Thurston Moore w/ Chelsea Light Moving @ Sled Island 2012 (more by Zach Pollack)

* Pinback, Solos @ Metro
* Lewis Black @ The Chicago Theatre
* Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard @ SPACE
* Parallax Sounds @ Gene Siskel Film Center
* OM, Daniel Higgs, Bruce Lamont @ Empty Bottle
* Earth, Eagle Twin, Stebmo @ Township (Night 2)
* The Warmbloods, Soft Jolts, Kid Tested @ Hideout
* Neon Marshmallow 2012 @ The Burlington (Night 3)
* The Fresh & Onlys, Quilt, Radar Eyes @ Lincoln Hall
* Henry Rollins @ Old Town School of Folk Music (Night 3)
* Red Fang, Black Tusk, Indian Handcrafts @ Subterranean
* Scott Lucas & The Married Men, Purple Apple @ Double Door
* The Dreebs, Oozing Wound @ Permanent Records (Free; In-store)
* Attitude Era, Gash, Sick/Tired, Buff Shit, Distract, Worn Out @ the Albion House

Pinback and Solos play Metro tonight.

Parallax Sounds is screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center again.

Om, Daniel Higgs, and Bruce Lamont play the Empty Bottle.

Neon Marshmallow 2012 continues with performances by Supreme Cuts, Thurston Moore, Cloudland Canyon, and Ryley Walker.

Watch Moonface's new video for "Headed For The Door" below.

Follow @bvChicago on Twitter, "Like" us on Facebook.

Follow bvChicago on Instagram.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

Moonface @ Emo's in Austin, TX in July of 2011 (more by Tim Griffin)

Moonface (aka Spencer Krug) released his most recent album, Heartbreaking Bravery, back in April via Jagjaguwar. As mentioned, the LP is a collaboration with the Finnish band Siinai, who have been accompanying Spencer on the road. The group begin the U.S. leg of their tour in Michigan tomorrow night (6/15) and will reach Chicago's Lincoln Hall on Saturday night (6/16). Tickets are still available and we've also got a pair, plus a vinyl copy of Heartbreaking Bravery, to give away! Details on how to enter to win can be found below.

In conjunction with the tour, Moonface has released a new video for Heartbreaking Bravery track "Faraway Lightning." Check out the video, which was created entirely from hand-drawn images, at the bottom of this post.

All Moonface tour dates are listed below, along with contest details and a new video.

Continue reading "Moonface play Lincoln Hall on Saturday (win tix & an LP!)"

DOWNLOAD: Moonface - "Teary Eyes and Bloody Lips (MP3)

Moonface @ Lincoln Hall in October (more by Zach Pollack)

Moonface (aka Spencer Krug) is set to release his sophomore LP under the moniker, With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery, on April 17 via Jagjaguwar. Compared to Moonface's previous albums (Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped, Dreamland EP: Marimba and Shit-Drums), this collaboration with Finnish band Siinai has yielded a more krautrock-y sound. Download the album track "Teary Eyes and Bloody Lips" at the top of this post and/or stream it HERE. Check out a music video for the song and Heartbreaking Bravery's cover art/tracklisting at the bottom of this post. Preorder the album now.

Spencer (with Siinai as his backing band) will tour throughout Europe in May and hit the road in North America by June. His third appearance at Lincoln Hall will take place on June 16. Tickets go on sale this Friday (April 13), at noon CST.

All 2012 tour dates, Heartbreaking Bravery's tracklisting, and the new music video, below...

Continue reading "Moonface announced a new LP & tour (returning to LH)"

words & photos by Zach Pollack

On Wednesday night (10/26), Spencer Krug brought his Moonface project to Lincoln Hall for a second time. Colin Blanton (aka Ant'lrd) opened the show with his glitchy, loop-based production and fast-handed drumming. He recently relocated to Chicago from Birmingham, Alabama. Krug later urged, "Say 'Hi Colin!' if you see him on the street." Look out for a new release on local label BARO Records.

As he promised he would, Spencer Krug took the stage toting a tumbler (not tumblr) of whiskey, joined by collaborator Mike Bigelow. Bigelow handled all of the percussion with an electronic kit and midi xylophone pad. Krug's setup consisted of a large vintage organ, equipped with some external loop machines resting on its wood casing. The two worked their way through much of 2011's Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped and also hit a number of tracks on the 2010 EP Dreamland EP: Marimba and Shit-Drums. Moonface's recorded material is very dense, which I was glad was achievable in the live setting. The two also pulled out an excellent rendition of the Swan Lake (another Krug project) song "All Fires" (as they have previously on tour). They left the stage and didn't return for an encore, though I'm sure the crowd would have loved if they did.

Check out some more pictures of both acts below.

Continue reading "Moonface & Ant'lrd played Lincoln Hall (pics)"

Moonface @ Mercury Lounge in July (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Like he/they did during Pitchfork Fest weekend, Moonface (aka Spencer Krug) is playing Lincoln Hall on October 26th. Tickets go on sale this Friday, at noon CST. More tour dates HERE.

Moonface's debut LP Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped was released on August 2nd via Jagjaguwar, and Spencer is reportedly working on a new album as we speak.

Spencer's Wolf Parade partner-in-crime Dan Boeckner released his third LP under the Handsome Furs-moniker, titled Sound Kapital, on June 28th via Sup Pop Records. The duo recently toured though Chicago, tagging the Bottom Lounge on July 27th. Check out some pictures, and a review of the show HERE.

Spencer Krug (aka Moonface) @ Sasquatch 2011 w/ Wolf Parade (more by Josh Darr)

today in Chicago
* John Maus, Twin Sister @ Schubas
* Pitchfork Festival (Day 2) @ Union Park
* Soundgarden, The Mars Volta @ UIC Pavilion
* Austra, Cult of Youth @ Empty Bottle (Late Show)
* Sailor Jerry's Music Fest (Day 2) @ Cobra Lounge
* Cages, Anatomy of Habit @ Empty Bottle (Early Show)
* Moonface, Shabazz Palaces, Flow Child @ Lincoln Hall
* Kurt Vile & the Violators, Woods, Arc in Round @ Subterranean
* Deerhunter (DJ Set), Twin Shadow (DJ Set), Ariel Pink (DJ Set) @ Beauty Bar

Continue to live stream the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival.

What else?

DOWNLOAD: Moonface - "The Way You Wish You Could Live In The Storm" (MP3)

Spencer Krug with Wolf Parade @ Sasquatch 2011 (more by Josh Darr)

Moonface (aka Spencer Krug) is set to release his debut LP, Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped on August 2nd via Jagjaguwar. Starting today, the album is available for pre-order via SC Distribution.

Spencer has also shared a non-album track with us titled, "The Way You Wish You Could Live In The Storm" which you can download at the top of this post.

To compliment the track; he's offered a bit of an explanation:

It's a song that was cut from the record - an angry duck that didn't get along with the other songs on the Organ Music LP. That is not to say it's a bad song (though not to say it's a good song, either), it's just something I made that I don't know what to do with. It's more techno, or something, than the rest of the Organ Music LP. Less silky. But still, I thought it was worth sharing, for anyone who cares. It's more than a pile of wet leaves. Maybe it's something you can listen to while you do the dishes, or draw, or teach your baby to dance.

Thanks,
everyone and anyone,
for caring enough to get even this far.

sincerely,
Moonface

As mentioned, Moonface will be headlining Lincoln Hall on July 16th, as supported by Shabazz Palaces (whose new LP came out today). Tickets are still available.

Head below to view all 2011 tour dates.

Continue reading "Moonface shares non-album track, pre-order the LP today!"

DOWNLOAD: Shabazz Palaces - "Swerve...the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shabazz Palaces - "an echo from the hosts that profess infinitum" (MP3)

Black Up LP Cover

Shabazz Palaces have joined forces with Sub Pop Records to release their newest LP, Black Up on June 28th. The somewhat secretive MC, and collaborators will see their first proper release with Black Up; having self-released two mini-albums in 2009 via their website.

Sub Pop offered:

Black Up is the new sonic move from Shabazz Palaces. Like rich velvet hijabs or gold threaded abayas. Luxury as understood by the modest. Shabazz Palaces. If Bedouins herded beats instead of goats and settled in Seattle instead of the Atlas Mountains, this would be their album. Forward thinkers but nostalgic for a sparer time when ancient astronomers only recognized five planets. Hip hop. Black light uses electromagnetic radiation to eradicate microorganisms, but shabazz didn't come to kill a sound, just to shine their own incandescent lamp on this. Hear. Hard and clear. Fifty thousand years in the making. Honorable.

You can stream Black Up it its entirety via NPR; and download two album tracks at the top of this post.

Shabazz Palaces will be performing on Sunday of the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival, and oddly enough will be opening up for Moonface (aka Spencer Krug) at Lincoln Hall the night before. Tickets are still available.

You can view Black Up's track listing, and all 2011 tour dates below..

Continue reading "Shabazz Palaces to release 'Black Up', playing Pitchfork Festival (plus an 'Aftershow'), & other 2011 dates"

DOWNLOAD: Moonface - "Fast Peter" (MP3)

Moonface (aka Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown) is set to release an LP titled Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped on August 2nd via Jagjaguwar. Bringing the project on tour for the first time, he'll hit Chicago on July 16th to play Lincoln Hall. Falling right in the middle of the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival; this particular Moonface date is considered part of their unofficial aftershows.

Spencer offered:

Today is my birthday. I am getting up there. Maybe one day I will be full-old, not just half-old like I am now, and tour around as "Spencer Krug," playing ancient Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown songs on a baby grand. I'll have a tumbler glass of whisky and an ashtray and a nice jacket. It will be terrible. But until that day arrives I will go instead by "Moonface" - the last moniker I have left to exploit. Moonface is not a band, just plain half-old me, in any solo or collaborative projects I'm involved in from now until whenever. [Jagjaguwar]

Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped, will serve as the follow-up to his 2010 debut EP Dreamland EP: Marimba and Shit-Drums. At the top of this post, you can download the album track "Fast Peter."

Head below to view the track listing, and all 2011 tour dates.

Continue reading "Moonface announces new LP, playing Lincoln Hall, & other 2011 tour dates"

Pitchfork Festival has announced four unofficial aftershows, taking place each night of the festival at either Schubas, Lincoln Hall, or both.

All aftershows are on sale as of now, and a limited amount of discounted tickets will be held for sale at the door; day of.

FRIDAY, JULY 15TH
Sun Airway, PS I Love You @ Schubas (10:30PM) 18+

SATURDAY, JULY 16TH
Twin Sister, *Special Guest* @ Schubas (11PM) 18+
Moonface, Shabazz Palaces @ Lincoln Hall (10:30PM) 18+

SUNDAY, JULY 17TH
Yuck, Unknown Mortal Orchestra @ Schubas (10:30PM) 18+