Think of the publicists cursing themselves for not crafting this backstory: guy needs an uber-romantic Valentine’s Day present, so he produces a small album for his girlfriend, only for the songs to leak to the general public and the positive reception thereafter leading to the forming of Passion Pit, a feel-good electro-pop quintet outta Cambridge (this is probably also the plot to the next Michael Cera romantic comedy). That album, once intended solely for the ears of lead songwriter Michael Angelakos’ lucky lady, is now available as the six-song EP “Chunk of Change” for the rest of us losers who bought Fannie Mae. Summoning the ghosts of Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello circa 2001, “Chunk of Change” could easily pass as the long-awaited follow-up to “Give Up,” employing pumping loops and jumpy synths to back Angelakos’s poppy, high-pitched melodies. Lines like “Whatever happens to me, I hope that I fall asleep knowing that you’ll always be the story with no ending,” that would fall under the “unnecessarily cheesy” category on any other album, actually work within the perspective of the backstory, and could very well make you think, “geez, man, way to make the rest of us look bad.” (Andy Seifert)
January 27 at Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, (773)525-2508, 9pm. $10-$12.
For “Want” of a Change: A Preview of Rufus Wainwright at Ravinia Park Rufus Wainwright isn’t the first singer-songwriter to reinterpret earlier work through an orchestral lens. And much of Wainwright’s third and fourth albums, “Want One” and “Want Two”—whose twentieth anniversaries are the prompt for this new tour—is fully scored. But when Wainwright hits the Pavilion stage at Ravinia tonight, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be behind him.
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
Can’t-Miss Music Events (Fall Arts Preview 2023) This fall we get new albums and tours from iconic acts like Wilco and Kurt Elling, plus a Corrine Bailey Rae project inspired by Theaster Gates' Stony Island Arts Bank.
