Smile Politely

The Overture: March 20–26

WHAT: Boom Chick 

WHERE: Canopy Club ($8)

WHEN: Thursday, March 22nd at 9 p.m.

Describing your own songs as a “disco-delta slide guitar dance anthem,” “written with a haunted 50’s prom in mind” or “creatures who must eat each other to survive” could potentially be met with skepticism as to whether or not your band is particularly good or not. After listening to Boom Chick’s Shake Can Well release, I don’t necessarily disagree with those descriptions and I definitely applaud the creativity. Their mix of a “haunted 50’s prom” with slide guitar goes down pretty smoothly. You can applaud them as well when they take the stage at Canopy on Thursday.

WHAT: Deathtram, The Chemicals, Apache Dropout

WHERE: Cowboy Monkey ($5)

WHEN: Thursday, March 22nd at 10 p.m.

Deathtram brings its crunchy noise rock to Cowboy Monkey with a couple of acts that know a thing or two about rock music themselves. Bloomington, Indiana’s Apache Dropout join following their week at SXSW on their way up to Milwaukee.

 

WHAT: Hank, Bedtime, Finishing School

WHERE: Mike ‘N Molly’s ($5)

WHEN: Friday, March 23rd at 10 p.m.

Hank is fresh off the release of their newest The Venture EP and are rounding out their mini-tour of the midwest, so we’re sure they will be excited to be back where the beds are warm and showers are readily available at their homes. C-U’s Bedtime just recorded a split with Hank, and Chicago’s post-hardcore dudes Finishing School round this one out.

WHAT: Cloud Gavin feat. Kirby Jayes

WHERE: Indi Go Artist Co-Op ($5)

WHEN: Saturday, March 24th at 8 p.m.

A local twist to a C-U neighbor Danville outfit, Cloud Gavin is featured at Indi Go this weekend. An Evening With Your Mother’s Kirby Jayes will make his live solo debut alongside the group and take a stab at life outside of the comfort of having someone else to back you up if you mess up. Cloud Gavin is doing some front-selling of their upcoming record, Posture, which isn’t out until mid-summer.

WHAT: Mike Ingram & Kayla Brown

WHERE: Cowboy Monkey

WHEN: Saturday, March 24th at 10 p.m.

Mike Ingram and Kayla Brown have done their fair share of excellent performances in the area, whether they are playing together or apart. Saturday features them as a duo, where they will surely treat the audience to some excellent renditions of their favorite covers, as well as some original tunes. They are pretty psyched about the new Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s record, so you can prepare by checking out their rendition of “Hip Hip Hooray” from way back in 2006.

 

EDITOR’S PICK: CURSIVE, CYMBALS EAT GUITARS, CONDUITS
The Highdive ($12 advance/$15 door) – Monday, March 26th at 7:30 p.m.

Enter: a new portion of The Overture, Editor’s Pick. As a disclaimer: this is one opinion — a deeper focus on a show that is coming up within the next week. By no means is this THE significant show of the week — it is simply a way to highlight a show that steps outside the wonderful norm of the C-U music scene.

In another installment of the Pygmalion Music Festival Spring Show Series following The Head and The Heart’s thrilling performance at Canopy Club and Ava Luna pairing up with Santah, we’re looking at this one as a show you won’t want to miss. Cursive released their newest effort, I Am Gemini, at the tail end of February. The record is their first next stab at a concept record (check out the playbill here), and plays favorite to some of the most effective tricks the band has under their sleeve.

Joining the band is the racuous Brooklyn outfit Cymbals Eat Guitars, who paid a visit to C-U a few years back. If that performance was any indicative of their typical live show, adding some new material with their new record Lenses Alien into the mix can only improve their already stellar stage presence. Nebraska-native touring pals Conduits open the whole thing up, as they are touring off of their self-titled debut, which coincidentally, will be released tomorrow.

We’re hoping these spring shows are a good indication of what to expect from #Pyg2012.

Check out the stream of Cursive’s I Am Gemini here.

 

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