Pick Your Poison: Monday 9-15-14

It’s been a minute since I’ve mentioned and actively promoted a Chicago show here on the site. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to, but with summer festival season and all that brings it seemed like there weren’t a lot of bands playing shows in town that weren’t part of a 50-150 artist roster. Now that the fall concert season has all but arrived, all of those festivals are gone and we’re left with a whole lot of shows at a whole lot of venues. Case in point, this upcoming Saturday, September 20th at Schubas. Cymbals Eat Guitars are coming through town, on tour to help promote their great new record LOSE. If you’ve not listened to the band in awhile, or ever, they deserve an introduction or re-introduction as the case may be. Their sound is best described as indie rock, which can often feel more like a vague phrase with plenty of artists fallng into that category. But there’s not really any other way to categorize a band that’s kind of all over the place stylistically but in a really good sort of way. There are elements of punk, prog, metal, pop and psychedelia, where guitars play a central role. I mean, “guitars” is in their damn name! They’re most often compared to Built to Spill or Modest Mouse, which I feel largely makes sense, but once again isn’t quite all-encompassing. It’s probably best if you listen to a couple of songs such as “Warning” and “Chambers” to gain a better understanding of where this band is at in 2014. Better yet, hop on Spotify or something and stream the full record if you’re hesitant to make a purchase outright. They’re a thoroughly excellent live band as well, and should figuratively burn down the building at a small venue like Schubas. Opening for CEG will be two great local Chicago bands, Varsity and Pink Frost. The cool kids of Varsity are currently in the middle of recording their debut full length, which will be out in 2015. Earlier this year they put out a delightfully fun and catchy EP to strong critical acclaim, and have secured some great opening slots in recent months for artists like Courtney Barnett and Alvvays. Meanwhile Pink Frost will be unleashing their debut EP Traitors onto an unsuspecting world tomorrow, and their set at Schubas will serve as a release party. Their sound is best described as psych-rock with a shoegaze edge, though they remind me quite a bit of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Overall it’s a triple bill worth checking out, what with two local bands quickly on the rise and a headliner that’s just put out one of the best records of their careers. Tickets are only $14, and can be purchased here. I hope to see you at the show! Now how about the Monday edition of Pick Your Poison? There’s some strong tracks in this set from Kyle Bauder, Nights, Run the Jewels, Seyffert, Whitewash, Yes I’m Leaving and Miracles Club’s remix of a Cut Copy track. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream new songs from Cold Specks (covering Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds), Dan Bodan, Lee Gamble, Sea Oleena, SOS, and remixes of tracks from Caribou and Jungle.