Photo Credit: Carrie Musgrave - livebabylive.com

There are thousands of great local bands playing every week in our fair city. Some you might know and some you might not. Seeing as it’s the beginning of a brand new year, we thought we’d point out some local bands who we think you might want to keep your eye on in 2012. And isn’t it always cool to say you were a fan of popular act back in the day when they were playing for eight people in a crappy dive bar? Yes, it is always cool. (Ed. Note: Although numbered, this list is in no particular order)

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Dastardly | Photo by Tiela Halpin

From their raucous live performances to their elaborate music videos, it doesn’t take much media consumption to figure out that the members of Dastardly are pretty cool customers. The Americana outfit craft soulful harmonies around rich, heartfelt storytelling and playful rhythms. The group’s debut EP May You Never… was somewhere between Elliott Smith and light-hearted bluegrass. Since then, the band has moved into a house together, pulled off a musical variety hour at The Hideout that absolutely slayed and recorded a follow-up that sounds grown-up, but still knows how to amuse.

If 2011 was busy, expect 2012 to be jam-packed for the band. Dastardly releases Bury Me in the Country on January 31, but the band celebrates the album’s release tonight at Lincoln Hall with friends Brighton, Ma, and Santah.

Loud Loop Press caught up with Dastardly’s frontman Gabe Liebowitz to steal his storytelling secrets and to discover what brand of bourbon he consumes most often.

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Seeing how our staff has distinct tastes and opinions on music, it would be nearly impossible for us to determine a 10 Albums of 2011 list as a single entity without excessive bloodshed. So over the next couple of days, we’ll be posting Top 10 Albums of 2011 lists as determined by individual Loud Loop Press staff members. Today, associate editor Audrey Leon offers up her list for Top 10 Albums of 2011.

I decided to do it a little differently this year. I honestly didn’t think I could find another way to describe how great the new St. Vincent or Wild Flag or Le Butcherettes records were. Therefore, I decided to keep things local and give you my favorite Chicago records of the year. Sounds good, right?And for those who might get perturbed about this list only having 14 albums (including the Honorable Mentions) instead of an (even?) 15, let’s just say the fifteenth was, uh, Wilco? Sure, why not. So, behold my favorite records in 2011 from some very rad windy citizens…

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Seeing how our staff has distinct tastes and opinions on music, it would be nearly impossible for us to determine a 10 Albums of 2011 list as a single entity without excessive bloodshed. So over the next couple of days, we’ll be posting Top 10 Albums of 2011 lists as determined by individual Loud Loop Press staff members. Today, associate editor Audrey Leon offers up her list for Top 10 Albums of 2011.

What a long strange trip it has been. All obligatory yearbook quotes aside, 2011 has been an interesting year for music. I spent all year questing after that one (or ten) album that would kick my ass, make me want to dance and/or make me fall in love so hard I can’t breathe by the end of it. Odd requirements, I know, but at least now I have many excellent contenders for future ex-husbands.

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Seeing how our staff has distinct tastes and opinions on music, it would be nearly impossible for us to determine a 10 Albums of 2010 list as a single entity without excessive bloodshed. So over the next couple of days, we’ll be posting Top 10 Albums of 2011 lists as determined by individual Loud Loop Press staff members. Today, contributor Britni Day body slams us with her list for Top 10 Albums of 2011.

This year, I felt like I was inundated with a lot of crap on the radio. If I wasn’t learning Jagger’s moves or getting my kicks pumped, then I was rolling around in the deep (whatever that means) or forced to deal with some unfortunate guy named Mr. Saxobeat. But where radio stations failed, Chicago’s musicians rose up, reminding me real talent is out there – sans auto-tune or “da club.” I’ve reserved 3 special spots for some of my favorite locals on this list. I would also like to note that even though we do not have a Top Ten Songs of 2011, “Lana Deth Ray” by Chicago’s own Rodeo is pretty bitchin’. Just like LMFAO, I have passion in my pants and I ain’t afraid to show it, so here’s your sexcellent top ten.

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Purple Apple | Photo by Katie Hovland

At the tender age of eight, most kids are playing video games and eating way too much sugar. However, the young ladies of Purple Apple started a band, wrote music and lyrics, and got noticed.

Just a few years later, Olivia (lead vox and rhythm guitar), Madison (bassist, keyboards), Nonie (lead guitar, backing vox) and their babysitter Devin (drums) have Chicago rock legend Scott Lucas as a mentor, and Purple Apple have released their first EP in addition to playing some of the biggest venues in town. All this before their freshman year of high school.

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“Take Five” focuses on Chicago’s ever-growing music scene by giving you insight to the city’s best local acts via the best source possible: the artists themselves. Here is the latest installment featuring Arctic Sleep.

When first falling in love with the guitar, the world shrinks down around it. Most budding relationships between instrument and player fixate on some combination of scales, solos, shredding, weird chord voicing and strange strumming patterns. But for a select few there is only one musical god to pay homage to and that’s tone. It’s from these guitar geeks that the genres of post-rock, shoegaze, doom, and bands like Arctic Sleep are born.

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