Radio Free Chicago

Muddy River Film Festival Tonight @ Viaduct Theater

The first Muddy River Film Festival, hosted by the swamp stompin' Howlin Tumbleweeds, takes place tonight at the Viaduct Theater. Look for short films by Danny Plotnick and Lisa Barcy (among others) as well as a live performance by The Canoes. The fest starts at 9 p.m. and it'll cost you $7.

Here We Go Magic tonight at Beat Kitchen

I've always thought Luke Temple should be more famous than he is. While I far prefer his first album Hold a Match for a Gasoline World to 2007's Snowbeast, he's talented, handsome and excellent live. Totally ready for primetime (and by "primetime" I mean like a Ben Lee level of fame or even an Amos Lee level of fame). These days he heads up another Brooklyn-based band, Here We Go Magic, and you can check them out tonight at Beat Kitchen. Did I mention he's excellent live? 'Cause he is. So unless the other band members are narcoleptics or like to yell super-racist non sequiturs in between songs, HWGM is going to be a really good show.
 
Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision

Luke Temple - Make Right With You

[No, that isn't Luke Temple at right, and if you don't know who that is I don't think things are going to work out between us. I'm sorry.]

Check Out the New and Improved RFSL!

Not only does our West Coast sister site have a stylish new look (wow, what a great design...where have I seen that before?), but Joe has rounded up an entirely new crack staff to cover the ever-expanding music scene in Silver Lake, Echo Park and the rest of Los Angeles. Check it all out at: RadioFreeSilverLake.com. 

And while we're hyping up the Radio Free empire, be sure to click over to Bangers & Mash today for another trip back to the magical land of early-90s Britpop with a "Flashback Friday" feature on The Candyskins.

RFC Interview: Tindersticks

While singer Stuart Staples was in town a year or so ago for a solo gig at The Abbey Pub, it's been well over five years since he's toured America as a part of Tindersticks, the beloved cult legends out of the UK famous for their hauntingly beautiful chamber pop anthems. Tonight, undoubtedly making a rare Chicago performance even more memorable, they'll be gracing the stage of the Epiphany Church as a part of an "Empty Bottle presents..." show with Jon Langford and Sally Timms. Unable to resist the opportunity to interview a longtime favorite (and curious what that trademark baritone would sound like over the phone), I caught up with Staples earlier this week to discuss the tour and the current state of the band.

Tindersticks - "Yesterday Tomorrows"

Passion Pit @ Nouveau Casino (Paris) 3/2/09

Every new venue I come across overseas, there's always the expectation that it will be as big as the Metro or Riviera given the names on the bill. So with trepidation I entered the Nouveau Casino for Passion Pit's first show in the city. Given the hype following the Massachusetts electro indie pop group in the States, you'd expect nothing but another big venue. Though, like other recent examples here of Alkaline Trio playing a venue smaller than the Fireside and Hold Steady playing somewhere smaller than the Bottom Lounge, there was the astonishment to see Passion Pit playing a 350-400 person venue on a random Monday night.

Three Men in One Week: Sam Roberts, Dan Auerbach, A.A. Bondy

Last Tuesday Sam Roberts Band played to a sold out crowd at Beat Kitchen. To be honest I was pretty excited about this show as it would be the first time in months (or so it seemed) that I would crawl out of my shell and warm my soul with some rock and roll. When he and his band took the stage I was surprised. The lights flashed and I saw how small he was (being a short person, everyone seems to be taller than you even in theory) as he strummed his guitar along with the opening vocals of the title track off his latest release Love at the End of the World . Sam Roberts played a kinetic set and frequently thanked the audience for their support. One fan showed his support by buying the entire band a round of shots and delivering it to them on stage. He played nearly all the songs of his latest album including "Stripmall Religion" and "Up Sister." The crowd was left wondering if it would be another two years before we see Sam Roberts and his band again.

Click here to view the complete Sam Roberts photo set

Gems from the Pitch Pile -- Conductive Alliance

Fact: I hate instrumental bands.

I blame this on two things, in equal measure: (1) Shuffle (bane of the album and something with me since the PE uniform), and (2) Strattera. "Wait," you may say, skeptical. "You can't mean all instrumental music. Blasphemy!" Oh, but I can-- and I do. Although, in the way of all humans, I can correlate this with a "...mostly."

Conductive Alliance teeter in the happy shade of this "mostly," an elite collective that, if listed, would probably not prove similar to each other at all with the exception that none of them have a human voice. (Who needs vocals when you have a bad ass pump organ?) Conductive Alliance has yet to hit its second birthday but certainly seems to be comfortable in its stride-- each cut of theirs plays like its own universe, reads like its own book. Which is a good analogy for explaining why it is that I, even in my haze of ADHD-riddled prejudice, really like listening to them; their songs never get old, never slow down, never are boring. Between spiraling acoustics, fizzing electronics and the occasional spatter of tom drums, Conductive Alliance manages never to quite repeat themselves, never to drop the impression that they're moving forward. It's what the best symphonies manage to pull, and these are four guys (...with fourteen instruments between them).

The Chicago-ians present me with the perfect example of what Pitch Pile's all about, and why I flip through our inbox every morning with two ears and no plan. Conductive Alliance and its quartet of members are a band I would simply never hear otherwise, and I'd never know to regret it.

Conductive Alliance are on iTunes and Amazon. They're also playing Ronny's on the 12th (this Thursday) and the Tonic Room the 17th (next Tuesday).

Conductive Alliance - "Detrimental Effects" 

Conductive Alliance - "Silver"

New VACATIONS album and record release show @ Empty Bottle

VACATIONS, a new band with Bobby Burg, Jeremy Bolen and Greg Sharp from Chin Up Chin Up, has just released a new album called "I WAS BIKINI / BUT RAIN AFRAID" on Chicago's Record Label, a subsidiary of Flameshovel Records. This is a fun, sunny new project that aims to touch upon the feelings of friendship, youth and, you know, vacationing. Look for their record release show in early April.

The deets:

VACATIONS RECORD RELEASE SHOW @
THE EMPTY BOTTLE 
MONDAY APRIL 6, 2009.  
FREE SHOW 21+ 9:30

Chiditarod 2009

Chicagoans are crazy and, by "crazy", I mean awesome! Instead of having a regular canned food drive, we have to make it a party like Halloween in the daytime with a grand old costumed shopping cart race. Of course, we aren't the only city that has this race.  Portland, Ann Arbor, Vancouver, NYC, San Francisco, Washington DC, and more have their own races but I'd like to think ours was more fun ;)  Participants lined up with their own brand of creatively decorated shopping cart and were released from the beginning station on Ferdinand and Wolcott in groups every fifteen minutes with the accompanying sounds of the marching band, Environmental Encroachment, who at one point even covered Radiohead's "The National Anthem". From the Wizard of Oz to the zombies and the circus freaks, this was my first Chiditarod and I'll likely remember it forever.

Click here for the complete photo set

Mt Eerie w/ Julie Doiron and Fred Squire @ Av-aerie

In tribute to a great venue going through a bit of Chicago-style zoning politics (ie bullshit). Here is one of my favorite shows that I saw there. This was later (november-ish?) of last year. It was cold out side and the parachute was up so the venue isnt to echoey. We sat on the floor. Everyone was perfectly quiet. Enjoy:

Calm Down It's Monday (Julie on drums/Fred on guitar)

Julie Doiron Solo

Mt Eerie w/Julie and Fred

2009 Lollapalooza headliners announced

So apparently today is "Greg Kot breaks every monstrous Chicago summer music festival lineup" day. OK so it's not really the full lineup, but some of the big guns: Depeche Mode, Beastie Boys, Jane's Addiction yadda yadda.  

Check out the full post here.

New Joan of Arc album to be released June 9th

Perhaps one of the most prolific and genre-bending bands to ever make it out of the 90's, Tim Kinsella's Joan of Arc will be releasing a new album on June 9th. "Flowers", the band's 10th album, was recorded by Graeme Gibson at Clava Studios and is being released through Champaign's Polyvinyl Records.

"I think it's harder for a band to make a tenth record, than it is to make a first record," said Kinsella. "There is more freedom to be daring, but there is also your own standard to live up to and surpass." 

The result: a more structured album than their last release, "Boo Human". "Flowers" is refined, more formal and accessible. Perhaps, it's an illustration of the patience that comes with age and life experience or the benefit of having life-long friends with whom you can collaborate. Either way, expect "Flowers" to be classic Joan of Arc in that it provides a sweetness and an obscure sense of the obvious...a combination of love, life and laughter with just a touch of malarky.

Pitchfork Music Festival announced

UPDATE: Greg Kot broke the news late yesterday/early this morning that The Jesus Lizard will be reuniting to play the festival. 

The Jesus Lizard will be part of an opening-night festival lineup that also includes Built to Spill, Tortoise and Yo La Tengo. Each of the bands will play a set handpicked by fans. Anyone who buys a ticket starting March 13 will receive an email providing a link to a web page where they can vote on which songs they’d like to hear each band perform. Voting will end June 12.

UPDATE#2: But wait, there's more! Fresh off the newswire we've also got confirms for:

Saturday
The National
Pharoahe Monch
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Sunday
Grizzly Bear
The Walkmen
Vivian Girls

New Azita record on Drag City

Azita (Chicago's Azita Youssefi), you might know her from Scissor Girls or Bride of No No, has just released a third album called How Will You? on Drag City. Azita's prolific solo career has outlived both of her bands. A spin of this new record is a clear indication why: Azita has found her stride, voice and continues to make progress with How Will You? Her vocals are strong with a rasp and a slight warble, melding well with a piano that is somewhat 60's somewhat 90's and instantly heart-wrenching. Check out this video of Azita covering "Don't Let it Bring you Down".

AZITA 12/08/2009 Don't Let it Bring You Down (N. Young cover)
 

Gems from the Pitch Pile-- The Lovetones

Nothing says Thursday like a lovin' spoonful of psychedelic prism pop. 

And "prism pop"-- nonexistent review-ism though it may be-- is a pretty sweet way to identify Dimensions, The Lovetones' fourth studio album. Founder and frontman Matthew J Tow (of Brian Jonestown Massacre fame) is clearly drawing on the pop masters of the sixties something powerful, but woven through are countless influences from every decade under the sun: driving guitar riffs, octave-jumping vocal harmonies, rich 5-minute trips that swell and burst with sixties groove but hinge on hooks and melodies that get stuck in the head like a mother and do not leave until you hear the Law and Order theme song four days later. Dimensions smacks of a jigsaw, of a stew, of a prism with every shade distinct, beautiful, full of light, and trippy when stared at against a white wall.

Dimensions officially hit virtual stores last week -- check it out at Amazon or iTunes.

The Lovetones -- "Journeyman"