Smith Westerns will release their sophomore LP, Dye It Blonde, on Fat Possum on Jan. 18. That night they will kick off a tour in Brooklyn that will stretch across the country and span nearly three months. It will conclude in Austin in March for SXSW. The band will be performing here at the Empty Bottle on Feb. 26th. They have shared another track off of their much anticipated album called "All Die Young"

They’re back! The electro-dance band known as Walter Meego is back with a new line-up, in a new city, and with a new full-length album. The Chicago-natives, now living in LA, released their debut album Voyager back in 2008 through Sony’s Almost Gold label. At the time the band consisted on Justin Sconza (guitar, keyboards and vocals) and Pat Pelligrini and Colin Yarck on production. After Sconza relocated he reformed the band and filled out the sound with Andrew Adzemovic (guitar, vocals), Duncan Thum (vocals, keyboards), Simon Smith (bass), and Tyler Sabbag (drums).

The result is a self-released ten track album called Wondervalley. The result is a bigger sound filled with synth,’80’s pop sounds, and varied of new textures and experiments. Through out the ten tracks you can see how the addition of more live instrumentation, and music perspectives has changed the dynamics, but Sconza’s love of synth-pop is still at the core of Walter Meego’s sound. My favorite track from the album is perhaps the most out of character, "From California". It’s an echoing ballad that documents Sconza’s journey from Chicago to his new sunny home. You can stream the album through the band’s website.

First, we would like to thank all of the bands that submitted to our year-end poll through Sonic Bids. We had a ton of great submission, and it was challenging to narrow the field down. The top three selections from Sonic Bids are Secret Colours, Sad Brad Smith and The Giving Tree Band.

Speaking of Secret Colours, the bands released a new digital single today called "Follow The Drone". The band will be performing on Jan. 8th at Subt with Apteka and We Are Hex.

On January 1st, Netherfriends released a new free digital ep called Alap. Alap is a term used in Indian classical music for a sectin that is improvised and free flowing. The EP contains seven tracks, one for each day of the week. Accompanying videos are being created by the minds behind the Lateral Label, who released Netherfriends’ debut LP Barry and Sherry. They have already released videos for "Saturday" (below), "Sunday" and "Monday".

Netherfriends will be performing his last Chicago show until May tomorrow, January 6th at Subt with The Loneliest Monk, Dozens, and Wolf in a Spacesuit.

I can’t believe I missed Seafarer the first time, they released their debut EP Hiding Places back in May, but I am not going to them this time. The psych-folk quartet is re-releasing the EP on January 18th and celebrating the release on the 23rd at The Whistler. Hiding Places is an energetic seven song array that was recorded at Engine Studios with recording engineer Jake Westermann.

Seafarer is ready for a larger stage and a wider audience for their solid debut EP. They will be performing a free show this Saturday (1/8) at Saki at 7pm, and another free show on January 23rd with A Light Sleeper on the 23rd at The Whistler.

Lupe Fiasco will be releasing his third album, Lasers, on March 8th on Atlantic Records. On Christmas day he released a video for his new track and the albums first single "The Show Goes On".

Flosstradamus dropped their 2010 wrap-up mixtape this week via twitter called W3 L0V3 Y0U 2010. You can see the tracklist here and download it here.

You can check out Flosstradamus on NYE with Gemini Club and Prefrosh at Lincoln Hall.

I’ve always wondered why bands chose to change their name, and Castevets move to CSTVT has no explanation either. However, names aside the band still has a solid sound and a new label to prove it. The band is currently finishing up their upcoming full-length on new label home Run For Cover Records, as well as its 7" label debut due out next month.

CSTVT is performing on January 2nd at Subterranean with Stay Ahead Of The Weather, Bongripper and Coping.

Unicycle Loves You is performing at Beat Kitchen this week, Dec. 30th. The band has had a great year which saw the release of their new album Mirror, Mirror, an appearance on the Yo Gabba Gabba tour and recently an appearance on Daytrotter.

The band will be giving away their homemade coloring book for Mirror, Mirror to the first 100 fans to attend the Beat Kitchen show!

Está Vivo just released an interesting video for his track "Morningtide". 

5. Maps & Atlases "Living Decorations" from Perch Patchwork (Barsuk) 6/29/10 4. In Tall Buildings "The Way To A Monster’s Lair" from In Tall Buildings (Whistler Records) 4/6/10 3. Smith Westerns "Girl In Love" from Self-Titled (Fat Possum) 8/31/10 2. Young Man "Up So Fast" from Boy Ep (Frenchkiss Records) 10/12/10 1. Houses "Endless Spring" from All Night (Lefse Records) 10/19/10  

To top off the great year that Judson Claiborne has had by releasing their debut album, Time & Temperature, through La Societe Records they appeared on Daytrotter this week.