list.in.to.chicago this week: 09.15.2008

I'm two-thirds of the way through my mini-"Magical Mystery Tour" of UK acts, although I'm sure there are more bands from across the pond who will be here within the next month or two. Looking over the Reader's Early Warnings e-mail, I was once again struck by how many great shows there are in Chicago in the fall.

Pick of the week
I'll keep it in the family this week, with Friends of Coz Helicopters at Subterranean on Wednesday and Frisbie at that same venue on Friday.

list.in.to.COZ
If I don't make it to Vaughan's on Tuesday, I may try to swing by The Globe on Wednesday for their open mike night. No Diver until the end of October, I think.

Recap
I was hoping that the songs from the somewhat lackluster second album from The Fratellis would come across better live on Wednesday night, but for the most part, they did not. The material from the first record was much, much better. Openers The Airborne Toxic Event seemed to be a grittier version of The Annuals, but they didn't really work for me, either, and Electric Touch had a little too much Britpop affectation (tight jeans and skinny ties) and not quite enough authenticity, although the tunes weren't bad, in the same way that Redwalls tunes aren't bad.

Regarding opening acts, I was much more impressed with People In Planes on Saturday, a young Welsh quintet that brought some well-textured rock with impressive vocals, although not-so-impressive lyrics. And Stereophonics had the unenviable task of having to compensate for a bunch of drunken assholes with no concept of personal space who practically surrounded me and flattened me against the sound booth.

The bigger issue I had with the band itself was that I only really know one album's worth of their material, and wasn't really prepared for the more mainstream, meat and potatoes sound on a lot of their stuff. When they played with dynamics and got out of a certain rut with vocal melodies, I thought they were great.

9.15   monday
Patricia Barber Quartet (Green Mill)
Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls (Morseland)
Morseland gets into the Monday night jazz game, giving Patricia Barber's long-running residency some more competition.

9.16   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
I'm going to try to swing by after the Paul Weller show, but I think that starts late, so probably not.

Paul Weller with The Rifles (House of Blues)
Back before I joined Diver, I used to get Paul Weller confused with the guy who played Robocop. Now, I know darn well that he's the former Jam and Style Council frontman who just released 22 Dreams, which is a pretty solid record from what I've been able to listen to.

9.17   wednesday
Helicopters with The Forms, The Pale Gallery (Subterranean)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
With Assassins reportedly hanging it up, Helicopters now remain as one of the more prominent electro-pop bands in the city. And Richard Milne of XRT's Local Anaesthetic reportedly loves their new record.

Oxford Collapse with Love As Laughter, Vacations (Schubas)
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to come up with a punchline to the suddenly-burning question, "how many up-and-coming NYC-based indie rock bands does it take to screw in a light bulb"?

Cut Copy with The Presets, Kordan (Metro)
I'm pretty sure I gave this Australian group a listen when their most recent record came out in the States, but their Wikipedia description as post-punk electropop doesn't ring a bell. If they're who I remember them to be, it was a bit too noisy for my liking.

Low (Epiphany)
So this place is an old church on the near West Side that's part of the emerging empire of venues being booked by the Empty Bottle. A couple shows of note this week, including this one from Minnesota's pioneers of "slowcore".

9.18   thursday
The Plastic People of the Universe with Sonoi, Jeroen Saegeman (Hideout)
The Czech band inspired by the Frank Zappa song are in town for the Hideout Block Party over the weekend, but have their own show before that inside the venue.

Charlie Hunter Trio (Lakeshore Theater)
I'd say he's the most prominent new jazz guitarist of the last decade, but I sorta stopped paying attention to new jazz guitarists about a decade ago, so it's hard to be sure.

9.19   friday
French Kicks with The M's, Pomegranates (Metro)
Seriously, what's with all the indie bands from New York all of a sudden? Last week it was the Walkmen, this week it's Oxford Collapse and the French Kicks. At least this bill has a Chicago indie rock band to balance it out a bit.

Frisbie with Trio In Stereo, David Singer and The Sweet Science (Subterranean)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Of course, in my book, indie rock from New York is no match for power pop from Chicago.

Frank Russell Quartet (Andy's Jazz Club)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Dammit, I was walking by Andy's last Friday and wasn't sure if that was the night Frank was playing, otherwise I would have tried to steer two dozen drunken co-workers in to see him.

Dillinger Four with Scared of Chaka, The Brokedowns, Lynyrds Innards (Bottom Lounge)
Speaking of drunken co-workers, a handful of them were extolling the virtues of this band. Considering the source, I'm guessing a significant punk influence, not to be confused with the Dillinger Escape Plan, which is what I have a habit of doing.

Jenny Lewis with Whispertown2000, Jonathan Wilson (Epiphany)
The Rilo Kiley frontwoman with the other show of note at this new-ish venue.

Skid Row (Joe's)
You know the drill. If you go to this show, and especially if you go to this show and brag about it, I may have to stop talking to you.

9.20   saturday
Hideout Block Party (Hideout)
This wound up being a weird weekend for me last year, so I don't know if I'm going to head down there in an effort to reclaim the event as my own. Saturday's lineup includes the aforementioned Plastic People, along with Neko Case and a couple of acts billed as part of the World Music Festival that's scattered at a bunch of venues this weekend.

Riders On The Storm (House of Blues)
This band features Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger, but if you call them The Doors, John Densmore will personally come kick you in the nuts and then sue you.

9.21   sunday
Hideout Block Party (Hideout)
The second day of the festival features The New Pornographers, along with Ratatat, Rhymefest, Robbie Fulks and Mucca Pazza, scoring a little higher on the "artists I've heard of" scale than Saturday's bill.

A Place To Bury Strangers with Sian Alice Group, Disappears (Empty Bottle)
This was the band that I saw on South Street Seaport in New York a couple of months ago, with the My Bloody Valentine-esque wall of distorted guitars that seemed like it would be better in a space that had walls, so this should do the trick.

Live (House of Blues)
There seems to be a new class of bands from the nineties who have reconciled themselves to touring without releasing any new material, and Live looks like they're mostly in that category, as I've seen more shows from them in the last five years or so than you would expect given that their last two records came out in 2006 and 2003.