list.in.to.chicago this week: 10.18.2010

ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE: It is very unlikely that there will be a newsletter next week. I'm away on business again, and this time much farther away than recent trips to New York or Boston. But stranger things have happened, so we'll see.

Pick of the week
There are a couple of top-notch choices this weekend, with Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan on Friday at Lincoln Hall and Pelican at Bottom Lounge on Saturday. I will unfortunately be out of town for both, but before you feel sorry for me, know that I'll be going to see Real Madrid play on Saturday night in Spain.

list.in.to.COZ
Just the open mic office hours this week. Diver is back next Saturday at Fado. Possibly in costume.

Recap
I tend to be a really tough critic for anything with a progressive or fusion pedigree, so when I say that I thought Graham Czach missed the mark by just a bit on Friday night at Martyrs', take it with a grain of salt. There were some transcendent instrumental moments, to be sure, but the vocals kept flipping back and forth between unassuming low-register melodies and Jeff Buckley-esque high notes, and something in between might have given the proceedings more staying power. I'm not trying to fall back on the legendary record company trope that "I didn't hear a single," but I would have liked something just a bit more sticky.

There was one great prog nerd moment, though, as Chris Siebold busted out the Alex Lifeson-esque Gibson double-neck on a tune that coincidentally had a tiny bit of the chord progression from "Xanadu" in it. Or maybe not so coincidentally.

10.18   monday
Kris Myers Quartet (Webster Wine Bar)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
The Umphrey's McGee drummer has a pretty potent group for this gig, including John McLean on guitar and Vijay Tellis-Nayak on keys.

10.19   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Pretty soon I'm going to have to break out the Christmas repertoire, which is to say, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." Not yet, though. And I might try to get "Father Christmas" from the Kinks back into shape.

Band of Horses with Besnard Lakes (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
I really liked "Laredo," the single from this band's latest record, but when I listened to the rest of it, I thought it came up lacking. Yes, it's got really great harmonies throughout, but the songs aren't quite there, in terms of form and dynamic range. Also, they all have ironic beards, which I've been told rules them out for serious consideration.

10.20   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
Last week was probably one of the better weeks in a while, in terms of turnout, and hopefully we can build on it this week. You know what would help? You. Plus they've overhauled the menu, so there's that.

Social Distortion with Lucero, Frank Turner (Riviera Theatre)
Seeing as how I never really listened to punk, I get this band confused with Bad Religion a lot. In my defense, both bands got started just before 1980, they're both from California and they were both on the Epitaph label at some point.

10.21   thursday
Dr. Dog with Here We Go Magic (The Vic)
I've said it before, but when I saw this band a few years ago -- at Lollapalooza, which I've also said before -- I coined the term "the hipping point," which is the point at which someone has adopted too many ironic elements in their image to be taken seriously. In this band's case, it was the drummer with his Mario Brothers hat, ironic mustache and sleeveless seventies rock band t-shirt. Also, their guitar tones were absolute shit, although I'm sure they were vintage.

Sevendust with 10 Years, Since October, Anew Revolution (Joe's Bar)
This one's for Kevin, who's married now and has a dog and might not have seen it otherwise. A little too screamo for my tastes, but I will say that I feel like Joe's is either booking more well-known acts, or that maybe they weren't listing on Metromix previously.

10.22   friday
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan with Willy Mason (Lincoln Hall)
There's a weird "six degrees of separation" thing going on here. Greg Dulli, who played with Lanegan in The Gutter Twins, was just here. Belle and Sebastion, Campbell's old band, was also just here. And now these two are here, compelling every music journalist to invoke "Beauty and the Beast."

Bob Mould with Tim Eriksen (Old Town School of Folk Music)
Given the venue, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess this is another acoustic appearance from the former Hüsker Dü frontman. While those shows are nice and all, I'd love to see him in his full electric glory.

Blonde Redhead (The Vic)
Saw this band at the first "destination" Lollapalooza back in 2005, and looking back, I liked their intensely ethereal sound. Although I now get them somewhat conflated with the Kills, who also have a female singer with long, dark hair and played on, I think, the exact same stage at Lolla several years later.

Deerhunter with Real Estate, Casino vs. Japan (Metro)
I was wracking my brain trying to remember if I had seen these guys before, and figured out that it was opening for Spoon back in March. My assessment back then was that they "struck me as a less psychedelic My Morning Jacket, and the tunes didn't have much for me to sink my teeth into." Although to be fair, I seem to hear My Morning Jacket in everybody these days, for reasons I'm not quite sure of.

10.23   saturday
Pelican with The Life and Times, Swan King (Bottom Lounge)
Now that I finally got around to downloading last year's What We All Come To Need, I'm definitely bummed that I won't be here for the former Chicago band's instrumental hard rock. Not quite instrumental metal, a la Isis, but somewhere between them and, say, Explosions In The Sky. Had I made a top ten list last year, they would have been on it.

Green with The Ladies and Gentlemen (Abbey Pub)
You know how, every once in a while, I remark about some old-school Chicago band that no one has heard of in nearly a long, long time? This puts all of those to shame. I remember Green playing at the University of Chicago "Beat Club" circa 1989 in support of their cleverly titled 7" called R.E.M., and that was apparently five years into their recording career already. So this is really, really old-school local music here. Plus, the Ladies and Gentlemen, to boot.

The Script with Hugo (Riviera Theatre)
Another "the" band from across the pond -- in this case, Dublin. I feel like I gave them a listen a while back and thought they were a bit too lightweight. Sorta Fray-like, which is really not somewhere you ever want to be. Of course, you could say that about The Feeling, too, and I cut those guys a lot of slack.

10.24   sunday
Cross Canadian Ragweed with Wade Bowen (Joe's Bar)   SOLD OUT!
This is, apparently, a country rock band from Oklahoma that's been around since the mid-nineties. I had no idea, but apparently it's just me. For what it's worth, they're apparently going on some sort of hiatus after this tour.