Asobi Seksu

It’s the autumnal equinox, Charlie Brown! In celebration of the first real day of fall, we’ve got a fine selection of shows for your weekend party planning. We’re talking up The Hideout Block Party, Deerhoof, Asobi Seksu and much more!

Come on. Feel the Illinoise, already!

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Usually I’m pretty quick to despise anything that tries to revamp beloved items from my childhood, but those rascals OK Go do a fairly decent job of covering The Muppets theme and goofing around with everyone from Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker (who knock the band off their treadmills) to Dr. Teeth and Janice and even Statler and Waldorf (who didn’t rip OK Go a new one, highly unusual). The Muppets theme appears on The Green Album, a collection of covers by today’s hippest artists including other Chicago musicians such as Andrew Bird, who covered “Being Green,” and Alkaline Trio, who lent their pop punk style to “Movin’ Right Along.”

It’s safe to say The Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, believes in the motto: Go big or go home.

The revered music venue announced the lineup for its 15th anniversary block party on Tuesday evening. The event, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24, is packed with powerhouse names such as Mavis Staples, Andrew Bird, Big Freedia, White Mystery, Booker T Jones, Jon Langford, The Eternals, Opera-Matic and up-and-comers Kids These Days.

The Hideout’s mega-watt block party goes on sale this Friday, July 22 at 10 a.m. Tickets are $25. Of course, you don’t have to wait for the “official” on-sale. WXRT is having a good, old-fashioned pre-sale. Get your password here.

As if you couldn’t love The Hideout more, the Chicago Tribune’s Greg Kot reports that The Hideout has raised $250,000 for local charities through its annual block parties.

For more information on the block party and the acts playing, check out hideoutchicago.com.

As we reported earlier, Andrew Bird is releasing an instrumental album, Useless Creatures, as a standalone CD and LP next week on Tuesday, October 26, via Fat Possum Records.

Previously, Useless Creatures was only available with the deluxe edition of his 2009 album, Noble Beast. But we’ve got a little taste of Useless Creatures to tide you over until next week.

Check out “Hot Math”, a seven minute-plus, raw instrumental that features a lot of plucking action. Listen below:

And if you haven’t gotten tickets to any of the three Gezelligheid concerts Bird is performing in December, then you’ll have to hit up Cragislist or Ebay! All three shows are SOLD OUT!

Good news for you Bird-brains! Andrew Bird is bringing back his intimate and mostly instrumental Gezelligheid shows back to Chicago this winter!

UPDATE: Well, the 12/16 and 12/17 shows sold out rather quickly. But good news! Bird has added a additional Gezelligheid on Wednesday, December 15. Tickets will go on sale to the public this Saturday, October 2, at 10:00 a.m. the Vic Theatre Box Office and through Etix.com and are $35-40. Set your alarm clock!

After last year’s successful three night run at the Fourth Presbyterian Church last December, Bird is not only bringing the Gezelligheid, which is dutch for coziness, shows back to Chicago, but will also do similar gigs in Washington D.C. and Boston. The shows, like last year, will feature Bird playing solo through his trademark horn speakers with ambient light sources while he builds loop after loop.

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Yesterday, we brought you the news that Andrew Bird will be bringing his Gezelligheid shows back to Chicago this December. Today, we’ve got another interesting nugget of Bird news.

Bird’s instrumental album, Useless Creatures, was only available in the deluxe edition of his 2009 release Noble Beast, until now that is. He’s releasing Useless Creatures as a stand alone CD and vinyl LP this October 25. You can preorder the record right now at Fatpossum.com. And for you overseas Bird loves, Useless Creatures will be release in Europe via Bella Union sometime this fall.

And don’t forget! Tickets for the Gezelligheid shows go on sale this Saturday, September 25, at 10:00 a.m. the Vic Theatre Box Office and through Etix.com and are $35-40.

Monday Afternoon Quick Fix runs every Monday afternoon to showcase the best of Chicago music news, views and stories from around the interwebs and blogosphere that we might have missed.

• • Windy City Rock recorded an interview and live music session with Soft Speaker.
• • The New York Times went and hung out at the newly re-opened Fireside Bowl in Logan Square.
• • Fresh off a hot set at the Pitchfork Music Festival, Jon Spencer had a few choice words regarding “fucking asshole” Jim DeRogatis.
• • Gaper’s Block took some time to chat with Jason Davis of the prolific Archeology
• • The Smashing Pumpkins benefit concert at Metro for Madina Lake bassist Matthew Leone netted over $80K and featured an appearance from Gov. Pat Quinn.
• • Andrew Bird wrote two new songs and the score to the soon to be released independent film “Norman.”