Serena Ryder

Blame Canada’s wilderness for giving singer/songwriter Serena Ryder a haunted, insulated sound like that of a younger, more optimistic Lucinda Williams. Her sixth album, is it o.k., captures a kind of relatable pain earnestly and without complication. After touring through the American summer festival scene, Ryder will be playing smaller venues this winter — a much better medium for her message. With a backing band, Ryder creates her own background for the intensely personal lyrics that she has been writing since age 11. And, like an 11-year-old, Ryder has no problem speaking her mind. Love, betrayal, and the struggle to connect all figure largely into her repertoire — which makes it seem like she has aged quite a bit since those early days of innocence. Her open-diary lyrical style has proven itself immensely popular in Canada, even winning her a 2008 Juno Award for “Best New Artist”. But can she cut it here in America? You be the judge. (Appearing with Howie Day at House of Blues on January 30) –text: Diana Novak

Booka Shade, DeVotchKa, MGMT, Serena Ryder, Steel Train

BOOKA SHADE
With some electronic acts assimilating into Lollapalooza’s main stages this year instead of being locked in at the now-defunct Mindfield side stage (now known as Perry’s), Booka Shade will get a chance to inspire an afternoon dance party on the asphalt. Across their three albums, the Frankfurt, Germany duo has kept things pretty consistent: well-chilled house music with underpinnings of disco and ambient techno. In a decade in which those subgenres could be tossed at dozens of production teams, the challenge then becomes self-differentiation. Booka Shade try to accomplish this without flashy noises or even the assistance of many vocal tracks, which are both, in their own way, routes to easier accessibility. Instead they employ subtle, hypnotic synthesized sounds and minimal beats — an equation that calculates well on their 2008 album The Sun & The Neon Light. It remains to be seen (and heard) if their nocturnal sound will survive the mid-day heat as the sun pounds down on East Balbo Drive. (Saturday, 3:30-4:30, Citi Stage) –text: Nick Meador

DEVOTCHKA
For DeVotchKa, it’s all about the sousaphone…and the upright bass…and the immediate sensation that you’ve stumbled upon a band of gypsies after the few first notes. This Denver-based quartet is a breath of fresh, spiced air and offers a nice change of pace alongside Lolla’s rock and hip-hop heavy menu. DeVotchKa songs are rich in both texture and spirit thanks to their wide arsenal of ten different instruments and honest vocals to match. Their big break came on Little Miss Sunshine, to which their Slavic sound provided the perfect soundtrack. For those who missed reading A Clockwork Orange in their moody developmental years, the band name comes from the Nadsat (and Russian) word for “young girl”. While most of their material sounds similar, it also sounds good. And besides, when’s the last time you’ve seen a sousaphone outside of a marching band? Not recently enough. (Saturday, 3:30-4:30, PlayStation Stage) –text: Justine Reisinger

MGMT
First off, it’s pronounced “em, gee, em, tee” and it’s short for original name The Management. Now that we’ve disposed of the perfunctory, let’s get to the heart of the matter. MGMT is the best pretend band of all time. Just take a gander at the lyrics for their space-freak anthem “Time to Pretend”: “I’ll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars. You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars.” Although it sounds like something straight out of Scarface, this mythical debauchery is the product of MGMT’s psych-pop stars Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Sure their names sound like a Spinal Tap put-on and they wear long black capes for live performances, but the music is nothing if not genuine in its desire to levitate. The fact that it does proves MGMT is fated to do much more than pretend. (Saturday, 3:30-4:30, MySpace Stage) –text: Tim Slowikowski

SERENA RYDER
Canada has delivered another striking musical presence in Serena Ryder. Her blues-y folk pop delivered in commanding, often melismatic style enchants while her major-label debut, If Your Memory Serves You Well, is a tour de force. Ryder essentially takes a collection of vintage Canadian covers, offers them up in her powerhouse voice and erases their previous existence. Ryder’s own “Weak in the Knees” also proves she can write one helluva song on her own. (Saturday, 4:15-5:00, BMI Stage) –text: Jen Fischer

STEEL TRAIN
Steel Train is like Fall Out Boy, only slightly less annoying. Sure, they took their name from a Sublime song and sure, frontman Jack Antonoff utilizes a hackneyed juvenile twang to emphasize his point that he’s your “tramp-o-liiiiIIIIIiiiine”. But these aspects are somehow endearing, like the nerdy younger brother who you know is one day going to grow up and be cool. Or at least you hope so. (Saturday, 3:00-3:45, BMI Stage) –text: Caroline Evans