Photo: João Wainer

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When Luisa Maita’s debut CD “Lero-Lero” first dropped in the U.S. in 2010, she joined the roster of many talented young Brazilian artists (Bebel Gilberto, Ceu, Seu Jorge—to name a few) to make it into the world music scene. Back then, she did a mini-tour that included small venues in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles that helped solidify her career and generate a buzz about her.

Maita’s sound is a mix of samba, rock and Afro-Brazilian influences. Read the rest of this entry »

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Mark Kozelek doesn’t write folk songs, he weaves them. From his earlier fronting of the slowcore founders the Red House Painters twenty years ago, to his more recent critically acclaimed incarnation as Sun Kil Moon, Kozelek has made a career from quietly building genre-spanning epics and constructing fables from imagistic lyrics. While he’s been compared to Neil Young in the past for his falsetto and psychedelic take on folk, where Kozelek diverges is the sense of place and autobiography he invests into every song. “Environment inspires me,” Kozelek said in an interview with the website Identity Theory. “It’s the background to a lot of my songs.” This sense of environment, of a gradually cultivated atmosphere, permeates many of his tracks. Characters like Katy and Michael reappear from album to album, as if his total work is an extended roman à clef. Nine-minute epics like “Lost Verses” craft grandeur out of what begins simply as Kozelek’s strummed guitar. Nowhere is Kozelek’s penchant for constructing sonic atmospheres more clear than his most recent release, “Admiral Fell Promises,” where he takes the minimalist’s route, honing his songwriting down to ten tracks of him alone with his nylon-string guitar. Some of the grandeur is lost, but the remarkably vibrant details of his lyrics and finger picking shine through. (Michael Gillis)

July 8 at Lincoln Hall, 2424 North Lincoln, 9pm. $20.

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The former child performer (and daughter of late producer and arranger Don Costa) shows on her new EP that she is in constant evolution as a performer. After dabbling in electronic and soul music on her previous efforts, Costa meets halfway by blending all her influences into a very personal musical form. The record opens with the bass-heavy “Head First,” a soul-inflected pop song that sounds ready for remixers and DJs to dabble with. “Never Wanna C U Again” shows her angry-girl side—it’s a female empowerment rocker about not allowing herself another lover’s deceit.

The title track is a bit unimpressive. Costa tries a bit too hard to mix a punk attitude with electronic elements, but the result is at least danceable even if it falls flat musically in comparison with the rest of the material on the disc. On the other hand, the downtempo “Chase the Thrill” has just the right blend of soul and psychedelics without sounding overproduced. The tune shift tempos towards the end, allowing for the instruments to take over and carry on its dreamy state—think of it as a cross between Alanis Morissette and the more trippy sounds of the late sixties in a well-balanced package. (Ernest Barteldes)

Nikka Costa
“Pro Whoa!”
(Go Funk Yourself/Giant Step)
www.nikkacosta.com

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On her second release, singer-songwriter Priscilla Ahn comes up with a selection of acoustic-based songs that are easily reproduced in a live format. Backed by her own guitar and little else, she offers a selection of tunes that reflect on growing up (the album’s theme) and coming of age. For instance, on the catchy, psychedelic “Oo La La,” she narrates the story of how a chance encounter can change your whole life. On “Vibe So Hot,” she is backed by a simple trio (drums, Hofner bass, sparse keyboards and guitar) to sing about the growth of a love affair.

It’s not all about bliss, though. On the soft ballad “City Lights, Pretty Lights,” she cryptically wonders about what lies ahead, while “I Don’t Have Time To Be In Love” ponders what it takes to be in a relationship. The uptempo title track rationalizes about the whole idea of what you should be once adulthood kicks in. She is not jaded like John Lennon was on his cathartic “Working Class Hero,” but the message is clear: you have to do something about it before time passes you by. (Ernest Barteldes)

Priscilla Ahn
“When You Grow Up”
Blue Note

Photo: Benjamin Seroussi

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This Israeli-French singer-songwriter seems not to care much about being pigeonholed in any particular genre.  She veers comfortably between avant-garde rock, folk, Europop and electronica without seeming pretentious at all—at least that is what we get  from her 2007 self-titled debut and “My Name Is Trouble,” the first single from her upcoming follow-up “101″ (Blue Note).

“Trouble” blends elements from dance and cinema noir—the lyrics talk about having ‘blood in my makeup and blood in my hands” without a shred of guilt (listen to the track on her website kerenann.com). The rest of the disc also has some very interesting tracks, such as “White Album”-era Beatles-inspired “Run with You” (impossible not to think of “I’m So Tired” when hearing it) and the syncopated title track.

Ann is an accomplished studio musician who has collaborated with the likes of Barði Jóhannson on “Lady and Bird” and singer-actress Emmanuelle Seigner (the wife of Roman Polanski). She has also worked behind the scenes as a producer, and her songs have been featured on US shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” Let’s hope she sounds as good live as she does on disc. (Ernest Barteldes)

June 13 at Lincoln Hall, 2424 North Lincoln, (773)525-2508, 8pm. $12-$14.

Ari Shine strips roots rock to the bare bones: a man and his guitar. The songs on his new album “Ghost Town Directory” transition to the stage with ease as Shine performs solo. “I always tend to write on an acoustic but this time I knew that I would be doing more shows in that format,” Shine says. “It was in my head that I would be performing them stripped down.” Shine has been relentless bringing his one-man show anywhere he can. “Truthfully, touring and recording are my favorite parts of being a musician.” There are advantages, he says, that come from touring without a backing band.  “I love the without-a-net experience of playing solo. It is really cool to have that type of intimacy with an audience. I like getting things down to a really quiet point and then bringing it back up. ” Read the rest of this entry »

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If your fame’s largely based on brief appearances in that Ben Stiller movie properly pairing cum and hair, it might be a bummer. Compounding fate’s odd sense of humor, if your sidemen go on to perform with the Talking Heads, the Cars and Arthur Russell, your own solo career might also be a bummer. Unless you’re Jonathan Richman.

Wrangling production assistance from the likes of Kim Fowley and John Cale while still attempting to make the Modern Lovers a viable rock band, Richman somehow ingratiated himself to the rock cognoscenti to the extent that innovation no longer mattered at all. His music, in some ways, has regressed since the heady times yielding stunning, if not stilted, compositions like “She’s Cracked” and “I’m Straight,” the latter occasionally functioning as a vehicle for chastising bassist Ernie Brooks for his indulgence in weed.

Moving past the obvious Lou Reed guitar-apprenticeship, Richman’s worked in folksier terms since the mid-seventies, issuing countless long-playing albums and clocking just about no chart success. Remaining something of a cult hero based on his first band’s combination of rock stuffs, art-world placating, and overly personal lyrics, Richman tours regularly, doesn’t give interviews and apart from actually performing seems to shun everything related to having a show-business career. But that’s what the man does. There might not be a more distinctive or singular personality treading similar territory. Surely, he’s aware of the Modern Lovers’ historical cache, which partially allows for such anti-social behaviors. No excuses need be made for a man capable of turning in variegated lines like, “Eat shit and get stoned” or “I go to bakeries all day long/There’s a lack of sweetness in my life.” That’s pop genius. (Dave Cantor)

May 8 at the Hideout, 1354 West Wabansia, (773)227-4433. 8pm. $18.

Photo: Deborah Lopez

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On the tour in support of his new release, “Sunset Over Hope Street” (Mercer Street), singer-songwriter Ari Hest travels light: for every show, he’s accompanied solely by his own acoustic guitar and percussion, which gives him a chance to approach the music in a more organic form than on the record, where he plays with a full back-up.

Hest took some time to finish “Sunset,” an album that is quite different from his previous effort, “52,” in which he wrote, recorded and released a new single a week for an entire year. (The concept of “instant music” isn’t exactly new: John Lennon unsuccessfully attempted to do the same in 1969.) The songs on this record are highly personal, and deal with various topics—including “Business of America,” where he openly denounces the naysayers who see health care for all as a form of socialism. The poignant title track ponders the opportunities we’ve missed over the course of time.

Hest exudes great charm and charisma live. With great guitar technique, he plays using several different tunings (speaking to him after a gig, he mentioned using an open D). His baritone fits the music well—you can’t really pigeonhole him in a single genre, as he gravitates from folk to country rock and pop seamlessly—which makes it for a diverse and very enjoyable show. (Ernest Barteldes)

March 11 at Schubas, 3159 North Southport, (773)525-2508, 7pm and 10:30pm. $15-$18.

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Known for his one-man shows (in which he uses samplers, loops and computer-generated sounds), Keller Williams has taken his music in various directions over his career. In 2010 he released “Thief,” an album with his side project The Keels, that included covers from the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Amy Winehouse and Cracker (among others). In the meantime, he also went into Dan Zanes territory by releasing the aptly titled “Kids,” which contains a collection of original tunes aimed at children under 10. He’s performing in support of the new disc (he will also be doing an adult-themed show later in the evening), with his touring band. Expect a mix of the music from the disc with some of his own tunes re-styled to fit the much younger audience and also the parents who will be escorting them—passing the fan torch to the next generation. (Ernest Barteldes)

February 5 at Park West, 322 West Armitage, (773)929-5959, 3:30pm & 8pm. $15-$23. 18+.

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This Austin-based singer-songwriter does not use metaphors or mince any words with his politically charged lyrics. Songs like “Cheney’s Toy” and “We Can’t Make It Here” point a middle finger directly at the maladies of outsourcing, government corruption and its irreversible consequences with no holds barred.

McMurtry (the son of novelist Larry McMurtry) got his first break in 1989 when a demo made its way to the hands of John Mellencamp, who produced his debut disc. He has been a fixture of sorts in the folk music scene performing regularly in Austin with his band, formerly known as The Heartless Bastards.

He is currently on tour promoting his latest CD/DVD combo “Live in Europe,” a document of his first European tour, where he was backed by longtime band members Ronnie Johnson, Daren Hess and Tim Holt. Also appearing on the disc are keyboardist Ian McLagan and Texas songwriter Jon Dee Graham.

For his Chicago appearances, he will do a solo appearance accompanied solely by his own guitar—something he rarely does these days. (Ernest Barteldes)

January 14, The Montrose Room at the InterContinental Hotel, 5300 North River Road, Rosemont, (847)544-5300, 8:30pm, $24; January 15, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 North Lincoln, (773)728-6000, 7 and 10pm, $18-$22; January 16, Evanston Space, 1245 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, (847)492-8860, 8pm, $20-32.