This week in CP:
— Profiles of unconventional folk-writer Saul Conrad and Chicago jazz outfit Ethnic Heritage Ensemble in our Music Features.

—Steelesque strange trip to Southern Rock success via a U.K. label in our Local Beat
.

—Critics' picks featuring Jandek and Bad Books.

This week in CP:

—Aaron Jentzen examines the comic mythology of Coheed and Cambria, as well as Caleb Pogyor's Terra EP.

Coheed and Cambria

Caleb Pogyor

—An interview with Reid Paley of Paley and Francis.

Reid Paley

—Of course, our Critics' Picks.

Frontier Ruckus

Matisyahu

This week in CP:

— Check out our coverage of the split 10-inch from The Frantic Heart of It and Playoff Beard in our Music Feature.

Playoff Beard

The Frantic Heart ot It

— A quick profile of Arlo Aldo in the wake of their new E.P. Zelie.

Arlo Aldo

— Reviews of new local releases, including Coastal Remedy's self-titled LP.

Coastal Remedy

— As always, Critic's Picks!

Pallbearer @ Mr. Small's Theater Friday, Feb. 1

The Bad Plus @ Manchester Craftsmen's Guild Saturday, Feb. 2

Anna Vogelzang @ The Rex Theater Saturday, Feb. 2

Walk The Moon @ The Altar Bar Wednesday, Feb. 6

This week in CP:

— Read about Sleep Experiments and the album release show that re-opened the Elks Lodge's long-dormant 3rd floor in this week's Local Beat.

— Check out our reviews of some local bands.

The Awful Waffles

The Garment District

Pairdown

— Get into the holiday spirit (and celebrate the end of the world in style) with this week's Critics' Picks!

Krewella @ The Rex Theater - Friday, Dec. 21

The SpacePimps @ the Altar Bar - Friday, Dec. 21

School of Athens @ the Shadow Lounge - Friday, Dec. 21




Triggers @ the Shadow Lounge - Friday, Dec. 21

Endless Mike and the Beagle Club @ Howlers Coyote Cafe - Saturday, Dec. 22

Happy holidays!

This week in CP:

— Read about DJ Bonics, one of Pittsburgh's best-known DJs, in this week's music feature... twice! Stream one of his newest mixtapes with FOUR80 below.

— Need some new tunes? Check out some local releases over in our CD reviews.

Fortified Phonetx

Andre Costello

Teddy Pantelas Trio
Split Second

— Finally, here are two of our Critics' Picks for the week. Get out to one of these shows (or just listen to the bands here - it's free)!

Every Time I Die @ Mr. Small’s - Sunday, Dec. 9

Mod Sun @ the Shadow Lounge - Wednesday, Dec. 12

This week in the CP:

— Check out the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Composer of the Year, Mason Bates, in our music feature. Stream some of his music - ranging from symphonic and chamber/vocal to electronica - over on his website, and scope out some of his upcoming performances in our November 28 issue.

— Want to know if any good shows are coming to the 'burgh this week? Take a peek at our Critics' Picks.

Conditions @ the Smiling Moose - Thursday, Nov. 29

Rachael Yamagata @ Mr. Small's - tonight! Friday, Nov. 30

Aaron Dilloway @ The Shop - tonight! Friday, Nov. 30

Phat Man Dee @ the Shadow Lounge - Sunday, Dec. 2

Jane Siberry @ the Friends Meeting House - Thursday, Dec. 6

Happy Friday! Here's some new music for the weekend from our October 31 (Halloween!) issue of City Paper.

— Check out Zombi-drummer A.E. Pattera's trippy, electronic side project Majeure in our music feature.

— The female-fronted rock band Royal Thunder is also featured in the City Paper this week. Listen to a track from the band's latest album, CVI, here:

— We talked to WPTS-FM's DJ ChaChee in this week's Local Beat. Listen to a track from his co-host and musical partner, local rapper Lhagic, here:

— Next up are our Critics' Picks!

Pierce the Veil @ Mr. Smalls this Tuesday (11/6)

Passion Pit @ Stage AE this Tuesday (11/6)

Dean and Britta @ the Carnegie Lecture Hall, this Thursday (11/8)

Surprise! Stream This Ish is back. In case you forgot, Friday on FF>> is when we round up the bands in this week's issue for you to stream. Isn't that nice of us?

— Check out the quirky three-piece Uke and Tuba (which features - yup, you guessed it - a ukelele and tuba) in our music feature and head over to Youtube to stream some of their music videos.

— Una De Luna is also featured in the City Paper this week. Stream three of the band's free tracks on their website.

— Our Local Beat column is about electronic musician 8cylinder. Preview some clips from his most recent release, Panic, here.

— Next up are this week's CD Reviews :

Check out the title track from The Meets' five-track EP here!

Stream Wires and Cables' new EP Toundo on their Facebook, here.

Singer/songwriter Jack McLaughlin doesn't offer any stream-able music, but you can preview (and order) his new album, The Season, here.

— Finally, here are our Critics’ Picks for this week:

Grouplove @ Altar Bar, tonight (10/26)

Walk Off the Earth @ Mr. Small’s this Tuesday (10/30)

RL Grime @ Carnegie Mellon University, tonight (10/26)

Outasight @ Stage AE, Saturday (10/27)




Enjoy!

It's that time again: Friday is when we give you a bunch of songs to listen to, by the bands we wrote about in this week's issue.

First up: Slim Cessna's Auto Club. The Denver-based band is headed up by Pittsburgh's own Slim Cessna. I wrote about Slim and his son, George, in this week's issue.

Here's a live radio performance the Auto Club did, which went on their 20th anniversary release:

For his part, George is in a band called The Sterling Sisters; they're opening for the Auto Club at the New Hazlett next week.

Meeting of Important People, the subject of our On the Record interview this week, was also the subject of our MP3 Monday, so you can stream their tune there.

In Critics' PIcks this week, find the following bands:

Guardian Alien (who played the 31st St. Pub last night)

Blackberry Smoke (who played Altar last night)

Maps and Atlases (Shadow Lounge, tonight)

Tigers Jaw (tomorrow at Smiling Moose)

Elikeh (tomorrow at Thunderbird Cafe)

Enjoy!

We here at City Paper love newsprint, we really do. That's why we're some of the last people on Earth using the medium. But, we also realize there are things newsprint can't do. Like ... play music for you. Which is a setback when you're writing about music. How much easier would it be if people could just LISTEN TO THE MUSIC THEMSELVES?

So, we're going to throw some streams at you so that you can just do that. Here's a quick round-up of this week's issue:

— Our main music feature is on the band Neon Trees; our Aaron Jentzen looks at the band through the lens of the members' Mormon faith (or, in some cases, lack thereof). Here, stream their song "Everybody Talks," from their second album, Picture Show.

(As a side note, we understand that the Neon Trees show at Altar Bar next Wednesday is now sold out. Just FYI.)

— Our Local Beat column this week is about Lady Beast. Unfortunately, they don't have anything that I can embed (that I can see, at least), but here's a link to stream a couple songs via Facebook

— I reviewed three new(ish) local(ish) albums in our reviews section this week; here, test a song from each:

— And from this week's Critics' Picks ...

Here's a TSOL song in honor of Jack Grisham playing the Smiling Moose tonight ... (this one's not for the prudish among us, FYI):

And a tune from Nate Kinsella's Birthmark:

Enjoy!