Jens Lekman

Noted for cleverly well-crafted indie pop songs, this Swedish songwriter wasn’t always sold on becoming a musician. In fact, he once announced a hiatus from music to work at a local bingo parlor. Luckily, Lekman redirected his attention to his cheeky guitar-based pop as he bounced between Sweden and Brooklyn recording the album I Know What Love Isn’t. It’s the break-up album that is less Bon Iver (melancholic) and more Morrissey (life is still rad). This Swedish Grammy-winning indie darling has the gloomy romantic thing going on to be sure, but with plucky piano sounds and an easy-listening vibe. He is awkwardly relatable and painfully human (“I started working out when we broke up / I can do 100 push-ups”), as if reaching out to listeners jokingly might grant him some insight to the big questions of love and life. You’ll want to reach out and hug him. If it’s possible to be hopeful, devastated, lost and poetic all at once, Lekman’s your man. (Appearing with Taken By Trees at Lincoln Hall on October 2) –text: Abby Yemm

Jens Lekman, Prefuse 73, Tight Phantomz, Z-Trip

JENS LEKMAN
Swedish singer/songwriter Jens Lekman has been around for several years but garnered international fame with his 2007 masterpiece, Night Falls Over Kortedala, that’s full of personal ballads, samples, Jonathan Richman-influenced vocals, and sweeping melodies. He first appeared on people’s radar when his song “Black Cab” became an instant hit. A couple of years ago, he burned out and decided to take a break from music. He even got a day job working in a bingo hall, but quit after a couple of days when he thankfully realized that music was his true calling. Since then, he’s moved to Australia and even contracted swine flu while on tour in South America over the summer. Lekman’s live shows are as unpredictable as his own life. Sometimes he performs with an all-female backing group, other times it’s a capella. His New Year’s Eve show in Chicago this month will certainly be special, especially since he’s not touring anywhere else. (Appearing at Empty Bottle on December 31) –text: Garin Pirnia

PREFUSE 73
For lovers of hip-hop who also like their vocals set to groovy, experimental music, Prefuse 73 is quite a familiar name. As one of the many names that Guillermo Scott Herren records under (in addition to Savath & Savalas, Diamond Watch Wrists, Delarosa and Asora, and Piano Overlord), Prefuse 73’s latest LP, Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian, was released this past April. Not one for long attention spans, over a third of the songs on the record are less than a minute long and most tracks are instrumental. The majority of touring that Prefuse has done this past year was abroad, so fans won’t want to miss this rare chance to see Herren & Co. opening for Umphrey’s McGee on New Year’s Eve. If Prefuse gets enough love this time, perhaps we’ll get a chance to see Herren in the new year without the accompanying 3-plus hour-long jam fest. (Appearing with Umphrey’s McGee at the Aragon on December 31) –text: Justine Reisinger

TIGHT PHANTOMZ
Call it what you will — a rejuvenation, a renaissance, a refocusing — but Chicago’s Tight Phantomz has undergone a stylistic awakening since the release of 2005’s Crazy When Wet. Back then, frontman Mike Lust barreled through his ’70s-style glam-rock tunes with a full-on cucumber-in-the-pants swagger. But the departure of his bandmates in 2006 provided just the opportunity that Lust needed to redirect his fledgling outfit and draw upon a wider array of influences. The result was 2008’s Silk Prison, a record that challenges listeners to pinpoint its genre while encapsulating Lust’s love of the long-player. It’s an album vast in its scope, with rich Midwestern soundscapes that parallel his home city’s blue collar grit and white collar extravagance. It’s an LP produced at his personal studio and passed out at shows with an unabashed understanding of the gravity of its era. At the very least, it’s a record that sounds refreshed — from a man not at all trying to be refreshing. (Appearing at Quenchers on December 31) –text: Derek Wright–photo: Jeremy Bolen

Z-TRIP
For those searching for some mash-up dance fun but can’t wait until Girl Talk’s New Year’s Eve show at the Congress Theater, invest in the Umphrey’s McGee show on December 30 with opener Z-Trip. Known by some as the “godfather of mash-ups,” Z-Trip came on the national scene in 2001 with Uneasy Listening and gathered more attention with 2005’s Shifting Gears. Zach Sciacca consistently sells out shows around the globe and will undoubtedly get the Umphrey’s crowd in the mood to dance all night long (with less annoying high school-aged fans in dayglow clothing than will be found at his more famous counterpart’s show at the Congress the following night). No stranger to politics, Obama’s campaign and election inspired Z-Trip to release Party for Change in 2008 followed up by Victory Lap in 2009. Simply put, Z-Trip is better than Girl Talk…with less annoying fans. (Appearing with Umphrey’s McGee at the Aragon on December 30) –text: Justine Reisinger

Jens Lekman

…I came to a new conclusion: to embrace everything that was out of my control — all the misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

story by Andrew Clayman
photo by Emma Svensson

As a leading purveyor of weak-in-the-knees, wall-of-sound indie pop, Jens Lekman is currently moving out of his old apartment and up in the world — thanks to a deluge of love for his latest studio effort, Night Falls Over Kortedala.

“I’m actually standing in my empty apartment right now,” says Lekman, 26, speaking via landline from the aforementioned neighborhood of Kortedala, near Gothenburg, Sweden. “I don’t know if you can hear the echoes.” Sensitive chap though he may be, Lekman isn’t shedding any tears over his imminent departure from Kortedala. If anything, the almost shameless warmth and romanticism of the album he recorded there came about in spite of its surroundings.

“Well, the thing is, the title of the album came up about five minutes before we sent it to the factory,” he says. “After that, I had second thoughts about whether that was a good thing or not — to name it after the neighborhood. Especially because I really don’t have a connection to this place, apart from the fact that I’ve been mugged a couple times and don’t find it a particularly cool place to live.”

Rather than an homage to a neighborhood, then, Night Falls Over Kortedala is really just the brainchild of a very imaginative guy in a four-cornered room, mixing Motown with the Magnetic Fields while hiding from his neighbors. “I did sort of make up my own world here inside my apartment,” he admits, sounding just the slightest bit nostalgic.

The critical and commercial success of Night Falls (the album went to #1 in Sweden) is also a testament to equal measures of patience and persistence from Lekman, who toured and recorded relentlessly, even as the album’s release date was repeatedly delayed due to sample licensing issues. Lekman became frustrated with his American record label, Secretly Canadian, at the time, but has since taken on a far more positive view of the situation.

“I think it actually opened some doors for some rethinking a little on some of the songs, making them a lot better than they were,” he says — a statement backed up by the final versions of standout tracks like the bouncy, string-laden “The Opposite of Hallelujah” and the Smiths-like “Your Arms Around Me.”

“So, in some sense, it actually worked out,” Lekman adds. “I do consider myself the hardest working man in showbiz, though, so it’s just part of who I am.”

Lekman wasn’t exactly emulating that James Brown work ethic two years ago when he abruptly quit the music business and, as legend has it, went to work at a Gothenburg bingo hall. At the time, he was trying to bring a sense of control back to his life after tracks like “Maple Leaves” and “Black Cab” had made him a star in his homeland. When he came to his senses and re-emerged shortly thereafter, however, his perspective had changed entirely.

“After that, I came to a new conclusion,” Lekman explains, “to embrace everything that was out of my control — all the misunderstandings and misinterpretations.”

This new philosophy included the rather rash decision to abandon his Myspace page earlier this year, a move that subsequently sprouted dozens of Jens impersonators more than willing to take his place. “I’ve found it really beautiful,” he says, “all the Jens Lekman clones. It’s like an army of me, doing their own things and coming up with their own ideas. I’m in love with it. I am encouraging people to make up stories now,” he continues. “In fact, if you want to make up a story or change any facts, you’re welcome to. Go crazy if you want.”

As with some of Lekman’s strangely light-hearted but heartbreaking songs, it’s a tad hard to tell when he’s kidding at times. Nonetheless, the man once killed a wildebeest with his ukulele — so we’ll take him at his word.

Jens Lekman :: with DJ Victor Sjoberg :: Logan Square Auditorium :: Nov. 2.

The National, Liars, Jens Lekman, CSS

CSS
With song titles such as “Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex” and “Let’s Make Love While Listening to Death From Above”, you get a pretty good indication of the terrain in which CSS is treading. The moniker of this female-dominated sextet from Sao Paulo, Brazil, is short for “Cansei De Ser Sexy”, which in Portuguese means “Tired of Being Sexy.” Yet their music proves them to be anything but. With driving electro rock, razor-thin guitars and maniacal hooks, this band offers further explanation for Brazil’s status as expatriate capitol of the Southern Hemisphere. Through Internet word of mouth and trial-and-error (none of the art-oriented members reportedly knew how to play an instrument before forming the band as an experiment), their convulsive sweaty rhythms caught the ear of the not-known-for-its-dance-rock label Sub Pop, which is releasing their record in the U.S. on July 11. Live shows have been known to include plastic ball wars between the band and audience, stage diving, panties flashing and underwear being thrown on stage. (Sunday, 2:50-3:40, Biz3 Stage) –text: Jay Gentile–photo: Mariana Juliano

JENS LEKMAN
In a land called Sweden serenades a precocious talent by the name of Jens Lekman. Lekman has produced several EPs penetrating his listeners with a hypnotic baritone reminiscent of the Magnetic Field’s Stephen Merritt, and ultimately winning them over with raw self-deprecating wit a la the much beloved Morrissey. A cynical romantic, Lekman’s often melancholy lyrics ring with the irony of sleigh bells. Punctuated with infectious samples from established indie pop icons like Belle & Sebastian, his music boasts a delicate danceability and threatens a return to the status quo ante, where the only limit on artistic expression is the artist’s own talent. In young Jens Lekman’s case (he’s only 25), that limit is nowhere in sight. (Sunday, 2-2:35, Main Stage) –text: David Barrett–photo: Emma Svensson

LIARS
After prowling the Logan Square Auditorium stage last month with menacing strides, shots of guitar feedback and ear-piercing tantrums, Liars frontman and resident madman Angus Andrew bid farewell to the audience with an out-of-breath “danke schoen.” But the hypnotic, floor tom-heavy throb of the band’s live show and new album, Drum’s Not Dead (Mute), are proof that German pleasantries are certainly not the only thing this trio has learned since moving to Berlin in the wake of the divisive reception of 2004’s They Were Wrong So We Drowned. While that album marked the band’s departure into its current speculative, percussion-centric territory, it also generated up-in-arms reactions from critics and Liars fans alike, who were thirsting for more four-on-the-floor dance-punk like the band’s 2001 debut. On Drum’s, Liars employ the self-confidence/self-doubt dichotomy inherent in each of us as a conceptual skeleton, and strike an odd balance between anxious polyrhythmic beats, synthesized noise (see the badass didgeridoo thing on track two), and tribal chanting. Anyone who jumped ship two years ago should be kicking themselves. (Sunday, 3:30-4:20, Main Stage) –text: Jake Malooley–photo: Steve Gullick

THE NATIONAL
Comprised of brothers Scott and Bryan Devendorf, Aaron and Bryce Dessner and vocalist Matt Berninger, The National released the critically acclaimed album Alligator last year that landed on several year-end “Best Of” lists. Singing about everyday life in a distinctive baritone, some of Berninger’s songs contain great plaintiveness as others permeate with effusive intensity. The National’s live shows are characterized by commanding moments as Berninger grips the microphone with unbridled passion — producing an unusually intimate performance. Since its initial release, Alligator (the third offering by this New York-by-way-of Cincinnati quintet) has remained an under-the-radar gem — yet has also received adequate play on indie radio. The record continues to linger over a year later because of mind-blowingly good tracks such as “Abel,” “Friend of Mine” and “All the Wine.” (Sunday, 2:35-3:30, Main Stage) –text: Garin Pirnia–photo: Sonya Kolowrat