Tonight at Schubas, Volcanoes Make Islands will celebrate the release of their new EP Sick City. Henry Bianco (Guitars/Vocals), Mike Horick (Drums), Brad Sawicki (Vocals/Guitars) (ex-Company of Thieves), Matt Schuessler (Bass), and Keenan Wells (Keyboards/Vocals) make up this exciting new group. On Sick City the band is playing a mixture of Math Rock and Dance Rock, and can get a sense of this on the ep’s first track “The City of Big Yellers”.

The show at Schubas tonight (8/30) begins at 8pm and also includes Scott Lucas & The Married Men, Mutts, and The Sacred Robe of the Ancient Psychedelic Monks. Tickets are just $6.

It’s been a fairly quiet summer of writing new songs and such, but fall is looking much busier for Blane Fonda.

Tonight, Friday August 27, we have a show at Darkoom, which, in Blane’s humble opinion, is one of the better, more underrated clubs to see and/or play live music in Chicago. (We’ll be celebrating the birthdays in our rhythm section—David and David. In fact, saying the words “Happy Birthday David” to the door guy to gets a fellow or a lady $2 off the ticket price. If the door guy happens to be named David, and Friday is his birthday… well that would be ideal.)

Also, this past Wednesday, we stopped by Fearless Radio. Last time we went, we talked mostly about the apocalypse and narwhales, but we’re probably like way more mature and sophisticated now.

Speaking of narwhales—if you enjoy Blane’s artwork, there is more of Mark’s stuff over at Grobblings. – Charlie Nadler

Houses have released a video for their beautiful song "Endless Spring". Their debut album, All Night, will be released on Oct. 19th on Lefse Records. 

The album from the lovely Sarah VonderHaar is called P.D.L. Some of few (maybe one of you) might recognize Sarah from season eight of America’s Next Top Model, but don’t let that distract from her music. P.D.L. is a four track ep that was recorded at three different studios, and is pure pop rock. If you are looking for a better description of Sarah’s sound look at the shows sponsor, the tween site Girl 360. The first track from the ep is called “Howling at The Moon” and is a filled jazz undertones.

VenusZine is currently running a contest that could net you two tickets to her release show on 9/2 at Schubas and a professional photo shoot.

It’s always exciting when a band makes their official stage debut, and that is what Barney Ung and Bret Swenson (aka Kmang Kmang) will be doing at Abbey Pub on August 28th. Kmang Kmang combines classical guitar with electronics and live drums. You can stream several of their demos on their myspace page, and try to get a sense of what you can expect.

Also appearing on the 28th will be 1/2 Mad Poet, Static Republic, Eiffel Tower, Remington Pettygrove, The Nobodies, and Matt Morgan. The show starts at 6pm and Kmang Kmang goes on at 9pm.

Unicycle Loves You released a video for the title track of their new album Mirror, Mirror. The band is celebrating the release of their on Sept. 11^th at Schubas. 

Tonight, August 24th, Dedicated Ears presents its first Songwriter’s Night at the lovely Chopin Theatre. Performers include: Brendan Losch, Gia Margaret, Paperplant, McKenzie Toma, Dan Price, Sarah Holtschlag, Musikanto, and Adem Chapman. This 21+ event gets started at 8pm and a $5 donation is suggested.

The latest video from Serengeti for his track “Perculators” was directed by Paul Matian.

Kid Sister stopped by the Daytrotter studio last week and recorded all of your favorites, “Pro Nails”, “Right Hand Hi”, “Daydreaming”, and “Switch Board”. You can check out the session here.

Brent Puls (Bumpus, Grammar) is releasing a new solo ep next week, and it is essentially a love letter to Chicago. The first single from the album is the album’s title track “West of the Lake”, and perfectly captures the feeling of being young and in love with a city. You can also sense that there is an underlying feeling of growing older and reflecting back. It is a beautiful concept and is topped off with cover art that was painted by Brent himself. 

Brent will be celebrating the release of the ep at Schubas on Aug. 27th with Death Ships and The Glory Singers.

The new ep from Conductive Alliance was recently completed with the help of Griffin Rodriguez and others. The band is really excited about this and they should be. Water Glyphs finds the band at the height of sonic exploration. Tracking was split between Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studios and Shape Shoppe, and you can detect the influence of both studios on this seven track ep.

The ep opens up the instrumental, mathematical, and electronic title track which fades into early ‘90’s jangle pop of “Dark Flowers”. The ep is consistently shifting styles and sound, from light to dark, from pop to aggressive more industrial sounding stretches. The ep is a big forward for the band and should be released later this year.

Conductive Alliance will be performing on August 21st at Rice and Rockwell Block Party. You can preorder the album through their Kickstarter Page through the 23rd.

It seems like Light Pollution has been ever since the release of their debut album Apparitions (Carpark Records). Yesterday they appeared on the acclaimed Daytrotter site.

Remember Light Pollution is performing at Schubas on August 25th with Casiokids.