list.in.to.chicago this week: 04.09.2012

I ended up skipping White Rabbits last night, but I saw their name in the latest round of Lollapalooza rumors (Black Sabbath!), so I felt comfortable with that decision. Plus, four shows in eight days would be a lot, even for me.

Pick of the week
Eh, read it to the end and draw your own conclusions this week. Nothing really jumps out at me.

list.in.to.COZ
Regular office hours, and then a brand new Diver bassist on Saturday at Fado!

Recap
Last Tuesday at Metro, The Ting Tings were just as much fun as I remembered. While I can sometimes be put off by bands that use backing tracks or loops, what I like about this duo is that they never seem to use the prerecorded parts as a crutch. That, and more hooks than a bait and tackle shop.

As someone who watches his fair share of Portlandia, I think I expected Wild Flag to be more Carrie Brownstein-centric, but Mary Timony probably sang two-thirds of the tunes. Sometimes I can't tell if a band is keeping things rough around the edges on purpose, or if it's all they know how to do, but in either case, it worked here, driving some of the songs into somewhat raggedy, psychedelic breakdowns. Openers Hospitality needed strong vocal melodies and better endings -- seriously, none of their song resolved to the root -- but showed potential.

Then there was a Trollops show on Saturday that I didn't mention last week because I didn't know it was confirmed. I'm not sure what it says about a group of musicians when they can spontaneously break into "Ghostbusters" and then segue straight into "I Want A New Drug" and finally "Down Under" without much effort.

4.09   monday
The Cribs with Hounds Below (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
Another of the latest wave of British rock bands. This one's written a song about Chicago, and has been associated with the likes of Johnny Marr (who joined the band for a stretch after doing the same with Modest Mouse) and Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand, who produced the band's second album.

Fucked Up with Lasers and Fast and Shit (Lincoln Hall)
Last year's David Comes To Life made a lot of year-end top ten lists, but it's just a little too screamy for me.

Robbie Fulks (The Hideout)
This week's episode of the residency involves what's apparently the second installment of a mashup of Thelonious Monk and the Monkees. Why? Why not.

4.10   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
We'll see if the random Ghostbuster medley makes another appearance. On the one hand, we may feel compelled to reprise Saturday's "inspired" performance, but on the other, I'm not sure if you can force that kind of utter randomness.

Elements of Style with Colony Park, Houtakker, Big Empty (Subterranean)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I've now hung out with the singer/guitarist of Elements of Style more often than we've seen each other's bands, so I think they graduate to "Friends of Coz" status.

Perfume Genius with Parenthetical Girls (Schubas)
Another of those helpful recommendations where I try to remember who I saw talking about this new band, and fail. It might have been quasi-hipster political pundit Ana Marie Cox on Twitter.

4.11   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
Okay, so the over/under on both musicians and performers in the back room, not counting myself, is zero. To be honest, I recommend taking the under.

4.12   thursday
Screaming Females with Mayor Daley, Dethwarrent (Subterranean)
I've heard some chatter about the New Jersey-based punk band, but haven't heard them. The impression I get is visceral guitar-fueled punk rock with a lot of that raggedness I was mentioning earlier, with the same sort of indeterminate origin.

Frankenstein Brothers with Wolff and Tuba (Park West)
This is either a collaboration between frequent tour mates Buckethead and That 1 Guy, or it's just a different way of saying they're both playing. I think the last time I actually saw Buckethead was opening for Primus many, many years ago. I still love his work with Praxis and Jonas Hellborg, though.

Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A. with Bobby Long (Chicago Theatre)
I did take a listen to the duo's live album with a full band behind them, and I'm not sure if I buy into the concept.

Waco Brothers with The Blisters (Hideout)
This is a benefit for the Academy for Global Citizenship, which makes me wonder if the Wacos ever play a show that's not a benefit these days.

4.13   friday
Trampled by Turtles with These United States (Metro)
The Minnesota indie-folk act has been getting decent press in the run-up to the new record they're releasing tomorrow. I think you can figure out all you need to know about them when you see that their label is called BanjoDad Records.

Mastodon with Opeth, Ghost (Riviera Theatre)
As much as I like the contemporary metal band, it's a tough sell if you don't know the songs really well. Also, seeing them at the Riv once is enough, for pretty much any band.

Brad Mehldau & Joshua Redman (Symphony Center)
Redman is one of my favorite modern jazz saxophonists, and here he's playing in a duo format with pianist Mehldau.

Creed (Chicago Theatre)
If you've been waiting and waiting for Creed to play their My Own Prison record in its entirety, then, well, I'm worried about you. Also, you don't need to wait any longer.

4.14   saturday
DIVER (Fado Irish Pub)
Two big occasions this week. First, we welcome Mike Mitchel -- who you may recall from SoulFix, Bounce, Nitrous Foxide and/or the Lindsie Reitz Band -- into the fold as bass player number five (I think). Second, it's "90s Night." Yeah, it doesn't seem like the 90s have been gone long enough to get their own night, but apparently I'm old.

Zakir Hussain presents Masters of Percussion (Symphony Center)
The tabla master seems to do these tours pretty frequently, and I'm assuming they knew I had a conflict.

fun. (The Vic)   SOLD OUT!
I'll grant that the big single "We Are Young" is strong, but the rest of the record didn't do all that much for me.

Creed (Chicago Theatre)
See Friday's wiseassed comments, only with Human Clay, which is apparently a totally different record, but only because nobody has tried that Nickelback thing where you play two songs simultaneously and realize they're identical.

4.15   sunday
The Naked and Famous with Vacationer, Now Now (The Vic)
So I've apparently seen this band twice before, and my crib notes from Lollapalooza posed the question "a better version of Metric?"