WHAT: Moritat, Dr. Responsible, Dick Reynolds
WHERE: Mike ‘N Molly’s ($5)
WHEN: Thursday, April 11th at 8 p.m.
Chicago’s Moritat is back in town and is joining Dr. Responsible, the solo project of Bryce Robert Hays, guitarist for local groups Withershins and Kakuru, as well as Cincy’s Dick Reynolds. Moritat is a indie rock trio who put out their last record in 2012 entitled, Clill Blanzin.
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WHAT: JD McPherson
WHERE: Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Lobby (free)
WHEN: Friday, April 12th at 5 p.m.
Guitarist JD McPherson is set to perform an early (and free) show in the lobby of the excellent Krannert Center for the Performing Arts to round out the week. He’s coming off of his last record, Sings and Signifiers, which came out in 2011. Chris will be taking a closer look at this show later on in the week, so stay tuned for that.
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WHAT: 4th Annual Turn It UP
WHERE: 88 Broadway ($5–7 advance/$7–10 door)
WHEN: Friday, April 12th at 7 p.m.
The fourth annual Turn It UP festival is taking place this upcoming weekend. Once again, the event features a ton of bands and artists performing over at 88 Broadway in Urbana’s Lincoln Square Mall. You can check out the entire lineup over at the Facebook event (linked above) in order to prepare for a solid 4+ hours of music Friday night. Tickets vary between students and adults, but a pretty affordable night of music if you think about it.
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WHAT: Fred Eaglesmith Traveling Steam Show, Tif Gin & Bill Passalacqua
WHERE: The Highdive ($12 advance/$15 door)
WHEN: Friday, April 12th at 7 p.m.
Rock/country/Americana musician Fred Eaglesmith and his Traveling Steam show come through C-U at the end of the week. Eaglesmith is pretty well decorated as a musician with a Juno Award to his name for the “Best Roots & Traditional Album,” which is pretty impressive. He’s joined by a couple of other touring bands for an early show at the HIghdive.
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WHAT: Lonely Trailer, Vaudvileins, The Acme Principle
WHERE: Mike ‘N Molly’s ($5)
WHEN: Friday, April 12th at 8 p.m.
Lonely Trailer is coming off of a pretty solid 2012, where they released their last album, Secret Information Booth. They’ll be joined by a pair of other local rock outfits in Vaudvileins and The Acme Principle. Hopefully the beer garden will be ready to use sooner rather than later, but for now, this will be a raucous show in the upstairs of Mike ‘N Molly’s.
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WHAT: Truth, Miss Haze, DJ Belly, Ricky Wells
WHERE: Cowboy Monkey ($10)
WHEN: Friday, April 12th at 9 p.m.
The Deep End Series has been pretty solid all around since they started consistently putting on shows here in C-U. This time, they’re bringing some pretty heavy hitters in New Zealand’s Truth and SF’s Miss Haze (who has been through C-U a few times, if I’m not mistaken). Joining in are local beat makers themselves DJ Belly and Ricky Wells. Pretty awesome bill lined up over at Cowboy.
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WHAT: Champaign-Urbana Composers Orchestra
WHERE: The Canopy Club ($5)
WHEN: Saturday, April 13th at 7 p.m.
As part of the Boneyard Arts Festival, the CUCO will perform the music of Ben Montalbano. You can check out some of Montalbano’s material over at his Bandcamp page to get an idea of what the C-U Composers Orchestra will be putting together on Saturday night. Not sure what to expect out of this show otherwise, but it is a show featured for the Boneyards Arts Festival, taking place next week.
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EDITOR’S PICK: MIDWEST ZINE FEST: UNNERVE, CHAIN’S GANG, LAUGHBOY
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center — Saturday, April 13th at 8 p.m.
Midwest Zine Fest is a pretty great thing that C-U hosts over at the Independent Media Center over in Urbana. Again this year the fest features some DIY punk acts to perform alongside the gathering of zine-makers, authors, speakers, musicians, and other people for the purpose of celebrating zines and zine-culture.
Unnerve is a combo of a bunch of other locals, featuring members of We Must Dismantle All This!, Augmentor, and Alleyway Sex. Plus Chain’s Gang and Laughboy (read about DIY and Greg Clow from Laughboy here). Even if you’re not there for the music, head over there to check out some pretty cool DIY work from the Midwest.
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WHAT: I2K Mixtape Release Party feat. Jay Moses, Epilep[c], Grill Billyenz, Chase, Bry G
WHERE: Mike ‘N Molly’s ($7)
WHEN: Saturday, April 13th at 8 p.m.
The #PSA Mixtape show is happening this weekend at Mike ‘N Molly’s and features some pretty solid acts lined up to perform. #PSA stands for “Pass Shit Around,” as you can scan the QR code to the right and grab your own copy of the mixtape, or head over here to download it to your computer, before the show takes place.
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WHAT: Mike Droho and the Compass Rose
WHERE: Sleepy Creek Vineyards ($12 or six for $10 each)
WHEN: Saturday, April 13th at 8 p.m.
Funky pop with beat boxing, electric violin, and acoustic guitar performer Mike Droho is performing on the outskirts of town this weekend at Sleepy Creek Vineyards. Never focusing on just one genre, lead singer Mike Droho often is compared to G Love, Regina Spektor, and Jason Mraz.
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WHAT: The Dirty Feathers, The Kingston Springs, The Uglies, Baby Strange
WHERE: Cowboy Monkey ($5)
WHEN: Saturday, April 13th at 9 p.m.
The Dirty Feathers take the stage at Cowboy Monkey this weekend following some studio work at Earth Analog over the Easter weekend recording their new record. They’re joined by the Kingston Springs out of Nashville who have a sound that aligns pretty well with the DFs. You can read all about the progression of the Dirty Feathers that we did a few weeks back before their SP Show Series show here. Pretty solid bill going down with four acts for a pretty cheap ticket price. Should be worth the price plus much more.
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WHAT: Motion City Soundtrack, And We Danced
WHERE: The Canopy Club ($15 advance/$17 door)
WHEN: Sunday, April 14th at 8 p.m.
Pop-punk outfit Motion City Soundtrack travel through and stop at Canopy Club for a Sunday show this week. The band released their most recent album last June entitled, Go.