list.in.to.chicago this week: 10.03.2011

Holy crap there's a lot of music this week. Must be October, when everybody tries to play Chicago before it gets too cold.

Pick of the week
There are quite literally too many shows to choose from this week. If pressed, I'd go with the Adrian Belew Power Trio/Stick Men combo on Saturday night at the Old Town School, lack of tickets be damned. St. Vincent should be really good on Wednesday night at Metro, but you're going to have to go to Craigslist for that one, too. Oh, and that pair of Wild Flag shows at the Empty Bottle on Saturday and Sunday should be great.

list.in.to.COZ
Nothing at all this week. I know, we'll get through this together somehow.

Recap
The classic albums on Thursday night were great, with smoking performances of Yes, well-executed Elvis Costello and muscular Deep Purple, with the latter played by the kind of aging heavyset suburbanites that are exactly the type of guys you want ripping through "Smoke on the Water." Excellent stuff.

I caught one song from Marbin on Sunday before the main event of Scott Henderson, Jeff Berlin and Mike Clark, and it was really strong. The headliners were a blast, in part because every couple of songs, they'd start telling jokes, and everyone had to get one in before they'd start the next tune. The songs were a smattering of standards and originals, and the audience was so musician-heavy that Berlin quipped that there must not be any gigs going on anywhere else in Chicago.

In between those, we had a heck of a good time with The Trollops on Saturday night. Cover gigs can be thankless sometimes, but then you'll find a vibe in the songs, the audience, or the band that will make it really enjoyable. If you're lucky, all three. Not that it was transcendent or anything, but certainly one of the fun ones.

10.03   monday
Yuck with Porcelain Raft (Double Door)
I missed their set at Pitchfork because of the Women's World Cup final, but the reviews were mostly lukewarm and almost all of them drew comparisons to Dinosaur Jr but not quite fully-formed.

Jens Lekman with Geoffrey O'Connor (Lincoln Hall)
The Swede and Secretly Canadian recording artist seems to have slowed down his touring just a bit, because I feel like I was writing about him every couple of months there for a while.

Trans Am with Majeure, Arriver (Empty Bottle)
I find it really odd that both Trans Am and Maserati are post-rock bands. It makes me want to convince Tortoise to change their name to Aston Martin, or something like that.

10.04   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'll be in NYC this week, so keep Tony company.

The Head and The Heart with Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, The Devil Whale (Metro)
There are a bunch of newer indie bands that I absolutely can't keep straight. Some are shoegazer, some are new wave, some are from Brooklyn, some are from England. They all seem to have four- or five-word names.

Ladytron with VHS or Beta, Sonoio (The Vic)
I get down on indie dance a lot, but something about Ladytron conveys a bit more credibility than the eight thousand bands that seem to have followed them. It may be that it seems like more straight-up electronica, without pandering to the hipster crowd.

The Drums with Veronica Falls (Subterranean)
The Brooklyn band was tabbed by a bunch of folks (NME, Pitchfork) as being kind of a big deal as of a couple of years ago, so either they didn't follow through, or this is a great chance to see a band in a small venue before they get huge.

The Besnard Lakes with Malajube (Lincoln Hall)
I'll guess that they've got a new record out. I quite liked the old one, which seemed of a piece with this year's Antlers record.

10.05   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Actually, it's sing along with Oakley tonight. Assuming my plane lands on time, I'll be nearby at...

St. Vincent with Cafe Le Bon (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
This one went on sale before Annie Clark's new record came out, and as soon as the reviews started coming in, I knew I had to get tickets fast. I really enjoyed the last time I saw her at this venue, so here's hoping that doesn't wreck my expectations.

Foster The People with Cults, Reptar (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
The one song is admittedly catchy, but I'm still not sold on the whole indie dance craze. Or the rest of the record, which I'm pretty sure I checked out at least once or twice when everyone first start talking about it.

X (Bottom Lounge)   SOLD OUT!
The official kickoff of Riot Fest, with a screening of a documentary about the band, and then the band playing their Los Angeles record.

Mekons with Brokeback (Lincoln Hall)
Jon Langford and his motley crew are doing an acoustic show up in Evanston earlier in the week, so this show may have a bunch of pent-up electric guitar energy.

10.06   thursday
Social Distortion with The Tossers (Congress Theater)
More Riot Fest, and this one seems to hit the sweet spot of the scooter-riding post-punk ethos.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks with Holy Sons (Metro)
I think we're officially at the point where Malkmus has been recording and touring with the Jicks for longer than he did with Pavement.

ALL with The Pavers, Banner Pilot, The Neutron Bombs (Bottom Lounge)
With Chad Price. Riot Fest is apparently running through all the variations of the band over three days, or at least most of the variations.

Cameron McGill with Rachele Eve, Matt Hopper (SPACE, Evanston)
It's local singer/songwriter McGill like you've never seen him before! Which is to say, with a string quartet.

10.07   friday
Imelda May (Park West)
One of my favorite sets from Lollapalooza, Imelda May plays throwback rock and roll, and does it with style and a nearly indecipherable brogue when she talks between songs.

Battles (The Vic)
One of my favorite sets from Pitchfork, and the music you're hearing on the new FIFA12 commercials. After Tyondai Braxton departed, he was replaced on stage by Ian Williams and several video screens of guest vocalists.

Tomorrow The Moon with Rich Xperience, Power of Time, Karlye Lapetina (Abbey Pub)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
They had me at "two-thirds of Phantom Helmsman," before I even knew my friend Jim was in the band, too. Assuming Jim is still in the band, anyway -- he tends to disappear from (and reappear in) bands from time to time.

Helmet with Bitter Wings, Admiral of Black, Electric Hawk (Double Door)
So your options on Friday night include seeing John Stanier playing drums in Battles, or seeing Page Hamilton front Stanier's old band and their jackhammer dropped-tuning riffs.

Esperanza Spalding (Symphony Hall)
The jazz bassist won Best New Artist last year at the Grammys, which caused some confusion among people who think the entire universe of music is only what they listen to. Even the Arcade Fire fans didn't know who she was.

The Naked and Famous with The Chain Gang of 1974, White Arrows (Metro)
Another of those new, largely undifferentiated indie bands I was going on about earlier. I'm pretty sure I saw them at Lollapalooza. And maybe at Metro.

Dick Dale (SPACE, Evanston)
Legendary surf guitarist.

Charlie Hunter Duo with Carla Bozulich (Martyrs')
Slightly less legendary jazz guitarist, but still really good.

Danzig with Samhain, Danzig and Doyle (Congress Theater)
More Riot Fest. It seems like way to much effort to fully understand the love/hate relationship certain music fans have with Glenn Danzig, but I know it's there.

ALL with Down By Law, Chinese Telephones, The Holy Mess (Bottom Lounge)
This time with Scott Reynolds and Dave Smalley. I don't know enough about the band to know which era did what, and I absolutely don't remember which songs I covered in college in a short-lived project that sorta primed the pump for URT.

10.08   saturday
Adrian Belew Power Trio with Stick Men (Old Town School of Folk Music)   SOLD OUT!
With all the King Crimson connections, they're calling this the Two Of A Perfect Trio tour, complete with an "extended" Crimson encore. Which is ironic when you consider that Crimson traditionally didn't do encores, but that was probably a Robert Fripp thing, and he's not here.

Wild Flag with YellowFever (Empty Bottle)
The new "supergroup" featuring two-thirds of Sleater-Kinney, Mary Timony and somebody else have put out a hell of a first album, and debuted at a street festival over the summer to much acclaim. If these two shows aren't sold out yet, they will be by the end of the week, almost certainly.

Descendents with Suicide Machines, Leftover Crack (Congress Theater)
The "ALL" theme of Riot Fest concludes with The Descendents, which is almost ALL, if I remember correctly.

10.09   sunday
The Aristocrats with The Hue (Martyrs')
More Sunday night jazz fusion with Bryan Beller, Marco Minneman and a guitarist I've never heard of who's supposed to be a total badass.

Weezer (Congress Theater)
7 Seconds with Dan Vapid, The Cheats (Bottom Lounge)
Riot Fest winds down. I wouldn't have figured Weezer really have the street cred with this crowd, but then again, I'm not really that in touch with this crowd, seeing as how I only know 7 Seconds for their cover of 99 Luftballoons.

Wild Flag with YellowFever (Empty Bottle)
See Saturday's listing.