The Onion, Run With It Mgmt. & Satellite Booking Present:
Chicago Pop Renaissance
SXSW Day Party

CHICAGO (March 7, 2005)

In its history, the city of Chicago has produced some very important musical acts: Muddy Waters, Chicago, the Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair and, most recently, Wilco. Every five
years or so, another act from the Second City makes it big, and the international
community recognizes the uniqueness of Chicago's sound. But because Chicago is not the major international music hub New York is, Chicago bands often fail and have to work harder to get on the radar screen. For that very reason, The Onion (America's Finest News Source), Run With It Mgmt. (a Chicago-based music management company) and Satellite Booking (a Chicago-based music booking agency), will present a select group of the hottest local acts to comprise the First Annual SXSW Chicago Pop Renaissance on March 19 at MoMo's, 618 W. 6th St. The event is FREE and open to the public.

The line up will be as follows:

Head of Femur (Spin Art) (1pm)
Manishevitz ( 1:50 pm)
Edith Frost ( 2:40 pm)
Canasta (3:30 pm)
Grizzly Bear ( 4:20 pm)
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir ( 5 pm)

Here's what critics are saying about these six bands.

Head of Femur (www.headoffemur.com)
Head of Femur announces grandiose ambitions that suggest Chicago's answer to the dense, neo-psychedelic indie-rock albums of the Elephant 6 collective (Apples in Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel). -- Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune

"...there's little clutter on [Head of Femur's] terrific debut album, Ringodom or Proctor (released last week by Portland indie Greyday Productions). All the layers of ornamentation -- horns, strings, marimba, accordion -- never smother the band's catchy melodies and pretty contrapuntal harmonies." -- Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader

Manishevitz (www.manishevitz.com)
Manishevitz was the first "local band" that I discovered after moving to Chicago last year. Even better, the band was a gateway to another musical introduction, this time a snag at the past. Since everything I read about my new Windy City fixation compared the band’s newest sound on 2003's "City Life" to a seventies/eighties throwback, Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music, it seemed time to cross another name off the old "essential bands that I should really listen to so I can stop lying about having heard them" list. While it's true that Manishevitz frontman Adam Busch has picked up Ferry's distinct swooning warble (something suggesting the braying of a pubescent donkey, but rockier), the band’s sound is still steeped in Chicago post-rock. Ranging from tight, loopy jams with crunchy guitar and snotty sax lines to the frenetic, thrusting bounce of "Private Lines," the crown gem of "City Life" that's been included in fully 95 percent of the mix CDs I've churned out in the past six months, this is one of those bands that I'd be proud to call my own, if I ever call myself "local."
-- Andrew Braithwaite, New City Chicago

Edith Frost (www.edithfrost.com)
"Low, gentle, and mellifluous, Edith Frost's voice sounds as if it's inside of your head. She's so closely mic'd on this collection of demos-- available for as a free download at Comfort Stand-- that her vocals take up your entire sensory field." -- Pitchfork Media

Canasta (www.canastamusic.com)
There's another cool Chicago anthem on "Find the Time," a splendid five-song EP by the chamber pop sextet Canasta, as well as a killer cover of "The Model" by Kraftwerk, emphasizing the key hook with violin instead of synthesizer. (The band also makes liberal use of piano and trombone.) -- Jim DeRogatis, Chicago Sun-Times

Grizzly Bear (www.grizzly-bear.net)
"The Grizz offer tender and creepy folk mantras that function as a Paxil substitute or antidote, depending on your disposition." -- Spin Magazine

"The gentlemen of Grizzly Bear paw around in wholly distinct regions of gentle, nocturnal psych-folk, conjuring visions of an imagined bedroom collaboration between the Doug Yule-era Velvet Underground, Nick Drake, and a pajama-clad Pooh with his head jammed in a honey jar." -- Pitchfork Media

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir (www.sygc.com)
Thanks to its independent releases and some dedicated touring, The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir has been building a growing following, and several well-respected indie labels are talking with the group about issuing its next release, which is already in the works and drawing cameo appearances by fellow Chicago musicians like Sally Timms and Devil in a Woodpile.

"We're extremely prolific and we have a huge backlog of songs," Einhorn says. "We could probably put out 100 songs right now, and most of them are pretty good."

From some bands, this would be idle boasting. But Einhorn and his mates haven't taken a wrong turn yet, and they're well on their way to becoming one of the most ambitious and rewarding bands in Chicago. --Jim DeRogatis, Chicago Sun Times

Run With It Mgmt. - 3612 N. Janssen - Chicago, IL. 60613 - 773.528-5886
Satellite Booking - 2006 W. Foster Ave. - Chicago, IL. 60625 - 773.561.4627
The Onion - 47 W. Division Street # 385 - 312.751.0503