1. I’m mixing it up again by pointing you toward the Whistler on a Monday night. Free is free. While the Bottle is throwing up 80′s style dance pop (I shan’t waste your time with my feelings on that), our friends at the Whistler are giving us a more classic night of folk rock. To the bands!

2. Chicago’s Fall Fox combine the wordiness of one Bob Dylan with the more quirky vocal stylings of a Violent Femmes. You can take my word on this, or better yet, get over to Fall Fox’s Bandcamp page and download its EP for free. Yes, free! The band seem to offer a bracelet for $1.75, so Fall Fox are something of a Renaissance band.

3. I’ve got the sinking suspicion that each band is a one-member organism that at times employ a few others for fleshing out purposes. Rock Falls are the yin to Fall Fox’s yang. Hushed from the vocals to the drums, Rock Falls pull you in with their shambling and – to be honest – a wee bit creepy, folk tunes. There’s a bit of Calexico in what they do. Early Calexico before the band became more Starbucks friendly. All in all it seems a good evening of unplugged bliss.

9:30 p.m. Monday, 3/28. The Whistler. 21+. FREE!!!

Sic Alps

Three I-don’t-mean-for-this-to-always-be-a-weather-report-but-67-degrees-means-I-should-at-least-say-something reasons to dig out those old t-shirts and head over to the Empty Bottle tonight:

1. California’s Sic Alps do that whole crazy garage-y plus psychedelic thing that is spreading like wildfire in the indie rock scene and they do it rather well. The thing that sets them apart is their sheer audacity. Like, who is putting out 22-song double albums worth of this stuff? Sic Alps, that’s who. Their most recent Drag City release, “Napa Asylum” is just that. And it’s not their first double album! I mean, this flies in the face of all logic. This isn’t Yes for crying out loud.

2. Our buddies Cave are back! There doesn’t appear to be any news to report but that’s fine. These trance-rocking guys have been one of my favorites for years and if you’ve somehow missed them just know they may have matured a bit on record but they still put on a pretty manic live show. Grooves, my friends, grooves.

3. Iowa’s Wet Hair make keyboard heavy music. Wait! Keep reading. It’s not like that. It’s no Ray Ban wearing tight jeans keyboard music that dominates every fucking Pitchfork Fest. No, it’s the kind of keyboard and, to be fair, organ-based music that late 70′s Germany was all gaga over. Like Tangerine Dream (before they went all New Age) or even a little Silver Apples-y stuff. Psychedelic carnival swirling masses of weirdness. It might be rooted in a very particular era but, for me, it never gets old.

10:30 p.m. Thursday, 3/17. Empty Bottle. 21+. $8.

Cheap Time

Three reasons to grab-a-beer-or-two-and-shimmy-and-shake-away-the-stress-of-Wednesday’s-daily-grind at the Empty Bottle tonight…

1. Psychedelic punk trio from Nashville, Cheap Time, make short and sweet songs that rarely ever hit the two minute mark. The band is the lo-fi punk soundtrack of choice for whenever you want to smash the full force of your body into a group of your (soon-to-be former) best friends.

2. Tokyo’s experimental rockers The Zoobombs transport audiences back to the swinging 60s with psychedelic grooves and raspy shouts that would make the Rolling Stones proud, if not downright sue-happy.

3. Milwaukee’s Ramma Lamma make undeniably toe-tapin’, head nodding hard rock with infectious grooves and a lovable female/male back-and-forth vocal dynamic. Ramma Lamma’s husband and wife duo Ryan King and Wendy Norton are all about rocking out and having fun. And there’s nothing can be wrong with that.

9:30 p.m. Wednesday, 3/2. Empty Bottle. 21+. $8.

1. If you ever find yourself pining away for the simpler times, those days when grunge rock was king, Chicagoans the Moses Gun can help with that.

2. The trio consisting of Rich Harris, Vell Mullens, and John Marszalek formed in Wicker Park in the mid-1990s and kicked around the Chicago scene in various forms for years until releasing The Strobe Session EP in late 2009. The Moses Gun offers listeners a mix of heavy distortion guitars, sweet vocal melodies and throbbing bass lines. Harris described The Moses Gun as a “African-American Pixies” to former Sun-Times music critic Jim DeRogatis, but The Moses Gun’s music has chunks of desert rock legends Kyuss with Dinosaur Jr. swirling around.

3. Just go. It’s free!

7:00 p.m. Tuesday, 4/27. Double Door. 21+ FREE!

1. Our friends from Minneapolis, the Fuck Knights are back in town to spazz out for your open-mouthed pleasure. I don’t have to tell you that you read my review for their latest 7″. You did. Why wouldn’t you? What I can tell you is that they have a new split 7″ with The Runnies that I’m hoping to get my hands on tonight which brings us to reasons number two…

2. Chicago’s The Runnies have been highlighted here a few times before. If you got geeked out about my kind words but couldn’t make it before perhaps tonight is the night? I shan’t go on and on, but perhaps you’ll also be able to pick up their split 7″ with reason number one tonight.

3. Thirdly, and these reasons are in no particular order today, Chicago’s Dumpster Babies. All they have are their shitty amps and each other according to their Myspace bio. Oh, and something called rock n roll. In the red, fuzzed out rock n’ roll. Kind of a straight stacked bill tonight at the Bottle. You’d probably pay good money for all this goodness. Save it. Tonight you pay nothing, my friends. I do believe I just gave you reason number four. I hope we’re square for the last few two and a half reasons.

9:30. Monday, 4/26. Empty Bottle. 21+. Free!!!!

1. I was at the first of these “Gazellegheid” shows on Monday, and while that in and of itself is not a reason for you to go, let me give you a quick recap: Bird limped onto the stage at 8:01 (foot injury), took a seat on a stool, and played an hour and a half of gorgeous music, much of it instrumental and written for, or played for the first time, at these shows (a very rearranged version of “Nomenclature” was the only song I actually recognized).

And he used natural amplification through those big horns of his, and, oh, the church’s huge gorgeous stained-glass window served as a backdrop for the whole thing. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, folks. Don’t hate yourself for missing it, and then having to hear people rave about it for years to come.

2. You know how, sometimes, people cover Bob Dylan better than Bob Dylan plays Bob Dylan? Add Bird to that list, with this beautiful rendition of “Hey Sister,” played at the show on Monday, and hopefully, played again tonight.

3. The show is sold out, but if Monday’s show and Craiglist’s information is any indication, tickets should be very easy to come by. People were literally giving them away prior to the show Monday. So get yourself a ticket, and get your mind blown.

Three outstanding reasons to head to Reggie’s Music Joint tonight to see Shadows On A River, the Blah Blah Blahs and God’s Guns tonight:

1.  It’s one of those line-ups that, stylistically, makes no sense. The Blah Blah Blahs bring a late 80′s British pop sensibility while Shadows On A River offer a more subtle and lush vibe and God’s Guns bring a loud, bass heavy approach to straight ahead rock.  See if this is a train-wreck or the work of an evil genius.

2.  We often speak of supporting the local scene and these guys are as local as local gets.  Also, this might be their last show for a long while as their singer, David B. Henson, appears to be headed out of town for some time (so much for local).  That said, their  debut, self-titled album is an amazingly accomplished and rich record that I’ve heard compared to Grizzly Bear and, to my ears, a bit of “Bends” era Radiohead.  No small feat, that.

3.  It’s a balmy 23 degrees today.  Get out there and show old man winter you ain’t yella. You better do it now before it gets, you know, cold and stuff.

Reggie’s Music Joint, Wednesday, 12/16, 9:00 p.m., 21+, $5 – Ross Meyerson

1. Better known for their stint in Canadian super collective Broken Social Scene, singer Emily Haines and guitarist Jimmy Shaw are the backbone of the band Metric. Its fourth album Fantasies is one of the better ones released in 2009.

2. The Canadian indie pop quartet will have you shaking those hips to songs new and old such as “Dead Disco” and “Gold Gun Girls,” if you choose to brave the weather and Cubs fans in Wrigleyville.

3. Still not convinced? Check out Metric performing “Satellite Mind” at the Metro back in June. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbusqtctTTY

9:00 PM. Wednesday, 12/16, Cubby Bear: Wrigleyville. 21+. $10. -- Audrey Leon

Three reasons to check out My Were They at the Empty Bottle tonight:

1.  This is simply your last chance to see this band play a concert before they officially break up and form other bands.  Now, granted this assumes that there won’t be a reunion show down the road.  But even then you can go to that show and say you were at this show proving just how cool you really are.

2.  You’ll probably hear them perform one, two, three – hell maybe even all four of the songs off their cleverly titled “Four Songs” EP released earlier this year.  Our own fearless leader Richard Giraldi described the songs as “full of organic tones and spacey arrangements” in what was an overall positive review posted here back in September.

3.  Not only are the band members saying good-bye to each other (lead singer and songwriter Michael Dalaigh and bassist Ben Chappell are working a brand new project, which may dabble in My Were They material and drummer Michael August is set to tour with roots/jazz outfit Po’ Girl) but they’re also saying good-bye to their merchandise.  Expect a firesale of old and new gear, maybe you’ll find that Christmas gift you’ve been looking for.

9:30 p.m. Tuesday, 12/15, Empty Bottle, Chicago Stone Lightning Band & Hollows open, $3 advance, $5 door

Three wholesome reasons to get to the Empty Bottle tonight:

1. You are an ardent supporter of Chicago’s underground music scene and tonight’s show is Chicagoland from top to bottom. Or maybe you aren’t, but you love what’s happening in today’s garage scene and tonight’s show is garage heaven from top to bottom.  Maybe you don’t want me speaking for you but want to get out of your cold apartment.  Any way you slice it you should head to the Bottle tonight.

2. Headliners, The Yolks, claim to put the soul back into rock ‘n’ roll.  Fans of The Sonics or Music Machine know what this means.  It means goodness for those of you not
in the know.  Supporting act Tyler Jon Tyler offer a little bit of a new wave vocal style to their garage punk sound and the garage-pop quartet The Sleepovers will kick things off.   A win-win if ever there was one.

3. It’s Monday night.  You’ve got a long, cold week ahead.  Maybe some holiday (for those of us at war with Christmas!) shopping is hanging over your head.  Well guess what, friends, all the goodness mentioned above can be had for the low low price of FREE!  What the hay.  Go dance some of that holiday season angst away so you’re not
assholes to those of us that serve your shopping needs this time of year.  Sorry.  Get out there and dance for the sake of dancing.

9:30 p.m. Monday, 12/14, Empty Bottle. 21+ FREE FREE FREE! -  Ross Meyerson