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CHIRP Playlist: Friday, January 13, 2012

Sarah — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:15:50 +0000

I got through a four hour show without once mentioning the fact that it was Friday the Thirteenth. You can thank me later.

Next week, I’ll be back to my normal-sized two hour show, nothing to worry about. Four hours of me is a lot to take.

11:54 PM John Aler & Gino Quilico Les Pêcheurs de perles: C’est toi!…Au fond du temple saint from 100 Best Opera Classics (EMI)
11:52 PM Fleet Foxes White Winter Hymnal from Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
11:50 PM Sea Lions I Loved Her So Much from Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid to Ask (Slumberland)
11:44 PM Brandi Carlile Before It Breaks from Give Up the Ghost (Columbia)
11:40 PM Mavis Staples Wrote A Song For Everyone from You Are Not Alone (ANTI-)
11:37 PM The Mighty Imperials Thunder Chicken from The World of Daptone Records (Daptone)
11:31 PM Low Especially Me from C’mon (Sub Pop)
11:28 PM Dayna Kurtz Beautiful Yesterday from Beautiful Yesterday (Kismet)
11:24 PM Darkness Falls Noise on the Line from Alive in Us (hfn)
11:19 PM The Benny Goodman Quartet Moonglow from Greatest Hits (BMG)
11:15 PM Jason Adasiewicz’s Sun Rooms Run Fly from Spacer (Delmark)
11:09 PM Ha Ha Tonka Death of a Decade from Death of a Decade (Bloodshot)
11:05 PM Bell X1 Pinball Machine from Neither Am I (Island)
11:03 PM Nada Surf No Snow on the Mountain from The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy (Barsuk)
10:54 PM Carissa’s Wierd September Come Take This Heart Away from Songs About Leaving (Sad Robot)
10:51 PM The Darcys Glasnost from The Darcys (Arts & Crafts)
10:44 PM A Hawk And A Hacksaw Espanola Kolo from Cervantine (L.M. Duplication)
10:41 PM Mar Caribe Pirates of Lake Michigan from Songs From Under the Flight Path (self-released)
10:36 PM Herculaneum Elmyr from UCHŪ (EF)
10:31 PM Róisín Murphy Primitive from Overpowered (EMI)
10:27 PM Booker T. Jones Progress (featuring Jim James) from The Road from Memphis (ANTI-)
10:25 PM Little Ben & the Cheers I’m Gonna Get Even with You from Eccentric Soul: The Nickel & Penny Labels (Numero Group)
10:21 PM Girlyman The Shape I Found You In from Remember Who I Am (Daemon)
10:15 PM Sigur Rós Lúppulagið from Inni (XL)
10:08 PM The Avett Brothers Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise from I and Love and You (Sony)
10:05 PM Mumford & Sons The Cave from Sigh No More (Glass Note)
10:01 PM Cloud Control Ghost Story from Bliss Release (Infectious)
9:57 PM The Get Up Kids Close to Me from Eudora (Vagrant)
9:53 PM Rainer Maria Hell and High Water from A Better Version of Me (Polyvinyl)
9:51 PM Los Campesinos! Hate for the Island from Hello Sadness (Arts & Crafts)
9:49 PM April Smith and the Great Picture Show Terrible Things from Songs for a Sinking Ship (self-released)
9:44 PM Brown Bird Nothing Left from Salt for Salt (Supply and Demand)
9:40 PM Luke Roberts Anyway from Big Bells and Dime Songs (Thrill Jockey)
9:37 PM The Milk Carton Kids I Still Want a Little More from Prologue (self-released)
9:34 PM Lawrence Arabia Eye A from Chant Master (Bella Union)
9:30 PM Coconut Records West Coast from Nighttiming (Young Baby)
9:27 PM Tiger Bones When You Fall from When You Die (Candy Dinner)
9:20 PM Jacaszek Dare-gale from Glimmer (Ghostly International)
9:16 PM Marissa Nadler No Surprises from Covers I (self-released)
9:08 PM Nicole Mitchell F.O.C. from Awakening (Delmark)
9:02 PM Dave Douglas Bowie from Spirit Moves (Koch)
8:58 PM Sloan Take Good Care Of The Poor Boy from Between The Bridges (murderecords)
8:54 PM Guided By Voices Spiderfighter from Let’s Go Eat the Factory (Guided By Voices Inc.)
8:50 PM Whitehorse Passenger 24 from Whitehorse (Six Shooter)
8:45 PM Cat Power The Greatest from The Greatest (Matador)
8:40 PM Kathleen Edwards Change the Sheets from Voyageur (MapleMusic)
8:38 PM 16 Horsepower Wayfaring Stranger from Secret South (Razor & Tie)
8:33 PM Ray Davies Dead End Street (ft. Amy McDonald) from See My Friends (Universal)
8:29 PM JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound Baltimore Is the New Brooklyn from Beat of Our Own Drum (self-released)
8:26 PM Doomtree The Grand Experiment from No Kings (Doomtree)
8:21 PM Apex Manor Under the Gun from The Year of Magical Drinking (Merge)
8:18 PM Chris Connelly The Paraffin Hearts from Artificial Madness (Relapse)
8:14 PM Save the Clocktower You Got Me from Carousel (self-released)
8:08 PM Sandro Perri Love & Light from Impossible Spaces (Constellation)
8:03 PM Rufus Wainwright Release the Stars from Release the Stars (Geffen)

Concert Review: Fanfarlo, with Robert Francis and Lawrence Arabia, Lincoln Hall

Sarah — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:03:13 +0000

A long overdue writeup of the Fanfarlo show a few weeks ago. I am, in fact, the laziest blogger ever.

Someday, I will give up and write a whiny blog post about all the things that concert-goers do that irritate me to no end. This is not that post; however, I will say that if you’re going to be doing your flailing Elaine-from-Seinfeld hipster dancing, maybe you should look for some open space on the floor instead of doing it where your practically-having-a-religious-experience movements aren’t shoving around people who are slightly less enthusiastic than you are. Just sayin’.

It goes without saying that the sold out crowd at Lincoln Hall absolutely loved Fanfarlo, the London-based indie rock quintet. Their album Reservoir was one of my favorites of 2009, so I was glad to get the chance to see them live, finally. My complaints about spastic dancing aside, the crowd was really into the show. Sometimes, the day job and the non-music-fiend friends make life get a little insular for me, so it was really awesome to be in a crowd who knew every word to every song from a band that hasn’t quite hit the mainstream consciousness yet.

Their performance was tight and polished as they tore through their songs from Reservoir, their sole full-length release to date. Though they chatted little with the crowd, the energy and positivity in their songs was pretty infectious. Everything about their show really exuded a happy sort of energy, from the songs themselves to their light-colored clothing, the stage decorations, and the lighting. Ideal for photos, A+! Sometimes things felt a bit too polished and nearly clinical — songs hardly deviated from the way they sound on the album, and everything just felt a bit overly well-oiled — but that didn’t really make the show less enjoyable. (It just made me over-analyze things, that’s all.)

The night’s first opening act was Robert Francis, of Los Angeles. I mean this in the best possible way, but he reminded me at times in his performance of John Mayer: blistering guitar solos, a little irreverent, and hilarious guitar faces. John Mayer without all the douchetastic tendencies, I guess. I was much more impressed with his live show than I was with his albums. His live show was energetic, loud, rock music, while the CD shows off a more low-key indie folk sort of style. Still great, but not what I was expecting after the live show. Francis closed his set with a cover of “Wild Horses”, and seemed genuinely thankful for the enthusiasm and attention of the audience.

Lawrence Arabia, the psych folk project of New Zealand’s James Milne, also opened for Fanfarlo. They took a little while to win me over, as it never quite seemed that they could pick a genre. Psych rock? Summery Beach Boys-esque harmonies? Pure delightful pop songs? I couldn’t tell. While I’m sick of hearing people describe music as “sun drenched”, it was also a pretty good descriptor for many of Lawrence Arabia’s songs. I was feeling it more by the end of the set, though, and actually wound up appreciating the genre-hopping. I think indie bands have been quick to jump on the four-or-five-part harmony bandwagon, especially since the success of Fleet Foxes, so if their entire set had been nothing but endearing songs in five-part major-chord harmony, I may have found things to get a little old, but their forays into more experimental psych rock kept things interesting.

Check out my set of photos on Flickr. With the bright lighting for Fanfarlo’s set, I think I caught a bunch of pretty good shots, for once.

This Week in Great Music: 4/5 – 4/11

Sarah — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:42:29 +0000

Let’s hope that this week is better than last, where I had a moment of complete brilliance and proceeded to forget all about the show I was supposed to go to on Saturday night. Sigh.

I’ll be at Lincoln Hall on Wednesday (Fanfarlo) and Thursday (The xx), provided that I don’t forget about those shows, too.

Monday, April 5
Robbie Fulks, The Hoyle Brothers; Hideout. 7 pm, $10 suggested donation
Prohibition Orchestra of Chicago; SPACE. 7:30 pm, $5
Camera Obscura, Princeton; Lincoln Hall. 8 pm, $20
Miike Snow, Light Pollution; Metro. 9 pm, sold out

Tuesday, April 6
Dashboard Confessional, Corey Chisel & the Wandering Sons; House of Blues. 6 pm, $24-27
Julian Casablancas, Funeral Party; the Vic. 7:30 pm, $26
As Tall as Lions, Bad Veins, A Lull; Bottom Lounge. 8 pm, $13
The Low Anthem, Nathaniel Rateliff; Lincoln Hall. 9 pm, $14

Wednesday, April 7
Motion City Soundtrack, Fun, A Rocket To The Moon, Sing It Loud; House of Blues. 5:30 pm, $20.50-22
Titus Andronicus, The Saps, Bully in the Hallway; Bottom Lounge. 8 pm, $10-12
Fanfarlo, Lawrence Arabia, Robert Francis; Lincoln Hall. 9 pm, $12-14
Har Mar Superstar, My Gold Mask, Violetness; Double Door. 9 pm, $10

Thursday, April 8
The xx, Nosaj Thing; Lincoln Hall. 6 pm, sold out
The Horse’s Ha, Ronnie Malley, Wanees Zazour; Chicago Cultural center. 6:30 pm, free
Deer Tick, Those Darlins, Elephant Gun; Bottom Lounge. 8 pm, $13
The xx, jj; Lincoln Hall. 9:30 pm, sold out

Friday, April 9
Drive By Truckers, Langhorne Slim; the Vic. 8 pm, $26
Shawn Mullins, Daphne Willis; SPACE. 8 pm, sold out
The Giving Tree, Todd Kessler and the New Folk, The Shams Band, The Future Laureates; Double Door. 9 pm, $10-15
Edwin McCain Band; Cubby Bear Wrigleyville. 9 pm, $20-25
Japandroids, Avi Buffalo, Lasers and Fast and Shit; Lincoln Hall. 10 pm, $14
The Soft Pack, Male Bonding, Beaters; Empty Bottle. 10 pm, $10-12
Dan Black, Moneypenny, Midnight Conspiracy, DJ SR-71; Schubas. 10:30 pm, $10

Saturday, April 10
Madeleine Peyroux, Nora O’Connor; Old Town School of Folk Music. 7 pm and 10 pm, $34-38
Bill Callahan, Hideout. 7 pm and 10 pm, $20
John Mayer, Michael Franti and Spearhead; United Center. 8 pm, $35-78
Mason Jennings, SPACE. 8 pm, sold out
Owen Pallett, Snowblink; Lincoln Hall. 10 pm, $15
The Smith Westerns, Acrylics, Nurses; Schubas. 10 pm, $8-10

Sunday, April 11
Lang Lang, Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra; Harris Theater. 3 pm, $45-95
Straight No Chaser, Chicago Theatre. 7:30 pm, $25-45
K’Naan, Wale; Metro. 7:30 pm, $20-22