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Schubas | Thu., Jun. 14 | 9:00 PM | 18+ | $12 ADV / $14 DOORS

Sam Evian: samevian.bandcamp.com

With Special Guest:
Buck Meek (of Big Thief)
Julia Steiner (of Ratboys)

~ Sam Evian ~
As it has been said: no matter where you go, there you are. With his new album You, Forever, Sam Evian, the project of New York-based musician, songwriter, and producer Sam Owens, is here to add some eternity to that sentiment.

?This is you, forever: deal with yourself,? he says. ?It?s about accepting that you are responsible, that you are in charge of your actions. Everything that happens to you is because of you; no matter what happens, go there and learn from it.?

It?s a mantra that powers self-starter Owens, a producer and sound engineer by trade who entered the scene with his debut Sam Evian full-length, Premium, in the fall of 2016. The notion takes on a dual meaning that is echoed across You,Forever.

?There?s a ton of romance on the record,? he says. ?Maybe it?s all romance.?

You, Forever is Owens?s first foray into a more soul-baring sensibility and places the artist directly in the sightlines and heartlines of his listeners. The album (as well as 2017?s ?Need You,? a collaboration with the multi-hyphenate musician Chris Cohen) was written on the heels of his experience touring Premium with his band and was recorded across the latter half of last year. The tours?which included opening shows for bands such as Whitney, Teenage Fanclub, Luna, Nick Hakim and Lucius?taught him much about feel and interaction. Further fueled by a desire to escape from the glow of screens and to embrace a sense of limitation, he quickly developed a new set of instrumental songs written for a band rather than just himself and recorded them on a Tascam four-track cassette recorder in his parents? house in North Carolina.

?Just like most people, my recording studio day job had me staring at a computer eight hours a day,? he says. ?I just needed to get away from the glowing rectangle. The only way to do that was to work on tape. The four-track is so limiting; you?re forced to get only the bones of the song down. You can?t do any overdubs, so it was fun to work on that with the experience of the live band behind me. And something about playing my family?s instruments in the garage where I grew up spurred a set of songs that became the new record.?

Inspired by these limiting techniques, Owens borrowed an eight-track reel-to-reel tape recorder from a friend, rented a house in upstate New York, and took his band ? Brian Betancourt (bass), Austin Vaughn (drums), Adam Brisbin (guitar), and Hannah Cohen (backup vocals) ? there to record the new album in July 2017. Focusing on instrumental grooves and the vibe he had achieved on the original four-track recordings, Owens found the process so enlightening he decided to up the ante yet again by banning tuning pedals from the house.

?Tuning pedals make it so easy to sound good together, so when you eliminate them it takes everything back to the ?60s, which is when all my favorite records were born,? he says. ?It makes everything more questionable, weird, and unruly in a really simple way.?

Dreamy album opener ?IDGAF? explores the notion of embracing one?s passions and pursuing one?s goals no matter the impositions in the path. On one hand a subtle stand against the current political climate and on another a call to be responsible, Owens calls it a romantic song that embodies his act of self-mixing his record: ?I had to put myself aside and let the music happen.?

?Health Machine? is a crunchy, slow-burning but deliberate stomper glowing with warm electric guitar noodling, saxophone wailing, and Owens?s reverb-laden lyrics that he says detail an abstract version of how he relates to his own physical form. ?It?s about the unattainable health that I would like to imagine for myself on tour. The line ?We slither out on a Tuesday feeling tired and hopeless? is such a hilarious picture: four people in a minivan slithering out of Atlanta, Georgia, stopping at a CVS and getting a bunch of Zicam. Health is your job if you?re touring as a musician, although it?s a job I don?t do so well.?

?Country? is a fleet, nimble driving song written after Owens and his girlfriend (Hannah Cohen, who also sings throughout the album) took a cross-country road trip and encountered what they perceived to be a dust storm in rural Nevada. ?For a hundred miles we didn?t see a person or even a tree, then all of a sudden this giant dust cloud appeared which turned out to be ten cowboys on horses lassoing cows. It was the most real thing I?ve ever seen.? In fact, Owens wrote every song on the album with the act of driving-while-listening in mind, and says many of the lyrics came together following that life-changing road trip?the only time he has ever driven across America without anyone waiting on him to show up for a soundcheck. But despite the allure of the transient life, his heart belongs to one place.

?The record is about romance, and about my love for living in New York and trying to separate myself from any idea I had previously of living in New York,? he says. ?I?ve kind of designed my own world there.?

Whether behind the wheel in the dust bowls of America, navigating the bustle of his adopted home, playing festival stages with rock legends, or getting back to basics in his parents? garage, no matter where Sam Evian goes, there he is?forever.


~Julia Holter~
At 14, Chicago via Louisville, KY songwriter Julia Steiner became ?Ratboy? during a rowdy high school lunch period. Taking this nickname and running with it, Steiner penned songs for years in isolation, combining earnest self-observation with a sense of wonder about what?s out there. And then, after striking up a musical partnership with multi-instrumentalist Dave Sagan in college, Steiner?s whole world opened up. The duo became Ratboys and their collaboration has born songs full of restrained energy and passionate questioning. While Ratboys has spent the past three years touring as a fully loud, four-piece band, Steiner often jumps at the chance to return to her roots and play solo sets - to try out brand new (and very old) material and to reconnect with that persistent teenage urge, to discover something new in singing a song.

Lincoln Hall | Sat., Jul. 7 | 9:00 PM | 18+ | $15 ADV / $17 DOORS

Now, Now: soundcloud.com/nownowband
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When the world last heard from Brad Hale and KC Dalager of Now, Now, they had, on the strength of their well received 2012 LP Threads, made their late night TV debut with Jimmy Fallon and tour incessantly with bands including Fun., Bob Mould, Naked & Famous among others. Despite the success and acclamation earned up to that point, when it came time to begin work on a follow up album, self-doubt set in followed by a crippling writer's block.

Following a few years of frustration and introspection, the ice began to crack while tracking the single ?SGL.??I know it?s been a long road,? says KC, ? but I wouldn?t change any part of it. If we had put an album out right after Threads, we wouldn?t have gone through that period of self-discovery. I think we might have made an album that was timid and vague and unchallenging.? Boasting the most direct songwriting and transparent lyrics the band have ever written by a mile,Saved is anything but ?timid and vague? . The pair returned to their writing and recording roots for Saved, recording all but one song in their basements together, just as they had back in high school.

The only people who know the full extent of the meaning behind the title Saved are Brad and KC, but it?s clear to see salvation for them, at least in part, involved escaping the constraints of their own hangups and insecurities. All so that they might be free to grow into the people and artists we see and hear today on their new album, Saved.

Lincoln Hall | Thu., Jun. 28 | 8:00 PM | 18+ | $16 ADV / $18 DOOR

Maps & Atlases: https://mapsatlases.bandcamp.com/
w/ Prism Tats: https://soundcloud.com/prismtats

Schubas | Sat., Jun. 16 | 10:00 PM | 18+ | $15

Quiet Slang (aka Beach Slang): http://bit.ly/2Ge9P7B
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Rock and roll is sort of my consolation prize for wanting to have been a writer,? says James Alex. It?s a humble admission from the frontman of Philadelphia?s Beach Slang, a fiery punk quartet whose raucous gigs often find the songwriter?s earnest lyrics bellowed back at him. Still, consider it a feat that fans are even able to hear those words from behind the trembling walls of distortion that serve as Beach Slang?s raison d?etre. Everything about Beach Slang is loud, from the guitars to its attitude to Alex?s weathered rasp.

Considering that, there?s something almost cheeky about the title of his new project: Quiet Slang. As the name implies, Alex is embracing minimalism, smothering the fuzz in favor of a cello, a piano, and his voice. In October, Quiet Slang released We Were Babies & We Were Dirtbags, an EP comprised of two Beach Slang songs and two covers from The Replacements and Big Star. Consider it an introduction to what Alex calls ?chamber pop for outsiders,? because it simply serves as prelude to Everything Matters But No One Is Listening, a collection of 10 Beach Slang covers that comprises Quiet Slang?s debut full length.

The project?s seeds were planted just six months after Beach Slang?s formation, when Alex was asked to a solo Tiny Desk Concert for NPR. ?That was just me, my guitar and a clumsy excuse for charm. But, yeah, the response was beautifully unexpected and really nudged my thinking,? he says. ?Even now, at almost every show we play somebody?s like, ?I got turned onto your band from that NPR thing. You should make a record like that.?? A successful solo tour last year solidified the idea in Alex?s mind, but he says he wasn?t content to make a ?campfire record,? elaborating that he ?wanted it to have more weight than that.?

That?s when he turned to the project?s key influence: The Magnetic Fields? Stephin Merritt. Merritt?s influence lent itself not only in his heartrending use of cello and piano via his work with the Fields, but also in one of his most famous lyrics. ?Why do we keep shrieking/ When we mean soft things?? goes the final lines of ?100,000 Fireflies.? ?We should be whispering all the time.?

?That just always stuck with me,? Alex says, ?how quiet can sometimes be more powerful.? He continues, ?If Beach Slang is me fawning over The Replacements, Quiet Slang is me head-over-heels for Stephin Merritt.?

Though a new Beach Slang record is next up on Alex?s docket, he?s open to the possibility of more Quiet Slang. The project?s sophomore release, he notes, would contain original songs. ?I guess I wanted to chase reinterpretation first. I dug the challenge of it. But, yeah, Quiet Slang deserves its own voice.?

Regardless of its future, however, he hopes the project can convey one simple thing: ?Tenderness. I suppose that sounds overly simplified. But, still, it makes it no less sincere. Look, I?m trying to soften the world a little bit?there?s worse ways to be remembered.

Schubas | Wed., Jun. 20 | 8:00 PM | 18+ | $10 ADV / $12 DOORS

TRANSVIOLET: soundcloud.com/transviolet
w/ Magic Bronson: soundcloud.com/magicbronson

Transviolet is an LA-based quartet made up of vocalist/lyricist Sarah McTaggart, multi-instrumentalist/producer Michael Panek,
drummer/producer Jonathan Garcia, and guitarist/keyboardist Judah McCarthy. The band?s first song, ?Girls Your Age? popped online in the summer of 2015 announcing Transviolet?s arrival. ?Girls Your Age? gained instant online traction with Sarah?s voice at once recalling the Lana, Lorde, Karen O and Imogen Heap: sultry, measured, assured. Katy Perry praised the lyrics, Harry Styles tweeted his support, Ellie Goulding selected it for a spin on Beats1 and Twin Shadow delivered an exclusive remix. Transviolet has appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden (twice) and The Today Show. They have toured nationally with Mikky Ekko and LANY, and toured the UK with Twenty One Pilots. They've played the festival circuit including SXSW, Governor's Ball, Firefly, Read and Leeds, Great Escape and more, generating over 20+ million spins on Spotify.

Meanwhile, they garnered widespread acclaim from i-D, Nylon, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Noisey, Billboard, and many more. In 2017, they released their softmore EP "Kaleidoscopes" paired with videos for "The Hamptons", "Astronaut", "Kaleidoscopes" and "Pretty Head". In 2017, they performed on The Today Show and for MTV, Billboard and Baeble Music while quietly creating this latest body of work.

Schubas | Thu., Jun. 28 | 9:00 PM | 18+ | $12

Kevin Krauter (of Hoops): kevinkrauter.bandcamp.com
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Useful Solitude.

That?s the phrase Kevin Krauter uses to describe Toss Up, his upcoming full-length debut on Bayonet Records?both the conditions in which it was created and the prevailing theme of these nine iridescent indie-pop songs. In between tours, the Indiana musician spent long hours in his basement, guitars and vintage keyboards his only company, and tested out ideas, explored new sonic avenues, savored new sounds, and taught himself how to play a few instruments.

?I would wake up and have a cup of coffee, then I?d come up with a song or a melody and just sit and play it literally for three or four hours straight. Then I?d try to find new ways to play it, or do it with different notes or on different instruments. I don?t want to call it meditating, but it was pretty meditative to sit there by myself and play the same thing over and over and over and over.? The riffs and melodies became mantras, repeated back to himself until they became the rhythmically intricate, melodically bold, and emotionally complex songs on Toss Up. An insightful songwriter with a lyrical style that is both economical and evocative, Krauter crafts unique soundscapes that scramble a range of influences: ?60s flower pop, ?70s easy listening, ?80s New Wave, ?90s alt-radio, ?00s indie rock.

A gentle melancholy pervades the album, but it?s far too imaginative to sound morose or mopey. ?You?re singing all alone and you?re dancing all alone,? he sings on ?Who Do You Know,? as the guitars crackle and the synths fizz around him. As Toss Up proceeds, Krauter fills the songs with more and more people: a lover in the unabashedly sweet ?Keep Falling in Love;? a friend in the album-closing title track who becomes an audience of one. Music becomes the bond between Krauter and the world: ?Take my hand ?cause we?re really alone in this world,? he sings on ?Toss Up,? but adds a poignant promise: ?I can carry you home.?

Best known as one of several guitar players, songwriters, and vocalists in the Hoosier indie-rock band Hoops, Krauter has been making music all by his lonesome for much longer. He grew up in a family heavily involved in local musical theater, even appearing in three productions of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He played in high school bands, but didn?t get serious about writing and recording until he enrolled at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana. His first efforts -- recorded in his dorm room -- weren?t intended for any kind of audience, but a friend asked him to record a few tracks for a class project. Eventually those sessions became 2015?s Magnolia EP, a short collection of gentle, gauzy songs that reveal his early obsession with one of his first musical heroes, Vashti Bunyan.

It was his first taste of the music business, and the experience left a huge impression. ?I?d never put any music out under my name. I?d never put out a tape before. It all came together quickly.? Krauter began recording and releasing music prolifically, first with Hoops and then on his own. The Changes EP, released in late 2016, showcases his deft guitar playing, mixing soul-baring songwriting with bossa nova rhythms and intimately lo-fi production. It was supposed to be a low-key release, but Changes became a word-of-mouth hit that amassed a small but avid cult behind it. ?I didn?t think it was going to make any huge waves for me, but a lot of people told me they were still listening to it a year or more later. They were living with it, and I thought that was cool.?

Those first two EPs were mostly acoustic, just Krauter, his guitar, and occasionally a brushed snare drum or a textural electric guitar. ?I was cool with it for a while, but I wanted to make something that sounded a little more pop.? Recorded at Russian Recording in Bloomington, Indiana, Toss Up builds on the sonic worlds of his first releases, conveying a similar mood with a greater array of instruments and influences. Still, he worked with what he had around him. ?I found this old two-stack organ at Goodwill and set it up on top of an old Yamaha teach-yourself keyboard that my mom had. I was playing those over and over.?

You can hear those vintage keyboards merging on ?Keep Falling in Love,? which recalls R&B organist Timmy Thomas and West Coast marina pop artists Ned Doheny while showing off Krauter?s strong falsetto. ?Rollerskate? audaciously marries a hypnotic keyboard theme to a loping drumbeat based on a popular ?90s alt-rock hit. (See if you can guess which one. Answer below*.) ?I had been working on that guitar part and it sounded like another pretty folk song, so I thought, What if I put this weird funky beat on top of it? Most of these songs are very groove heavy.?

That is the secret tension on Toss Up, the engine that drives these songs: melody propelled by rhythm, melancholy fended off by the exuberance of simply creating art. ?A lot of the songs are about solitude in a very healthy sense, about trying to make it something useful and productive. It was good to center myself in that experience. I was able to get to a place where I was not afraid to be really stoked by what I was doing.? Or, as he declares on ?Lonely Boogie?: ?I?m all alone and I?m having a good time.?

+++++++

* ?Someday? by Sugar Ray. ?I would listen to that song and think, these drums sound so fucking sick,? says Krauter. ?I wanted to steal the isolated drum track, but it was too slow for ?Rollerskate.??

Schubas | Sat., Jun. 16 | 7:00 PM | 18+ | $15 ADV / $18 DOOR

The Mother Hips: www.motherhips.com
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