Nothing kicks off a year of awesome Chicago club shows better than Tomorrow Never Knows. Happening over five days (Wednesday, Jan. 13 to Sunday, Jan. 17) at six different venues, the 12th annual music festival boasts a cornucopia of rising acts in both comedy and indie rock. While it’s not a typical music fest in that there’s no marquee headliner like LCD Soundsystem (or lovely summer weather), it’s always one of the most consistently fun ways to spend your January. You just might have to trudge through the snow to get there.
Here are the must-see shows for each day of TNK, with enough background so you’re not going in blindly but not so much that you don’t still feel like you’re making some discoveries. Buy tickets here. Unfortunately, five-day passes ($100) are sold out.
Wednesday, Jan. 13
Recommended show: Whitney, Wildhoney, Michael Rault and Troy Anderson, 9 p.m. at Schubas. $15.
Who: Whitney
Backstory: A six-piece, Portland, Ore.- and Chicago-based band comprised of Smith Westerns, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Touching Voids alums.
Sound: What would happen if an indie pop band only listened to the Band and Big Star.
Album to start with: N/A, since the band’s album isn’t out yet. This is one of my most anticipated releases of the year.
Favorite song: “No Matter Where We Go”
Who: Wildhoney
Backstory: Buzzy and fuzzy Baltimore quintet.
Sound: Think Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive.
Album to start with: While I enjoyed last year’s debut, “Sleep Through It,” I loved the more recent EP “Your Face Sideways.”
Favorite song: “Ceiling Fan”
Who: Michael Rault
Backstory: Canadian.
Sound: Swaggering power-pop that’s as fun as it is timeless.
Album to start with: “Living Daylight” is one of 2014’s hidden gems.
Favorite song: “All Alone (On My Own)”
Not feeling it? Try Lady Lamb (with American Wrestlers, 9 p.m. at Lincoln Hall, $15), who had 2015’s first four-star album in “After.”
Thursday, Jan. 14
Recommended show: San Fermin and Andy Shauf, 9 p.m. at Athanaeum Theatre. $17-$23.
Who: San Fermin
Backstory: Sprawling Brooklyn, N.Y., collective spearheaded by composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone, who will be performing with nine musicians from Chicago’s Fifth House Ensemble.
Sound: Orchestral baroque pop that reaches for the rafters with ornate yet accessible songs.
Album to start with: The group’s 2013 self-titled record, which boasts the band’s best song in “Sonsick.”
Favorite song: Sorry for the spoiler, but it’s still “Sonsick.”
Who: Andy Shauf
Backstory: Singer-songwriter from Saskatchewan who just signed to ANTI- Records (Wilco, Glen Hansard) on the strength of work like 2012’s “The Bearer of Bad News.”
Sound: Intimate folk with clarinets and a unique tenor that channels Elliott Smith’s immediacy.
Album to start with: “The Bearer of Bad News,” which was conveniently reissued last year.
Favorite song: Tough call between “Drink My Rivers” and the epic “Wendell Walker.”
Feeling up for comedy? Go for Nick Thune, 7 and 10 p.m. at the Hideout. $20.
Who: Nick Thune
Backstory: Guitar- and piano-wielding comedian who you probably know from Honda commercials.
Humor: Observational one-liners that’ll make you think, “Why didn’t I think of that?” after you’re done laughing at the punchlines.
Album to start with: “Folk Hero” is a masterful special that’s streaming on Netflix.
Joke: “C-sections are like the DiGiorno of pregnancy because it’s not delivery … but it’s gonna still smell like a delivery.”
Also playing: Tobacco (10 p.m. at Smart Bar, $15). This maniacal electronic project from Black Moth Super Rainbow frontman Thomas Fec will keep the energy off the rails.
Friday, Jan. 15
Recommended show: Torres, Palehound and Julien Baker, 9 p.m. at Lincoln Hall. $15.
Who: Torres
Backstory: Mackenzie Scott, the Brooklyn-based songwriter who performs as Torres, doubles down on her assertive, emotionally resonant storytelling on 2015’s “Sprinter.”
Sound: A great amalgamation of PJ Harvey, Sharon Van Etten and Dinosaur Jr.
Album to start with: “Sprinter” is her best, but I still have a soft spot for her warm, 2013 self-titled debut.
Favorite song: “Honey” will hit you in the gut.
Who: Palehound
Backstory: Boston resident and Palehound figurehead Ellen Kempner, who once sang about keeping a carrot as a pet, uses quirk and charm as a weapon.
Sound: Frenetic indie rock.
Album to start with: “Dry Food,” which might not have made RedEye’s Best 20 Albums of the Year but is a strong contender for “2015 albums we tweaked on and only started listening to in 2016” list.
Favorite song: The aforementioned “Pet Carrot” and “Molly,” which totally rips.
Who: Julien Baker
Backstory: Baker, a 19-year-old junior at Middle Tennessee University, offered an emotionally devastating but lovely debut collection of songs in last year’s “Sprained Ankle.”
Sound: Me crying on the No. 147 bus on the way to work after playing “Rejoice.”
Album to start with: It’s the only one, but “Sprained Ankle” is just an astounding work.
Favorite song: As someone who grew up in a very conservative evangelical part of West Michigan, “Rejoice” couldn’t have hit me with more force.
Looking for laughs? Try Bobcat Goldthwait (7 and 10 p.m. at Hideout, $20) whose dark and often-misanthropic humor translates as hilariously to film (he directed 2011’s “God Bless America” and last year’s “Call Me Lucky”) as it does to the stand-up stage.
Saturday
Recommended show: METZ and Bully (with Slow Mass), 9 p.m. at Metro. $15.
Who: METZ
Backstory: Noise-rockers from Canada with two creatively titled albums, “METZ” and “II.”
Sound: Eardrums bursting.
Album to start with: “METZ.” While both albums are great, the debut has more gritty standouts.
Favorite song: “Get Off.”
Who: Bully
Backstory: Alicia Bognanno, a former intern at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio, formed and fronts a Nashville garage-rock band that blew the doors off both Pitchfork and Lollapalooza last year.
Sound: In-your-face but also pop-minded rock ‘n’ roll.
Album to start with: There’s only one, and that’s 2015’s “Feels Like.”
Favorite song: “Brainfreeze.”
Want to LOL?
Recommended show: Hari Kondabolu and Martin Morrow, 7 and 10 p.m. at Hideout. $20.
Who: Hari Kondabolu
Backstory: A Seattle-based immigrant-rights worker turned Brooklyn-based stand-up comic, Kondabolu has honed his craft to be one of the most incisive and on-point comedians working today.
Humor: Unflinchingly hilarious observations on race, ethnicity and identity.
Album to start with: “Waiting For 2042”
Joke:
#OscarsSoWhite that the statue counts as a Person Of Color.
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) January 15, 2015
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Also playing: The Go! Team (9 p.m. at Lincoln Hall, $15) released its first album in four years with 2015’s “The Scene Between.” The U.K. six-piece will play songs from that as well as its rapturous 2004 debut “Thunder, Lightning, Strike.”
Sunday
Recommended show: JMSN, Steven A. Clark, 9 p.m. at Lincoln Hall. $15.
Who: JMSN
Backstory: Pronounced “Jameson,” JMSN is the stage name of crooner-producer Christian Berishaj. While he has a notable solo career as a producer and singer, he also appears throughout the credits of Kendrick Lamar’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” for vocal performances on songs like “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe,” “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” and more.
Sound: We would have been obnoxious and called this music PBR&B a few years ago. It’s good, though.
Album to start with: 2014’s self-titled.
Favorite song: “Street Sweeper.”
Who: Steven A. Clark
Backstory: Miami-via-North Carolina crooner.
Sound: Elaborate R&B.
Album to start with: His only release, “The Lonely Roller.”
Favorite song: “Can’t Have.”
jterry@redeyechicago.com, @joshhterry
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