list.in.to.chicago this week: 03.23.2009

I have to say, the rumors I'm hearing about Lollapalooza make me think I might sit this one out. The retro acts (and The Killers) don't have much appeal, I've seen all the Tool shows I need to, and I've already seen Kings of Leon in an outdoor environment that was much more pleasant than this one will be. The afternoon acts are going to have to be really strong.

Pick of the week
The sleeper pick this week has got to be Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze downstairs at the House of Blues Back Porch on Thursday. Bob Mould on Sunday at the Old Town School should be a good one, too.

list.in.to.COZ
I'm starting to get freaked out by the lack of gigs on the calendar right now, so come out to Vaughan's on Tuesday and help me get over it with, say, Guinness.

Recap
We got to House of Blues too late for Dub Trio on Monday night, but saw The Aggrolites and their "dirty reggae," which was good, I guess, but like most reggae, it got a bit redundant after a while. And they had a certain East Coast affect about them that seemed inauthentic, like they were trying to be street toughs from Boston or New York instead of being from L.A. As for Flogging Molly, it was as hyperkinetic and fun as expected, and I'm really glad we weren't anywhere near what appeared to be the University of Wyoming's starting offensive line when they decided to join the mosh pit.

3.23   monday
Rachel Yamagata with Cory Chisel (Park West)
Anything I told you about this show would basically be a rehash of Jim DeRogatis' preview from a week and a half ago.

Ratatat with Despot, Think About Life (Metro)
While they're a pretty interesting instrumental electronica band, I'm not sure how that will hold up over an entire set. Also, you can type their name using only your left hand, assuming you don't capitalize.

3.24   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
It has become my sacred quest to come up with an acoustic arrangement of "Mr. Roboto" from Styx, but I don't know if I have enough time to have it prepared for this week at Vaughan's. Something to look forward to, though. Or not.

Your Little Ponies with Division and Honore, Third Day Rising, Ryan Powers, Poor Man's Wedding Band (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Haven't seen these guys on a bill in quite some time. I don't know if they've been writing, or if they'll be relying on their back catalog of songs about nunchuks, water pipes and the letter "R".

Clem Snide with The Heligoats (Schubas)
The principal singer/songwriter/guitarist in this alt-country band is named Eef Barzelay. I have nothing else to say, other than "Eef Barzelay," many times and out loud, because it's fun. Try it.

3.25   wednesday
AC Newman with Broken West (Logan Square Auditorium)
For whatever reason, I always seem to like The New Pornographers better as a group than any of their individual component parts. That goes for Neko Case, and also for frontman AC Newman. The new record isn't bad, but it doesn't hit me the same way.

Muchacha with Ready The Destroyer, Anxiety High, Ready...Break! (Double Door)   FRIENDS OF COZ?
I don't remember if the Chicago hard rock band morphed into Matador Down because of a conflict with another band named Muchacha, so I don't know if this is the same local trio from many years back.

Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves with East of Edens Express (House of Blues Back Porch)
They're a well-scrubbed bunch of kids playing retro R&B soul, and will probably stand up a bit better on their own than they did last year at Lollapalooza when they had to compete with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, who just did it a lot better.

3.26   thursday
NYCO with The Cells, Kickbrush, Van Ghost (Bottom Lounge)
A couple of local pop bands that I haven't seen in quite some time, with NYCO coming from a jazzier place (a la Steely Dan) and The Cells in more of a classic midwestern power pop vein.

Glenn Tilbrook with The Spring Standards (House of Blues Back Porch)
Speaking of pop, it's half of the songwriting team from Squeeze in a pretty intimate room, as long as you can put up with the Katy Perry fans in the building for the show upstairs.

Karl Denson's Tiny Universe (Double Door)
The Wicker Park club seems to be Denson's home away from home for his acid jazz group, which seems slightly odd when you consider that the acoustics and the sound system don't seem particularly conducive to that sort of music. To my ears, anyway.

Katy Perry with The Daylights (House of Blues)   SOLD OUT!
If I were either thorough or a total masochist, I'd look through articles kvetching about the relative provocativeness of "I Kissed A Girl" and see how many of them actually figured out that Jill Sobule released a song of the same name a full fifteen years ago or so, and while it raised a bit of a stir itself, it wasn't the end of the world. My point being that we have a sort of cultural amnesia that gets more and more pervasive every day, and it's frustrating to watch.

3.27   friday
Sybris with Anathallo, Cains and Abels (Bottom Lounge)
One of Chicago's current buzz bands gets right back into the swing of things after visiting South By Southwest in Austin.

Ozomatli with Parker House and Theory (House of Blues)
I felt like the bloom came off the rose with these guys once I finally got around to seeing them again in the last year or so, but that might have been because the Abbey Pub wasn't conducive to their multi-culti, horn-fueled sound, or maybe that on a smaller stage, their hyperactive trombone player just looked kind of silly. Which is sort of the same thing.

Idris Muhammad Organ Trio (Green Mill)
There used to be a jazz club on Kinzie Street, somewhere around Dearborn, back when I was in college, and I think that's the one place I saw drummer Muhammad, probably backing up Ahmad Jamal sometime around 1991. Although, for some reason, I feel like it may have been Keith Jarrett.

3.28   saturday
The Regal Standard with Pronto (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I still haven't seen the band since Jason Narducy joined them, so I'm going to try to make this show, in which they open for a band that features a guy from Wilco that isn't Jeff Tweedy, Nels Cline or Glen Kotche.

Bloc Party with Longwave (Aragon Ballroom)
I've seen the band live twice now, and the pre-Radiohead performance last year at Lollapalooza redeemed them a bit from the first show at the Congress, which is where I was having a serious problem with the drummer's tendency to speed up. He seems to have gotten better about it, and I think the lead guitarist stood out for me last time with his textures and effects.

Hey Champ with Tigercity (Double Door)
Having seen them back in January, I still think We Are Scientists do this particular style of slightly tongue-in-cheek retro new wave a lot better. Which isn't to say Hey Champ isn't good at it, just not as good.

Idris Muhammad Organ Trio (Green Mill)
See Friday's listing.

3.29   sunday
Bob Mould (Old Town School of Folk Music)
A solo acoustic show from the former Husker Du and Sugar frontman. He does a lot of these in Chicago, and his acoustic guitar style is forceful enough that you can almost imagine a he's playing electric with bass and drums behind him.