list.in.to.chicago this week: 09.13.2010

I'm pretty sure I say this every year about this time, but fall in Chicago tends to be when you realize just how spoiled for choice we are in this town, musically. This week is pretty stacked.

Pick of the week
Where do I even start? On the local band front, it's hard not to get excited about Of1000faces on Thursday night at Bottom Lounge. Plus, I won a pair of tickets from CHIRP radio. Then there's Alice in Chains with Deftones and Mastodon that same night at Charter One Pavilion. Throw in the likes of Dirty Projectors (Friday at Metro) and Justin Townes Earle (Saturday at Lincoln Hall), and you almost can't go wrong.

list.in.to.COZ
In addition to the two open mics this week, Tony and I will be playing this Friday at The Globe. Now that I'm on Foursquare, it's only a matter of time before I'm the "mayor" of that place.

Recap
A friend offered me a ticket to go see Billy Bragg on Friday night out in the suburbs, and he's quite a compelling solo performer, mixing politics, commentary and songs from his catalog and from Woody Guthrie's archive of lyrics over nearly three hours. Good stuff.

9.13   monday
Pavement with No Age (Pritzker Pavilion)
This is one of those bands that, based on my age and my background, I feel like I'm supposed to like. Or at least care about. But, not unlike NPR and possibly Arcade Fire, I just don't really have any deep appreciation for Stephen Malkmus and his band. Hence, the big reunion doesn't matter too much to me, either. Note that this is not one of the free Monday night shows in the park.

Jenny and Johnny with Love as Laughter, Jaill (Lincoln Hall)
Perhaps not the best show if you've got some sort of crush on Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis, as "Johnny" is her boyfriend, Jonathan Rice. Most reviews of the record have gone with the obvious She & Him comparison, and usually point to this effort as having a bit more heft.

Jade Maze Quartet (Jazz Showcase)
Monday nights are typically for local fare at the Showcase, and this week features I name I don't think I've heard in almost twenty years. Now I'm trying to remember if I actually knew her in a previous life, or if she was just playing clubs a lot back in the day.

9.14   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
If you didn't make it out to the Open Jam last week, then you missed...um...wait, I'll remember it. Oh, never mind. What else are you going to do on a Tuesday?

The Maybenauts with Asa Ransom, Perfect Kiss, Violetness (Double Door)
I'm not quite ready to anoint them my favorite new Chicago band just yet, but they've made a strong case the last two times I've seen them. Not entirely sold on the "guitar-playing panda." From the other band names, it looks like a somewhat female-focused bill, despite the fact that I don't know many women who drink Old Style, who are sponsoring the free show.

9.15   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
One the one hand, we probably had our best turnout last week in a while, as far as musicians go. And as far as very colorful shirts go. On the other hand, that's not saying a whole heck of a lot. On yet another hand, Spaten Oktoberfest now on tap!

B1g T1me with Tabitha Ray and the TKOs, Marvin Tate (Martyrs')
The Tom Waits tribute band will be playing his 1976 album Small Change in its entirety.

The Airborne Toxic Event with The Calder Quartet (Park West)   SOLD OUT!
They were here quite a bit in 2009, but I don't recall whether or not this is the band's first visit this year. At least as a headliner -- I think they were in town opening for somebody relatively noteworthy at some point. All of their headlining slots over the last two years have sold out, though, so they must be doing something right.

Penguin Prison with Hey Champ, Pictures of Then (LaSalle Power Co.)
In the continuing chronicles of Chicago's next big thing, I'm not sure what to make of Hey Champ being the undercard on a Wednesday for a band I've never heard of, unless it's one of those things where they're choosing not to be last on a school night.

9.16   thursday
Of1000faces with Blah Blah Blah, The Blind Staggers (Bottom Lounge)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This is the debut performance of a band that's going to make Chicago music scenesters of a certain age salivate. Matt Walker, Scott Tallarida, Jim DiNou, Preston Graves -- and those are just the names I recognize.

Alice In Chains with Deftones, Mastodon (Charter One Pavilion)
I don't actually have an opinion on the post-Layne Staley version of the band, but just the two opening acts along would be a pretty huge rock show. The latest record from Deftones took a little while to get me back into their sonic headspace, but once I did, I liked it a lot.

Garage a Trois with The Hue, Wyllys (Double Door)
This still seems to be drummer Stanton Moore's band first and foremost, which pretty much defines it as having a New Orleans funk pedigree. The easiest reference point then becomes The Meters, although these guys probably take things into more of a jazz-rock fusion direction.

9.17   friday
Tony and Coz from DIVER (The Globe Pub)   SEE COZ LIVE!
So, in setting up this gig, there was some concern that an acoustic act wouldn't rock hard enough for the back room at The Globe on a Friday night. Help us convince people otherwise, mostly by applauding loudly, drinking copious amounts of the aforementioned Spaten Oktoberfest, and taking care of your servers. It's right off the Irving Park Brown Line station, for those of you who have been avoiding Wednesdays because you don't know where The Globe is.

Dirty Projectors with Happy Birthday (Metro)
They impressed me at Lollapalooza, mostly because of the three female vocalists each singing fragments of a larger, wordless vocal part, not unlike how King Crimson guitar parts are sometimes constructed. So, while I still think they come up short of St. Vincent on the overall sound, there's enough cool stuff going on to make it worthwhile.

School of Seven Bells with Active Child (Lincoln Hall)
I'm still tempted but not completely sold on this dreampop band co-founded by former Secret Machines guitarist Ben Curtis.

Dave Matthews Band with Jason Mraz (Wrigley Field)   SOLD OUT!
You would have to imagine that it would be physically impossible for this band to play any closer to such a high concentration of Dave Matthews Band fans without some sort of breach in the rambling violin/saxophone solo containment field.

Electric Six with The Constellations, Javelins (Double Door)
I've never been a fan of artistic self-aggrandizement, so the fact that this band's website byline reads "the official home of Detroit superstars Electric Six" makes me want to point out that I don't think their indie/garage/dance blend hasn't gotten them any bigger than Double Door since they came onto the scene. And I didn't much care for Javelins when I saw them at Lolla.

9.18   saturday
Aimee Mann (Old Town School of Folk Music)
Her work on the soundtrack to Magnolia helped break her identity away from "the singer from 'Til Tuesday with the funky hair." Three sets over two nights in Lincoln Square should be a pretty great setting for the more serious singer/songwriter output she's been generating since about that time.

Justin Townes Earle with Jessica Lea Mayfield (Lincoln Hall)
The son of Steve Earle put out a debut record in the last year or two that was pretty well-received, and that's saying something, given both his dad and his middle namesake, Townes Van Zandt.

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez featuring Ximena Sarinana (Congress Theater)
Solo projects are often where a member of a band gets to stretch out in ways they can't when they're part of that band. Given how much freedom The Mars Volta has to explore pretty much every nook and cranny of their music, I have no idea what Rodriguez-Lopez might do on his own.

Titus Andronicus with Best Coast, Free Energy, Male Bonding (Metro)
Still the reigning champs in the "indie rock bands who have written concept albums about Civil War naval vessels" category, although you figure The Decemberists will challenge them eventually. Reviews of their Pitchfork set were generally pretty good.

The Charlatans UK with Sherlock's Daughter (Double Door)
From the looks of it, these guys have been pretty consistently active since the early 90s, despite losing a band member in a car crash and going through about four different record labels. I don't know how much of that longevity has made it to this side of the Atlantic, so this appearance may be sort of a big deal for Britpop/Madchester aficionados.

Dave Matthews Band with Jason Mraz (Wrigley Field)   SOLD OUT!
See Friday's listing, and add more snark. I've said it before -- I'd like the Dave Matthews Band a lot more if it were the Dave Matthews Trio.

9.19   sunday
Grant Hart with Land of the El Caminos, Sunken Ships (Quenchers)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Yes, that Grant Hart. From Hüsker Dü. Also, I think this may be the second or third Land of the El Caminos show in the last twelve months or so, but as with a lot of these sorts of things, I don't know if that means a return to active duty for the band.

Matt and Kim with the So-So Glos (Metro)
I was stuck listening to this duo as I left Devo's set at Lollapalooza, and was not impressed in the slightest. Over-sized enthusiasm and pandering to the audience only get you so far in my book.

Aimee Mann (Old Town School of Folk Music)
See Saturday's listing.