Or, more succinctly, I’m off to see Danzig.

I still need to post pictures from Wednesday’s Generationals show, as well as last night’s Jet Age / Dollar Store show at Beat Kitchen. If I find myself with a bunch of time (and wifi access) in O’Hare, I’ll see what I can do about posting them. Otherwise, everything will probably get dumped on the blog on Monday or Tuesday.

And now… of to Smitty’s Market.

As I’m sure you know by now, the band is touring in support of its fantastic new album, in “Love”, which you can stream in its entirety below, and which you can also purchase for any price you choose (over $1, that is) here:

Oh, and by the way, check out this incredible review of in “Love” by the fellas over at the DC Rock Club blog.

Tonight’s show starts at 8:30pm and costs just $8. See you there?

** Usual Disclaimer: I’m helping TJA out with PR on this album.
** Usual Secondary Disclaimer: The album still rocks.

Admittedly, I don’t know much about The Spinto Band aside from “Oh Mandy” (see below).  And, until I watched the Pepi Ginsberg video below, I don’t think I’d ever heard anything from her before.  

So my recommendation is pretty much entirely based on the presence of Generationals, the new band featuring Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer, both formerly of The Eames Era. I was a big fan of their previous band, but I think I like their new album, Con Law, even more. Both bands featured well-written, catchy indie pop, but Generationals shows a much wider range of styles and influences, even dipping into 60’s-style soul. And while the style-jumping makes the album a bit unfocused at times, it also shows a band willing to take chances and trying to find itself, which is a good sign for things to come. I strongly suggest picking up a copy of the album if you haven’t already. Oh, and come to the show too. I’ll be there.

If you’re in or around any of these towns, get out and catch the band!

Oh, and check out the awesome poster that someone (I don’t know who) made for the Portland show at Rotture.

The Jet Age National Tour
Wed., 11/4: Columbus, OH (Carabar)
Thu., 11/5: Chicago, IL (Beat Kitchen)
Fri., 11/6: Des Moines, IA (House of Bricks)
Sat., 11/7: Lawrence, KS (The Bandit Teeth House)
Sun. 11/8: Denver, CO (3 Kings)
Tue., 11/10: Seattle, WA (Sunset Tavern)
Wed., 11/11: Portland, OR (Rotture)
Thu., 11/12: San Francisco, CA (Hemlock Tavern)
Fri., 11/13: Monterey, CA (Underground Lounge)
Sat., 11/14: Los Angeles, CA (Echo Curio)
Mon., 11/16: Austin, TX (Trophy’s)
Wed., 11/18: Atlanta, GA (Drunken Unicorn)
Thu., 11/19: Durham, NC (Pinhook)

Buy in “Love” here.
The Jet Age on MySpace

(Just a reminder: I’m helping TJA out with PR on their new album. But they’d still rock even if I weren’t.)

For as long as I can remember, I’ve gone out of town over New Year’s for one reason or another, whether it was to visit friends in Chicago or Miami, to attend a friend’s wedding in Hell Buenos Aires, to see the final Guided By Voices shows at the Metro (while I was living in NYC), or to see The Frames do their annual NYE show in Dublin.

But unless something changes this year, it looks like I’m staying put in the upper midwest. And what’s a music blogger to do other than try to see some bands that night?

Luckily, there’s a ton of interesting Chicago-area (and beyond) options this year, so I figured I’d keep a running list of them here. This is a bit of a work-in-progress, and I’ll add things as I find them. If I’m missing anything, please feel free to drop a comment with info.

As always, my picks in bold. Updates will be in italics.

Chicago-Area (And Beyond) NYE Shows
Aragon: Umphrey’s McGee
Bottom Lounge: Todd Hembrook & The Hemispheres, Lowdown Brass Band
Congress Theater: Girl Talk
Double Door: Local H, Electric Six
Empty Bottle: Jens Lenkman
House of Blues: Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Lincoln Hall: The Fiery Furnaces
Metro: The Jesus Lizard
Riverside Theater (Milwaukee): Spoon, Jay Reatard
Riviera: Black Keys, Kurt Vile and the Violators
Schubas: Bobby Bare, Jr., David Vandervelde
Subterranean: Margot & The Nuclear So and Sos

(Via Spinner.)

If you’ve read this blog much over the past few months, you probably know that one of my favorite discoveries of 2009 has been New York’s Motel Motel. (The band even played a show I co-sponsored back in May with The Deep Vibration, Tereu Tereu and Roman Candle.)

Well, I just got an email from Erik Gundel, Motel Motel’s guitar/steel pedal player, letting me know about a brand new solo EP that he’s released called EP Gundel. (Besides actually being an EP, the title is also a play on Erik’s initials, including his middle name.)

As any good side project ought to be, EP Gundel is a pretty drastic departure from Erik’s day job. Whereas Motel Motel’s music can generally be referred to as “indie/Americana” – though I would argue that that label is far too restrictive – EP Gundel is more experimental, finding Erik adding in new instruments and sounds, and resulting in songs more akin to what you might expect to hear from bands like Grizzly Bear. And while I don’t count myself as a Grizzly Bear fan, I actually find myself liking Erik’s EP quite a bit. And I think you will too.

Check out the song “Lake On My Roof” above, and if you like what you hear, be sure to pick up a copy of the EP at CD Baby or iTunes.

Another new video from The Rest. I should have mentioned it then, but the video that I posted the other day for the song “Over The Hill” is part of the band’s ongoing Cried Wolf Book project.

This video, on the other hand, for “The Lady Vanishes”, is from the band’s incredible debut album, Everything All At Once, which you really, really need to buy. Like now.

You can also see the band perform “Harold T Wilkins” over at the Off The Beaten Tracks / The Skinny partnership page.

That said, I personally only need a couple of good shows this week, as I’m headed down to Austin on Friday for this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest. More on that later in the week, but for now I leave you with one word… Danzig.

Sunday, 11/1
Beat Kitchen (12pm): Human Tim + Robot Tim
Beat Kitchen (8pm): The Devil Makes Three, The Blind Staggers
Empty Bottle: Relaxation Record, Hedia, Fielded
Hideout: Lovvers, Turbo Fruits, Half Rats
Lincoln Hall (2 shows – 7/9pm): This Is Not a Show – R.E.M. Movie Screening
Ronny’s: Many Arms, Schnaak
Schuba’s: Federico Aubele, DePedro

Monday, 11/2
Beat Kitchen: Pat McCurdy
Empty Bottle: Soulico, MC Zulu [free]
House of Blues: Roger Daltry, Paper Zoo
Martyr’s: Jesse Palter & the Alter Ego, The Fluffers, Bullet aka Mr. Robotic
Ronny’s: The Sass Dragons, Brickfight, Son and Holy Smokes! Father, Bread and Bottle, Bad Applesauce
Schuba’s: New York Songwriters Circle Chicago Showcase
The Vic: Train, Uncle Kracker

Tuesday, 11/3
Bottom Lounge: Pinback, Joe Jack Talcum
Double Door: Papadosio, Fifth World
Empty Bottle: Raise High The Roof Beam, Soft Speaker, Sissy Mena, Radius
Hideout: Tangleweed, more
House of Blues: Matisyahu
Martyr’s: Paddy Keenan
Park West: Playing for Change
Schuba’s: This is Cinema, Bengal Lancer, My Gold Mask

Wednesday, 11/4
Congress Theater: Snoop Dogg, Methodman, Redman, Devin the Dude
Double Door: Musikanto, Miles Nielsen, Daysleeper
Empty Bottle: Damon & Naomi, Judson Claiborne, Secret Colours
Hideout: European Jazz Meets Chicago Preview Night
House of Blues: Ghostface, Fashawn, Skyzoo
Martyr’s (2 shows 7/10pm): Tributosaurus becomes… Nirvana
Metro: Simian Mobile Disco, Phenomenal Handclap Band
Park West: A Fine Frenzy, Landon Pigg, Among the Oak and Ash
Schuba’s: The Spinto Band, Generationals, Pepi Ginsberg
Subterranean: Three In Counting, Beazley Phillips Band, Fetch

Thursday, 11/5
Beat Kitchen: The Mediums, The Jet Age, Dollar Store, The Black Belts
Bottom Lounge: Future of the Left, Ume, Team Band
Double Door: Blane Fonda, Butterfly Assassins, Old Stable Hands
Empty Bottle: Lions Rampant, Thee Invaders, Son of Cops
Hideout: Toby Summerfield, Sick Gazelle, Coins, more
House of Blues: Gavin Rossdale, Lovehammers
Lincoln Hall: Vic Chesnutt Band, Clare & The Reasons
Martyr’s: Big C Jamboree ft. The Honeybees
Metro: The Mountain Goats, Final Fantasy
Ronny’s: The Catburglars, Krunchies, Pygmy Shrews, Ho-ag
Schuba’s: MaxTundra, Deastro, Coltrane Motion
Subterranean: Brother George, Social Studies, Trio in Stereo, Love Raids

Friday, 11/6
Abbey Pub: Bitter Wigs, Paperbear, The O Mys, Warren Buckler
Aragon: Hollywood Undead, Atreyu
Beat Kitchen: Verona Red, Moxie Motive, Aktaraktar
Bottom Lounge: The Whigs, The Features, The Dead Trees
Congress Theater: Basement Jaxx DJ set, MSTRKRFT, Modeselektor
Double Door: Vertical Horizon, Howard Jennings, Slayton Senne, Simplesinger
Empty Bottle: Gil Mantera’s Party Dream, Light Pollution, Railcars
House of Blues: Bassnectar, Nosaj Thing
Lincoln Hall: White Denim, Brazos
Logan Sqaure Auditorium: An Evening with Emilie Autumn
Martyr’s: Mas Trueno, Jamie Register & the Glendales, L’Orchestre Super Vitesse
Metro: Bouncing Souls, Bayside, Broadway Calls
Reggie’s Rock Club: The Jagz, Dummy Room, Jewsus
Riviera: Black Crowes, Truth & Salvage Co.
Schuba’s: Tigercity, Gemini Club, Vulture Whale
Subterranean: Passive Aggressor, Royce, Silver Atlas, 28 Mansions

Saturday, 11/7
Abbey Pub: Family Groove Company, Ghousthouse, Doko Benjo
Aragon: Jaguares
Beat Kitchen: Jon Drake & The Shakes, Harris & The Mood, Caught in Motion, Waterhens
Bottom Lounge: Black Heart Procession, Bellini, The Poison Arrows
Double Door: William Elliott Whitmore, Hoots & Hellmouth, Death Ships
Empty Bottle: O.W.L., Paul Metzger, Starless, Alessandro Bosetti
Hideout: Umbrella Music Festival
House of Blues: Red, Pop Evil, Taddy Porter, The Lifeline
Lincoln Hall: Numero’s Eccentric Soul Review
Martyr’s: Push, City States, Art Galts Widow, Poiema
Metro: Mustard Plug, The Toasters, Deal’s Gone Bad, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Green Room Rockers
Reggie’s Rock Club (5pm): Ramming Speed, Positive Noise, Wastered Fortune, Blood of the Tyrant
Reggie’s Rock Club (10pm): Kool Keith, Shala., Robust
Riviera: A.F.I.
Ronny’s: Cloud Mouth, The Red Knife Lottery
Schuba’s (7pm): Jonah Smith, Wes Kirkpatrick
Schuba’s (10:30pm): The Grates, The Yolks
Subterranean: Neo Dot Com, Drunken Monkeee, Blackcollar, Bluntcrew, Templo Uno, Billie Dee Boodah
The Vic: The Sounds, Foxy Shazam, Semi Precious Weapons

* As usual, just a note that, yes, I’ve been doing PR work for The Jet Age on their new album, in ‘Love’. But I’ve been a fan much longer than I’ve been helping them out, and they’d be one of my picks even if I weren’t working with them.