Tom Lynch

The 1900s

With inspiration from The Zombies and The Velvet Underground, the seven-piece orchestra of indie pop The 1900s landed surefooted with 2006's EP "Plume Delivery," a promising and focused collection of songs that stands out for its charm and detailed grace. On stage, the band's even better--the sixties pop erupts with monumental vigor as the boy-girl harmonies, plus the violin and dead-ahead bass and drum parts, create a whirlwind of earnest, pleasurable fun. The band's currently recording what will become its first full-length, and based on what we've heard so far, it seems as if this band will deliver on that original promise.

Potential Stumbles: Too many cooks in the kitchen--keeping seven members together cannot be easy.

Quotable: Jeanine O'Toole, vocalist, says about the new record: "All of us personally went through things. The band lost a really good friend, and that affected everyone in different ways. When things like that happen to a group of people, it changes everybody a little bit. We've had a couple broken bones--some injuries. So the record's definitely reflective, definitely on the last year of our lives."

Baby Teeth

After the band's "The Baby Teeth Album" and the "For the Heathers" EP, the three-piece (which has recently just added a fourth member for live shows) continue to march on the soul-pop front, bringing a blanket of good-vibe atmosphere to every room it plays and a thick, scrappy live edge to complement the recorded gloss. There's much classic-rock influence here--the band admits to taking a liking for certain epic sweeps and, well, ELO. In March it releases its next full-length, "The Simp," on Lujo Records, another quick collection of tuneful, engaging material, and later in the year, an expanded tour.

Potential Stumbles: The group finds itself stuck with the "party-band" tag, therefore relegated to, primarily, college campuses.

Quotable: "It will definitely drive it home to the kids," says Abraham Levitan, singer and keyboard player, of the band adding a live guitarist to the mix. "The keyboard makes `em run to the snack bar, but the guitar brings `em back."

Bound Stems

The band's "Appreciation Night"--released last year on Flameshovel--is one of the most impressive debut full-lengths you'll ever hear (and its preview predecessor, "The Logic of Building the Body Plan" EP, is also worth fawning over). The band's use of found sound all along Chicago's dirty, busy streets makes the record exclusively local, as if the city is another band member, or instrument, or type of music altogether. Not only that, the indie-pop chops are ever present--with consistent shifts in time signatures, tempos and keys, the band keeps you on your toes, never knowing what's next. Add in multi-vocalists and harmonies and "Appreciation Night" is more of an experience than a record--you feel you've heard a hundred songs, woven with daring complexity.

Potential Stumbles: Maybe too much complexity--it's difficult to pin down a catchy hook if the band is constantly changing the skeleton of a song.

Quotable: "I'm really excited," vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Janie Porche says of the band's recent dive into writing new material. "It's the first time we've written in a while. `Appreciation Night' has been done for a lengthy period of time. It's a great feeling to be holed up in winter, going to the space, making things happen. There are really interesting things going on. Some [can be compared to] `Appreciation Night.' Some are different. We're still not trying to write pop singles."

Catfish Haven

Sure, the Southern-fried riffing of this trio makes for fine bar music, but it's much more than that--the group's mixing of classic rock and R&B, matched with leader George Hunter's soulful, smoky delivery, offers a unique take on lost love, regret and whiskey-soaked despondency. Both "Please Come Back" and "Tell Me" feature strong, heartfelt melodies, romantic to the point of mushy, and while dancing between hopped-up rhythms of excitement and joy and down-tempo jilts of despair, Catfish Haven expresses from all fronts--part country, part soul, part boozy lounge on a warping hot night.

Potential Stumbles: The music and lyrics may be too simple for some, too Southern, too bold and direct, or all of the above.

Quotable: "I think we're constantly oiling our gears, trying to polish everything," Hunter says of the band's work ethic. "We've always dug hard-hitting rock `n' roll and R&B stuff. We play what we dig. It comes out of that--we try not to read reviews or anything. We just hole ourselves up and try to churn out something that we believe in."

Greenskeepers

After the Internet video for the band's first single, "Lotion"--a spoof on "The Silence of the Lambs"'s Buffalo Bill, which featured footage from the film--was downloaded more than one-million times and became a huge underground hit, it brought attention to "Pleetch," Greenskeepers' full-length that boasted that song, a strong record throughout that effectively mixed electronic beats with pop-song aspirations--some rock `n' roll, guitar-driven, some led by electronics. Next came last year's "Polo Club," a superior collection to "Pleetch" if only for its ambition--a mega-record of sorts, it sports seventeen tracks, all of which intricately piece together fits of electro-rock that, surprisingly, evokes the strange warmth of Devo.

Potential Stumbles: Too goofy. It's tough to take a band seriously when the main hook of its most popular song is "It rubs the lotion on its skin/Or else it gets the hose again."

Quotable: "We have people in the band who are really fast workers--they'll just go with it--and people who will go the extra few minutes to make sure the high-hat is in tune," says vocalist Nick Maurer of the band's behavior while writing and recording. "I'm the in-between man. Jim [Curd] is the `let's get it out' guy, Mark [Share] is stuck in compressors and limiters. Depending on what happens I might be yelling at one guy, or I might be yelling at another. Not yelling. Possibly encouraging. Or holding hands."

Head of Femur

Head of Femur--which was founded by Nebraska natives Mike Elsener, Ben Armstrong and Matt Focht--has compiled a feverish and flavorful brand of progressive indie rock on two full-lengths so far, "Ringodom or Proctor" and "Hysterical Stars," and one EP, "Do the Tavern & Other Tall Tales." What started as a small group ignited into a rock orchestra--at one time there were twenty-one people in the band--but recently they've pared down to five members (six when playing live) in an effort to find a more focused rock approach. It was the best possible move for the band--the live shows are tighter, with a more fixated energy. "Great Plains," the band's upcoming record, which it has been working on for some time now, should be released at some point this year, and all signs indicate that it'll be the band's best effort yet.

Potential Stumbles: Though it has reinvented itself as a bona fide rock band, it's possible Head of Femur has missed its chance--having bounced around the city for some years now, the band needs to make a stellar record to wake everyone up.

Quotable: "It's way more lighter on orchestration, a little more rock band," says guitarist and vocalist Mike Elsener of "Great Plains." "It's pretty crazy. It'll probably win a Grammy. It's of Grammy Award-winning caliber."

The National Trust

The giddy goodness of The National Trust's "Kings and Queens" doesn't wear off, not even after a whole year. The record's concoction of soul, disco, house and dance got the band on URB Magazine's "Next 100" list, and the cascade of exposure came from there. The duo of Mark Henning and Neil Rosario create a sexed-up, brave and electric atmosphere--it matches the cunning bravado and swagger that exudes from the band's pop. They're working on new material now--Henning's back in Chicago from his time spent in New York--in their space on the West Side. Expect engaging events in the future--Henning says the band might focus on house parties and nights of that nature, rather than typical rock-venue appearances.

Potential Stumbles: As of right now, the band doesn't play out enough--it needs to gig around Chicago to build up a bigger local fan base, or there won't be any foundation for the future.

Quotable: "I really enjoy Chicago, I love Chicago," Henning says. "The musicians here are the best in the world. If you really reach out in Chicago to try and find other like-minded musicians, they're all over the place. It doesn't have to be with one particular scene or group--the city has incredible talent, and it's a joy to be able to work with people."

Office

The pop wonder of Office's "Q&A" is comparable to chewing pink bubblegum while surfing a wave of Starburst--with melodies catchy and frank, leader Scott Masson and crew have assembled a record directly assaulting nine-to-five death marathons that make suicide look fun. The band self-recorded and self-released the record, but has since signed to Scratchie/New Line Records (owned by Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha), and plans to include some of the songs from "Q&A," plus some new material, on an album later this year. Semi-electronic and always dance-inducing, Office's indie-pop will put smiles on many, many faces.

Potential Stumbles: Not moving forward enough--the inclusion of already-released songs on the upcoming record might irritate the band's fans.

Quotable: "It's always going to be a pop project," says Masson. "Songs are always number one for me. Without sounding pretentious, I really want to push the boundaries of what a pop song or a single can do in the three-and-a-half, four minutes we have...I want to make it more of an experience."

Psalm One

It's not every day you come across a fantastic hip-hop artist who's a former chemist. The South Side native--who now lives on the West Side--made her mark when she dropped the self-released "Bio: Chemistry" in 2002--she re-released it in 2004, remastered and repackaged, with a handful of new tracks. Last summer, Rhymesayers put out "The Death of Frequent Flyer," Psalm One's best album yet, featuring the rapper as confident and surefire as ever (check tracks "Rapper Girls" and "Macaroni and Cheese" for evidence). She intriguingly stirs smooth deliveries with fist-pumping attacks for a balanced and important piece of work.

Potential Stumbles: There could be Chicago hip-hop overkill. With the success of Kanye, Lupe Fiasco and Rhymefest, the hip-hop crowd may want to look elsewhere for a fresh sound. Plus, and it's unfortunate that this must be said, she's a woman in a male-dominated genre.

Quotable: "There is no balance when there's something you have a passion for," she says about her decision to give up chemistry and be a rapper full-time. "There's always just so much more work to do, so much stuff you can be doing, so much promotion. There aren't enough hours--it becomes increasingly difficult...I was never on stage or in the [recording] booth, thinking `I would love to see how the lithium hydroxide is doing.' I was totally chilling with the lithium, thinking that I would rather be on stage."

Russian Circles

The trio of metal heads tore through many brains with last year's "Enter," a damagingly inventive and powerful collection of sprawling, instrumental attacks on the senses. The complex, riff-heavy wattage--blended with atmospheric quieter parts, like the calm before the storm--terrorizes from front to back. Live, the complicated nature of the musicianship stands out--bedazzling to behold, the band avoids math rock's brainy traps and stays the course through heavy-metal hell. The intensity is in the buildup--each song dips and dunks through peaks and valleys of meaty haze and, progressively, grows to a rage of emotive, forceful instrumentation, expected yet surprising at once.

Potential Stumbles: The band is indeed instrumental, and some might not be able to get past it.

Quotable: "We're feeding off each other, playing tighter as a band," says guitarist Mike Sullivan. "We're more comfortable with each other now, after eight months of touring... . We're taking time off until spring to write new stuff. We have one new song. It's a shredder. It definitely brings it."

Verge Overkill
A scorecard of sorts to review what happened to the bands from last year's list

(2007-01-16)

Also by Tom Lynch

Our Little Ponys
Only a few years ago, local post-punk foursome The Ponys were the absolute toast of the town with its inventive, effortlessly impressive brand of danceable, garage-tinted rock. The band's 2004 debut, "Laced with Romance," on Los Angeles label In the Red, was remarkably thrilling. Rich in texture and straight-up rock `n' roll formula, it found its way onto several best-of lists and made the band the one to watch
(2007-01-09)

Tip of the Week
Sure, Curtains, Deerhoof and Sharks and Seals each make impressive, spasmodic and bizarre creations that somewhat defy categorization, but in the fourth slot tonight is the calm, pretty and pop-sensible Death Ships, whose dreadfully overlooked "Seeds of Destruction" pleasantly flows in its indie-pop accessibility and, at times, sheer beauty
(2007-01-09)

Tip of the Week
The Chicago-based but Madison-born band's new record, "Cholera," a fine improvement on its debut, "Janel," is its second on Wisconsin label Sector Five and a solid, radio-Modest Mouse-influenced collection of angular, jangly guitars and hypnotic, pulsing bass lines
(2007-01-02)

Tip of the Week
The first rock show of the new year brings us Brooklyn-based (but Minneapolis-founded) critical darlings The Hold Steady, whose breakthrough "Boys and Girls in America" (Vagrant Records)--after the equally pleasing "Almost Killed Me" and "Separation Sunday"--dutifully evokes middle-aged malaise through a rock `n' roll filter
(2006-12-22)

All Acquaintance Be Forgot
(2006-12-22)

The Year in Rock
(2006-12-19)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-12)

Soundcheck
(2006-12-05)

Ms. Maverick
(2006-12-05)

Evan Dando Lives
(2006-12-05)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-05)

Soundcheck
(2006-11-28)

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