Via Wikipedia:

Cap’n Jazz was a short-lived, but highly influential emo band. The group was formed in Chicago in 1989 by brothers Tim and Mike Kinsella, who were joined by Sam Zurick and Victor Villareal. After a number of name changes and the addition of guitarist Davey von Bohlen the band began to earn a cult following in the Chicago area and the Midwest.

It’s weird – despite the fact that I was a HUGE emo fan in the mid-late 90′s, and that I loved a ton of the Chicago/upper-Midwest bands that made up that movement, I never got into Cap’n Jazz. Hell, I never even owned a Cap’n Jazz CD. I think I’d been warned that they were “weird” or something and shied away. My loss.

Anyway, the band reunited last night at the Empty Bottle here in Chicago for a 4-song set. No one seems to have any clue if this was a one-time thing or whether it might turn into something more permanent, though some fans online are already clamoring for a summer tour.

Thanks to mpshows for pointing out that this video from the show had already made it onto Youtube.

You probably saw it already, but wait for 0:53.

OK, so far this year Guns n’ Roses has been in Asia and Canada, and are now scheduled to head to South America. Prior to this year, the band’s last tour dates were in Mexico, Australia and New Zealand in mid-2007.

So you gotta assume they’ll be hitting the U.S. at some point this year, right?

Right?

Guns n’ Roses South American Tour
3/7: Brasília, Brazil @ Ginásio Nilson Nelson – on sale January 25th.
3/10: Belo Horizonte, Brazil @ Ginásio Jornalista Felipe Drumond (Mineirinho) – on sale January 27th.
3/13: São Paulo, Brazil @ Palestra Itália Stadium – on sale January 27th.
3/14: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil @ Praça da Apoteose – on sale January 25th.
3/16: Porto Alegre, Brazil @ Ginásio Gigantinho – on sale January 25th.
3/18: Montevideo, Uruguay @ Estadio Centenario – on sale January 24th.
3/220: Santiago, Chile @ Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos – on sale TBA.
3/25: Lima, Peru @ La Explanada Sur del Estadio Monumental – on sale January 23rd.

Guns n’ Roses, “Whole Lotta Rosie” (AC/DC cover – live in Edmonton)

Hey kids… sorry for the relative lack of silence around the blog this week. I’ve been pretty busy working on David Schroeder’s campaign for Illinois State Representative (he was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune yesterday!), and haven’t had as much extra time as usual for keeping up the blog or going to shows.

Anyway, while I happen to have a few minutes here, I wanted to mention a cool little package I got in the mail last week from the folks at Earlove.

If you haven’t heard of them, Earlove is a local Chicago company that sells some the best affordable earplugs I’ve ever used. And don’t go thinking that these are your typical, cheap, sound-destroying foam earplugs that you spend 5 minutes putting in correctly just to rip out about 30 seconds into a show so that you can actually hear the music being performed.

Nope, the earplugs that Earlove sells were actually developed by the high-end audio company Etymotic Research, and, amazingly, do a great job of protecting your ears while still allowing you to hear music.  I’ve been using them for several years, and now drag them to pretty much every show I go to (with a few exceptions, ahem, Swell Season).

Anyway, if you go to a lot of shows, I strongly recommend picking up a pair of Earlove ear plugs. I used them a ton last year when I saw nearly 400 bands over the course of the year, and I feel pretty confident that my ears are in much better shape than they otherwise would be if I hadn’t.

Oh, and to be completely fair, there are definitely times when I leave my earplugs in my pocket – although Earlove are infinitely better than foam, there are still some times you want to hear the music in all of its glory. That said, just imagine how nice it is to be able to protect your ears from a crappy opening band. It’s bad enough that I have to be in the same room as Ponytail, but at least I don’t have to give up my hearing in the process.

Shearwater, “Black Eyes”

Austin, Texas’ Shearwater is set to release its brand new album, The Golden Archipelago, via Matador Records on February 23rd. This is the second track the band has made available from the album.

If you click through the album cover on the right, you’ll be taken to the Matador store where you pre-order the album for 15% off.

Oh, and if you’re in Chicago, tickets go on sale tomorrow for the band’s April 4 show at Lincoln Hall with Wye Oak and Hospital Ships.

Some pics from Saturday night’s show at Lincoln Hall featuring The Rural Alberta Advantage, Bowerbirds and Julie Doiron.

Good show overall, though not quite as good as I was hoping. Nils’ (of RAA) voice was pretty beat up — he was apparently getting over a cold. As a result, he wasn’t quite able to reach a lot of the notes he usually does, and it affected the songs in a pretty noticeable way. Still, though, kudos to him for fighting through it, including choosing to play a new song (whose title I didn’t catch) which basically requires him to scream for about 5 minutes straight. I almost expected him to start coughing blood during that song.

I’d never actually seen Julie Doiron before, and I came away extremely impressed. Bowerbirds, on the other hand, didn’t do a lot for me, though to be fair I was pretty tired by the time they came on and I only ended up sticking around for about 1/2 of their set.

The Rural Alberta Advantage

Julie Doiron

Bowerbirds

Here’s what’s going on in Chicago this week.  Doesn’t look like I’m gonna get out this week.

Edited to add: Sorry, forgot to bold my picks for the week.  Hope it didn’t seem like I was saying there weren’t any good shows this week.  I’m just working a lot on David Shroeder’s campaign for Illinois State Representative (5th District), and I’m not sure I’m gonna have time to get out much before the Feb. 2nd primary.

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Monday, January 18
Beat Kitchen: Pat McCurdy
Empty Bottle: Coltrane Motion, Soft Speaker, Panda Riot [FREE]
Hideout: Haiti Benefit w/ Waco Brothers, Eleventh Dream Day
Martyr’s: Dale Watson, The Hoyle Brothers
Reggie’s Rock Club: Wednesday 13′s Gunfire 76, Sex Slaves, Felon Love
Schuba’s: The Ike Reilly Assassination, TJ & Dave

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Tuesday, January 19
Beat Kitchen: Chicago Underground Comedy
Double Door: This is Cinema, Yawn, Paperbeat, Hey Rabbit
Empty Bottle (7pm): The Necks, Vox Arcana
Empty Bottle (10pm): The Necks, Joshua Abrams Group
Hideout: Sactified Grumblers
House of Blues: Theory of a Deadman, Halestorm, Adelitas Way, Taking Down
Lincoln Hall: Illegal D, Stare Decisis
Martyr’s: The Pawns, Bodies Bright, The Nows
Reggie’s Rock Club: The Upwelling, Floral Terrace, Collide and Scope, Kirkland
Ronny’s: Elephant Gun, Children of Spy, Crayolala, Faggy Pussy
Schuba’s: Julia Nunes, Oh Theodora
Subterranean: Rough Cut, The Black Saints, Bourgeois Rebellion

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Wednesday, January 20
Beat Kitchen: Rabbit Children, The Crown and Two Chairmen, The Viaducts
Bottom Lounge: I:Scintilla, Dead on TV, 48sin, Komplicator
Double Door: The Moses Gun, Astral Planes, Columbia Exposition
Empty Bottle: State Champion, Rabble Rabble, Phantom Family Halo, Wishgift
Hideout: Immediate Sound Series w/ Ken Vandermark’s Don Cherry Project
House of Blues: DevilDriver, Suffocation, Goatwhore, Thy Will Be Done
Lincoln Hall: Joey McIntyre
Martyr’s: Tin Lynott
Schuba’s: Inchworm, Save the Clocktower, Sissy Mena
Subterranean: We Love You, The Tinycakes, The Little Village, Broken Bones

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Thursday, January 21
Beat Kitchen: Ben Keeler & The 500 Club, Paper Thick Walls, Goodman West
Bottom Lounge: B1gt1me (Tom Waits tribute), Benton Harbor Lunchbox
Double Door: Soul Supreme dance party [free]
Empty Bottle: Daily Void, Daylight Robbery, The Krunchies, Nones
Hideout: Warm Ones, Jitney, Ben Clarke
House of Blues: The Expendables
Lincoln Hall: Cavashawn, The Fold, Valaska
Martyr’s: Harris and the Mood, Killer Moon, Dash Cunning
Metro: Nile, Immolation, Krisiun, Abigail Williams, Dreaming Dead
Metro (SmartBar): Danny the Wildchild, Phantom 45, Biobooster
Ronny’s: Grant Hart (of Husker Du), Jared Grabb, Annie Saunders, The Blind Staggers
Schuba’s: Decibully, A Lull, Clip Art
Subterranean: 28 Mansions, Baby & Hide, Republic of Lights

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Friday, January 22
Abbey Pub: Pravda Records 25th Anniversary Show w/ The Service, The Slugs, Boom Hank
Beat Kitchen: Rockie, Ray Protege, Stefan Ponce
Bottom Lounge: Camera, Land of Lincoln, The Kickback, The Vindits
Double Door: Jon Drake & The Shakes, The Damn Choir, A Night in the Box, Curtis Evans
Empty Bottle: Joan of Arc Don’t Mind Control Variety Show
Hideout: Dark Fog, Plastic Crimewave Sound, Sadhu Sadhu, more
House of Blues: Super Diamond
Lincoln Hall: Mother Hubbard, Skyler (Rehab), Kid Color, Just Desserts
Martyr’s: Button Pushers, Peace of Mind Orchestra, Fresh Hops
Metro: Pet Lions, Post Honeymoon, White Mystery, The Dirty Diamonds
Metro (SmartBar): Tommie Sunshine, Traxx, Greg Corner
Reggie’s Rock Club: Yea Big & Kid Static, Seel Fresh, Scheme, Giraffe Nuts
Ronny’s: Ratattack, Dumpster Babies, The Paver, Baseline:Mars, Model N
Schuba’s (7:30pm): Freedy Johnston
Schuba’s (10pm): Brighton, MA, Elsinore, Flight
Subterranean: Cruel Hand, Bracewar, Mother of Mercy, Nowhere Bound, Iron Rain

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Saturday, January 23
Abbey Pub: Robert Gordon and the Gang They Couldn’t Hang (ft. Glen Matlock), more
Beat Kitchen (5:30pm): The Action Blast, The Fireship, Artifex Pereo, Made Avail, Onasis
Beat Kitchen (10:30pm): Otter Petter, Sirsy, The Blissters
Bottom Lounge: The Krank Daddies, Thee Invaders, Kevin Flynn & The Avondale Ramblers, more
Double Door: The Assembly, Meqqa, Villian vs. Villain, Heart Set Self Destruct
Empty Bottle: Anxiety High, Johnny Rev, Black Actress, Vortis
Hideout: Baby Alright, Jane Baxter Miller
House of Blues: Super Diamond
Lincoln Hall: Tea Leaf Green, Elmwood
Martyr’s: The Charming Beggars, The Good
Metro: The Felix Culpa, Loyal Divide, Robbers, Suns
Reggie’s Rock Club: The Riverdales, Tenement, Sugar Stems
Ronny’s (5pm): Burn Tibet, The Disappeared, Everything Went Black, Rex Catapult, Burning Luck
Ronny’s (10pm): Juiceboxx, Sweatheart, Barry and the Eastenders
Schuba’s: Brighton, MA, Andrew Belle, Tacoma Narrows
Subterranean (6pm): Rule 22, We Are The Union, Shortstop From Tokyo, The Takeouts
Subterranean (11pm): Dark Wave Disco DJs, Midnight Conspiracy, DJ Action Adventure
The Vic: Robin Thicke

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Sunday, January 24
Beat Kitchen (12pm): Human Tim + Robot Tim
Bottom Lounge: Faceoff, The Flips, The Turbo Vamps, more
Empty Bottle: Prefuse 73, Gaslamp Killer, Voices Voices
House of Blues (5:30pm): Between the Bured and Me, Cynic, more
House of Blues (11pm): Shock Value II Tour w/ Down with Webster
Reggie’s Rock Club: 1997, Chasing Thrill, Shut Up and Deal, Universe, Minus the Girl
Ronny’s: Absolutely Not, Beekeeper, Hwy, The Auramatics
Schuba’s: The Spares, Chris Staples
Subterranean: This Providence, Coventry, Mathletes

Some pics from last night’s show at Schubas.

Overall, in my opinion at least, just a so-so night of music. Freelance Whales put on a really energetic, enjoyable set, and openers Lasers and Fast and Shit were a pleasantly surprising throwback to early-00′s Brooklyn electro-clash.

On the other hand, I was not a particular fan of Bear in Heaven (though their more proggy songs weren’t bad), and headliners Surfer Blood were pretty boring aside from the 2 or 3 really good tunes they have.

All in all, though, the show was pretty helpful to me to help winnow out which bands I need to see again at SXSW in March (Freelance Whales) and which I don’t (Bear in Heaven). And I can probably skip Surfer Blood as well, given that they confirmed during the show that they’ll be back in Chicago this summer for this year’s Pitchfork Fest.

Oh, and I also had the pleasure of finally meeting TartyTart from the Love Shack, Baby blog in person. If you’re not following her Twitter and/or blog, you should fix that right quick. She’s good people.

Surfer Blood

Freelance Whales

Bear in Heaven

Lasers and Fast and Shit

First video from the band’s fantastic new album, 2, which is out on January 26th via Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.

Thanks to Bradley’s Almanac for the heads up!

Oblio, “A Story of Nashville”

One of my favorite discoveries of the last year or so has been Nashville’s Oblio. The band released its latest album, Tonight, You’re Gonna Be a Revelation, late last year, and it’s been in pretty heavy rotation on my iPhone ever since.

So I was happy to open my email this morning to find an email announcing that the band is hitting the road for a two-week tour next month with the excellent Deleted Scenes.

Sadly, there’s no Chicago date as of now, but they’re hitting most of the Southeast and East coast, so that means that a good chunk of you fine folks who read this blog should be able to see them in (or near) your town. And I strongly, strongly recommend that you do so.

Oblio February Tour Dates
02/03 — Richmond, VA (The Triple)
02/04 — Philadelphia, PA (The Khyber)
02/05 — New York, NY (Cake Shop)
02/06 — Fredericksburg, VA (Woodbound Bookshop)
02/07 — Arlington, VA (IOTA)
02/08 — Raleigh, NC (Slim’s Downtown)
02/09 — Charlotte, NC (Snug Harbor)
02/11 — Atlanta, GA (Star Bar)
02/12 — Athens, GA (TBA)
02/13 — Nashville, TN (The Basement)

The second annual Harvest of Hope Fest is set to take place in St. Augustine, Florida from March 12th through March 14th.

The festival is designed to raise fund and awareness for the Harvest of Hope Foundation, an “organization that has been providing migrant farmworkers and their families with emergency relief and financial assistance for over 15 years.”

I can’t honestly say that I remember hearing about the first edition of the Harvest of Hope Festival, but the lineup for this year’s second annual festival looks pretty spectacular — Billy Bragg, The Mountain Goats, forgetters, Rogue Wave, Dead Confederate, and many, many more.

Beginning today, 3-day passes are available at an early-bird price of just $39.50. Prices will gradually go up in price to $49.50 and then $60.00 for walk-up purchases. Single-day tickets are also available, as are camping passes and VIP passes. Full info on tickets, camping, and everything else can be found here.

Here are the more interesting (to me) artists performing. Too bad St. Augustine is more than 1,000 miles away from Chicago. :^(

Billy Bragg
Dr. Dog
The Mountain Goats
Rogue Wave
Delta Spirit
Portugal. The Man
forgetters (ex-Jawbreaker & Against Me!)
Torche
Strike Anywhere
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Sea Wolf
Dr. Octagon aka Kool Keith
Dead Confederate
Samiam
Fruit Bats
Bear in Heaven
Freelance Whales
Small Brown Bike
Coalesce
James Husband (of Of Montreal)

Via the Goner Records message board:

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our good friend Jay Reatard. Jay died in his sleep last night. We will pass along information about funeral arrangements when they are made public.

Very, very sad.

The Plimsouls, “Zero Hour” (live)

Formed in 1978 by Peter Case (vocals, guitar) following his departure from The Nerves and The Breakaways, with Louie Ramirez (drums), Dave Pahoa (bass) and Eddie Muñoz (guitar), The Plimsouls effectively blended roots, British Invasion and garage rock into one unique soul-punk, garage-pop combo. [copied from press release]

N.b.: The band also had a short-lived reunion in the 90′s in which Blondie’s Clem Burke played drums. Although that reunion didn’t stick, Burke and Eddie Munoz have continued making music (along with Cyril Jordan of The Flamin’ Groovies) in San Francisco’s excellent Magic Christian.

Anyway, the point of this post is to let you know that Alive Records is set to release Live! Beg, Borrow & Steal, a live album featuring The Plimsouls’ October 31, 1981 performance at Hollywood’s Whisky A Go Go. The album comes out on February 23rd in physical (vinyl/CD) and digital format. Personally, I can’t wait.

Back when I was still living in DC, I used to have a whole page of the blog dedicated to keeping track of new concerts announced and/or going on sale each week.

I haven’t been doing that since I moved to Chicago – not because I’m lazy (although I most certainly am), but because Chicago venues don’t tend to update their listings in a particularly clear manner, making it difficult to determine exactly which shows are new and which are old. So, as a result, I never converted this page over to Chicago venues.

Anyway, all of this is just a long-winded way of saying that I’m making a slight exception this week due to the large number of FANTASTIC new shows that have been announce over the past couple of days. If you’re a music fan in Chicago, you’re gonna want to make sure these shows are on your radar, and that you buy tickets before they sell out.

February 1, 8, 15, 22: Robbie Fulks (Monday night residency) @ Hideout
March 10: Vetiver @ Empty Bottle
March 12: Vivian Girls @ Subterranean
April 1: Spoon @ Aragon Ballroom
April 1: Black Lips, Box Elders @ Logan Square Auditorium
April 4: Shearwater, Wye Oak @ Lincoln Hall
April 10: Mission of Burma @ Double Door
April 16: The Wedding Present @ Double Door
May 1: Quasi @ Lincoln Hall
May 10: Shout Out Louds @ Lincoln Hall

Sweden’s Shout Out Louds are set to release their third album, Work, on February 23rd via Merge Records. A free download of the track “Walls” is available here.

The band will hit the road for a 3-week US tour in support of the album in May. The tour starts on May 2nd in DC at the 9:30 Club, hits Lincoln Hall here in Chicago on May 10th, and ends at the El Rey in Los Angeles on May 21st.

Shout Out Loud Tour Dates
May 2: Washington, 9:30 Club
May 3: Philadelphia, First Unitarian Church
May 5: New York, Webster Hall
May 6: Boston, Paradise
May 7: Montreal, Cabaret Music Hall
May 8: Toronto, Mod Club
May 10: Chicago, Lincoln Hall
May 11: Minneapolis, Varsity Theater
May 14: Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom
May 15: Seattle, Neumos
May 16: Portland, Doug Fir
May 18: San Francisco, Great American Music Hall
May 20: San Diego, House of Blues
May 21: Los Angeles, El Rey