Illinois:
Maps & Atlases
CITY: Chicago
SONGS THAT GOT US “Artichokes,” “Israeli Caves (demo)”
ON THE TUBES: MySpace, Web site, YouTube
RECORD LABEL: Sargent House
WHY THEM? Everybody has that one super-anal friend who keeps his apartment impossibly neat, arranges his furnishings according to some invisible geometry, folds each towel, and tucks every sheet with an aggres-sive sense of crispness. Now that guy has a new favorite band. If your hatred for Vampire Weekend has nothing to do with how they satisfied their multi-cultural credit hours, but rather how infuriatingly organized they are, run far from this blurb. If, on the other hand, you like your pop agile, fragile, nimble, wry, and, well, kind of WASP-y (that is, if when you think Chicago, you think of the lush ditties of the Sea and Cake, or the warm math of Sweater Weather or early Joan of Arc), their You, Me and the Mountain EP might make the perfect new housemate.
BONUS BIT! The band often plays live with a vibraphonist — who doesn’t always fit in the room during practice (see for yourself here).
