list.in.to.chicago this week: 11.08.2010

I'm definitely noticing the listings getting a bit thinner as the weather's getting colder.

Pick of the week
The cream of the crop this week looks like Of1000faces at Bottom Lounge on Friday, which you may recall I compared to Meat Loaf, but in a good way. There was just something very theatrical about their debut show.

list.in.to.COZ
Looks like The Globe on Wednesday is it this week. We'll have a sort of "Fraker & Sons Unplugged" set coming up next Thursday, so watch for that.

Recap
So, Thursday at House of Blues. I didn't really get enough The Phantom Band to pass judgment, although their set-closing instrumental was pretty cool, in a Radiohead-fiddling-with-knobs sort of way. Plants and Animals were all well and good, but sounded much better when one of the two guitarists actually picked up a bass. I have issues with bands that don't have bass guitar. Which also extends to some of the songs from Frightened Rabbit as well. They play with a lot of energy and passion, but it gets frenetic to the point where the songs just don't breathe at all, and then there's something about the harmonic and melodic structure that makes it feel like all tension and no release. The chord progressions are just kinda weird and unsettled, and 75 minutes of that -- coupled with a small group of asshats with no sense of personal space in front of my friend and I -- made the overall experience a bit underwhelming.

11.08   monday
Matt Geraghty Project (Jazz Showcase)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I played with bassist Geraghty for a bit in one of my first Chicago cover bands about ten years ago, maybe more. He's since moved to NYC, where he's apparently playing regularly enough to get to play the Showcase when he's back in town. Sweet.

11.09   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Not having a car doesn't totally preclude me from making it down to Vaughan's, but it creates just enough friction for me to lean towards staying home and trying to get caught up on other things. For now, anyway. At some point, I have to get my Grinch on, or Monica will get mad at me.

Kate Nash with Peggy Sue (Park West)
This show from the British singer/songwriter has been moved from The Vic, which seems odd, because they're not really that different in size. Nash was a part of the reconstituted Lilith Fair tour in the spring and part of the summer.

Gardening, Not Architecture with Cars For Miles, Faggy Pussy, Oceans Over Airplanes (Cafeteria y Restaurante de Pancho)
Madison Square Gardeners with Chameleon World, Black Taxi, Eiffel Tower (Double Door)
I'm noticing a bit of theme. Also, Cafeteria y Restaurante de Pancho has been hosting shows originally booked at Ronny's, which has been shut down by the city. I'm not sure if they're just playing out the string, or if they've booking new shows there.

11.10   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
Last week saw the addition of "Complicated Shadows" from Elvis Costello -- the original, not the newer version from his next-to-last record -- and this week might get a new Arcade Fire song if I have time to work on it. I'd love to hear what you've been working on.

Dawes with Vetiver, Peter Wolf Crier (Lincoln Hall)
I remember liking what I saw of this band at Lollapalooza -- although I'm having a hard time conjuring up what I said about them on Twitter at the time. Regardless, I would be very likely to check them out on their own if I wasn't otherwise engaged.

11.11   thursday
Clinic with The Fresh and Onlys (Lincoln Hall)
The early gimmick of wearing surgical masks and scrubs worked for the indie band out of Liverpool, in that I know who they are. I don't know that I've ever actually heard them, though, so I can't say if their new record that came out last month is, in fact, a "departure from their trademark 'hyped-up sound,'" as it's been described.

Fairmont with The Workhorse Kings, Fight The Quiet, Dan Tedesco and the Long Haul, The Mother Z's (Elbo Room)
Unless something has changed, the brother of a friend of mine is in Fairmont. I think I've not gone to see them often enough that he doesn't tell me about their shows anymore. I'm a bad friend.

11.12   friday
Of1000faces with California Wives, Elephant Stone, The Idle Hands (Bottom Lounge)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Once again, this is the new project from ubiquitous Chicago drummer Matt Walker and pretty much a who's who of a certain era of the local Chicago rock scene. That they're playing their second show within just a couple of months of their debut is encouraging -- given Walker's schedule, I expected this to be maybe a semi-annual thing.

Savvy with Euforquestra, Mas Trueno (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This must be the original band version of, well, This Must Be The Band, the Talking Heads tribute band. No idea what they sound like left to their own devices, and I suspect that my friend in the band will be absent, seeing as how he's also in Of1000faces.

Sirsy with Bullet Called Life, The Blissters (Beat Kitchen)
If I remember correctly, Sirsy is a duo from New England who played at least a couple of shows with Soma Star either when I was still in the band, or shortly after. I remember the songs being pretty good.

11.13   saturday
Robyn with Maruka, Natalia Kills (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
If you were dying to see a female Swedish pop singer generally considered head and shoulders above the kind of female pop singers we get stateside, but weren't able to get tickets, keep an eye on Metro's Twitter feed. They have a tendency to release some tickets on the day of the show.

Chris Botti (Chicago Theatre)
I cut the smooth jazz trumpet player slack on account of having played with Bill Bruford, who has some memorable bits about the experience in his autobiography. And I cannot recommend that autobiography highly enough.

11.14   sunday
Janis Ian with Natalia Zuckerman (Old Town School of Folk Music)
The singer/songwriter was very vocal in the Napster era about how the Internet was transforming the business model in music, to the point where I would have tried to interview her had I followed through on that book I swore I was going to write on the subject. I haven't heard as much from her on the subject recently, but I haven't been paying that close attention.