Contest Win tickets to the Double Door’s Halloween Bash, Candy Claws, and Bear In Heaven

http://www.flickr.com/photos/opiummuseum/

The A.V. Club has tickets to give away to an event or three. For those who are ready for some overwhelming music therapy, we’ve got tickets to see the extrasensory Bear In Heaven at Lincoln Hall on Oct. 29. Those looking to party and listen to every kind of rock, we’ve got tickets to the Double Door’s 14th annual Halloween Bash on Oct 30. Shoegazers and Molly Ringwald lovers both have a reason to rejoice, because we’ve got tickets to see Candy Claws and The Chain Gang Of 1974 with Tina Turner Overdrive at Schubas on Nov. 3.

To enter to win these passes, send an e-mail to ochicago@theonion.com. To see Bear In Heaven, put “Bear In Heaven” in the subject line; for the Halloween Bash, include “Halloween Bash” in the subject line; and for Candy Claws and Chain Gang Of 1974, put “Candy Claws” in the subject line.

Despite the surrender of Brooklyn’s Bear in Heaven to the predictable indie-trend of naming the band after animal imagery, Bear in Heaven spared listeners’ by not being another mediocre folk-experimental-progressive-electronic band. These guys are loud and accessible. Bear in Heaven’s 2009 release, Beast Rest Fourth Mouth, is slightly calm and completely out of control, but the mess is feverish and embraceable.



The Double Door’s 14th annual Halloween Bash is most likely the only place to ever hear “Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely” and “Sweet Emotion” performed live in the same night. Five local acts will be masquerading as legendary bands for the holiday celebration. The Halloween Bash offers something for just about every kind of rock fan, featuring The Last Vegas performing as Aerosmith, The Midnight Shows as Duran Duran, Blackbox as Joan Jett And The Blackhearts, Hüsker Düdes as Hüsker Dü, and The Sweeps as The Cars.

Candy Claws’ composers, Ryan Hover and Kay Bertholf, habitually exchange dependence on technique for dependence on what sounds right. The result was this year’s Hidden Lands, which was created entirely on keyboards—an instrument which no member of the group had any prior knowledge or experience in playing. This punk-rock idea—that technique isn’t necessary to produce sufficiently expressive music—can be hit or miss, but Candy Claws’ recycling of samples throughout their music seamlessly connects each song to one another, and the end product is a dreamy shoe-gaze hit.



Chain Gang of 1974’s Kamtin Mohager admits to being influenced by ’80s new-wave music, but not the mellow end of the spectrum. Chain Gang of 1974 took the most restless influences of the ’80s—such as Talk Talk and Tears For Fears—added a contemporary flair along the lines of LCD Soundsystem’s sound, and the result is what 3OH!3 should have been. With the help of Chain Gang’s internet popularity, Mohager has managed to release two full-lengths and a six-song EP: Fantastic NostalgicMad Paranoid, and White Guts, respectively.



 

« Back to A.V. Chicago home

Share Tools