The record’s second single, “Blind Our Eyes,” is making its way around the interwebs, and it’s easy to hear why.

The track, recorded in the band’s home studio in Logan Square, definitely sounds professional. It opens with a thick guitar strums, which leads the tune in a funky arrangement complete with bouncy bass, sharp guitar leads and solid rhythms (shaker included!) over which melodic vocals soar. Listen to “Blind Our Eyes” after the jump.

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BIG SCIENCE
9:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 30.
The Burlington, 3425 W Fullerton Ave.
21+. $5 Donation.
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9:00 p.m. Wednesday, 5/16. The Burlington. 21+. $7 donation.

coffin pricks

In a world filled with dubstep DJs and party rock anthems, Chicago punks Coffin Pricks are standing tall under the banner of “unchill wave.”

Coffin Pricks take a page or two from bands like Mission of Burma and Husker Du by displaying speed and agility while maintaining a minimalist punk approach. Because of this, the lead track on the group’s recent EP, “Group Home Haircut,” isn’t overly intimidating. There’s enough melody and catchy guitar parts to compel listeners to dance while the back beats crackle at their feet.

If “Group Home Haircut” sounds like a weary, but wise old track, maybe it’s because Coffin Pricks themselves have seen and heard it all while playing in previous bands such as Ignition, Maximum Wage, Daylight Robbery, and Bob Tilton.

Coffin Pricks are releasing its brand-new EP Group Home Haircut on Tuesday, May 15, through Stationary (Heart) Records. It’s limited to 300 copies and will feature artwork by none other than John Herndon of Tortoise.

Coffin Pricks will celebrate the EP’s release at Subterranean this Thursday, May 17, along with Summer Girlfriends, Radar Eyes and Hollows. Tickets are $8.

This year, Riot Fest will undergo a transformation in to a three-day outdoor festival in Humboldt Park on September 14-16 and join the ranks of other Chicago destination festivals including Lollapalooza, Pitchfork Music Festival and North Coast Music Festival.

The initial lineup for the revamped Riot Fest includes headliners Rise Against, Iggy and the Stooges, The Offspring and Elvis Costello.

Other acts of note are Coheed And Cambria, Descendents, Gogol Bordello, NoFx, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Promise Ring, Built To Spill, GWAR, Nobunny and Chicago’s own White Mystery. Check out the complete lineup here.

Additionally, here’s a map of what the Humboldt Park grounds will become during the festival:

Three and two day passes are on sale for $90 and $36, respectively, and two-day VIP passes are on sale for $155 now at RiotFest.org.

9:00 p.m. Tuesday, 5/15. Subterranean. 21+. $8.

• • The Chicago Reader has raised the ire of the Chicago hip-hop community with its recent cover story, “Scratch and Stitch,” about the relationship between Chicago rappers and the streetwear companies that release their music. The cover depicts local rapper ShowYouSuck with a circle over his face that reads: “Insert Chicago Rapper Here,” which many including ShowYouSuck (AKA Clinton Sandifer) interpreted that action as the Reader saying that all rappers are the same. Gapers Block has responses from both The Chicago Reader’s editor-in-chief Mara Shalhoup and ShowYouSuck about the controversy.
• • The Congress Theater’s owners have filed a lawsuit against the city for what it calls an unfair crackdown on the concert venue’s ability to sell alcohol during concerts. Chicago Pipeline reported last week that the Congress’ general manager was taken into custody and charged with “failure to cooperate with police regarding illegal activity in a licensed premise and with violation of hours of operation.”
• • Archie Powell (of Archie Powell & The Exports) recently appeared on the podcast Ice Cream Headache with two radio DJs from Louisville, Kentucky. If you can get past the stereotypical DJ banter, Powell talks Mustaches vs Goatees, the hits of Collective Soul, and his love of Ke$ha despite the fact that she looks “gamey.”
• • Jessica Hopper charts the journey of Chicago electro-pop duo the Halamays from their early acoustic open mic nights in Ohio to collaborating as a dreamy pop husband and wife team in Chicago.
• • Windy City Rock catches up with Jim Carroll of Chicago noise-pop trio Unicycle Loves You.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTM9xFf34jQ

9:30 p.m. Monday, 5/14. Empty Bottle. 21+. FREE.

Weekend! Time to hit the clubs! This time around we’re talking Dead On TV at Ultra Lounge, the Velcro Lewis Group at Cole’s, Population at the Empty Bottle and more!

Let’s do this…

FRIDAY

DEAD ON TV
It’s always time to rage with Dead On TV. This Chicago outfits brandishes a particularly menacing electro-punk assault that blurs the lines between distorted guitars and grinding synths. It’s also quite nice to find the ground have a sense of humor as portrayed in their tongue in cheek song which bears their name, “Deaf On TV,” as Alice in Chains, MTV, Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson are all name dropped with ease that leads to a heavy synth assault. Also rocking the stage tonight are metallic alt-punks Velocicopter, gritty heavy rockers Control and apocalyptic scuzzers DirtyBird. (Richard Giraldi)

9:00 p.m. Friday, 5/11. Ultra Lounge. 21+. $8.

JACK AND ACE
If you’re looking for a mellow affair this Friday, look no further than Jack and Ace, aka Chicago musicians Bob Nanna and Lauren LoPiccolo. The pair, who have previously worked together on Nanna’s project The City on Film, have teamed up to create dreamy pop tunes that are delicately strummed on acoustic guitars. Plus you really can’t beat a song title like “I’m Sorry That You Are The Black Death.” (Audrey Leon)

6:00 p.m. (EARLY SHOW) Friday, 5/11. Township. All Ages. $6.

SATURDAY

MUTTS
In the mood for some bluesy swamp-grooves? Look no further than Chicago’s Mutts whose sound is powered by a heavy, southern-gravy thick organ and Mike Maimone’s vocals that run the gamut from Texas drawl to metallic shrieks. There’s no guitar here, but plenty of soul satisfy. Plus, this is the vinyl release (oh, yeah!) for their latest LP, Pray For Rain. Mutts were also recently added to Do-Division festival, so you might just want to catch them in an air conditioned club before the weather takes a turn for the hot. Opening are rock n rollers Jet W. Lee and punkers GoodGrief. (Richard Giraldi)

9:00 p.m. Saturday, 5/12. The Burlington. 21+. $5.

THE VELCRO LEWIS GROUP

Got soul? No? Then get some Saturday night when sweet R&B rockers The Velcro Lewis Group hit Cole’s stage. These LLP faves pack a whole lot of powerful, heart-wrenching blues vocals (spread out among singers Andy Slater, Hawk Coleman and Lawrence Peters) with equally groovy bits and pieces of 60s psych rock and soul. Joe Cocker eat your heart out because The Velcro Lewis Group will deliver a body-moving, soul-shaking sermon tonight. (Audrey Leon)

10:00 p.m. Saturday, 5/12. Cole’s. 21+ Free!

SUNDAY

POPULATION
Some bands sound better with age and some bands just sound aged. Chicago post-punk quintet Population fall into the latter category because of their late 70s punk and new wave sound. Population’s synths and bass lines throb and pulsate around Keelan McMorrow’s moody, Ian Curtis-inspired vocals in a way that inspires plenty of shimmying and shaking. Population wear Joy Division prominently on their sleeves, but in this case, they wear it very well. (Audrey Leon)

9:30 p.m. Sunday, 5/13. Empty Bottle. 21+ $3.

Maps & Atlases new album, Beware and Be Grateful, gets better with more repetition. At a first listen, the record stands precariously close to being sonically overwhelming. The diverse, unconventional sounds—looped vocals, shimmering synths and intermittent piano work—collide head on with the band’s traditional set of instruments.

However, after multiple journeys through, the listener starts to parse the music’s diverse elements, and can appreciate the multilayered and loaded tracks that comprise Beware and Be Grateful.

Just as infectious as they were on their debut LP, Perch Patchwork (2010), the Chicago indie rockers provide bubbly tracks that float along a gentle stream of music, but something darker, something sinister lies beneath the murky waters.

Beware and Be Grateful, even in its title, seems to serve as a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of love with a Benjamin Button-like affinity for reverse chronology in telling its story.

The album kicks off with the “Old & Gray,” a track with an air of desperation thanks to singer Dave Davison’s vocal work that channels the sound of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon à la For Emma, Forever Ago. The dramatic end to the song, which features only Davison’s desperate singing, a taut underlying guitar riff and the intermittent swelling of piano in short spurts, is both disorienting and exciting in its unpredictability. “Old & Gray” also gives way to Davison’s impressive lyrical styling, in which he aptly gives idiomatic phrases heartbreaking literal context: “And our writing on the wall is under three coats of paint/In an apartment we don’t live in anymore.”

If “Old & Gray” speaks to the jaded loss of love that comes with age, then the upbeat “Bugs” and “Be Three Years Old” highlight a rambling, youthful imagination. Yet the overarching feelings of spoiled innocence and heartbreak remain constant. The two tracks also carry definite parallels to the sounds of Vampire Weekend, until the breakdown in “Be Three Years Old,” where Davison’s distorted, distant vocals evokes the style of Cage the Elephant frontman Matt Shultz in “Around My Head.”

“Old Ash,” is notable for its epic and dominating drum beat—reminiscent of Japanese taiko war drums played slowly—that bears some tribal flavor.

Beware and Be Grateful may sound dense and complicated at the outset, but first impressions can be deceiving. The record requires some perseverance on the listener’s end, but those who give the music time will be rewarded with a rich, satisfying sonic experience.

Purchase Beware and Be Grateful at Kungfunation.com

Maps & Atlases -- “Remote & Dark Years”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqQ9i5m_pEk