((Chin Up Chin Up)) Band Profile and Upcoming New York City Concerts - Oh My Rockness

Chicago's Chin Up Chin Up are one of those rare bands that I not only instantly liked the first moment I heard them, but also have kept me interested after all these months of spins. Many bands can be awesome once, but very few have songs with the complexity to remain in heavy rotation.

Chin Up Chin Up are just an incredibly catchy band, whose meticulously layered math-pop music sweeps you away to American Analog Set territory and beyond. The band creates an inviting wall of sound by fusing warm, clean guitar melodies and subtle synths around the "typical" time/tempo changes of a Midwest indie band, but these guys should not be lumped into any one category based on their zip code. This is something else.

The songs on Chin Up Chin Up's remarkable debut full-length, We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers flow with unnatural grace, each track's transitions not only working, but also sounding as if the story couldn't unfold any other way. It's not an album where you feel the need to skip to the "good tracks." Live, the band more than brings their album to life, coaxing out an even richer, more dramatic, sound from their instruments.

The musical talent coming out of The City of Broad Shoulders seems to be finally coming out of its lull, and Chin Up Chin up is right at the forefront of reclaiming Chicago's indie glory. A good thing too, because the White Sox pitching staff can't do everything. Or can they?
Published April 23, 2009
MORE BANDS WE LIKE >

Upcoming/Shows

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER!

Get new New York City announcements, free show info, ticket giveaways and more...