With school, work, family and all that time you wasted launching your own faux UFO, who has the time to find out about the best shows happening in Champaign-Urbana? No need to fear, because the editors at Smile Politely have taken care of it.
What: The Avett Brothers, Nicole Atkins
When: Thursday Oct. 22
Where: Canopy Club, $25 in advance
Does it get any better than rootsy brotherly love? North Carolina’s Avett Brothers have been getting critical acclaim for their major label debut, I and Love and You, but what else would you expect from a Rick Rubin produced record? Needless to say, it comes with the territory that they have departed from their previous homegrown recording sound in favor of the layered and vibrant wisdom of Rubin. They have been called many things (among them the genre blending “punkgrass”), but they just put on a solid, honest show. Nicole Atkins opens. More on this later in the week.
What: Vanattica
When: Friday Oct. 23, 10 p.m.
Where: Cowboy Monkey, $5
Even if you’re not into the rock/alt/metal/pop genre (or “RAMP” as they call it), you have to give props to Champaign’s own Vanattica for venturing beyond county lines. They have got tenacious merch, enjoyed some time with the Warped Tour last year and even sport a few endorsements. Top it all off with their own audacious street team and you’ve got the recipe for a packed, high energy, homegrown show.
What: H20 Hair Salon Benefit featuring Roberta Sparrow, DJ Delayney, JigGsaw, Dear Chicago
When: Friday Oct. 23, 6 p.m.
Where: The Highdive, $5 suggested donation
Nothing is more pertinent for a salon hosted benefit for the Prairie Center than a rock and roll show featuring regional indie, punk and hardcore, right? Right. If any of the regional acts on the bill don’t hit the right note for you, stick around for a fashion show with hair styled by the aforementioned H20 Hair Salon featuring clothes provided by Urban Outfitters. Get up, go out and support a great cause.
What: The Sweeps, Jet W. Lee, JigGsaw
When: Friday Oct. 23, 9:30 p.m.
Where: Canopy Club, $7
Chicago’s the Sweeps are one of many bands with that name, but they’re the only ones that call Texas and the Midwest home. They recorded their debut EP, Midnight at the Box, with the assistance of Erik Widman (Love in October) and Brian Zieske (Hush Sound, Sars Flannery, The Academy Is…) and are more than eager to get out on the road. If the strange Adolph Gottlieb inspired pictographs littering their MySpace are any indication, their pop hooks will be just as infectious as Gottlieb’s attempts to speak to our collective unconscious.
What: Get Rad, We Must Dismantle All This, Commodity, Augmentor
When: Friday Oct 23, 7 p.m.
Where: TBD, $3 donations
Though we can’t disclose the location of this show for fear of harassment from the fuzz, you certainly need to keep it on your no-bullshit punk and hardcore radar. And chances are you know someone that knows something about this show anyway, so ask around. Either way, there is a special place in heaven for the supporters of truly DIY scenes like this that put on all-ages shows and only ask for donations for touring bands (like Milwaukee’s Get Rad) who are likely to only lose money by the tour’s end. Get out there and let ’em know what kind of cameraderie we have in Champaign-Urbana.
What: Hallelujah the Hills, World’s First Flying Machine, Jookabox, Zach May & the Maps
When: Saturday Oct. 24, 9:30 p.m.
Where: Cowboy Monkey, $5 before 10 p.m., $7 after
Boston’s Hallelujah the Hills are on tour through the end of October and stop by Cowboy Monkey with the help of some locals. Their sound blends Neutral Milk Hotel with bursts of Guided by Voices and Arcade Fire and their newest effort, Colonial Drones, dropped in September to some pretty favorable attention. Indiana’s Jookabox adds the other elements of foreign flavor with a sound that “pinwheels kaleidoscopically through old-time spirituals, punk, chain-gang hymnal, deep house, and club music hip-hop, blending these disparate elements into a cohesive and unique synthesis.” Locals World’s First Flying Machine and Zach May & the Maps will only add to the musical disparity and intrigue of this loaded bill.
What: Yonder Mountain String Band, Danny Barnes
When: Sunday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m.
Where: Canopy Club, $25
It seems that progressive bluegrass is quite the paradox, but Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band pulls it together eloquently and effortlessly. With roots in Urbana, TMSB might look like a run-of-the-mill bluegrass lineup, but they have pioneered bluegrass (which in many ways was pioneering itself) to new heights. Touring relentlessly for the past 10+ earned them an opening spot for then-candidate Barack Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver at Mile High Stadium. Their newest album, The Show, was released in September.
Know about something we don’t? Want to promote your own gig? Peep the comment section below.
Looking ahead…
OCTOBER
10/27 Mason Jennings @ Highdive
10/28 O.A.R. w/ Elmwood @ Assembly Hall
10/29 Thao with the Get Down Stay Down @ Canopy Club
10/30 Batrider + Scotland Yard Gospel Choir @ Courtyard Cafe
10/31 Headlights + Pomegranates + Common Loon @ Iron Post
NOVEMBER
11/1 Disco Biscuits @ Canopy Club
11/5 Generationals, Spinto Band + Pepi Ginsberg @ Courtyard Cafe
11/6 Neko Case @ Canopy Club ($25 in advance, tickets on sale 8/29)
11/13 Maps & Atlases, Ruby Rodeo Love @ Courtyard Cafe
11/14 Heavy Trash (Jon Spencer of JSBX) @ Cowboy Monkey
11/18 Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers @ Highdive
11/21 Hot Club of Cowtown @ Shady Nook Pub, Saybrook