**Nad Navillus - Mar. 6 @ Schuba's (773/525-2508) and Apr. 18 @ Gunther Murphy's (773/472-5139)
**Jen Porter - Mar. 9 and Tuesdays @ Gentry On Halsted (773/348-1035)
**Ike Reilly - Mar. 14 @ Double Door (773/489-3160)
**The Sea and Cake - Mar. 28 & 20 @ Metro (773/549-0203)
The Sea and Cake's sixth and latest disc, One Bedroom (Thrill Jockey) arrived in stores in January of 2003, and deserves repeated play throughout the year. The artsy quartet's sophisticated and emotionally distant pop songs radiate a Spring-like warmth, as thick as the fog on the album cover. See if you will be able to resist nodding your head to 'Four Corners' or if you can fight the urge to hold up a Bic lighter at the end of the fuzzy 'Left Sided Cloud.' You may also catch yourself imagining a Hex Hector remix of 'Hotel Tell' or 'Shoulder Length.' The Sea and Cake's deliriously restrained cover of David Bowie's 'Sound & Vision,' with backing vocals by John Navin and Frank Navin of The Aluminum Group, would sound like heaven in your favorite nightclub, so tell your favorite DJ all about it.
It should come as no surprise to anyone one-time Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan has a softer 'pop' music side. It surfaced on practically every Smashing Pumpkins disc. He further explores that side via his new band Zwan (with ex-Pumpkin Jimmy Chamberlain on drums, Paz Lenchatin on bass and backing vocals, Matt Sweeney on guitar, and Chicago post-rocker David Pajo also on guitar) and their debut disc Mary Star Of The Sea (Martha's Music/Reprise). Corgan, who did some work with Marianne Faithfull on her amazing 2002 disc Kissin' Time (including the disc's best tracks 'I'm On Fire' and a cover of Herman's Hermits 'I'm In To Something Good'), apparently became obsessed with '60s pop and rock music and wanted to recreate his own version of it on this album. 'Lyric,' has a '60s sound, by way of the 21st-century fusion, and the same can be said for 'Settle Down,' 'Honestly,' 'Ride A Black Swan,' 'Baby Let's Rock!,' 'Yeah!,' and especially 'Come With Me.'
If Jeff Tweedy's musical evolution, from Uncle Tupelo through Wilco, isn't enough for you, you might want to explore the self-titled debut of his latest side project, Loose Fur (Drag City). Wilco has been called many things, but 'jam band' isn't one of them. Tweedy, fellow Wilco-member Glenn Kotche and the versatile Jim O'Rourke, have gotten together to explore their improvisational skills over the course of six songs. The jammiest tracks, the aptly named 'So Long,' the instrumental 'Liquidation Totale,' and the album's closer 'Chinese Apples,' have too much post-rock sophistication to give Phish or Dave Matthews cause for alarm. Tweedy and Wilco are also essential to Down With Wilco (Yep Roc) by The Minus 5.
A shape-shifting modern super-group with one consistent member, Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows and R.E.M. session work, The Minus 5 recorded Down With Wilco in Chicago with members of the band mentioned in the title as well as a host of local (Rebecca Gates) and (inter)national (Sean O'Hagan of High Llamas, Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Ken Stringfellow of the Posies) musicians for a lush and experimental album, of which highlights include 'Days of Wine and Booze,' 'Retrieval of You,' 'The Town That Lost Its Groove Supply,' 'Where Will You Go?,' 'The Family Gardener' and 'Dear Employer.'
The five-song EP Cars & Girls & Drinks & Songs (www.ikereilly.com) is Ike Reilly's eagerly anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed 2001 major-label solo debut disc Salesmen And Racists. If Beck was from Chicago, he might sound something like Reilly, who on 'I Don't Want What You Got Goin' On,' the EP's opening track, sings about 'the gay young rich with their tassel hair/who shop their deals with cappuccinos/and make my dreams of El Caminos real,' combing sung and spoken lyrics. The more melodic 'Boat Song,' with its steady beat and drunken 'getting loaded' chorus displays another side of Reilly, as do the rocking 'Garbage Day' and the soft-spoken 'St. Joe's Band.'
Released a year after his second solo disc, Iron Night (Jagjaguwar) by Nad Navillus (a.k.a. Dan Sullivan) is a rich, but dark album of mostly lo-fi acoustic noodling enhanced by strings ('Last Respects,' the title track) and virtuoso guitar work (the amazing 'Return Again Too Soon'). The former Songs: Ohia collaborator easily fits into the varied and voluminous Chicago music scene.
The Pomes's Mind/Body Problem (Omega Point) is the eclectic six-song debut EP by The Pomes. 'Unaware,' featuring Nathan Syfrig's fiddle playing, in a piece of insurgent country candy. 'Pine Box' has a twangy twist, while 'The Pretty Girls Go' goes the other way with plinky Magnetic Fields instrumentation and vocals. The not-so-hidden 'Hidden Track' sounds like The Pomes are having a pint with the Jesus & Mary Chain.
Jen Porter has made a name for herself as an entertainer in Chicago by being a regular performer at the popular gay nightspot Gentry. On her second CD of all original material, It's About Time (JJP Productions), Porter rocks out like Cathy Richardson, another Chicago singer/songwriter. Beginning with the vintage sound of 'Another Day' and later demonstrating her ballad skills on 'Tonight,' Porter is her own woman, in a city bursting with female vocalists. She continues to mature as a songwriter and her piano playing is top notch. When she accompanies herself on the bluesy 'Takin' Charge Today,' the country-colored 'In A Day' (on which she sounds a bit like Natalie Merchant), the gospel-tinged 'Your Child' and 'Be Right,' and the lovely ballad 'Shakespearean Tragedy,' she emerges as a triple threat (singer, songwriter, musician) whose time has come.