A last-minute appearance by American Minor more than delivered the goods last Thursday at Cowboy Monkey. With the venue already at capacity for Wandering Sons and WPGU-buzz Local Music Awards Best Live Performer elsinore, American Minor took the stage close to 1 a.m., sans set list, and tore through 16 songs. These ranged from new covers “Mississippi Queen” and “Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)” to new originals “You Ain’t Got to Worry” and “Help Yourself,” throughout which the house lights were on. Noah Harris pulled double duty: he performed with Wandering Sons, then ran to The Iron Post for his concurrent concert there with John Owen and Harman Jordan of Shipwreck.
June 21: Elanors announced signing with Parasol, who will issue second Elanors album Movements late this month. The day before, Elanors announced a tour with Minty Fresh/Catskills act Husky Rescue from Finland. On July 31, they appear together at The Highdive, alongside The Living Blue, Lorenzo Goetz, The Beauty Shop, Tractor Kings and Bellcaster. In the meantime, Elanors opens for Shipwreck Thursday at Cowboy Monkey. This is the House of Cards EP release; also aboard are Starflyer59 and Cheyenne. Show time is 9 p.m., and cover is $7. Elanors is husband-and-wife duo Noah and Adriel Harris, with Dan Johnson and Rodrigo Palma.
July 4: New Ruins issued its second full-length, The Sound They Make. It is a limited edition with handmade artwork and 11 tracks; cellist Aaron Emerson Wittrig of Pulsar47 plays on four of the tracks. New Ruins appears July 13 and 14 at The Iron Post. The formal record release is in August. New Ruins is J. Caleb Means and Elzie Sexton.
Saturday: Brother Embassy frontman Nathon “Tron” Jones celebrates his birthday with
a concert at Cowboy Monkey. Besides Brother Embassy on the bill are Animate Objects and Beat Kitchen. Show time is 10 p.m., and cover is $5. Also on Saturday at 10 p.m., The Amazing Kill-O-Watts are at Mike ‘n’ Molly’s.
Fresh from MustacheFest 2006, Chicago-Joliet trio Deconstructing Jim is on tour this week to debut songs from its forthcoming EP. Deconstructing Jim will record it in September with Jeff Halland at Vaudeville Studios in Minneapolis and release it early next year. Last release The Further, The Better featured four songs with harmonies by Leila Hagshenas, formerly active in Champaign-Urbana as a D.I.Y. booking agent and sound engineer. Since the release, Brennan Chouinard has joined on drums, and Matt Yeager has switched from guitar to bass; Jeff Julian remains on guitar. On Sunday, Deconstructing Jim wraps up the tour at Cowboy Monkey with Mad Science Fair and The Dolphin. Show time is 10 p.m., and cover is $4.
Todd J. Hunter hosts WEFT Sessions and Champaign Local 901, two hours of local music every Monday at 10 p.m. on WEFT 90.1 FM. Send news to soundground@excite.com. Support your scene to preserve your scene.
