On the Smith Westerns’ self-titled HoZac 2009 debut, frontman Cullen Omori sighed his way through catchy garage-pop songs about love, and the band won the attention of bloggers and fellow artists alike, quickly becoming known beyond their Chicago home base (all of the band members went to Northside College Prep). After playing with Nobunny and Jay Reatard and then touring as openers for bands like Wavves, Girls and Los Campesinos!, the Smith Westerns began to hold their own as headliners; in an interview with Epilogue Magazine, Cullen recalls selling out a free show back in Chicago as a sign that they were getting somewhere. In their 2011 follow-up, “Dye It Blonde,” they showcased some slower-paced, lush songs along with the upbeat “Weekend” which recalls their earlier songs with its singalong-worthy “ooh”’s and “na-na-na”’s as well as repeating “a girl like you.” The dreamy “All Die Young,” begins slowly, with the line “I wanna grow old before I grow up,” but ends with repeating back and forth of “love is lovely when you are young” and the song’s title—the words are wistful and sad, but the sound is somehow elating. Onstage they can look distracted or indifferent, but the powerful, melodic songs attract attention enough. (Rachel Lazar)
August 4 at Schubas (Lollapalooza Aftershow), 3159 North Southport, (773)525-2508, 9pm. $16. 18+. Sold out.
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.
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.
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.
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