I’m heading to Chicago tonight to experience Lincoln Hall for the first time. It’s been years since I’ve seen Akron/Family live and I’ve also heard great things about the opener Delicate Steve. But first, we’re swinging by Schubas to check out Juniper Tar’s set.

Though it’s early in the year Akron/Family’s S/T II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey Of Shinju TNT has quickly risen to the top of the stuff I’ve heard this year. There’s a great video of the band performing “Canopy” at Christ’s Church Cathedral in Hamilton, Ontario a few nights back. The always reliable NYC Taper has the audio from the Akron/Family set at the Knitting Factory last week.

You should also check out Wye Oak’s set from the Rock Shop in New York last month, also courtesy of NYC Taper. Wye Oaks’ fortcoming record, Civilian arrives March 8th on Merge Records and is also one of the best albums we’ve heard this year. Wye Oak plays a free show at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI on Wednesday, April 6th.

Did you see Destroyer’s amazing performance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon? So good. Watch it here.

NPR is web-casting tonight’s Low Anthem concert at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.

Iron & Wine return to Milwaukee on Tuesday, June 7th with a show at Turner Hall Ballroom. The room is a perfect match for the 70′s sound found on their new album, Kiss Each Other Clean

Esti, our newest contributor from Austin, delivers a gorgeous video collage of Phatogram’s recent stop at the Mohawk set to “Mouthful of Diamonds” (official video here). If you haven’t taken a spin through their Barsuk Records release, Eyelid Movies, we would strongly encourage you to do so.

The band is currently on tour with Josiah Wolf (Why?), including stops scheduled at the High Noon Saloon in Madison (10/23) and Lincoln Hall in Chicago (10/24) this weekend. Head’s up to those in Madison, Strictly Discs will be holding an in-store performance for 50 people at 3PM.

MP3: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”
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Buy: Phantogram – Eyelid Movies

I’ve been playing the Lower Dens repeatedly over the last week. Their entire record, Twin-Hand Movement is a great play. But in particular I’ve been playing the song “I Get Nervous” constantly. The song, as well as three others appears in the above Tiny Desk Concert video with thanks to NPR Music. The band has a few dates later this month amidst their world tour. We’ve got their October 29th Lincoln Hall show with Bear In Heaven circled on our calendar.

MP3: Lower Dens – “I Get Nervous”
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Buy: Lower Dens – Twin-Hand Movement

One of the best concerts I saw last year was School of Seven Bells at the High Noon Saloon. I walked in with no expectation and walked out blow away by the School of Seven Bells live show.

The group is on tour in September and October in support of their fantastic new record, Disconnect From Desire, including stops in Chicago (9/17, Lincoln Hall) and Madison (9/18, Majestic Theatre) next month.

Giveaway: We have a pair of tickets to see School of Seven Bells at the Majestic in Madison and a copy of their new record, Disconnect From Desire to giveaway to the Muzzle of Bees faithful. Drop a comment telling us your favorite song of the moment (past or present) and if you’d prefer the concert tickets or the CD. We’ll select two winners at random on Friday. Be sure to leave a valid e-mail address in your comment so we may contact you should you win.

MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Windstorm”
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Buy: School Of Seven Bells – Disconnect From Desire

By Alex Schaaf

There are many ways for your senses to be hit by a good show. Obviously sound is a primary suspect – most people go to a show expecting a good-sounding performance. It is music, after all. The visual aspect is also usually important, as some bands can give you a feast for the eyes as much as one for the ears.

Last night’s Japandroids show, however, was the first time I’ve really felt a show – physically. The kick drum sound in Chicago’s Lincoln Hall was bigger than anything I’ve ever heard, as each hit shook my entire body. This may have been partly due to the fact that I was standing in front of a subwoofer, but even from the back of the room, Lincoln Hall was a loud place Friday night. And it was only fitting that Japandroids was the band to take advantage of this sound.

Out of all the bands that I have been listening to lately, Japandroids is the one that you “feel” more than you “hear.” Sure, the songs are catchy and the guitar playing is inventive, but you don’t listen to a Japandroids song and then have an intellectual discussion about the songwriting merits of Brian King and David Prowse, breaking down the way they implemented that major seventh chord in the bridge, or the slant rhymes being utilized in the lyrics.

This is not to say that the music of Japandroids is “simple” or “dumbed-down.” Rather, the band has struck upon the perfect combination of face-melting guitar sounds and huge sing-along choruses. Many songs consist of only a few lines of lyrics, or only two or three chords in the entire song. “Wet Hair,” for example, is made up of three lines that are repeated over and over. But rather than limiting their potential, this technique allows those lines to become so ingrained that it becomes physically impossible to restrain from shouting along to the words — “We run the gauntlet/Let’s get to France/So we can French kiss some French girls.” In “Young Hearts Spark Fire,” the chorus of “I don’t wanna worry about dying/I just wanna worry about those sunshine girls” is joyously declared over and over until all thoughts of worry and anxiety are long gone.

Friday night’s show saw the Japandroids playing every single song off of their debut album, 2009’s Post-Nothing, as well as both songs off of their recently released 7” and a Mclusky cover, which they closed with. The sold-out crowd was energetic and the band fed off of this energy all night, as King jumped all around the stage and Prowse pounded away like a madman, not even stopping for an encore break – “We’re not going to do that ‘go off the stage and come back on’ shit, we’re just going to play the last song for you right now.”

The first band on the bill was Chicago’s Lasers and Fast and Shit, who played a bizarre yet enjoyable set consisting of minute-long songs which stormed through tales of Arctic wolves and bombs, the songs ending almost as soon as they had begun. They had their own light show, which, combined with the massive amounts of fog on stage, led to an impressive visual presentation, but one that got a little annoying after a while. The second band was Avi Buffalo, a young band from California that presented a little more mellow sound, one that was pleasant and interesting, but ultimately forgettable.

The sound for Japandroids was plenty loud and bone-vibrating, but it was ultimately a bit muddy. This seemed to work for the band, however, as most of the vocal melodies weren’t really nailed anyways, with King and Prowse yelling most of the lines rather than trying to hit the exact notes. With most bands, this would annoy me, but with Japandroids, it was perfect. The show wasn’t about hitting the right notes, or making sure the crowd could understand the words, it was about getting us to feel it, and they certainly succeeded.

MP3: Japandroids – “Young Hearts Spark Fire”
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Buy: Japandroids – Post-Nothing

By Nick Quirke

On a Saturday night, which felt more like a reverent Sunday morning, A.A. Bondy and Elvis Perkins in Dearland played to an engaged and patchouli-soaked crowd at Chicago’s newest rock venue, Lincoln Hall. Alternating between holy, hushed words and towering trombones over marching band-worthy percussion, the two artists seemed polar opposites, yet it was clear from the emotion and intensity in each of their performances that they share a passion for performance and storytelling.

Bondy stood quietly over the audience, basked in a dark red light and began quietly and deliberately finger picking his Gretsch guitar, a preview of what we were to enjoy from the technically proficient and creative guitarist.

He leapt quickly into new material from his 2009 release, When the Devil’s Loose, with the sprawling, tentative “Slow Parade,” and intentionally kept the volume to little more than a whisper through the first verse. Only during the second chorus did this dirge fully reveal itself as the expansive and anthemic work it is. The audience, fresh off antibiotics from Chicago’s brutal flu season, hushed coughs and stood silent until Bondy’s guitar came crashing down, signaling the parade’s arrival.

Moving deliberately through more new material with his band, listeners were treated to pristine sound, arranged by tour manager Jake McLaughlin, which seems to be the hallmark of this new, indie-friendly venue.

In a performance that seemed appropriate for Club Silencio, seen in David Lynch’s largely misunderstood film Mulholland Drive, Bondy’s band steps off stage and takes in his cover of My Pretty Valentine. No hay banda. If this surreal moment was the sonic nadir of the show, the peak was to follow shortly, as Bondy tuned his guitar to an open E chord and began plucking and picking the resonant first notes of “Black Rain, Black Rain.”

Bondy, who could draw favorable musical comparisons to Jeff Buckley or Lou Reed, noticed and appreciated the congregation’s silence and attentiveness as he made his way through fan favorites “Killed Myself When I Was Young,” “Oh The Vampyre” and “To The Morning.”

Bondy closed the night with “I Can See The Pines Are Dancing,” which was fitting, but the real emotion from the set came from his earnest and sanguine slower numbers.

Displaying the showmanship that endears fans to small venues and independent music alike, Elvis Perkins’ band began their set in the balcony and processed to join the singer on the stage as if they were the brass band following a Louisiana funeral.

Perkins begins by worshiping at the microphone, solemnly emoting a song that continued the night’s soft, stoic feel. But all that changed when Brigham Brough broke out his stand up bass and began to construct the bouncing rhythm section of the New Orleans sound that has been the trademark of Perkins’ projects.

Perkins, who at times sounded like a young Roy Orbison, exhibited impressive vocal harmonies with his band mates, while tearing through “Slow Doomsday,” off the group’s new Doomsday EP and “Shampoo,” the breakout hit from early 2009’s eponymous release. But the artist lost the room after asking for a sing-along, which was rebuffed by a crowd content to peer into the dark and deep past that Perkins seems to carry. Afterward, Perkins laments the audience’s participation, calling it, “the best we’ve heard on tour.” After a weak applause, Perkins continues, “that’s not true.”

This moment was forgotten shortly after, though, as Nick Kinsey led the band with a booming beat played upon a marching band-style drum wrapped around his torso. The bouncy number morphs from a revival hymn into a Paul Simon Graceland-era harmony, finally engaging and elating a crowd that seemed to need more from the headliner.

The night ended with a traditional hoe down; Bondy and accompanying band members joined Perkins to close the set with the fast version of “Doomsday.” The stage, replete with instruments, becomes a smaller version of the dance party a few feet below, and everyone leaves satisfied.

It should be noted however, that A.A. Bondy delivered a raw, feral performance that stole the show, and though Perkins did not connect fully with the audience, his music continues to impress.

Buy: Elvis Perkins in Dearland | A.A. Bondy
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MP3: Elvis Perkins in Dearland – “Shampoo”
MP3: Elvis Perkins in Dearland – “Slow Doomsday”
MP3: A.A. Bondy – “I Can See The Pines Are Dancing”
MP3: A.A. Bondy :: “When The Devil’s Loose”