Like most metropolitan areas, Chicago is a melting pot of natives and transplants. The same holds true of the music scene, which
consists of those born and raised in the city and suburbs, as well as from places as nearby as Milwaukee or as for away as Hawaii
and Poland.
Nearly uncategorizable and more variable than the Spring 2003 weather in Chicago, Poi Dog Pondering have found a soulful
niche and it sounds like they are sticking with it. Picking up where 1999's Natural Thing ( which featured covers of Ten City's 'That's
The Way Love Is' and Frankie Knuckles's 'Hard Sometime' ) left off, their latest album In Seed Comes Fruit ( Premonition ) is a
sumptuous exploration of contemporary R&B-flavored pop. Charismatic front man Frank Orrall serenades us on the lush opening
track 'Had I Known,' as Carla Prather, Kornell Hargrove and Charlette Wortham gently raise the roof and hold it aloft on 'You Move
Me.' Longtime PDP member Susan Voelz and Verbow's Alison Chesley provide the sumptuous strings on dance-inspiring 'A Love
Rains Down.' You must be tripping if you can't find a reason to shake it to 'Daytrippin'' and 'Hangover' will keep you drunk with
rhythmic beats. The dance party shows no sign of slowing down on songs such as 'So Real' and 'Simple Song,' but if you need to
mellow out for a bit, you can do so to 'True' and 'Hotel Seze.'
Chiming in for the insurgent country folks, Stephen Dawson and Diane Christiansen, the husband and wife team from Dolly
Varden, have stepped out on their own together on Duets ( Undertow ) . Whether they are taking turns taking the lead or sharing vocal
duties on the six studio recordings and five live tracks ( from 2000 ) , Dawson and Christiansen makes these bare-bones tunes and
make them sound like the most sumptuous music you have ever heard. This occurs most profoundly on 'After All,' 'The Second
Round,' 'One Thousand Brilliant Prizes,' 'All You Gained,' and the duos perfect reading of Buck Owens's 'Together Again.'
On The Men In My Life ( A440 ) , Chicago-based jazz vocalist Jackie Allen pays a tasteful tribute to some of her male musical
influences, by either performing songs they wrote or songs that they performed. Allen begins with an homage to Paul Simon,
performing 'Still Crazy,' a song she slips into as comfortably as an old t-shirt. Sinatra gets his due on her reading of Van Heusen and
Cahn's 'Come Fly With Me,' and Jobim also takes wing on her lighter than air reading of 'Dindi.' Herb Alpert, a Chicago-native
himself, is paid the ultimate compliment in Allen's cover of Bacharach & David's 'This Guy's In Love With You,' via Orbert Davis's
trumpet playing. A slow and jazz-inflected cover of James Taylor's 'Mexico' has echoes of Rickie Lee Jones, Sting's 'Tea In The
Sahara' may quench your thirst for the exotic, and the toe-tapping Allen original 'You Could Be Fred,' honors Freds ( Astaire and
Flintstone ) , as well as Clyde Barrow, to drop a few names.
Jackie Allen isn't the only female jazz vocalist making a name for herself in Chicago. In addition to Allen, and of course Patricia
Barber, Chicago is also home to Grazyna Auguscik. Her new album, Past Forward ( GMA ) , featuring accordion player Jarek Bester, is
the unexpected intersection of jazz and Polish-language lyrics, for an enchanting combination. Exotic? Sure it is; but it's also
surprisingly accessible. From the straightforward jazz vocals on 'Mother ( Matulu ) ' to the Klezmer kick of 'Why Me ( Czemu zes mnie ) ,'
among others Auguscik is a capable tour-guide in this fascinating landscape.
On his partly sunny, partly cloudy new album, Weather System ( Righteous Babe ) , Andrew Bird sounds as if he's been listening to
Rufus Wainwright. 'Lull,' for instance, which features Nora O'Connor's distinctive voice, is the kind of vocals and strings song you
would expect to hear Rufus singing with his sister Martha, while Van Dyke Parks swirled things around a bit. This comparison to
Wainwright is, of course, meant to be a compliment. In fact, Bird also flies in Wainwright's direction on the Spaghetti western track
'Action/ Adventure.' A well-read musician, Bird based the song 'First Song' on a Galway Kinnell poem, and demonstrates how well-
versed he is in the work of others by doing a thoughtful cover of The Handsome Family's 'Don't Be Scared.' Weather Systems is a
brief, but comfortably warm, album.
Chicago is known for being a rock and roll city and new albums by Alkaline Trio, Spitalfield, Mest and Fall Out Boy, do what they
can to maintain that reputation. The best of these four albums, Good Mourning ( Vagrant ) by Alkaline Trio adds a sardonic smile to the
songs about revenge ( 'This Could Be Love' ) , self-destructive behavior ( '100 Stories' ) , suicide ( 'Continental' ) , cannibalism ( 'Donner
Party All Night' ) and such and always keeps the head-banging beats coming. A shade darker than Alkaline Trio ( if that's possible ) ,
Remember Right Now ( Victory ) by Spitalfield, rocks out with ripping their vocal chords to shreds ( unlike many of their label-mates )
and still manage to get their point across. One way they do it is through clever song titles, such as 'I Loved The Way She Said 'L.A.','
'Stolen From Some Great Writer,' and 'Make My Heart Attack,' to mention a few.
Inventive song titles are also the rule of the day on Take This To Your Grave ( Fueled By Ramen ) by Fall Out Boy. 'Tell That Mick
He Just Made My List of Things To Do Today,' 'Grand Theft Autumn,' 'Homesick At Spacecamp,' 'Sending Postcards From A Plane
Crash ( Wish You Were Here ) ,' 'Chicago Is So Two Years Ago,' 'The Pros and Cons of Breathing,' and 'Reinventing the Wheel to
Run Myself Over' are all fueled by youthful enthusiasm and a permanent sneer. Mest, who are like a Chicago version of Good
Charlotte, had a minor hit a few years back with the track 'What's The Dilio?' The nu-ska of that song and their early disc has been
replaced by Sum 41 faux-punk in the form of the baker's dozen cuts on their new self-titled release on Maverick.
The gorgeous goth of The Ballrooms of Mars ( versacrum.net ) , the four-song EP by Ver Sacrum and the Chicago Chamber Choir's
soothing yet invigorating and reassuring interpretations of traditional tunes and hymns on At The River: Songs Of The American Spirit
( chicagochamberchoir .org ) are two more examples of the bountiful assortment of styles proliferating in the Second City. Taking its
inspiration from the Academy Award-winning movie Chicago, Now That's Chicago! ( Legacy ) is a compilation of 1920s period pieces,
such as 'Red Hot Chicago,' 'She Knows Her Onions,' 'Freeze And Melt,' 'I Got The Ritz From The One I Love,' 'Cigarettes, Cigars,'
and 'Take Your Black Bottom Outside,' that recall the city's racy past.