Mike Schpitz drops some knowledge over a borrowed 9th Wonder beat. “The Rain” appears on his mixtape Love Potion Number 9th: The Hangover.

This month Verbal Kent will be unleashing his latest album “Save Your Friends”, and to hold us over, give us a peak, and mark Verbal Kent’s upcoming tour of Europe, Beat Trotterz has released a mixtape. This mixtape combines over 24 tracks spanning Kent’s career and contains “Example” featuring Lance Ambu and William Kurk from “Save Your Friends”. Kent has appeared on 20 release indie hip hop releases since 1999, and is one of the most prolific and respected emcees in town.

I know you are probably buried in snow and don’t want to dig your way out, but if you can make it down to Empty Bottle tonight you will be rewarded. They are featuring three bands that play various forms of indie rock. The Vindits learn more towards the punk aspects of things, Baron Von Something play something more traditional, and Deadlands (from what I can tell) play alt-country tinged rock. It is three facets coming together for one night. Let’s see if they can melt some of this snow!

Head on out to the Tonic Room on 2/10 to hear some ambient folk rock tunes from Brendan Losch, Nathan Xander and Buffalo Heart. This 21+ show gets started at 9pm and is $5. He will be performing tunes from his forthcoming release, Low.

Last week Indiana’s Joyful Noise label announced that they had officially signed the noise-punk basement rockers Prizzy Prizzy Please. I say officially because the label did release a split ep with PPP and Push-Pull last year, but now the band is legitimately with the label. Joyful Noise plans to release the bands sophomore and label debut, Chroma Cannon, this April. PPP got there start in Bloomington, Indiana, but now resides here in Chicago. The label is calling their sound melodic noise punk (reminiscent of Parts and Labor, Lightning Bolt), but when you listen to the first track from their new album, “Large Hadron Collider”, you find that this is more closely related to sign-along anthems of say Van Halen or AC/DC. It is a sound that is a combination of influences and hard to pin down, but once you find yourself singing along and thrashing about you won’t care what it sounds like anymore.

Prizzy Prizzy Please will be performing at Empty Bottle with Dr. Manhattan on March 4th.

With Shapers it seems to be the merging of sonic experimentation and music freedom that fascinates them. Their debut 12” Little, Big will be released on March 9th, and it finds the bands using texture and atmosphere to create a complex web of sound that is unpredictable and extremely enjoyable. A fairly new band, compromised of Zaid Maxwell, Steve Reidell, Amelia Styer, and Todd Waters, Shapers began performing live together just this past fall. However, they have spent the last twelve months locked away in a basement creating this richly creative sound. The result of all the time and effort is a sound that is primarily instrument and combines elements of ambient, psychedelic, dark electronica, and free jazz. With vocals are applied from time to time as in the track “Jar” they are quiet and almost blend into the instruments without putting up too much of a fight. Little, Big is challenging, beauty, intelligent, and filled with sonic surprises.

The first 250 available copies of Little, Big will be screen-printed by the band. You can preoder a copy at the band’s website today. They will be playing a release show at The Hideout with Old Fake and Driftless Pony Club on March 11th at 9:00pm.

Lead by the sullen Stephen Howard, Quieting Syrup brought the brand of mope rock to the recording studio of Daytrotter recently and the four song set was released on Saturday. The bands latest album, Songs About A Sick Boy, was released latest year by Lovitt Records. The band played three tracks from the album including my favorite “Password to a Fort Full of Pills”, and an unreleased track called “Mary, My Wife”.

A Deli favorite and winner of our 2009 emerging artist poll, I Fight Dragons made a major announcement last week. The band finally put the rumors to rest and announced that they have joined the Photo Finish / Atlantic Records roster. They also announced that they will be touring this Spring with fellow Atlantic Records bands 3OH!3 (Photo Finish), Cobra Starship (Fueled by Ramen), and Travis McCoy (of Gym Class Heroes, on Fueled by Ramen). It is a huge step forward for these NES rockers!

There is a new label in town and its diverse sound is rooted heavily in the cities tradition of house music. The multi-faceted label overseen by three musicians from Chicago – Joshua Kleckner, Garo Tokat and Slava Balasanov. Each of these music are true electronic craftsmen who revel in the exploration of sound. They each have the remarkable ability to deconstruct the traditional structure of a song and rebuild it from the ground up. This March the first label’s first compilation, The Moment Sound Vol. 1 will be released on vinyl. The can be previewed (and preordered) here, and is clearly an album fit for both the club and the home. It is comprised of original material by its founders Garo, Lokua and Slava, and clear indication that house music is alive and well in Chicago.

Congratulations Mark! As evidenced by the above picture, Blane Fonda’s front man and lead singer became pregnant while we were on the road for shows in Missouri last month. You can get pregnant from gas station cheese dogs, right?

In related news, Blane had an excellent time playing some rocks and roll shows in Kansas City and St. Louis; there’s a recap of the trip complete with color pictures up at our internet website-blog. Next weekend, we head back for another show in St Louis, this time with a stop in Indianapolis for a show with some fellow Chicago-types, Dr Manhattan. Before all that, we’ll be playing tonight, at Subterranean in Wicker Park with Explode into Colors and Carbon Tigers.

So… 2010 is looking pretty busy so far, but we’re not complaining. Except when the heat in our rehearsal space is never on and we wear gloves during practice; then we’re complaining. – Charlie Nadler

Via Nuon has created a beautifully animated video for the new track from Sonoi called “Red Ants”. The self-titled debut album from Sonoi will be released this April by Low Transit Industries. Here is another peak at the eclectic and expiremental album and the track “Sherry Fall”.

Messenger, the debut full-length from Joe Pug, will be released on February 16th. In preparation Joe just released another track from the album called “The Sharpest Crown”. The track is a somber love story about the struggles we all face. Joe also announced that his debut ep, Nation of Heat, will be re-released on 10" colored vinyl later this month. You can preorder Messenger here and you can catch Joe at Lincoln Hall on Feb. 27th.