RECOMMENDED

In three years Disappears has gone from a random assemblage of dudes who once performed with other bands to a group dispensing its own particular mélange of psych and pop run through garage’s sonic lens. Issuing two singles and a pair of full-lengths, the quartet hasn’t been developing at a rapid pace, but it still turns in concise rock songs, sporadically opting for fifteen-minute explorations of just a few notes. Adding in Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley behind the drum kit hasn’t hurt the band. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

There’s no way to extricate Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead’s legacy. He was one of a pair of drummers—the other half was Bill Kreutzmann—making instrumental excess so easy for the ensemble. With Jerry Garcia’s penchant for Americana made evident through countless recordings on albums with folks like mandolin player David Grisman, Hart’s interests outside the Dead focused on roots music of another kind. Exploring a history of percussion reaching back much further than recorded sound, Hart set about not just incorporating those styles into his own work as portions of the 1972 “Rolling Thunder” express, but by performing compositions worked up in association with performers like Zakir Hussain. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

Leaving copies of “Shrinking Moon for You” in San Francisco thrift stores seems like an odd way to garner attention for a newly minted band. Wooden Shjips’ first slab of vinyl ostensibly laid the groundwork for what was to follow during the next five years. But the act, conceived of independent from economic interests, served to tie the Shjips into a Bay Area psych history the band doesn’t lean on as heavily as the press has made out. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

The term motorik gets tossed around with relative abandon in reference to the handful of ensembles that use German psychedelia dating from the mid-sixties through the latter portion of the seventies as a template. For some, the idea’s a succinct way to describe a precise, up-and-down style of drumming used in acts like Can and on the rock-related releases from Kraftwerk. Ralf and Florian aside, Chicago’s Cave can’t escape descriptions of its subtly nuanced percussion style. Issuing “Neverendless,” the title itself a wink and nod to the endless derivations possible on a single theme, isn’t set to distance the Missouri-cum-Chicago group from any expectations. These five songs, the shortest being just this side of four minutes, continue the band’s commitment to spinning out an idea for as long as possible amidst some group improv bolstered by Rex’s drum kit. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

Some of the best and some of the worst music sounds like it was made by artists on a boatload of drugs. Cameron Stallones’ “Sun Araw,” a solo recording endeavor and live road-act, deals in both. Stallones started dishing out albums under the auspices of Sun Araw in 2008. Working on as many Not Not Fun Records-associated acts as humanly possible (Magic Lantern and its high-viscosity recording endeavors deserving of particular distinction), a torrent of releases followed, too many to keep track of unless one falls under the heading of collector-scum.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Church

RECOMMENDED

Though this Aussie band has struggled to find mainstream success in the United States (their second release stateside was rejected by their then-label back in the day), they eventually found the respect they deserved here in the past decade, as they evolved from a new wave sound to more progressive-rock-leaning tendencies.

Recently inducted into Australia’s Aria Hall of Fame, the current lineup (Steve Kilbey, Marty Willson-Piper, Tim Powles and Peter Koppes) will be performing three albums in their entirety, starting off with “Untitled #23″ and then looking back into the nineties with two of their most successful albums in the US, “Priest=Aura” and “Starfish.”

The current tour also marks the re-release of the group’s early albums on the indie label Second Motion Records, which will come fully remastered with bonus tracks and additional sleeve notes and photos for the pleasure of their diehard fans. (Ernest Barteldes)

February 11 at Park West, 322 West Armitage, (773)929-5959, 8pm. $32.

The Chemical Brothers

RECOMMENDED

You’re thinking: What a shock, Chicago’s getting another music festival. And yes, while the novelty of the local music fest may have worn off by now, there’s something to be said about pushing yourself to make time for one more, for the sake of rounding out the summer.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the first-ever North Coast Music Festival is taking over Pitchfork’s usual stomping grounds in Union Park with a surprisingly diverse mix of artists. Which makes sense, since the lineup was put together by the North Coast Music Group (React, Silver Wrapper, Metronome Chicago, etc), a collaboration of independent promoters in the area who stretch across genres.

For a relatively cheap $65, you’ll get pretty impressive headliners (The Chemical Brothers, Moby, Lupe Fiasco and Umphrey’s McGee) and solid sets from Michigan’s best soul singer/rapper Mayer Hawthorne (Sunday), Pretty Lights’ downtempo funk (Friday) and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (Saturday). Read the rest of this entry »

By Tom Lynch

Credit: Stephen Salyer

Local chamber pop group Singing in the Abbey successfully pours minimalist classical piano through an alt-pop filter. The result, moody and at times even gothic, is a soundtrack to shadows in an old castle—Annie Higgins’ deep vocals and piano playing are surrounded by a string section and scattered percussion as the melodies dip and weave. The release of the band’s debut record, “Wake Up, Sardis!” is celebrated this Thursday at Subterranean, a room that, especially with its balcony, seems fit for this sort of haunting. “Thom Yorke and Julie Andrews’ bastard child,” the band describes itself, and if that’s not enough to get your interest piqued I don’t know what is.

“My intention was not to form a band, it mainly was to get these songs layered with strings,” Higgins says of the record, which is nearly four years in the making. “From the beginning the vision was, I guess, I started out wanting to layer the paino with the strings, but as I spend time with the girls, it became about what their individual strengths were. Arrangements-wise, it became less of them trying to support the piano and more [towards] the strings having their own individual identity. Musically, you want to work with that—highlight what they’re doing, instead of focusing them as a support of what you’re doing.” Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

People have traditions, and certainly this local band has theirs, once again heading home for their annual year-end hometown jam during a three-day Chicago residence at The Vic Theatre and The Aragon Ballroom. Though Umphrey’s McGee have much in common with other groups within the jam-band community (ever-changing set lists, open-taping policies), the music they make clearly comes from a somewhat different place—instead of simply being Dead or Phish copycats, they seem to borrow from more progressive sounds, 1960s rock and jazz. An example of this is the inclusion of Vince Guaraldi’s iconic “Linus and Lucy” among the handful of covers included on their sets. Well over a decade into their careers the band has evolved into an accomplished group with incredible musical chops. They never stopped including covers on their setlist—favorites include guitar-heavy version of The Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus” and The Who’s “Baba O’ Riley” with recognizable elements from the original recordings while also showcasing the band’s improvisational skills, which in their case comes in spades. (Ernest Barteldes)

Aragon Ballroom (with Prefuse 73), 1106 West Lawrence, (773)561-9500. $65.

RECOMMENDED

It might seem odd that an Ohio-based jam band would repeatedly be invited to perform in reggae-obsessed Negril, Jamaica. However, upon hearingEkoostic Hookah’s psychedelic improvisational music, one immediately gets it. After all, the sound they make goes perfectly with the inexpensive ganja most visitors, er, sample during visits to the small Caribbean nation that gave us Peter Tosh and Bob Marley—who incidentally both advocated legalizing cannabis in their native land. Formed in 1991 by vocalist/keyboardist Dave Katz, guitarist Steve Sweney, bassist Cliff Starbuck, guitarist/vocalist John Mullins and drummer Eric Lanese (who joined in ’93) after jamming together at open-mic nights, Ekoostic Hookah has become one of the most beloved bands in the national jam-band scene. They set themselves apart from the fray with their carefully arranged three-part harmonies and very open mind when it comes to music: in their sets you get a little bit of everything, ranging from jazz, folk music and lots of experimentation. (Ernest Barteldes)

December 12, Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln, (773)404-9494, at 10pm. $15.