Ben Folds w/ The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra @ Hilbert Circle Theatre, Indianapolis Wednesday, October 26 7:30 p.m. All ages It has been more than ten years since Ben Folds Five disbanded.
The Bishop, for all of its cozy settings and craft beers on tap, can sometimes feel small and intimate enough to be nothing more than a big garage. New Jersey's Screaming Females felt at home and all alone in their garage as they experimented and belted their loud punk rock Monday night, and there must've been at least a few audience members who forgot they weren't alone in their bedrooms as they thrashed about to their music. Unfortunately, if the band really was alone in their virtual garage on stage, they certainly forgot there was an audience there watching them.
It was a mesmerizing night at Russian Recording that featured three fundamentally different indie rock sounds by bands from all over the country last Friday.
For the week of 10/17-10/24/11: 1. M83, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (Mute) 2. St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (4AD) 3.
Screaming Females w/ Underground Railroad to Candyland @ The Bishop Monday, October 23 9 p.m. $8 18+ Tomorrow night, The Bishop's stage will be audible from a little further away than usual with a pair of equally raw and ridiculously-named indie punk acts taking over the bill: New Jersey basement-bred trio Screaming Females and San Pedro, California's Underground Railroad to Candyland.
Thursday night at The Bluebird was hectic. Umphrey's McGee performed to a jam-packed, sold-out house.
Asobi Seksu w/ White Birds @ The Bishop Friday, October 21 9 p.m. $10 18+ A few blocks north on Walnut Avenue of Nurses' Russian Recording session with Dominant Legs and Stagnant Pools tonight, NYC dream-pop duo Asobi Seksu will play the Bishop at 9 p.m.
Nurses w/ Dominant Legs and Stagnant Pools Friday, October 21 @ Russian Recording 9 p.m. All ages On the heels of the excellent Dracula, Nurses' second album on local label Dead Oceans and third overall, this Portland-based indie crew will bring its ineffable pop songwriting to Russian Recording for a low dough Friday night show.
Umphrey's McGee @ The Bluebird Thursday, October 20 9 p.m. $25 21+ Progressive-rock jam band Umphrey's McGee will be playing the Bluebird tomorrow at 9 p.m.
"Meow?" That was Melt-Banana frontwoman Yasuko Onuki's response to a drunken audience member's request for "some more of that crazy Japanese shit" sometime during last night's show at The Bishop.
Wringer w/ High Dive & Comfort @ The Bishop Wednesday, October 19 9 p.m. $3 18+ Wringer's first EP, Cool Story, exists in the gray space between post-punk and the ultra-mainstream, punk pop. The minimalist musical stylings are reminiscent of traditional punk rock.
Melt-Banana w/ Racebannon & Vernal Pike @ The Bishop Tuesday, October 18 9 p.m. $10 18+ With live staples that combine furious grindcore with frenetic spazz-punk and have titles like "Shield for Your Eyes, A Beast in the Well on Your Hand" and "Cat Brain Land," few would argue that the music Japanese trio Melt-Banana plays isn't weird. Among those few, however, is frontwoman Yasuko Onuki. "Actually our music is not weird music for me," she insisted in an email interview.
For the week of 10/10-10/16/11: 1. Ryan Adams, Ashes & Fire (Capitol) 2. Bjork, Biophilia (Nonesuch) 3.
Janelle Monae @ IU Auditorium Saturday, October 15 8 p.m. $38.50/$33.50 students One of 2010's biggest breakout performers is in Bloomington to grace the Indiana University Auditorium's stage tonight.
"This is Jayhawks 101," Gary Louris said leading into his band's essential song, "I'd Run Away." It would be an easy enough course if it were real - at least based on the standard implication of that number pinned on the end - but one that know-it-all college-aged Bluebird regulars like myself would probably have flunked. For one easygoing Wednesday night at The Bluebird, personal pitchers of Bud replaced Dirty Birds, straight-cut blue jeans overtook skinny jeans, and 40ish-year old attendees outnumbered 21-year olds. One was Mike who drove down from Indianapolis just for the show, and who could not have looked more disappointed when I informed him he missed The Jayhawks' first four songs.
Bloomington's DJ Eade is a self-described heavy-bass technician from the dirty south; however, he's doubling as an IU grad here in Bloomington.
If there was any theme to Tuesday night's show at the Bishop - a quadruple bill of Midwest electro indie acts headlined by locals Chandelier Ballroom - it was omnipresent ebullient thank-yous from the people on stage.
Tuesday night at The Bluebird, rising folk musician Brett Dennen shimmied and shook his long, lanky frame into the hearts and earholes of an extremely energetic crowd.
The Broderick w/ The Natives @ The Bishop Thursday, October 13 9 p.m. $4 That one here and that one there, but Thursday night at The Bishop, members of local band The Natives will be seen all together at 9 p.m.
The Jayhawks @ The Bluebird Wednesday, October 12 8 p.m. $22 21+ The Jayhawks are on the bill for the second night of an Americana invasion of sorts at the Bluebird this week.
