MP3: Neil Halsted- Paint a Face from oh mighty engine (July 29th, Brushfire Records)
Dream stirrer extraordinaire, Neil Halsted of Mojave 3, has crafted his second solo record. His follow-up will be available through Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records. Calm, contemplative pop-folk.

MP3: William F. Gibbs- Operate from My Fellow Sophisticates (Out now, Old Man Records)
This Southerner invariably is hard to peg. A couple months ago he had a track hosted on RCRD LBL that swung in the direction of Jeff Buckley. At the beginning of June, he gave us two funky grooves. Now, we’re treated to a heartfelt piano ballad.

MP3: The Broken West- Perfect Games from Now or Heaven? (September 9th, Merge)
More soaring power pop from the group that crafted one of our favorite songs of 2007, “Baby On My Arm.” To be honest, their Merge debut was ht or miss– this would be a focused hit.

MP3: Robert Pollard- Gratification To Concrete from Robert Pollard Is Off To Business (Out now, GBV, Inc)
Hell, I might be biased when it comes to Pollard. In my opinion, this solo output is closer to what fans of Guided By Voices (polished years) will be looking for.

And now for this week¹s Smorgasbord Sundae Wafer…
Stream/MP3: Oceans- Your Plane Leaves Tomorrow (Self released)
While this number might not get a proper release, the Urbana/Chicago kids just wrapped up recording a slew of new songs during the Puerto Rican independence weekend in Humboldt Park. That takes focus people. Go see some seriously epic post-rock tomorrow, June 26th at Beat Kitchen. They’re opening for fellow locals, Mt. St. Helens.

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Wow, dudes…the annual Hideout Block Party is always a fitting wrap to the outdoor festival season here in Chicago, but this year’s first lineup announcement has me giggling like a school girl. Be sure to block off the weekend of September 20th & 21st, kids…

Neko Case
The New Pornographers
Plastic People of the Universe
Vieux Farka Toure
Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
Monotonix
Black Mountain
Ratatat
Robbie Fulks
Wee Hairy Beasties
Honey Boy Edwards / Devil in a Woodpile
The Jon Rauhouse Sestet
Dark Meat
The Uglysuit
Tim Fite
Little Cow

Solo Neko and the Pornos?? Black Mountain’s psych stoner rock? Hometown insurgent country hero Robbie Fulks? Ratatat’s revival? Oh my, oh my…

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Tuesday is the night in Chicago this week, with Clem Snide mastermind Eef Barzelay at Schubas, the incomperable piano pop of Shearwater at the Mansion, and the godmother of chick angst empowerment, Liz Phair, playing the entirety of Exile in Guyville. The rest of the week is a bit slim, but Nova Scotian power poppers Sloan will undoubtedly crush the Double Door tonight, and the post-punk-heavy Belmont Music & Arts Festival will bring a much-needed dose of grime to the otherwise pristine summer here in Chicago.

MONDAY, JUNE 23

Sloan w/ Golden Dogs @ Double Door

TUESDAY, JUNE 24

Frog Eyes w/ Evangelicals @ The Mansion

Eef Barzelay @ Schubas

Shearwater @ The Mansion

Liz Phair @ The Vic

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25

The Juan McLean @ Smartbar

THURSDAY, JUNE 26

Heypenny @ Schubas

FRIDAY, JUNE 27:

Cursive @ Subterranean

Marshall Crenshaw @ Schubas

Chaka Khan w/ Angie Stone @ Pertrillo Band Shell

SATURDAY, JUNE 28

Maria Taylor @ Beat Kitchen

Cursive, Maritime, Unwed Sailor, Parlor Mob, American Music Club @ Belmont Arts Festival (also Sunday)

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Twelve years ago today, the reign of proto-power pop kings of Chicago Material Issue came to an end with the suicide of frontman Jim Ellison. I didn’t live in Chicago during Ish’s heyday, but I hadn’t been in this city a week before I was intimately familiar with the music and the band’s mythic status among the small, fiercely independent underground in this city. Though they were both critically and commercially successful, and Ellison was as much of a big shot as you could get and still be a Chicago artist, it never seemed to be enough.

For many fans of melodic, post-punk leaning rock music, Material Issue picked up where the Replacements left off in the early 90’s. Though 1994’s Freak City Soundtrack was my personal introduction to the band and is still my go-to Ish record, 1991’s International Pop Overthrow would prove to be the band’s nascent masterpiece. Few students of the “college rock” movement of that time would argue with “Valerie Loves Me” as being one of the finest examples of the crossover appeal that punk rock spirit has when tempered with radio-ready production and massive pop hooks.

Though Ellison left a suicide note, the contents were never made public and speculation as to why a brilliant songwriter with a band still on an upward trajectory would take his own life hasn’t died down after more than a decade. The only silver lining for fans like myself is that the manic, pounding beat of “Going Through Your Purse” and the knife-twisting, weirdly desperate love song pop of “Very First Lie” still sound as fresh, honest, and sincere as they did nearly fifteen years ago.

MP3: Material Issue - Valerie Loves Me (live)

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I was talking yesterday to my pal Amy, who is an accomplished music writer and always good for a little astute opining. I asked her if she thought that our generation (the late Xers-early Yers) would ever really be credible. I seem to encounter issues with asserting my own credibility in certain company when I mention that the first band that ever made me think about my own condition was Nirvana. I was eleven years old when Nevermind came out, and I was rotting under a cloud of cock rock and hair metal in Midwestern suburbia. No, my first favorite band wasn’t Black Flag, but I got there…so how is the path I took any less credible than my peers a few years older?

I asked Amy for her opinion because she’d recently contributed to a NPR segment called “The Sound of a Generation” for its renowned All Songs Considered, where she joined former Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein and NPR Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson to talk about the roles popular music has played in each of their lives and the lives of their peers. Amy is my age, so many of her early entrees into alternative or independent music were the same as mine - the bands we had access to, like Nirvana, turned us onto the bands that meant something to them, like Sonic Youth and the aforementioned Black Flag/SST scene.

Just 5-10 years older, Carrie’s and Stephen’s experiences were completely different. Their teen years were spent in American indie underground, before Nevermind blew the doors off and exposed its tattooed underbelly to the masses. Music nerds who are 5 years younger than me also had a different experience finding and ingesting offbeat stuff during their formative teen years - the Internet.

So, gentle reader, where do you stand? What was your first favorite “cool” band?

MP3: Sonic Youth - Silver Rocket

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