Craig Finn of The Hold Steady @ Do Division on 6/2/2012 (more by Zach Pollack)

Taste of Randolph Street Festival kicks off on Friday night (6/15) featuring sets from Los Campesinos! and Those Darlins. The fest continues on throughout the weekend and includes performances by The Hold Steady, Santah, Hollows, Angel Melendez & The 911 Mambo Orchestra, and more.

Admission is $10 per day and as always, there will be a slew of local restaurants serving up great food just inside of the gates. Check out the full music lineup-by-day below...

Continue reading "Taste of Randolph happens this weekend (Los Campesinos!, Those Darlins, The Hold Steady, Santah & more)"

Los Campesinos! @ Metro in January (more by Grant MacAllister)

UK band Los Campesinos! are heading back to North America in June and have announced that they'll be playing at the Taste of Randolph 2012 on June 15 before joining up with Yellow Ostrich (who will be here for Lollapalooza) for a string of dates. You'll find their full tour schedule at the bottom of this post.

Though there are not many details to speak of yet, Taste of Randolph 2012 is set to take place from June 15-17 in Chicago's West Loop. Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers, Here We Go Magic, Anamanaguchi, and The Heavy were just some of the bands on last year's lineup. Los Camp! are currently the only band that have been announced for this year's fest (and it was on their own accord too). Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

All Los Camp! tour dates and a video from their show at Metro in January, below..

Continue reading "Los Campesinos! are playing Taste of Randolph (initial details)"

photos by Grant MacAllister, words by Shelby Shaw

Los Campesinos! @ Metro on 1/27/2012

It was an early show, with doors having opened at 6:30pm on a Friday night (1/27). Inside, there was a youngest-Jonas (what's his name?) look-alike, a Camilla Belle look-alike, and a waitress who looked like an Ellen Page-Zooey Deschanel hybrid. It was all an odd-seeming place at the Metro, the crowd looking younger every time I lifted my eyes from my notebook.

Portland-based Parenthetical Girls began their opening in parts. Amber W. Smith came onstage to attend her keyboard as black and white screen-test footage played on a huge screen, in the back behind the drums. The band's music was choreographed well to the accompanying images throughout the set. Frontman Zac Pennington casually approached the mic to a greeting of applause. Matt Dabrowiak came onstage as Paul Alcott sat behind his drums. Pennington introduced the band and mentioned their show at Subterranean from back in June, adding, "Suffice it to say no one was there." There had maybe been about 20 people, I was one of them. "Entitlements" begins. But I quickly noticed, as someone who has listened to (((GRRRLS))) for quite awhile, something seemed very off in the sound. It was too muffled under Pennington's baroque and emphasized voice.

Parenthetical Girls, for those unfamiliar, are part of the new age of melodramatic pop and orchestral composition makers, currently completing their five-part EP series, hand-numbered in blood, Privilege. And on stage they all looked the part, dressed like a boarding school garage band, or prestigious Ivy Leaguers of New England prep schools. It would all be so much more charming if the audio seemed to be coming through clearly instead of sounding like it was being strained through steel wool.

Pennington took a moment after "Careful Who You Dance With" to ask if his good friend Owen Ashworth (who had also played at the June Subterranean show and is a member of Advance Base and earlier, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone) was there. Owen had just brought his first child into the world and thus, Pennington said, they were sans a place to crash that night. I considered offering my apartment especially since my roommate has a cat - and Parenthetical Girls love cats (just look at their Facebook photos).

As "For All The Final Girls" played, the sound issues didn't improve from where I stood, but the suspense of the onscreen ever-changing footage and the blasé strutting around the stage almost made it work. When "Young Throats" played, sounding almost unrecognizable to the incredible album version, I noticed there was a uniform slow bobbing in the crowd and maybe there were at least a hundred people on the floor. Good.

Closing with "Stolen Children" was a typical Parenthetical Girls experience, as Pennington took this chance to peruse the crowd, surprising the people who parted way for him and his drumstick, keeping tempo on the overhanging mezzanine as he wound his way around the floor and back to the stage. Smith's vocals soared clearly and simply, almost like making amends for any point where clarity was lost. They were off a little before 8:10pm.

Zac Pennington strikes a pose

Now it was beginning to get hot and more and more people from the bar were finding crevices to occupy on the floor. And then, at 8:38, the lights went out and Los Campesinos! took the stage. The energy was already in go-mode as if we'd all been listening to them perform for a while now - everyone was well ready. Seven performers all on the stage.

Jumping in the air, the crowd throwing hands up spastically, it was obvious the set would be satisfying. "Good evening, Chicago, we're Los Campesinos!" There were so many people on stage that it provided ample places to keep your eyes entertained if you weren't watching the occasional crowd-surfer. The band seemed a little nervous, a little reserved perhaps, and lead singer Gareth Paisey was a ball of energy that didn't seem to quite know how to release. Lyrically he could become aggressive - the best parts, in my opinion - but physically there was a lot of stand-still.

For "Life Is A Long Time" the lights turned down a bit for a calmer feel and everyone started a quick hands-in-the-air-clapping round. The red lights were seductive as the band alternated between standing relatively in place and gyrating slowly. The keyboardist I am assuming to be Rob Taylor, also known as Sparky Deathcap, seemed to be looking up at the crowd as if looking for someone in particular. And he looked over the packed and jumping floor a lot. During "Letters From Me To Charlotte" it was nice to see Gareth (as all members use Campesino! as a surname) standing still with a shaking tambourine against him, bathed in both sweat and green lighting. There must have been more turbulence on the floor than I was thinking, since after the song he warned the crowd to be careful, "you'll ruin the weekend, the whole weekend!" Pennington had been right - those UK accents will haunt us for days.

Before starting "Songs About Your Girlfriend" Gareth asked if any couples were there. Aw, maybe he'll sing something sweet. No, he didn't, and it was all the better. He warned the lovers in the house instead: "This is a place of despair and loneliness. Don't take it personally." Drowned out by cheering.

When Gareth spoke, I didn't fully understand him - and not because of the sound system. Los Campesinos! had much more clarity and ringing to their music than their ill-fated opener, but it was those accents... at one point all I understood was something about "it's Friday, isn't it?" It had been one week since the band played on David Letterman, something that was "really important to us," Gareth said. The crowd agreed. And then they played the song they "probably should have played." Starting with all their backs to us in dim lighting, clapping into a furious instrumental crescendo until they turned around and began "You! Me! Dancing!" The man next to me leaned over and told me, "This is the song Wilco's missing." Statement up for your deciding, readers.

Before the final song, "Baby I Got The Death Rattle," Gareth took the moment to give thanks in the style of an Academy Awards acceptance speech, hurried and including a long list of names. All I caught were "Parenthetical Girls" and then of course "Chicago." The usuals. Now, as he sang this last song, his voice sounded different, fuller and bellowing with more of him that didn't feel like it was all there earlier.

Regardless, all were satisfied - and no one moved at the end, chanting the typical encore coo, "one more song!" until Los Campesinos! returned for two.

More pictures from the night and both setlists below...

Continue reading "Los Campesinos! and Parenthetical Girls played Metro -- (review, pics & setlists)"

Parenthetical Girls @ Subterranean in June (more by Shelby Shaw)

As they've done before, the Parenthetical Girls have released a new free Christmas EP, Parenthetical Girls Save Christmas via their Bandcamp. As BrooklynVegan's Andrew Sacher said, "It's a great 3-song EP that otherwise sounds like any of the recent Parenthetical Girls releases except for the sleigh bells that fill every track."

Their friends (and collaborators) Los Campesinos! will take them on the road in 2012, as support for their winter North American tour. This includes the previously announced January 27th show at Metro. Tickets are still available. PG frontman Zac Pennington recently appeared on their track "Dreams Don't Become You," which you can hear below.

All 2012 tour dates, and the above promised stream, below..

Continue reading "Parenthetical Girls released a new free Christmas EP, opening for Los Campesinos! @ Metro"

Los Campesinos!

UK-based band Los Campesinos! released a new record titled Hello Sadness this past fall. In support of the well-received album, the band will hit North America for a string of dates this winter. Catch them at Metro on January 27th. Tickets go on sale this Saturday (12/10), at noon CST.

Zola Jesus @ Le Poisson Rouge (NYC) in October (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Zola Jesus has announced some 2012 tour dates, which place the gothic songstress in Chicago on February 21st, at Lincoln Hall. Tickets go on sale NEXT Friday (12/16), at noon CST.

The Wedding Present @ South Street Seaport in 2010 (more by Chris La Putt)

The Wedding Present have announced some plans to tour their '91 classic Seamonsters in 2012. They're also prepping a new LP titled Valentina, due out in March. They'll visit Chicago during that month (on the 27th to be exact), to play the Double Door with tour mates The Jet Age. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (12/9), at noon CST.

Gotye

Australian solo artist Gotye is set to hit North America this February, reaching Chicago's Park West on April 3rd. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, at 10AM CST. His track "Somebody That I Used To Know" is one hell of a catchy number.

Speaking of Australians, Gotye's fellow Aussie Ben Lee is playing Martyrs on February 27th. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, at 10AM CST.

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Stay tuned for more show announcements.

Loney Dear @ Mercury Lounge (more by Vincent Cornelli)

today in Chicago
* Loney Dear, Daniel Knox @ Schubas
* Bird Names, CAVE, Running @ Empty Bottle (Free Show)
* Fu Manchu, Honky, The Shrine, Electric Hawk @ Double Door
* Manchester Orchestra, White Denim, The Dear Hunter @ House of Blues
* Doldrums, Rainbo Video, Arbit, Environmental Sound Collapse @ Panchos

Jens Lekman played a "Tiny Desk Concert." Check out the footage below.

Stream Los Campesinos!' new LP Hello Sadness in its entirety via NPR.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"