Three reasons to check out Phantogram tonight at Schubas (other than half price mac n cheese)…

1. The Saratoga Springs, NY duo of Joshua Carter and Sarah Barthel create psychedelic melodies layered with synth, samples and hip hop beats that only get more entrancing when either of their vocals slide into the mix.

2. You love The Antlers, and The Antlers really love them.

“We really love this band: @Phantogram. Check them out if you haven’t heard of them http://www.myspace.com/phantogram sooo awesome…” – The Antlers on Twitter

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Photo Credit: Carrie Musgrave - livebabylive.com

It’s that time again, we’ve looked ahead and started filling in our calendars with all of the awesome upcoming shows headed to Chicago in the next few months. Being the good guys and gals that we are, we’re sharing our favorites with you, all of which will surely be not-to-miss performances of artists from around the globe that includes an impressive line-up of local acts. Check out below what we think are the hot Winter/Early Spring concerts, local acts are BOLD for easy access, and let us know in the comments what we may have missed.

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Out of all the musical successes of 2009, The Antlers can certainly lay claim to one of the more impressive ones with their second album, Hospice. Making an album about cancer something that anyone would want to listen to couldn’t have been easy, and allowing to it move and sadden without becoming overly depressing makes it a downright triumph. Over the course of ten great songs, The Antlers tell the story of a man losing a young girl to bone cancer. Hospice is sung from the man’s perspective, taking place mostly in a hospital, and it follows the ups and downs of his relationship with the girl as she battles her disease. It’s mostly chronological and it does a great job of holding the listener’s attention for its duration.

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Three reasons to see The Antlers at Subterranean tonight…

1. It takes a lot of skill to make an album about cancer really, really awesome, yet Hospice pulls it off. NPR’s “All Songs Considered” says this about the album: “One of the most beautiful and moving works I’ve heard in a long, long time. Just astonishing.” And you could see it live.

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Tickets for the 5th annual Pygmalion Music Festival set for September 16 – 19 in Champaign-Urbana are going fast. Festival passes are sold out as is the headlining performance from Iron and Wine.

If you still want to catch a few of the acts such as RJD2, Lucero, YACHT, The Antlers, Japandroids, Headlights, Wavves, Autolux and Low in some of Champaign-Urbana’s more intimate venues, then act now. Only a small number of single show tickets are still available.

You can find an updated schedule – changes include addition of Saturday’s day parties and adjustments due to cancellation of Solid Gold – after the jump:

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Looking for a music festival that features big names but hate fighting massive crowds of hippies, frat dudes and hipsters in the summer heat? Then Champaign-Urbana’s Pygmalion Music Festival might be right up your alley.

Entering it’s fifth year, the Pygmalion Music Festival goes down September 16 – 19, 2009 in Champaign-Urbana, IL.

This year’s edition of the festival features big names and up-and-coming acts including Iron and Wine, Low, Lucero, RJD2, The Books, The Antlers, YACHT, Wavves, Headlights, Japandroids, Autolux, BLK JKS, My Brightest Diamond and many more.

The Pygmalion Music Festival is less like other major Illinois festivals such as Lollapalooza and Pitchfork and more like Austin’s annual spring event South By Southwest as the event takes place over four days in 15 different venues in two of Champaign-Urbana’s most vibrant neighborhoods.

The full schedule and ticket information is available right now at 2009.pygmalionmusicfestival.com.