Indie Scanner: Welcome to Chicago

If mainstream American music is locked into a bi-coastal polarity between New York and L.A., it follows that Chicago, the underdog “Second City” of the Midwest, is the stalwart capital of independent music. It’s a reputation that’s hardly limited to rock ‘n’ roll. When you tick off Chicago’s musical ambassadors – from the electrifying bluesmen on the Chess label in the ‘40s and ‘50s, to the pioneering DJs who invented house music forty years later – the only evident element that connects Chicago’s sound is a disregard of convention.

"Howdy Pardoner" and "Love Life" Joan of Arc

"Some People" and "Gift From A Holiday" Like Pioneers

“Four Days Straight” and “Love and Leave” Scattered Trees

This is particularly true for Chicago’s groundbreaking independent rock scene -- a mix-and-match community of bands that frequently switch both styles and members. It is the birthplace of trend-shaping labels such as Thrill Jockey, Bloodshot and Touch & Go. But more than just individual bands or labels, DIY is a cultural value that has spawned Pitchfork, indie rock’s definitive critical resource and controversial kingmaker. Scanner’s musical trip to the Windy City brings together a trio of bands who capture the spirit of Chicago’s assertive and self-defining independent rock scene.

Like Pioneers: If there’s an archetypical narrative for Chicago indie bands, it might resemble that of Like Pioneers, a group of friends who started playing together casually after their other bands hit the skids, stumbling onto a sound that had an easygoing brilliance absent in their former projects. For all the heady elements that make their way into Like Pioneers’ songs – shifting meters, dynamic explosions and distorted little fragments of post-rock – the result is extraordinarily immediate, catchy and memorable. After “Some People” gets into your head, good luck getting it out.

Joan of Arc: People whose ears were to the ground during Chicago’s early ‘90s post-punk scene regard Tim Kinsella -- the creatively restless, inimitable leader of Joan of Arc -- with reverence. And for good reason: Kinsella’s former project, Cap’n Jazz, was a short-lived but monumentally influential emo band that spawned innumerable imitators. Keeping up with Kinsella in the years after Cap’n Jazz is no easy feat; if you only count projects he’s led, the full-length LPs would number somewhere in the neighborhood of 30. Joan of Arc has been Kinsella’s marquee project over the years, and the home to some of his most challenging and rewarding work.

Scattered Trees: Of the trio collected in this Scanner, the lilting melodies and arching confessions of Scattered Trees probably have the broadest appeal. The songs on their most recent release, Sympathy, are moody and heart-wrenching. The cathartic emotional pitch is appropriate, as singer and primary songwriter Nate Eiesland lost his father before the album was recorded. Cinematic and sophisticated, this is the kind of stuff that is just a touch too smart for a scene from Grey’s Anatomy. -- Nate Cavelari

"Howdy Pardoner" and "Love Life" Joan of Arc

"Some People" and "Gift From A Holiday" Like Pioneers

“Four Days Straight” and “Love and Leave” Scattered Trees