UTOPIA CARCRASH 4/3, EMPTY BOTTLE I put on this Chicago quintet’s debut CD, dug a few minutes of pleasantly discordant throb ‘n’ drone, and stepped out for a minute to check the mail. When I came back, the damn thing was bubbling over with some multi-colored Lava-like goo, rather like those monster-factory toys that were all the rage when I was a kid. Guitarist Steve Krakow (aka Plastic Crimewave) is also the publisher of the beautifully illustrated, lovingly hand-lettered underground psychedelia zine Galactic Zoo Dossier, so he’s not afraid to wear his joyful-noise influences (Ash Ra Tempel, Skullflower, the Dead C) on his presumably billowy sleeve. Tarwater (see Critic’s Choice) headlines.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
MICHELLE MALONE 4/6, MARTYRS’ Well, if intimacy is one form of intensity, volume is another, and this Atlanta singer-songwriter’s debut, Beneath the Devil Moon (Velvel), boasts full-throttle vocals and loud guitars, as Malone blows through tuneful mainstream-rock cliches as if she invented them. She aims for redemption by sheer conviction, understanding that these jangly, bluesy sounds are the car you gotta drive to get to the big stages, and in the process manages to make naked ambition charming. –Monica Kendrick
