Darkwave Disco With Felix Cartal and LastNightsParty . Darkwave Disco has become the city's top party and here's proof why. Felix Cartal (Moving Units and Britney Remixes) and Last Nights Party (Photographic madness) join the regular Dark Wave gang including Greg Corner, Mark Gertz and Newcity's Top 45 Trancid. Figo and Brad Owen will be in the spot as well. Giveaways and decent beer specials complete the night. Hosted by PaulinChicago. Sono on Saturday.
Animal City: Baby Nation Premiere. Animal City are trying something new with a short film showing before their concert. A mix of early Beatles dry humor and 70s kitsch, the film is a unique way to kick off the night. Also on the bill, Jamie Miller and Nathan Xandar. Tonight at South Union Arts.
Pnuma Trio is the latest in a line of jam bands playing live electronic music. (Think Lotus or STS9.) Orginally from Memphis, the band incorporates touches of southern soul with their house and ambient stylings. Hip-hop and techno artist Eliot Lipp opens with a full band. Tonight at Lakeshore Theater.
Prairie Spies Record Release At Empty Bottle. Hate lawyers? Prairie Spies do. They used to be called the Sharks, until they got an order to change their name... or else. So, now they have a new name, new album and a party at the Empty Bottle to celebrate a new record. Their sound is close to Weezer with a little more power. Labelmates and indie-pop band The Spectacles open tonight.
Kids With Contracts: For better or for worse, Columbia’s student-run record label is actually run by students. A radical new idea: Put the kids in charge. Without old-timers leading them by the hand, they’re free to reimagine the biz. But is it working? We got to meet and mingle with this group at the Columbia College Showcase last night at Reggies. We were invited to network with the students as a part of the industry. It was a great event - free and solid food, free, very cheap beer (Hamms, come on!) and good rock music. (Needers & Givers, rising stars) The students we met that were part of the label certainly had the passion to go with their developing biz chops. Lots of these kids are already deep in the working of music at labels, band managers and the like. The label is a good idea, one that can change with the industry with ease.
Heavenly States, Head of Femur At Schubas. The Heavenly States may play pretty standard indie rock, but the band is world-traveled like no other. Among other international treks, the band was the first American act to play Libya after a 30-year travel ban. Touring behind new album Delayer, their hook-heavy, melodious sound is highly inclusive. Local progressive-popsters Head of Femur and The Poison Control Center open tonight.
Promoter's Bill Not Dead Yet. Daley had Schulter defer action on the bill to buy the time he needs to figure out how he has to rewrite it in order to pass something, if only to save face. It's suggested that a protest a city hall take place. Another call to our readers to step up for Chicago music.
For The Last Time, The CD Is Not Dead. Or is it? Some people -- maybe not the Wired crowd who live in a digital silo -- still want and purchase CDs. Some consumers still want a physical product, and music companies and retailers are still very much in the business of selling physical product. Or do they?
Tenacious Cee: Black and Green practice Kung Fu. Jack Black and Cee-Lo Green are one-uppping the robot film in the name of martial arts bears everywhere. How are they doing it? With a cover of Carl Douglas' 1974 karaoke staple "Kung Fu Fighting," of course.
Some shows you go to and have no idea if the acts will sound decent live, others shows you go to and have little info about any of the acts at all. The later was the case last night at the Chicago Public Radio/Vocalo Talent Show. We knew about Jessicas's performance of course and had heard of the Revelettes, but after that we had no knowledge and did no research on the remaining acts. A talent show of skits, comedians and music sounds like a crap shoot at best and it could have been, but the Vocalo hosts and emcees pulled it off with a talented pool of performers joining them. Out of the 12 acts we'd say 10 brought some pretty strong material to the table. From the funny - Jessica's Relaxation Nation and Andrew Dewitt's standup, to music - 6 year old drummer extradonaire Kanari and rapper Insight, the talent pool was deep and left a memorable impression on the crowd. 
(you can view a select few pix here)
Hot Chip - 2008 Tour Dates. 2 nights at the Metro. 9/28-29.
We love MGMT. So here's some news about them (Conan tonight) as well as a new remix Mp3. Enjoy.
Life Like Fire And Lukedot At Lilly's tonight. Life Like Fire (not to be confused with LoveLikeFire or A Friend Called Fire) play blues infused music similar to Zeppelin or Jon Spencer. Lukedot plays a solid folk rock sound. The dark, murky corners of Lilly's is a perfect place for this kind of show.
WBEZ has a new blog, free Death Cab tickets. Exciting news? Well exciting enough.
Andreas Kapsalis Trio At Uncommon Ground Devon. Tonight. Andreas Kapsalis is an unmatched guitarist. His two hand style is unique in both style and sound. Kapsalis' namesake trio plays jazzy world influenced music that is both deep and experimental, yet accessible. (plus they bought one of my pix) Uncommon Ground requires a $20 minimum purchase of food and drinks so plan accordingly.
Spiritualized preps A&E, sets tour dates. Album out on 27th, Pitchfork kicks off short tour.
Bumpus, The Hue and Kinetix at Kinetic Playground- Cancelled. Sucks for the bands plus we were really excited for this. Called off so Johnny Depp and crew could use it for shooting the Dillenger film. No make up date.
Black Angels and The Warlocks At LSA. Just announced experimental arena styled rock - nice.
John Bell Loses His Illusions. John Bell isn’t only one of the most influential musicians to come out of the second-wave jamband movement, he’s also one of the most intelligent. As Widespread Panic’s lead singer and primary lyricist, Bell has written some of the jam-era’s most endearing anthems.
Frisbie, Tenniscourts and Ultra Sonic Edukators at Double Door tonight. Here's three local bands you'll want to get to know (so you can act all snooty when someone asks you what new music you're into). Frisbie is part prog-rock and part power-pop, making for a very intense sound. Tenniscourts have a new-wavish sound (and make kickass flyers). Ultra Sonic Edukators sound like a member of the 90s alt-Brit scene. Three cool sounds from three rising Chicago bands.
Helio Sequence At Empty Bottle tomorrow. Helio Sequence is one part folk, one part pop and one part electronic all mixed together making a minimalist but powerful sound. Keep Your Eyes Ahead, their 2008 release, was three years in the making after a voice injury to guitarist/singer Bradon Summers. Healed and healthy, the band is rising toward big things. Locals Bronze and Yourself and Air open.
Daniel Knox video "exclusive" for What Have They Done To You Now off his album Disaster. First we'll call it an exclusive because like 80% of the content you get on A/C this isn't going to be found at the Trib's music page or on any Reader or UR Chicago sites either. You'll only find it on A/C. Second, and more creativly important, the video is a product of Brandon Wetherbee and although simple, it captures exactly what Knox is all about. Enjoy the mastery of Knox in video form.
The Faint Launching Label With New Album. Omaha, Neb.-based dance punk quintet the Faint has split with longtime label Saddle Creek and is launching its own imprint, blank.wav. The first release will be the band's fifth album, "Fasciinatiion," due Aug. 5.
A band we tipped you off to a few months ago has an album coming out next week and you can listen to it in full now for free. Take a listen - The Ting Tings : We Started Nothing
Band Line-up for Ribfest on Lincoln announced. Nada Surf, Bon Mots, Treaty of Paris, Illinios and more.
Love Your Links
Chicago Public Radio Talent Show is tonight at Chicago Center for Performing Arts. Presented by Vocalo and Chicago Pubic Radio, this talent show features user uploaded content to the Vocalo site. Tonight the finalists (including Jessica Hardy of A/C) and the Revelettes) perform their pieces live. Listen to Jessica's audio blogs and laugh.
