HOT WATER MUSIC

BY CARRAH BECHTEL

This Gainsville, Florida hard rock act is finally back after a long eight-year break. The end result is the much-anticipated Exister, a full-throttle, honest album driven by Chuck Ragan’s earthy voice and the band’s tight guitar rhythms. The progress and maturity displayed on this record as compared with earlier output from the band’s inception 20 years ago is not only plainly audible, but inescapably palpable. They’ve maintained their authentic punk base but have built a more cohesive sound around it — encapsulating it within a hard enough edge so there’s no chance of getting them confused with simple rock and rollers. Old fans will relish the new flavor; new fans will hunger for more.

WITH LA DISPUTE
7 PM LISTEN
21 TICKETS

EMILIE AUTUMN

BY LISA MROCK
PHOTO BY CRAZYUGLYWORTHLESSME

When Emilie Autumn was four years old, she remembers asking her parents for a violin…even if she doesn’t quite remember knowing what one was. The unique tendencies of the inventor of “Victoriandustrial” music — which melds everything from classical and cabaret to electronica and burlesque in a dark pop cauldron heavily based on Victorian-era art and literature — extend to her latest album Fight Like a Girl, based on her autobiographical novel The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls. Most easily described as “classical pop Goth”, the album consists of songs such as “If I Burn” about strapping on your corset in preparation for well-deserved revenge against enemies. So go to her show, if you like. But whatever you do, don’t piss her off.

8 PM LISTEN
$18 TICKETS

GRINGO STAR

BY LISA MROCK
PHOTO BY PETER FURGIUELE

Like Ringo Starr, it’s easy to underestimate Gringo Star. In a time when rock is glossy, bombastic, and often overproduced, the humble crew from Gigantic Records maintains a vintage sound and a retro charm reminiscent of The Kinks, as most noticeably evident in “All Y’all,” the title track from their 2008 debut. Their follow-up Count Yer Lucky Stars, produced by Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Deerhunter), provides a higher share of party-starting raucousness with a more modern edge that will leave Strokes fans stroking themselves.

WITH JOHN CARPENTAR + THE NOTHINGHEADS
9:30 PM LISTEN
$7 TICKETS

WHY?

WHY? frontman Yoni Wolf’s songwriting and lyrical style is unforgettable at first listen as psychedelic imagery and wordplay of repressed memories hover over the wildest of mind-altering dreams. The ever-prolific and chameleonic Wolf has released hip-hop and trip-hop albums collaborating with Doseone in groups like cLOUDDEAD, Hymie’s Basement, Reaching Quiet, and Greenthink among other sonic collaborations and side projects while helping to co-found the L.A.-based experimental hip-hop label Anticon. Chicago Innerview had some time to speak with Wolf about his life and how he’s kept his sanity over the past decade of touring.