The quartet will premiere their first ever music video for the song “Not Aware” off its recently released debut EP Big Bang. The video was also shot at Late Bar.

The evening’s festivities will kick off at 9 p.m. and will feature DJ sets by Maybenauts guitarist Vee Sonnets (aka the space panda) and drummer/CHIRP DJ Emily Agustin. Other perks offered that night will include hors d’oerves and prize giveaways until the video’s debut at 11 p.m.

So what does one where to a video release party, you say?

Per the press release:

Elegant dress or space suits are encouraged but not required.

If you can’t make the party, the Maybenauts will live stream the party on their web site Maybenauts.com.

The Crazy Mad EP is now available for download at the Birdtalk.bandcamp.com for a mere $3. The four songs show the band stretching its wings (get it?) and branching (again!) out into 50’s style girl group oh-Johnny-I-saw-you-at-the-malt-shop stuff on “Number On The Wall” – although Johnny is maybe Joanie – and Imperial Teen like indie pop on “Summer Eyes”. Bad puns aside, these four songs sound fuller and more confident than anything the band has done before. Don’t believe me? Listen to a stream of Crazy Mad below:

Finally, check out Bird Talk at North Halsted Market Days when they play the Belmont stage at 12:30pm on Saturday, August 7.

Chicago’s dark indie pop trio Moritat keep things pretty simple on their debut EP, One Minute Fade. Armed with only a keyboard, bass, drums and the occasional guitar, the band attempts sprawling keyboard-lead journeys as front woman Venus Laurel leads the way with her subdued yet effective vocal stylings. While the first half of the record comes off as a band meandering and still trying to find their sound, a much more lively second side of One Minute Fade save the EP and prove that Moritat can indeed pen somber and minimal pieces that are truly ethralling.

A plucky, heavy bass two-second introduction to One Minute Fade’s first track, “A Thousand Time”, really lead me to believe the song was headed in one direction when, in fact, it definitely was not. That little post-punk bass wallop? Turns out the song is a much more ballad-y, keyboard swirling Panda Riot-esque epic. The song slow walks along until the four minute mark when a break down leads to a much more lively conclusion.

That pretty much sums up about the first half of One Minute Fade. “Blue Eyes” slow burns from a lurching build up to another lush and melodic chorus full of Dresden Dolls-esque melancholy. Despite its name “Jeff Buckley 1997″ doesn’t recall the early 1990’s singer-sgonwriter, but it’s a droning instrumental with dirty guitar and synthesizer swells that probably represents his final moments of life. These songs are completely fine in their own right, but when compared to the EP’s second half, they sound much less focused.

Beginning with title track “One Minute Fade”, Moritat beef up their energy. The track opens with more optimism via a harpsicord-toned keyboard line, while bassist Konstantin Jace does his best Colin Greenwood impression with a sturdy bass line that leads the song to a smooth bridge. Additionally, Laurel offers her strongest vocal hook of the record here as she passionately sings, “I don’t know/ Why you don’t know/ You don’t know” before unleashing an angsty howl that then brings the song to its extremely uplifting finish. The difference between this song and the three previous is that here, Moritat sound more energetic and capable of writing smart dark-pop gems. The music doesn’t wander and builds to a very satisfying yet tension-filled conclusion.

“Pregnant Ladies” is a group-sang whirlwind that, for the first recognizable time on the record, guitar is highlighted over keyboard. Even more intriguing is all the song’s twists and turns from distressed indie-anthem to laid-back beach rock to urgent post-punk start-stop riffage over drummer Corey McCafferty’s commanding back beat really work together. One Minute Fade closer, “Blind”, begins with a false intro before turning into a galloping indie rocker with Laurel letting her voice fly over the dissonant and noisy chorus.

Perhaps One Minute Fade could have benefited from a more effective track sequence. All the more introspective and slow movers are stuck at the top, while the songs that offer a more authentic edge are tacked on the second half. Still, the second half is quite impressive, and I’m not sure if these songs were written at different times in the band’s existence, but the latter tracks brim with confidence and focus. When Moritat delve into their more edge-y and angsty side, One Minute Fade really comes alive and engages the listener with its delicious dark pop minimalism.
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Catch Moritat on Friday, July 16 at Cole’s!

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Moritat – “One Minute Fade” – Live at Double Door – June 10, 2010

The dual EP, titled Close Calls In the U.S. Space Program and The Howl and the Many respectively, is available right now at Sunsband.com/download/ as a free download.

The band has gained quite a following after only playing their debut back in January at the Metro. Fronted by Mike Russell, formerly of Chicago prod-indie act Wax On Radio, the band has hit top local venues including Lincoln Hall and even hit up SXSW in Austin last March Judging by the track previews on their official website, their new material stays in line with the heavily orchestrated dramatic indie rock of their original demos but with better productions.

You can catch Suns for yourself for their CD release/house show on Friday, July 9. The location has yet to be announced, but stay tune to Suns’ Myspace page for more information.

Looking for your 2010 summer jam? Look no further than the opening track from Clip Art’s debut EP Broken By Design. The opener, “Dead Letter”, is just the kind of pure pop song that reminds you that pop doesn’t have to be a dirty word. Three chords, sweet melodies, well-timed key changes; these can be the ingredients of musical bliss. Andy Rosenstein, the man behind Clip Art, has thoroughly digested that fact and produced 17 minutes of unabashedly pop songs.

The Midwest has a tradition of pop -- specifically power pop -- that quite honestly befuddles me. Why here? From Cheap Trick to The Pezband to Shoes, Illinois in the 70’s alone was rife with 60’s style melodies played with an arena rock edge. Do long, cold winters steer some bands to write sunny, summery songs with an attitude? Perhaps. Clip Art seem well poised to join this discussion. More Todd Rundgren (Philadelphia raised but still cold as far as I know) than Cheap Trick, Clip Art’s debut bristles with charm and, more importantly, hooks.

Hand claps and McCartney-like deep bass lines fill out not only the driving pop of opener “Dead Letter”, but the rest of the EP’s songs as well. All the while, Rosenstein’s vocals fluctuate between high nasal and falsetto. It’s a short and sugary sweet record that begs to be listened to over and over. If most pop music is often a Snuggie, Clip Art’s is a quilt handmade by your grandmother. Sure, that first day with the Snuggie is filled with smiles and Facebook photo ops, but days later it ends up behind the couch collecting cat hair. Meanwhile, when you need warmth, honest to goodness warmth, it’s grandma’s quilt that you keep coming back to, or is it like mom’s mac ‘n’ cheese as opposed to Kraft’s? Either way, Clip Art’s songs have a good chance of standing the test of time.

And , in just five songs, Clip Art make sure to cover all their bases. “I Was Gone” is a a slow, piano driven song that recalls Lapalco-era Brendan Benson. So many crass, commercial based bands have mined this territory to mind numbing failure that it is hard to remember how effective a well written pop song like this can be. “Better” rides along on vibes and keyboards and is downright devotional. Its soulful underbelly could so easily be rendered moot by someone merely pretending to be soulful. But there’s no shred of dis-ingenuousness here. Listen closely, and a little Jeff Buckley even shines through in the vocals.

“Six Sides” is a chippy, peppy little ditty. Closer “Broken By Design” -- which comes much too soon -- slows things down once more and again brings touches of soul to its pop structure and is replete with “Yeah Yeah Yeah”-s and call-and-response background singers. It highlights Rosenstein’s pitch perfect vocals. This is what pop music should sound like.

The word “pop” in conjunction with the word “music” unfortunately often conjures up tired song structures and easily digestible but ultimately easily forgotten songs. It’s predictable: Here comes the key change, and now we chorus over and over until we fade out. But considering that a band like The Beatles were essentially a pop band, the realization that if the artists knows what they’re doing and do it for their love of it, pop music can be both joyous and unforgettable.

That being said, Clip Art may not be the Beatles (that’s Oasis of course). But they’re well-schooled in the genre and write and play pop music from the heart. That’s all you really can ask.
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Catch Clip Art at the Double Door on Saturday, May 29! Tickets are available right now on Ticketfly.com for only $15!
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Clip Art -- “I Was Gone”

The Kickback’s newest EP, Great Self Love, begs through sonic versatility and smart composition to be taken seriously. On the national level, bands like The National and The Walkmen wear the gentlemen of indie rock badge, but it sounds as if Chicago’s the Kickback want in on the action. Great Self Love is an impressive sophomore release filled melancholy, hook-filled anthems brimming with a sense of importance.

While the EP’s title, Great Self Love, could be seen as a funny euphemism, the Kickback’s music is no joke. The band plays with precision and purpose on the brief 17-minute EP. The Chicago via South Dakota indie rockers stretch the musical gamut on most of their songs skipping seamlessly between straight up indie rock, alt-blues antics and big power-pop codas. But through all this genre-hopping, the Kickback’s the music oozes a rock elder statesmen sensibility.

Great Self Love opener, “Indigenous Newspapermen Circa 1980″, is an excellent choice for an introduction to the rest of the EP as the track rumbles on with a thick tribal beat courtesy of drummer Danny Yost over quasi-surf pop riffage. It’s catchy. It’s emotionally driven. But most importantly, it feels real. Kickback front man Billy Yost, whose vocals have an uncanny resemblance to Silverchair’s Daniel Johns at times, shows no sign of strain as his “Whoa-oh” uber-croon becomes the backbone to the track that’s part early-1990’s alt-rock nation blended with a helping of Tears For Fears guitar sweeps.

“Counselor”, the most rocking track the bunch, opens with beefy riffage from guitarists Tyler Zee and Billy Yost but gives way to a pop-filled bridge that builds perfectly from hand-clap hymnal to massive piano eruption. The reverb-heavy, aptly named “Burner (Things I Know Nothing About)” crawls along with lush guitar lines and soaring vocal lines.

The absolute highlight of Great Self Love, however, is “Rough City”. A three and a half minute pure pop song that opens with another Tears For Fears swirling guitar riff over a bouncy yet delicate bass line from Zach Verdoorn until it breaks into a big U2-esque chorus. The result is a track that sounds like a B-side from Silverchair’s Diorama, which is arguably their best effort.

While Great Self Love showcases the band’s strengths, there are a few weaknesses. The band has the ability to cover a large musical ground, and do so most of the time, even in a single song. Occasionally, this approach can come off as somewhat unfocused. The result is that the EP really never establishes a complete theme -- something that’s probably not necessary on a record this short, but it can help guide for the listener if they’re lost.

But in the end, maybe it’s good a band so young not be holed down with a precise sound too early in their career. The last thing a new act wants to do is get themselves typecast as having a particular sound when the new “radical” movement in indie rock is evolution. This being the case, The Kickback will be fine. A record as mature sounding and well produced as Great Self Love simply can’t go unnoticed.

The Kickback -- “Rough City” -- Replay Lounge (Lawrence, KS)

On their Myspace page, Pilsen’s Ornery Little Darlings describe their sound as “a highly improbable ornery-as-hell-love-child between Billie Holiday and Lou Reed.” After going a few rounds with their debut EP Ooh La La, I can say the equation works, but it’s not my go-to shortcut to describe what I heard during the album’s brief 21 minute runtime.

No, to me, the record sounds at times quite similar to the alt-country sound of Fear and Whiskey-era Mekons. Exhibit A: “Logic of An Alcoholic,” where lead singer Jason Ewers recalls Tom Greenhalgh’s delivery and style, and the rest of the band keeps the alt-country vibe intact sonically. Lyrically, the songs inhabits the same beery, lonely bar that the Mekons often brought to life on record, and unsurprisingly, some Silver Jews even finds its way in there too.

“Home” starts out like a slightly faster “Blue Thunder” and the hazy vocals from both Emmi Chen and Ewers are appropriate for the songs druggy tale of a drunken hallucination. Chen’s verses are lazy spoken word passages that fit well within the context of the song and Ewers (doing Greenhalgh again) act as a kind of omniscient narrator to the tale, letting us in on the leading lady’s thoughts and feelings as much or more than she does.

Elsewhere, first single “Run From the Gun” recalls the funky, spastic vibe of earlier B-52’s. It’s a quick and angry song with elastic and upbeat verses by Ewers and rawer, louder choruses by Chen. It was probably an easy choice for a first single, as it’s probably the catchiest and most accessible song present, with shout-along choruses and memorable verses.

On other songs, the sound can be harder to pin down. “Games” is a sultry number where the band owns its sound better than anywhere else on the album. Chen plays a seductive object of desire while Ewers smoothly gives us the rundown on the vixen. The two jump in and out during the verses with cool if not necessarily original results, and Chen gives her pipes a workout on the choruses laying out exactly what she needs (to see how you aim to please her) and what she doesn’t need (your fucking games.) This was probably my favorite moment on the album, with strong vocal interplay between the two lead singers, a bouncy tempo, and a good vocal performance from Chen.

On “Games,” Ornery Little Darlings sound more like themselves than anyone else. It’s got a slick vibe that suits the band well and I don’t think it would be a mistake to chase that vibe with whatever they do next.
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Catch Ornery Little Darlings at Lincoln Hall on Sunday, May 2, for their Ohh La La Record Release show. Tickets are available at Lincolnhallchicago.com for only $7 right now!
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Ornery Little Darlings -- “Run From the Gun”

In February, they all holed up in a cabin in Wisconsin to record the basic tracks. This is quite a departure from their first LP, No Bird Left Behind, which was mostly recorded live in one take. Besides the new studio trickery, the band has also taken to some instrument swapping to keep things fresh.

Their Facebook page has demos of “Virgins Vs. Babies” and “Crazy Mad” up now for your listening pleasure.

There’s no firm date for the release of the new EP, and although they’d prefer to release it as a 7″, the format is also still up in the air. Nevertheless, you will be hearing brand new music from the Bird Talk very soon, so keep your ears open.

As E.P. opener “Toys” shifts from an afro-pop rhythm into a clever guitar solo, it’s obvious that YAWN aren’t your average garage band. They seem to have spent more time in front of a computer than in a practice space. Yes, it’s difficult at times to discern what’s a legitimate instrument and what’s machine made, but that really doesn’t take anything away from the music.

“Kind of Guy” begins with the earnest admission “I’m the kind of guy who likes to sleep for days/ Takes a walk inside his little lonely place” over a steady beat that you’d be most likely to hear at a high school pep rally, and the song completely melts down before elastic vocal lines push forward until the track’s conclusion. While Animal Collective or groups of the same ilk often take minutes to build into something worth while, “David” erupts almost instantaneously into European music fest-mode with built in chants and hand claps until the track’s screeching halt evolves into slow burning african percussion.

YAWN reach their funkiest on “Empress,” which is an explosive guitar groover that reaches its apex at the two minute mark when a circus-like synth line adds a powerful melodic punch. “Midnite” is the most Animal Collective-esque and club ready track of the bunch as a slow-to-the-punch build up explodes into a big beat coda.

YAWN’s E.P. is very impressive aurally as each song offers a number of subtle studio nuances that oozes confidence. While their name is the action humans perform when tired or sleepy, YAWN’s E.P. is pure electronic energy tightly packed in 20 minutes.
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Catch YAWN Tuesday, January 19, at the Double Door. The show is FREE!!!
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YAWN -- “Kind of Guy” -- Live at Ronny’s -- 1/12/10

Download YAWN E.P. in it’s entirety on Yawntheband.com.