list.in.to.chicago this week: 10.02.2006

If you need more evidence of how active the Chicago music scene gets this time of year, just look at all the bands playing on Sunday. That would be great if more companies actually gave you the day off for Columbus Day, but they don't.

Pick of the week
You might be the most cutting edge kid in your class if you go see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah tonight or tomorrow at The Vic. And I think Friday is Matt Hoffer's first big show within the city limits since the ignominious end to his stint on television this summer, although now I feel like I've said that before. It's his first time at Metro, anyway.

list.in.to.COZ
Your presence is requested at Mix (2843 North Halsted, with paid parking right next door if you need it) this Friday night for a full evening of Wingman. Don't be confused when it looks like a small bar with no stage, as you have to go through a door into the back room to reach the band. I still think that bars with that sort of setup should have a camera on the stage that pipes into a TV in the front. The next Diver show is Friday the 13th at Fado.

Recap
So, Professor Fraker brought a keyword and played the TV theme songs from Doogie Howser and Mr. Belvidere. I opted for The Sopranos and hacked my way through Family Guy, although not the full seven-minute version on the "Live in Vegas" CD. Saturday in Lincolnshire had a strong Wingman set and several Diver-related high points, including a stage dive (!), learning a song on stage and Tony letting Avi have a bass solo while he ran backstage to grab us another round of drinks.

Last night's Gigfest seemed like a rousing success, given the number of people trying to split their attention between the bands and the Bears. What little I heard from Papa Jones sounded like fun.

10.02   monday
Kasabian with Mew, One Thousand Pictures (Metro)
I remember not being crazy about Kasabian's last record. The new one is kind of all over the place, which makes it tough to synthesize into thirty words or less on the first listen, but the upside of that is that it doesn't sound derivative at all of various across-the-pond trends.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah with Architecture In Helsinki, Takka Takka (The Vic)
If Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are last year's version of The Arcade Fire in the previous year, then who is this year's CYHSY? TV On The Radio? Or are they too "mainstream" for the uber-indie already?

10.03   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Okay, this week we're going with a Woodstock theme, and that includes all Woodstock festivals, not just the first one. I'm starting to wonder if a theme every week is too much. Maybe every other week. We'll see.

South with Pop Levi (Schubas)
I saw this one called out in the weekly events e-mail from The Onion, and it sounded intriguing. Which is to say, it sounded like a UK band I should have heard of, given comparisons to, well, a bunch of bands that Diver covers, and yet I don't know a thing about them. The new record is intriguing, with what I can only describe as a more "authentically" retro British sound. It's like they drew upon more Stone Roses-era British bands and came out with something more reflective of the entire movement, rather than aping one or two specific artists.

Antigone Rising with Landon Pigg (Martyrs')
You may recall this all-girl band as the one that pre-released its debut record exclusively at Starbucks. I never did see any sort of wrap-ups that indicated how that worked out as a strategy, but when the most memorable thing about a band is that they released their record at Starbucks, you may have a problem.

John Abercrombie Trio (Jazz Showcase)
The jazz guitarist is in town with bassist (okay, I'm assuming he's a bassist) Jared Gold and drummer (in this case, I'm sure he's a drummer) Adam Nussbaum.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah with Architecture In Helsinki, Takka Takka (The Vic)
See Monday's listing. And I haven't been exactly bowled over by what I've heard, despite all the music blog buzz.

10.04   wednesday
Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins with Vietnam, Michael Runion (The Vic)
This record from the Rilo Kiley singer got some critical love when it came out, but if I remember right, it sounded more "rustic" than I might prefer. Neko Case fills that niche for me, and it's not a very big niche, because I still need room for crazy weedly-weedly guitar in whacked-out time signatures stuff.

Tributosaurus (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I really need to stay ahead of the game with these guys, because how could they possibly resist my reading of "Money For Nothing" when tackling Dire Straits? By me not realizing they're taking on the band until its too late, is how.

John Abercrombie Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.

10.05   thursday
Bettie Serveert with Slumber Party, The Capitol Years (Abbey Pub)
I'll admit that I don't know much about this band, but their name pops up in certain circles that have a certain amount of what we in the business like to call "indie cred." Which is to say, they were on Matador records. And could you guess that they're Dutch?

Shiny Toy Guns with Mute Math, Jonezetta (Park West)
I saw these guys at Beat Kitchen a while back, and the memories were pretty distinct. They sounded like Depeche Mode, but that wasn't a bad thing. The lead singer had a fantastic voice, even if he looked vaguely like a secondary character from Stargate SG-1. The female singer just sorta stood around on stage for some songs, which seemed like a waste of a good resource. And while the drummer could have been triggering samples, it seemed more like he was just playing along to sequenced drum tracks, as there were no microphones on the drumkit and the dynamics were all wrong.

The Gufs with Bascom Hill, Northern Room (Double Door)
Whenever I see a band that had a significant following back in the mid-90s, I have to wonder if band members settled down, started families, and then realized they missed playing in bands.

Yo La Tengo with Why? (The Vic)
Three guesses as to what show Jim DeRogatis at the Sun-Times is pimping this week, and the first two don't count.

John Abercrombie Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.

10.06   friday
Wingman (Mix)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Couldn't truck all the way out to Lincolnshire to see us last week? No matter, we're back in the city, and back at Mix on Halsted, for a return engagement. We'd love to see you there. Really.

Matt Hoffer with Blackout, Freakmagnet (Metro)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I didn't see the display ad in the Reader as of this writing, but Metromix has Matt listed as "Rock Star: Supernova contestant Matt Hoffer." Do we have an over/under on how long that tag stays with him?

CSS with Ladytron (Metro)
The mostly-female Brazilian band was one of the off-the-beated path highlights of this summer's Pitchfork Festival, and this time, they'll be easier to see and more comfortable to watch than they were in a small tent on a really hot afternoon.

John Abercrombie Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.

10.07   saturday
Cheer-Accident with Lord Of The Yum-Yum (Empty Bottle)
This is another long-running Chicago band, but they're considered a bit more eccentric, to the point where I've seen them called prog-rock. I'm not sure I agree with that, but I've only seen them once, and can vouch at least for the fact that they're pretty odd. And my first guess is that the Lord of the Yum-Yum might be local gadfly and former member of the spectacular failure that was the band Yum-Yum, Chris Holmes, but I'm not certain.

Al Weber with Stylus, The Brilliants (Wise Fools Pub)
If you don't check the comments on the website, you would have missed that the reason we hadn't heard much from Weber the last time his name popped up was that he was preparing for a CD release. Now, with the record out (as far as I know), I'm guessing we'll see a bit more of him and his band.

Ben Kweller with Sam Roberts Band, The Hymns (Metro)
I get all these precocious kids confused. Kweller was the one who released an EP with his band when he was 13 or 14, and eventually got signed to Island as a solo artist while still a teenager. I could have done that. I just chose not to.

Okkervil River with Elvis Perkins (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
Saw these guys open for somebody in the spring, I think, and the very pastoral sound is engaging in its way, but sorta tough if you haven't gotten enough sleep lately.

The Vulgar Boatmen (Uncommon Ground)
See the comment about The Gufs above, although The Vulgar Boatmen were probably the bigger name back in the early 90s.

John Abercrombie Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.

10.08   sunday
Aqualung with Sanders Bohlke (Double Door)
The thing that frightens me is that there may be a big chunk of this band's fans that don't automatically think of the Jethro Tull song when they see their name.

Scissor Sisters with Small Sins, DJ Sammy Jo (Riviera Theatre)
With all the retro success of Abba, it was only a matter of time before somebody tried to update the sound in a new band, wasn't it? I can't be the only one who immediately associates Scissor Sisters' sound with Abba, right? I guess I could search the blogosphere and get my answer, but if you guys have learned anything through the four-plus years I've been writing this beast, it's that I can be very selectively lazy.

May Or May Not with Ghosty, Curtis Evans (Subterranean)
It can be hard to distinguish who's playing what as you walk down the hall of our rehearsal space, but I think I've heard these guys from time to time, and I think I liked what I heard. How's that for a solid recommendation?

Okkervil River with Elvis Perkins (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
See Saturday's listing.

Good Charlotte with The Pink Spiders, Young Love (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
For my money, this band was exactly what was wrong with the rock scene as of two or three years ago. No talent, but they've got all the tats and the piercings, and the MTV special, and I think even the celebrity girlfriend. I would have hoped they'd have vanished into obscurity by now, but apparently there are more than 1,000 Chicagoans who actually buy into this crap.

John Abercrombie Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.