ideal.

The band, a duo in 2006, featured Nick Alvarez on drums and Isaac Pierce on vocals and guitar; their bass player was a gutted Lowry organ’s pedals rewired by Pierce. “At best it felt so immediate and flexible,” says Pierce. “I think it sounded like it was about to fall apart,” he jokes. This unlikely bassist lasted them more than a hundred gigs. Then while recording their 2008 album “Firewater Pinhole Camera,” the recording engineer Mike Thompson offered to sit in and fill the missing piece in their rhythm section. Thompson’s presence provided a less-chaotic energy, a hard feat joining Ten-Speed’s unspoken and unconventional timing. “That concept of ‘beautiful accidents’ is something we later tried to really focus on in a more structured, repeatable way as a three-piece,” says Thompson. It appeared to work. “We’re so happy to nail these solid songs as a trio,” says Alvarez. Read the rest of this entry »

From 1972’s “The Fast One” through J.D. Souther’s re-recording of “Silver Blue” for this year’s low-key “A Natural History,” the singer/songwriter’s vision of country, rock and folk’s intersection hasn’t been daring. But it has been sturdy and enduring, which accounts for a handful of artists from other genres adapting his compositions. Starting out as a jazzbo, toting around a sax as much as drumsticks, Souther found himself in the middle of SoCal’s embrace of countrified sounds during the late sixties and into the early seventies. Never as raucous as the Flying Burrito Brothers or as psychedelic as the Byrds, Souther’s talents afforded him interaction with all those folks while sharing an apartment with soon-to-be Eagles’ frontman Glenn Frey. Souther, in fact, would be responsible for some of that band’s biggest hits. Read the rest of this entry »

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This fully integrated South African band caught their first big break during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when they shared the spotlight with Colombian singer Shakira on the multilingual “Waka Waka,” the official anthem for that event. Since then, global fans have gotten small glimpses of their music via their collaborations with Les Nubians and their first record to get full release in the US, “Radio Africa.”

The band’s songs have a catchy pop vibe and a sense of humor. For instance, “Pot Belly” talks about how time passes and couples age, “fat thighs, flabby arms and a pot belly still gives good loving”—something almost unheard of in body-image-obsessed  American pop music. “Doo Be Doo” looks at an utopian time when people in the planet will finally be able to get along—a reflection on the changes in their own country, where Apartheid still ruled just a few decades ago.

Lead singer Zolani Mahola embodies the band’s attitude well. With almost a teenage-sounding voice, she has great confidence and a great stage presence—this can be seen on the “Waka Waka” video, when she almost steals the song from Shakira near the end. (Ernest Barteldes)

June 30 at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, North Michigan and East Randolph, 6:30pm. Free.

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There’s almost no use in attempting to define the music Jaga Jazzist, a Norwegian uber-combo consisting of something like nine members, depending on when you catch the band live, works up. Beginning in 1996 with “Jævla Jazzist Grete Stitz,” the ensemble made clear that anything from jazz to rock, European folk musics and electronica were on the table. At times, as with “Serafin,” Jaga Jazzist could be compared to Soft Machine during its more sedate moments. Jumping ahead a few years to 2001’s “A Livingroom Hush,” the band sounds like the actualization of Kieran Hebden’s jazzy dreams. The conflagration of acoustic instrumentation skewed towards a jazz tradition, and a European conception of dance music and electronics works surprisingly well. As Jaga Jazzist headed into record its third work, “The Stix,” all involved minimized the jazz influence and turned towards something like post-rock. Sharing a stage with Tortoise wasn’t a mistake. There was still a jazz flair to it all, simply due to the persistent inclusion of a horn section, but European composition became a focus, densely orchestrated portions of “Aerial Bright Dark Round” standing in stark contrast to earlier, more playful works. 2010 marked the band releasing its newest disc with assistance from Chicagoans John McEntire and Paul Nilssen-Love. With those collaborations, the Norwegians put together another album of surprisingly varied music, coming off as an updated Frank Zappa, who was in reality just trying to update Edgar Varèse. So, does that make Jagga Jazzist modern day avant-gardists of the highest order? Maybe. But even if it doesn’t, the Norwegians might suit those listeners who find Battles enticing, but a bit too aggressive. The band, without setting up any sort of sonic boundaries, though, has a sporting chance at entertaining just about anyone with an open ear. (Dave Cantor)

June 29 at Lincoln Hall, 2424 North Lincoln, (773)525-2508, 9pm. $14. 18+.

Photo: Bassam Jarbawi

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If you ever thought that funk, soul and Arabic music had nothing in common, think again. Better yet, check out the innovative work by this New York-based  multicultural band led by Palestinian pianist and buzuq player Tareq Abboushi, whose influence draws from both the music of his motherland and the sounds of James Brown, Stevie Wonder and jazz-fusion cats like Return to Forever and Marcus Miller, to name a few.

The first reaction to listening to this band is how seamless it sounds. For instance, “Dal’ona” opens with a dexterous bass solo from Dave Phillips that seems to draw from somewhere between Stanley Clarke and the late John Entwistle.  Drummer Hector Morales keeps a steady rock beat, and then the vocals, clarinet and the buzuq come in. All of a sudden it’s like you are transported to a completely different place. “Traveling” goes into a more early seventies funk direction, blending a strong American backbeat with the groove of the Middle Eastern instruments.

Though quite young as a band, Shusmo has received very positive feedback from both audience and critics, and is poised to make its mark in the world music/jazz fusion circuit and maybe even beyond. (Ernest Barteldes)

June 29 at the Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 North Lincoln, (773)728-6000, 8:30pm.

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With all of the attention focused on conductor Carlos Kalmar’s recent Carnegie Hall triumph and his newly expanded role in the Grant Park Music Festival, it may be easy to overlook the significant contribution that Christopher Bell has made to the festival during what is now a decade of directing the Grant Park Chorus.

Bell has transformed what was already a fine chorus into an instrument of remarkable transparency and flexibility which is spectacularly showcased on the just-released Cedille Records release “The Pulitzer Project” where the chorus is heard performing the Pulitzer Prize-winning works William Schuman’s “A Free Song” and Leo Sowerby’s “The Canticle of the Sun” along with Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra. The chorus itself, by itself, will be the centerpiece of a special indoor Harris Theater a cappella concert of contemporary American choral music this week while Taste of Chicago is in full noisy swing outdoors.

The eclectic program includes Wisconsin-born Minnesota composer Abbie Betinis’ 2005 “Toward Sunshine, Toward Freedom: Songs of Smaller Creatures” based on animal poetry of Hans Christian Andersen, Walter de la Mare and Charles Swinburne; Milwaukee-born Glen Ellyn composer Lee Kesselman’s 1976 “Buzzings: Three pieces for Mixed Chorus” inspired by poems of Emily Dickinson; Eric Whitacre’s popular biblical lamentation “When David Heard;” Chicago composer Stacy Garrop’s 2004 “Sonnets of Desire, Longing, and Whimsy” based on poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay; Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1998 “Regina Caeli;” David Del Tredici’s “Acrostic Song” from his 1976 opera and Solti/CSO favorite “Final Alice;” Ned Rorem’s 1986 “Seven Motets for the Church Year,” British-born Paul Crabtree’s 1999 “Five Romantic Miniatures (from The Simpsons): Abe, Lisa, Homer, Marge & Homer” and Whitacre’s 2010 YouTube virtual choir piece, “Sleep.” (Dennis Polkow)

6:30pm-8pm, June 28 & 30, Millennium Park’s Harris Theater, 205 East Randolph, (312)742-7638. Free.

It’s interesting to hear Steve Reidell, one half of the group The Hood Internet, say that “people were over this shit years ago” about his own style of music, mashup. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have a point. The mashup is a concept that isn’t completely foreign: it’s basically taking multiple different songs and making them one. The internet is a facilitator of the genre’s popularity, with thousands of artists easily compiling and distributing mixes online.

The Hood Internet, comprised of Aaron Brink and Reidell, has created six “mixtapes” of its music, available solely on the blog of the same name. “I don’t think that we would have an audience without the internet,” Reidell says. “In 1997 It wouldn’t have hit in the same way.”  Read the rest of this entry »

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“Try to Sleep,” off Low’s 2011 album “C’mon,” is a renovation—not a revolution—of their traditionally gorgeous sound. It still features the mainstays of the slowcore style they helped to found eighteen years ago: minimalist arrangements, lush vocal harmonies and tumbling percussion. But there’s also a new openness, almost a warmth, to the song’s bass and tapping glockenspiel as they pound in over a meandering synth. Throughout their career, Low has eschewed the expected, which is why more straightforward songs like “Try to Sleep” and “$20” are a welcome surprise. After several albums of experimentation, “C’mon,” recorded in a converted Catholic cathedral, was a return to form, featuring a lighter incarnation of their earlier sound. For a band known to turn down their own volume in noisy venues to frustrate listeners, this is good news for fans.

While Glen Hansard’s musical chops may be more visible in the Dublin-based The Frames, his dynamic voice—both an innocent bleat and a roar at times—are more than enough to engross during a solo show. This goes doubly since he emerged from the casual indie folk of his first album with Markéta Irglová into the more soulful, Van Morrison-inspired offerings of their 2009 follow-up “Strict Joy.” Americans might be drawn to him for his past role in “Once,” but his authentic, emotional engagement with music more than overshadows it. (Mike Gillis)

June 27 at Millenium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion, North Michigan & East Randolph. 6:30pm. Free.