Fanfarlo in action. Photo by kata rokkar on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons.

Fanfarlo sounds familiar. With all the press the band has received for its unassuming orchestral indie pop, the London-based quintet has permeated blogs and radio with its well-crafted songs ornate enough to catch your ear, but laid back enough to show you a good time.

But even if you haven’t heard the band’s name before, it’s easy to pick out sonic references: opening track “I’m A Pilot,” with its repetitive piano progression and crunchy drums, sounds like Cold War Kids doing a cover of the National. The second song, “Ghosts,” with strummed acoustic guitars and prominent trumpet recalls Neutral Milk Hotel at times, an apt comparison for a band that does such a flawless cover of “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” Lead singer Simon Balthazar’s vocal performance is familiar too, recalling Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Alec Ounsworth’s distinct singing — sometimes incomprehensible, but still strong enough to hold all the right notes.

While Fanfarlo isn’t the first band to bring those styles to indie rock, the amount of ground they cover is impressive. The first three songs alone utilize music boxes, full string sections, horns, synthesizers and tempo shifts. “Luna” begins as one of the punkier numbers, but its frantic pace is nowhere to be found four minutes later as the song’s dramatic build-up quickly cuts to just an acoustic guitar and a trumpet solo. “Comets” has some unclassifiable instruments, too. Before you can decide if you’re hearing creepy background vocals, a stringed instrument, or maybe a theremin, the song approaches New Pornographers territory with its male-female harmonies and spurts of power pop.

With all of this crammed into 11 songs in just over 40 minutes, it’s easy to picture the band dropping instruments and scrambling to pick new ones up while recording the album. And with the way “Comets” leads rights into “Fire Escape,” without iTunes to guide you, it’s possible to easily miss where one song ends and another begins.

The downside to Reservoir is that they cover all this ground a little too quickly. By the album’s halfway mark, the band has already shown off every quirky instrument and pulled enough tempo changes that little comes as a surprise. The songs could be just rearranged in any order and the album would feel the same. That’s not to say similarity sacrifices quality — it just means the most memorable songs will likely be the first ones you hear.

Despite the pros and cons of the cohesion, if you don’t pay close enough attention, you might miss some of the more dynamic and pleasing moments on the album. “Drowning Men,” with its hand-claps and throbbing baseline, is easily the album’s catchiest track and makes great use of the string sections. The song’s rhythm section is enough to carry the weight of the song, but violinist Cathy Lucas adds a moody color that proves Fanfarlo’s strings aren’t just a stage prop.

“Finish Line,” which starts like almost any other song the record, has a danceable but short-lived synth breakdown, while the delicate album closer “Good Morning Midnight,” a minute and a half of thoughtful guitar picking and ambient keyboards, melodically has the most staying power. With Reservoir, you’ll enjoy how it begins and how it ends — the rest will be a fond, if distant memory.

Interview with frontman Simon Balthazar

There’s a lot of mention in the press about all the different instruments featured on the album. Did you set out to be unconventional, or did those choices come naturally?

The way we arrange our songs is just something that comes natural, we’re just guided by what we feel the songs need. For our album we didn’t feel like using electric guitars much, but instead we used [a lot of] musical saw, clarinet and mandolin, as well as toy pianos, trash cans and a bunch of vintage organs.

There are parts on the record where it seems like a lot is going on in terms of all the instruments. Is it easy to reproduce the record live, or do you find you have to scale the show down with only five people in the band?

We don’t necessarily set out to copy what we did on the record, but we’ve kept a lot of the arrangements for live use, which means carting around a lot of instruments and swapping mid-song.

After being on tour with Snow Patrol, you’re starting to tour in the U.S. in support of the album. Is there a different mindset that comes with being your own headliner?

We’ve spent a fair amount of time on the road doing our own shows, so the massive arena shows with Snow Patrol were more the exception. We really prefer playing smaller shows where you can actually connect with people. The current tour we’re on is certainly different from our recent tour of big cities though. This time we’re driving through loads of small towns, which is going to be really interesting hopefully.

Your website features all sorts of acoustic covers in what you call “Laptop Sessions.” Is this an important creative outlet for the band?

It’s more a document of us hanging out, playing around, covering songs we like. So it’s almost a social thing, but yes, there is an interesting creative element to playing other people’s songs, you find new perspectives on music. It’s the most obvious, basic way of expanding what you do and how most people first learn how to make music.

A lot of the videos feature the band playing in all sorts of random locations outside. What’s the weirdest place you’ve played?

Years ago we played on this cross between a monument and a stage, this big monstrous thing looked like a big fuchsia and was sat in a square. A friend asked us to play and we were short on cash so we did it. It was a lunch time and very strange.

You guys keep a pretty extensive tour diary. As a band that’s just breaking through, do you find that you’re documenting more for yourself and the band or for new fans?

A bit of both. We were pretty good at keeping a video diary not so long ago and it was really cool to revisit stuff we sometimes didn’t even realize had been filmed.

You posted pictures of when security tried to stop you from playing outside at Glasgow University. What’s the craziest thing to happen to you on tour?

I can tell you, but I’d have to kill you.

Reservoir was for sale for $1 on your website for the first part of the year. Did Radiohead’s pay-what-you want approach to In Rainbows pave the way for this, or was it something you had been planning all along?

It was just something we did for the hell of it. I guess also we were thinking — hey, this is how much we’d make per record anyway if were signed to a major!

You’ve self-released music in the past, but Reservoir now has the support of Canvasback Music and Atlantic Records. Was there a particular point where you realized a label would be helpful?

They were just really keen and could offer us the means to go out touring properly so it made sense. It was definitely a good thing for us to stay independent for a long time though.

There are more and more bands starting to self-release music. Do you think that’s where indie music is headed? To not just be on an independent label but to have no label at all?

I’ve definitely seen this trend for a while now. In the same it’s getting easier for people to record records without spending a ton of money, it’s getting easier to get the music out there and do your own thing without needing the stamp of approval from the industry. At the end of the day it’s good for music and creativity in some ways, but it also means it’s harder to make a living as a musician because you have to take more risks.

As a broke freshman, I sincerely appreciate any possible alternative to paying for music. The university comes down hard and fast on BitTorrent users, so I really don’t have any other choice but to get creative. Thanks to Mojo, I won’t have to resort to taping songs off the radio.

With that said, I think everyone could benefit from a quick refresher course in Mojo etiquette. Listed below are several easy suggestions for more harmonious Mojo use — follow these and everyone will have a better experience.

Suggestion #1: Tag your songs

“Tags” are little pieces of information in an MP3 file that list the name of the song, artist, album and other pieces of information. When you import an album, iTunes should automatically pull the tag information off the internet. Occasionally, this doesn’t happen — especially if you listen to more obscure (read: “cooler”) music.

Don’t be discouraged! Check Wikipedia or Allmusic to get the correct track name information. It only takes a minute or two to tag an album with the proper information and it makes everyone’s life so much easier. After all, it was “Love in an Elevator” that was a hit for Aerosmith — not “Track 03” by Album Artist.

If there is one thing that Mojo has taught me, it’s that everyone on my floor has at least one Aerosmith song in his or her iTunes library.

Suggestion #2: Embrace your shame

A lot of people are probably going to load your Mojo library and laugh at your musical taste. This is mostly unavoidable — even the staunchest hipster probably has at least a couple of Coldplay songs. And hey, Coldplay really did lay it down on “Fix You.”

This is part of the cost of using Mojo; your reward is almost entirely unfettered access to the library of any other Mojo user on your network. The price you pay? Everyone gets to see how much you love AFI.

Believe me, a lot of people on my floor love AFI.

You could fret over this, or you could simply accept that everyone’s music library has a brown spot or two. In my case, my top three most-listened tracks are “Fix You,” “Hot N Cold,” and the seven-minute remix of “Mr. Brightside.”

It’s your music. Be proud of it.

Suggestion #3: Be ashamed of music you make

People always seem to forget that Mojo gives access to the entire iTunes library — videos, voice memos and GarageBand “experiments” as well as actual music. More often than not, this usually means someone’s got a couple of episodes of Gossip Girl in his or her library.

To all the aspiring musicians out there, I’d like to offer this reminder: if you add your own songs to iTunes, Mojo will treat them like any other song. Unless you’re really proud of that one Bob Dylan cover you recorded in GarageBand, I’d suggest you keep it out of your library. If people on your floor come across it, they will laugh at you.

God help you if your iTunes library has original material in it. It’s bad enough that we can hear what a bad singer you are — you don’t need your floor-mates finding out what a shitty songwriter you are as well.

Suggestion #4: Go crazy

This one should be a no-brainer but a lot of people don’t seem to get it. When I was in seventh grade, I found a box of my dad’s CDs in the closet. Most of it was pretty canonical dad-rock — lots of Springsteen, some Eagles, some Dire Straits — but it still blew my young mind.

Until then, I’d only listened to video game soundtracks and Weird Al albums. Suddenly, I had access to all kinds of “real” music. Granted, Slippery When Wet and Hotel California may not be the pinnacle of musical development, but there’s something to be said about branching out and trying something new.

The way I see it, an open Mojo library is like a standing invitation to come in and try out new things. Listen to a few bands you haven’t heard of; try out a genre you don’t normally follow. If availability is the one factor limiting most students from listening to new music, then Mojo replaces an excuse with an opportunity.

Mojo will, by default, add all of your downloaded songs from another library to a particular playlist. For example, everything that gets downloaded from my library would be added to the “Sam Daub’s Library” playlist. That makes it really easy for me to figure out which songs in my library are downloaded most often.

I’ve got a lot of music in my iTunes, so it always disappoints me a little when people only download the basics. There’s a lot of great music on your network — don’t limit yourself to just what’s already well known.

Who knows, you may even meet someone else whose taste in music matches yours. Free music is great, but Mojo can give you more than that: a chance to make a friend or even the start of a possible romance.

These six words, used in the right situation and with the right person, may change your life: “Hey, I heard you like Aerosmith.”

Dan Deacon performs in Chicago at Logan Square Auditorium. Photo by author.

What I experienced at Logan Square Auditorium was pure, unadulterated madness. I knew that this concert was going to be crazy, given my previous experience at Lollapalooza with Dan Deacon, but I was wholly unprepared for what I went through this time around. A simple rave, this most certainly was not.

Much of the insanity resulted from the fact that, by some miracle, this concert was an all ages event. There are many privileges that people under 18 should be allowed to enjoy. Going to this concert though, should not be one of them. It was a perfect lesson in what not to do as an audience member. These drunk and drugged teens started thrashing around before the opening acts even took the stage. Then, in an even weirder display, they started breaking apart glow sticks to paint their bodies with the neon substance. A couple of guys were trying to draw satanic pentagrams on themselves. Another was idiotically trying to color his own tongue, disregarding the potential safety hazards. I can’t count the number of times that the stuff got flung into my face. A friend of mine who came with me was on the verge of starting a fight after being body-slammed innumerable times. I know it was Halloween, but that doesn’t excuse the spectators from their simply atrocious etiquette.

I know I’m making the event sound like a shit-show, so far. And it was. But it was a pretty fun one. In terms of the music itself, I found the concert to actually be fairly sub par. The two opening acts, Nuclear Power Plants and some other group whose name I couldn’t get, played some messy, repetitive stuff that I couldn’t get into. I obviously enjoyed Dan Deacon’s music a lot more, but even then, his set list wasn’t exactly a crowd-pleaser. He played some stuff that isn’t on any of his albums, and a lot more fuzzed-out “noise” material. What he did have going for him was awesome crowd interaction and stage presence. True to his style, Deacon got the audience involved with some ridiculous tasks, including an incomprehensible interpretive dance, and the worst dance-off of all time. In between the games was some good, old-fashioned moshing. For just a little while, people really didn’t care about how they looked, hyper-actively bouncing up and down and flailing their bodies in whatever way they felt like as Deacon chipmunk-shrieked into his microphone.

It’s hard to describe, but your state of consciousness is somewhat altered during a Dan Deacon set, with no need of assistance from hallucinogens. Collectively, the audience moshed into one heaping mass of ecstasy, temporarily liberated from the universe of rationality outside the venue. In fact, I personally found this to be less of a concert, and more of a general, multifaceted experience. As opposed to being the main draw, the music arguably takes a backseat to the moshing. After a while, the man could have started blasting out anything, and the crowd would still probably be getting crazy, just to keep the crazy going.

So was the concert worth it? Was it worth putting up with the deranged kids, body-slamming and flying glow stick liquid? I’d have to give a resounding “hell yes.” Even if you don’t quite gel with Deacon’s music, it’s nice to be in an atmosphere where you’re free to spazz out without having to worry about appearances. So, if you get a chance to see Dan Deacon, don’t stay home and pass up an awesome chance to let loose unless you’re absolutely claustrophobic. I’d gladly go through that awesome mess again.

“It completely goes against everything the artist intended,” the Communication freshman said. “You’re just blasting these people out of their minds, and I don’t think that’s okay.”

Northwestern students and professors showed support for artists like R.E.M., Pearl Jam and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who last week joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo in response to a November 2008 report by the Senate Armed Service Committee that said music was played at high volume during certain interrogations.

If Einsidler’s music were to be used for torturing detainees, she said she would take similar action to other artists and make the public more aware of the situation. The controversy changes the music’s purpose, she said.

“It doesn’t make me love music any less, but I do think it’s degrading because it’s meant to make an emotional connection and to express yourself,” Einsidler said.

Northwestern history professor Michael Kramer, who teaches a class in rock music history, said he first heard about music being used to torture Manuel Noriega in Panama.

“I remember how absurd it seemed at the time,” he said. “It seemed like a Saturday Night Live skit until you thought about how music could be used, especially at high volumes.”

He called the events at Guantanamo Bay disturbing and went on to joke that U.S. citizens should be careful about the ways the CIA uses anything, let alone music.

Joe Margulies, a Northwestern law professor with almost eight years of litigation experience at Guantanamo, thinks the center should be shut down — but not in protest of the technique because it hasn’t been used in years. According to CNN, exposing prisoners to loud music stopped after fall 2003 after the Department of Defense conducted a review of interrogation techniques.

Margulies said celebrity support for the issue will not make a difference since President Obama has already promised to close the facility by January.

“The Obama administration has committed to close the base,” he said. “That commitment has predated a public statement by Nine Inch Nails rejecting the use of their music.”

Kramer disagreed with artists like Metallica’s James Hetfield, who approve of using their music for interrogations. He said such artists were misinformed about the different messages their songs send in different contexts.

Weinberg freshman Chase Sund, a member of the ska band The Takeouts, said that blasting music is better than physical torture, but still not justified. He is in favor of closing Guantanamo Bay and giving prisoners legal jurisdiction under U.S. law.

“It’s kind of a sick irony that people would take things that would be used as some sort of expression or entertainment and turn it around like that to use it as a horrific act or some sort of tool against people,” Sund said. “In a way, it’s pretty sad.”

To Kramer, the issue of using music during interrogations is far more complicated than a discussion of artists’ rights to self-expression. Music can be used as a weapon, he said.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that music and culture aren’t important to questions of politics and power.”

Sisters Tegan and Sara step it up in Sainthood, the duo’s sixth release. Photo courtesy of the band website.

Tegan and Sara isn’t the same band you used to know. Unless you’re a devoted fan or a frequent Stereogum visitor, the last you probably heard of them was almost six years ago when the Canadian twin set made a minor dent in alternative radio with the indie rock sing-a-long “Walking With A Ghost” off their 2004 breakthrough, So Jealous. But after another studio album and multiple headlining tours under their belts, Tegan and Sara have stepped up their sound and songwriting for their sixth album, Sainthood, co-produced by Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, who also produced the band’s last album, 2007’s The Con.

While The Con incorporated home-recorded demos from the sisters’ isolated songwriting sessions on their respective coasts (Tegan in Vancouver, Sara in Montreal), the approach also generated a more polarized sound: the album’s songs mostly alternated between Tegan’s rapid-fire power pop and Sara’s moodier, intricate compositions. With Sainthood, however, the band avoided following in the footsteps of OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and opted for a live band approach to recording, rehearsing for several hours a day before recording the songs. The result is a tighter, more aggressive body of work, evident in the lead single “Hell,” one of three songs co-written with AFI’s bassist Hunter Burgan. “Hell” combines the edge of Paramore with the band’s endearing take on love and heartbreak.

Recording together live instead of from their respective homes succeeded in smoothing out some of that songwriting polarization. Those familiar with the band’s prior catalog will likely recognize which sister wrote which song, but cuts like “Sentimental Tune,” a simple, guitar-driven Sara song that could just as easily been written by Tegan will make it harder for new fans to tell their music apart. Seemingly symbolic of this cohesion is “Paperback Head,” the only song so far to have writing duties split evenly among the two of them.

That’s not to say Tegan and Sara have abandoned what makes them unique — Tegan still churns out songs like “Northshore,” a two minute power chord-fest complete with addictive, stream-of-consciousness lyrics, while Sara still crafts intricate, quirky pop songs, such as the piano-driven and single-worthy “Alligator.” The sisters’ trademark vocal harmonies are also just as prevalent as ever, but are less necessary than before. Tegan’s voice is strong enough to carry the weight of most of her tunes completely solo, like on the pounding “Don’t Rush,” while Sara’s layered vocals, more of an acquired taste than her sister’s, can still run thin on songs like album highlight “On Directing.”

Unlike The Con, whose lyrical content focused on anxious, desperate pleas to change the minds of unrequited lovers, Sainthood takes a calmer, more calculated approach to practicing perfection to win over hearts. While The Con’s final song “Call It Off” ended the album on a defeated note with lines like “Maybe I could have been something you’d be good at,” Sainthood closes with some optimism. “Someday” features MGMT-esque synthesizers and a free-form delivery that weaves hopeful determination into similar lyrics like “Might do something I’ll be proud of someday / Mark my words, I might be something someday.” They may not be saints yet, but with an album like Sainthood, they’ve already done something to be proud of.

Sunday afternoon, with blue skies and fairly warm temperatures, WNUR brought local Chicago artists to Northwestern for a kickoff concert to help bring the radio station closer to the students. Owen, made up of Mike Kinsella and his acoustic guitar, brought soft, mellow sounds as the opening act. Joan of Arc, an eccentric indie band made up of constantly rotating artists and Mike’s brother Tim Kinsella, brought faster, crazier beats for a solid concert that would please any alternative rock fan.

Owen opened with “New Leaves”, a song from his new album of the same title. His set was very intimate, and his unassuming presence made viewers feel like old friends. He then played “The Sad Waltzes of Pietro Crespi” from the album At Home With Owen. “Bad News” paired a sweet melody with somewhat angry lyrics, crooning: “Whatever it is you think you are, you aren’t: / a good friend, unique, well-read, good-looking, or smart. / Well now you know.” Another highlight, “Broken Bones”, had a faster pace, and used guitar drum beats in between the riffs to pull the audience in. In between songs a photographer approached the stage, and Kinsella said, “Hey dude, how’s it going?” This comment was the epitome of Owen’s set: a down-to-earth guy simply playing calm, personal songs for a bunch of friends.

In contrast with Owen, Joan of Arc played a much heavier set. A six-piece ensemble, Joan of Arc combined multiple percussive instruments with synth beats and acoustic instruments for a fresh, unique sound. Tim Kinsella’s coarse and emotional voice tied everything together for a raw yet cohesive set. The band opened with “The Surrender” parts 1 and 2, with the former an instrumental piece that sounded like a fluid jam session, the members smiling and nodding their heads to the beat. Standout songs include “Eventually All At Once” and “The Garden Of Cartoon Exclamations,” which sounded like something out of a Tim Burton film, combining a music box-like xylophone melody with loud bellows of “She’s come to recognize the sound of her own name being written/And each breath is her signature.” At the end of the song, Kinsella exclaimed, “I forgot the words!” Joan of Arc sped it up with the fast, groovy “Living In The Sea Of Umbrellas” and other songs of a similar nature. Throughout the concert, fans gathered around the front of the stage, nodding along with the music despite the increasing cold as it neared five o’clock. It seemed like one big picnic, with viewers spread out in clusters simply enjoying the sun and some good vibes with their friends.

North by Northwestern sat down with the two bands after the concert to talk about the Chicago scene and their respective projects.

Owen — Mike Kinsella

Why did you choose the name Owen for your solo project?

I just like it more than Mike. It looks good written out, too.

Your album, New Leaves, came out September 22. How does this album differ from your previous ones?

I don’t know that it does so much. I think the label tries to say it does, but [all of the albums] are about where I’m at in certain points in my life, so I guess I was in a different place a little bit. But musically, it was recorded in a proper studio so hopefully it sounds better. And every album I try to be more concise lyrically. Hopefully it’s better than the other records, but I didn’t have a goal this time, there wasn’t any real ambition to sound different.

What is your favorite song to play?

There’s a song on the last album, At Home With Owen, called “Bad News”. It’s finger-picky, which keeps me interested.

A lot of your songs combine sweet, sort of charming melodies with almost angry lyrics, such as in “That Tattoo Isn’t Funny Anymore”. What is your idea behind that combination?

I guess it’s somewhat conscious. I think that those melodies are the only thing that comes out for me musically, like I’m not really good at writing discordant stuff, not that I really want to. And then I find myself writing or singing really sweet stuff on top and it just sounds so corny I can’t take it, so maybe I try to express something else so it’s not overkill.

What do you hope fans take away from your songs?

Whatever they want. I don’t like to think about people listening to [my music]. If they are listening to it, that’s cool, and if they like it that’s cool.

Joan of Arc — Tim Kinsella, Theo Katsaounis, Bobby Burg

Your album, Flowers, came out June 9. Describe the album.

Tim Kinsella: It’s the first one where we knew the cover before we had it done, so I think that was a big part of it. Sometimes we’d make a decision and be like, well what do we do here? I don’t know, let’s look at the cover. What would a record like that sound like?

What is your recording process like?

Theo Katsaounis: Well with Flowers, there were already some recordings that we had done like a year prior with some other folks, and then I guess with this lineup we […] once Tim put our names in a bag, kind of like Oblique Strategies, our names were in one bag and things to do in another bag. For example, Bobby’s name got pulled and he was told to tell Theo what to do and everything, and so I had to do whatever he told me to do

Bobby Burg: Yeah, like I wasn’t allowed to touch the instrument myself, I could only do it by telling Theo what to do, how to play.

Theo: And then there was another time where we all brought one riff or line or verse or something to the table and then we wrote songs out of that. We didn’t know what was going to happen

Tim: Yeah I think we didn’t realize until we got there that none of us had really brought instruments or amps or anything, and we thought, man we’ve gotten really lazy about this, all assuming that there would be something there we could pick up.

What do you guys do before a show to get ready?

Theo: I don’t eat. It’s more of a ritualistic kind of thing. I feel better when I’m starving.

Bobby: We order before the show, let it sit there, and eat it the second we’re done.

Theo: I feel like I’ve earned the food. Very primitive, you know? Futuristic caveman, right here. I’ve got the beard to prove it. (laughs)

After 13 albums, how has your music changed? Have you changed style at all or do you just kind of go with whatever?

Tim: I don’t know, I mean I’m too in the middle of it to know. From my very subjective perspective on it, it’s like I’ve just learned to relax about it, but I can’t tell the difference. I know that I used to spend a lot more time on things, and then for a while I thought that maybe I’ve just been lazy now because I don’t spend as much time as I used to, but now I sort of think that I’ve spent a lot of time making mistakes and figuring stuff out, so now we can execute things quicker. It’s like what Bobby was saying about language, isn’t built up between people who don’t play together a lot. We all have a more sophisticated language though for what we’re trying to do, so it’s simpler to execute it. Now we don’t worry about things either. They happen or they don’t in a certain way.

You may have heard of them if:

• You watch Entourage. (“Lisztomania” plays at the end of this last season finale.)
• You watch SNL. (They were the musical guest in April.)
• You watch late night TV. (They’ve graced Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon with “Lisztomania” and David Letterman and Conan O’Brien with “1901″.)
• You watch Gossip Girl. (The DJ played “1901” at Georgina’s rooftop party in The Freshmen and “1901” also plays in the Sonic Youth episode.)
• You watch Royal Pains. (“Lisztomania” is the intro song in an episode of RP’s debut season.)
• You watch Cougar Town. (“Lisztomania” can be heard during the season premiere.)
• You are a 2010 Cadillac SRX enthusiast. (“1901” is the background track for its current commercial.)
• You are a movie trailer enthusiast. (“Lisztomania” and “1901” were featured in trailers for Where the Wilds Things Are and New York, I Love You, respectively.)
• You are really into anything French. (They are, in fact, from Versailles)
• You read any music publication. (Everyone’s crazy about them.)

You may like them if you like: Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Passion Pit, Animal Collective, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes, pop-culture, French guys, etc.

Fresh off Rolling Stone’s Hot List, Phoenix has quickly gone from underground indie to super pop breakthrough of the year. The four frenchmen got their start doing a back up mix for Air and have made five kick-ass albums (one being their live album) since.

Comprised of Thomas Mars (vocals), Deck D’Arcy (bass), Laurent Brancowitz (guitar) and Christian Mazzalai (guitar), Phoenix has been slowly making their way to wide international recognition since 2000. With United creeping into the French charts in 2000 and their sophomore album Alphabetical dominating Norwegian and Swedish charts in 2004, this year, they’ve successfully infiltrated the charts in over ten countries, reaching the top 25 in six.

One of Phoenix’s greatest talents is how natural they make every transition. You can notice the change from verse to chorus, song to song and album to album, but it sounds like a perfectly natural course of action. They make good music sound easy and carefree, which is what great pop should do. They’ve perfected this art with Wolfgang Amaedus Phoenix and clearly broken through the international barrier and won the hearts and minds of a U.S. audience.

The album bounds forth energetically with the ball of energy that is “Lisztomania.” With a bouncy backbeat and playful chords, the song tears a page out of a history book with a reference to renown musician and teacher, Franz Liszt. Through this clever comparison, Mars takes us through the thrill of playing a concert and being adored, (“think less but see it grow, like a riot, like a riot, oh!”) if only for a few minutes.

“1901” continues the history lesson with a dedication to 19th century France. With a little more edge to it than the opener, “1901” plays up the synth as we realize “it’s not what you say, what you say is way too complicated.” The two singles are really complimentary in some respects as the clear stand out tracks of the album. But that’s not to say the other eight tracks aren’t rock your socks poptacular.

The album takes a dream-like turn with “Fences,” which is like an homage to the quartet’s Air days, and continues the approach to the two part instrumental interlude, “Love Like a Sunset.”

As you embark into the second half of the album, the boys play a little love tune about a lost love that’s really not all that depressing. They power on into “Rome,” where the band wails on as Mars claims “always and forevermore I call to say I’m on the way” as the ashes fall, fall, fall.

Then we reach “Countdown,” the only true heartbreaker of the album. Once you hear the question, “Do you remember when 21 years was old?” you can’t help but feel the pangs of nostalgia creep up inside you. But the fiery symbols and Mars’ dying to be sincere lyrics swear it’s “better than it looks.”

Next comes a fairly bouncy break up song with a quick backbeat simply titled “Girlfriend” which sounds more optimistic than melancholy. And for the finale, “Armistice” explores the compromise of “lovers in a rush” which seems to be okay to all parties involved.

Phoenix cooks up vicarious living and nostalgia and conjures up images of sunsets and childhood into a 36 minute pot of energetic beats and quirky chords. Our new masters of pop craftsmanship can make any situation sound like a good time and in these tough times, that’s exactly what we need.

WNUR is the largest student-run station in the country, according to WNUR representatives. The station sets itself apart by aiming to play music that is underrepresented by most outlets, seating more and more independent music each year.

“We try to play music that if we weren’t playing it, you wouldn’t hear it anywhere else,” says Doug Kaplan, a Communication junior and general manager of WNUR.

This kickoff concert is the first one for WNUR in recent years and will hopefully increase awareness of the station.

“We’re better known in the community than in the school, so we’re just [trying] to gain awareness for WNUR and have fun,” Kaplan says.

The concert will also work to help integrate new DJs into the station and get them excited about the year to come. Prepping a concert is a side of the radio station that’s different from the day-to-day schedule of shows.

“It’s a different aspect of getting to work with a radio station,” says Kate Watson, a Weinberg junior and the phonathon director for WNUR. “Not just doing your own show, but doing promotions and planning events.”

This year’s concert features two local bands, Owen and Joan of Arc. The bands individually feature the Kinsella brothers, Mike and Tim respectively, who have been active and influential members of the Chicago music scene since the mid-’90s. The Kinsellas have been playing in bands together for years: Cap’n Owl, Joan of Arc and Owls, to name a few.

Owen, Mike Kinsella’s solo project, will take the stage at 3 p.m. Listeners can expect a mellow, folk-based sound with plenty of acoustics. Mike’s softer sound might segue oddly into Joan of Arc’s harsher, experimental indie rock. Tim Kinsella is Joan of Arc’s only permanent member. Since the band is not a very active project, it has an elastic, continually shifting 11-person lineup. People can expect around five or six performers for Sunday.

“They’re really important local bands that we’ve been playing on WNUR for years,” Kaplan said. “They’re bands we really like, that are fun and that are popular in Chicago.”

The concert will be broadcast live on WNUR, 89.3 FM or streamed online. In case of rain or unseasonably cold temperature, the concert will be moved to the Louis Room. Students interested in WNUR should contact the general manager at gm@wnur.org.

“I look better sweaty,” said Jeff Pezzati, of local punk band Naked Raygun.  The lead singer was remarking on a rumor that heavy metal bands allow photographers to take pictures only during the first songs of concerts, before the artists begin to sweat.  Pezzati then invited the concert photographers to take pictures as long as they pleased.  They did not, however, take the singer up on his offer, noticing the mosh pit of young fans beginning to form around them.

Naked Raygun headlined the third night of the fifth annual Riot Fest punk festival at Metro on Friday.  Riot Fest was started in 2005, by Mike Petryshyn, a punk fan who set out to create a show that he would want to attend.  For its fifth year, the festival featured concerts at the Congress Theater, Metro, Subterranean, Beat Kitchen, Cobra Lounge and Liars Club from Wednesday to Sunday.

The show started slow, with opening acts Wax and No Empathy playing to a small crowd. This small crowd consisted of mostly fans over 30, but was sprinkled with the occasional young punk, complete with jean jacket and torn jeans.  The younger audience members looked like the older fans must have back in the ’80s and ’90s, before giving up the punk aesthetic for the middle-aged-professional look they chose now.  These punks of the past preferred the balcony and back of the main floor, while the new guard skanked, shoved, and crowd surfed their way to the front as Metro filled up.  By the time the third opening act, a reunited Rights of the Accused, took the stage, the sold-out show was packed.

Rights of the Accused can be best described as a punk rock party band.  Their music was fast, energetic and straight to the point, without much of anything else in between.  Lead singer Mike O’Connell, head shaved, wearing a shiny silver suit complete with blue fringe, was reminiscent of Gary Glitter (of Rock and Roll Part II fame).  O’Connell mentioned his fashion resemblance to Mr. Glitter a number of times during their set.  The band was also joined on stage by two men, one in a banana suit and the other dressed as a gorilla, who would occasionally hold up signs with “Hey!” written on them.

After the entertaining, but overall musically uninspiring set from ROTA, Naked Raygun took the stage.  Formed in 1980, it was one of the first bands to combine hardcore punk with melodic songwriting, a blend which was very present in their Riot Fest performance, which featured prominent lead guitar lines from guitarist Bill Stephens.  The performance had very few frills.  There were no costumes, and when the band wasn’t playing, Pezzati spoke casually with the crowd.  But they didn’t need costumes.  Naked Raygun simply played their well written, honest songs, including two new previously unreleased tracks, much to the audience’s delight.  Naked Raygun is highly regarded in the Chicago punk world, and singer Pezzati and original guitarist Santiago Durango were also members of Northwestern alum Steve Albini’s influential Chicago band, Big Black.  The band, after going through a number of lineup changes, broke up in 1992, but reunited for the 2006 Riotfest, and now employs festival founder Petryshyn as manager.

Naked Raygun’s performance on Friday not only proved the band’s strong influence on Chicago punk, but proved that it had not faded almost 30 years later.  Riot Fest too is only gaining in popularity.  This year’s festival featured national acts NOFX, Alkaline Trio and the Butthole Surfers.  Another Riot Fest was to be held in Los Angeles too, but was postponed until spring of 2010 due to Petryshyn’s health problems.

But the Naked Raygun was no doubt the star of the Metro’s concert on Friday.  Besides putting on a tight, well-performed show, they represented an often unseen side of punk rock.  The four members of Naked Raygun were not the intimidating, foul smelling stereotypes of the artists associated with the term “punk.”  They didn’t have green mohawks.  Their arms were not lined with track marks from Heroin abuse.  They just seemed like nice guys.  A young teenage girl and a young boy sat off to the side of the stage with their mother, obviously the family of one of the band members.  Singer Pezzati just seemed gracious to be on stage.  The Naked Raygun were just nice guys.  Nice guys that enjoyed playing their loud music.

Bublé takes a grab at country (“Heartache Tonight”), Nat King Cole (“Stardust”) and Dean Martin (“You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You”), with some new arrangements (such as a Hans Zimmer feel for “Cry Me a River,” a James Bond feel for “Georgia on My Mind”, and a 1960s pop feel for “Some Kind of Wonderful”) that give each song a new “twist,” but it’s not that twisted. He sings with guest singers, such Naturally 7, Ron Sexsmith and, one of my favorites, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. Like his other songs, it doesn’t sound like he works with the band — more just like singing along. His song choices create an eclectic song playlist that is novel, using standards that haven’t been seen in the charts lately.

Throughout, he bounces from sounding like Frank Sinatra, Josh Groban, Harry Connick Jr., Mel Tormé (vocally and because of song arrangements), Ella Fitzgerald — with minimal scatting — and then Michael Bublé (for his non-covers). He also stays relatively safe with his song choices, such as starting the CD with a slightly-forgotten classic, “Cry Me a River” that sounds very similar to the first on his last CD, “Feeling Good.”

One of the two original and non-cover songs, “Haven’t Met You Yet,” I predict will be the next “Everything,” and will soon be the new popular songs across a cappella groups. Like “Everything,” it’s cute, poppy, a lot of fun and really nice to listen to, even though it initially sounds like a song from High School Musical. It’s less like the elevator music, being more original with a newer sound — with an homage to the Beatles (“Love, Love, Love” and a marching band interlude) — than the others that makes his CD worthy.

At least he’s trying with different sounds and good repertoire. I’m still making the $10 dent in my iTunes account.

Rating: A-