THE NEW (OLD) LATENESS: I’m in the process of acquiring the entire run of VH1′s Late World with Zach, that was sadly cancelled after 29 shows in 2002. The show is pretty easy to distill: Zach Galifianakis. Before The Hangover and sans the megabeard. Check it out.

RANDOM: Box sets are awesome in theory, but a lot of time poor in execution. Maybe it’s that I have a short attention span or I haven’t found an artist that I want to find the most obscure material from.

I GOT LUCKY: I am very privledged to have won a 3-Day pass to Pitchfork Music Festival from KWUR Underground Radio in St. Louis. I’ll try to write about my experience this weekend, internet connection permitting. Very excited to catch many of the acts. I think I’m going to take it easy this year and not stake out any particular artist. Sampling a bunch is fun, too, right?

POTTAH: I caught Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince today. I’ve seen all of the movies in the series so far. I didn’t dig the last one but this one was pretty entertaining. There’s a really cool scene outside the Weasley’s house when Harry is chasing down Bellatrix Lestrange. The cinematography and pacing was cool.

PEEKTURES: Our Flickr feed has been updated with some pictures from the past few months.

Dinosaur Jr.’s choice to play DeKalb, Illinois, a town 65 miles west of Chicago was a weird one. Then again, Dinosaur Jr. is a weird band.

In 2005, the capricious ‘classic’ lineup of the band that fell apart shortly after the release of 1988′s Bug reunited to much fanfare. The legendary feud between singer/guitarist J Mascis and bassist Lou Barlow was finally put to bed after over a decade. Along with drummer Emmett “Murph” Murphy III, the ensuing tour was a triumph, and was followed by a successful comeback album, Beyond in 2007.

Two years later, the band is gearing up for the release of Farm, due in June, with a run of dates across the US.

The band took the stage in pieces for Saturday’s’ set. Murph and Barlow were first – Barlow, a legend in his own right for his work with Sebadoh and Folk Implosion, was especially well received. Minutes later (or so it seemed), a sedate Mascis wandered on stage and picked up his guitar, standing in front of his giant wall of amplifiers. The band then launched into bouncy “In A Jar” off of 1987’s You’re Living All Over Me. The thirteen-song set was heavy on cuts from the band’s most recent disc, as well as their 1985 debut, Dinosaur. Highlights came in the form of “I Don’t Wanna Go There”; a track off of their forthcoming disc (and being handed out as 7-inch or digital download with every concert ticket purchase) as well as the gorgeous Barlow sung “Back To Your Heart”.

The band is not only a formidable live act, but also a fascinating character study. It’s as if none of them would have anything to do with each other if they weren’t in a band. Then again, they probably don’t. It should be noted that Dinosaur Jr. are an incredibly loud band – to the point where earplugs were not only recommended, but also sold at the merch table.

On stage, Mascis a bit of an artifact – silver haired, stoic and reserved. His guitar playing was sinewy – alternately invigorating and demanding of the concertgoer’s attention. On occasion, he rocks from side to side. Barlow, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He was energetic, hardly able to stay in one place and conversational with the crowd, to the point where it’s fair to suspect that he may have been indulging a little too much. Murph, seated between the two, was the perfect conduit, providing the steady beat and acting as the glue keeping the two personalities working together.

It seems to work well for Dinosaur Jr. As the band’s original lineup celebrates the twenty-fifth year since it’s inception, they seemed to do something in DeKalb that not many bands that have reunited after a long wait can claim. They picked up exactly where they left off and showed no signs of losing a thing in the process.

See more photos from the show on our Flickr page.

I never really understood the whole loop pedal thing. As far as I was concerned, that little technological marvel was reserved for that jam band goon Keller Williams. (Sorry hippie kids, no bueno.)

That was until I heard Theresa Andersson.

As I’ve said very recently on this website, I’ve become enamored by the New Orleans by-way-of New Orleans performers densely layered pop compositions. She manages to create a full and varied sound using a combination of Guitar, violin, dulcimer, drums, and even her record player.

Last night, she brought her act to the trendy Evanston hotspot, SPACE, performing a set of songs off her latest record, Hummingbird Go!, as well as a few choice covers.

It’s safe to say she brought the house down.

Andersson took the stage and broke into the Nina Simone classic “Be My Husband” accompanied only by tambourine. The sparceness of the performance coupled by the intimate nightclub setting was absolutely bonechilling. Not long after, she launched into the loop-pedal exercises of “Na Na Na” and the song she performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the YouTube hit, “Birds Fly Away”. She explained that the TV show asked her to cut it down, and responded by an exhilarating extended version that ignited the crowd.

She likes to show off her technology. She broke from her set to show how her loop pedals worked on occasion, and also performed “Introducing The Kitchenettes”, where she introduced her backing band of the same name. In reality, its just Andersson looping four seperate pitches of her voice to sound full and robust. It worked, and fascinating to watch unfold in real time.

The show’s most transcendent moment came with her set’s closing song, the Crosby, Stills and Nash cover “Find the Cost of Freedom”. Andersson layed it all out on the line. Her voice, as rich as a classic soul singer’s, engulfed the room and proved that there is plenty of talent out there that deserves much wider recognition than playing shows in coffee shop sized venues.

View more photos of the set on our Flickr page.