This Thursday: Gigmaven's Chicago launch party with Netherfriends, The Loneliest Monk & more

Posted by Andrew

Musicians take note: After kicking around the East coast for a bit, Gigmaven has expanded to Chicago. Essentially, Gigmaven is the Google of booking shows. It is a free service that easily connects musicians directly to venues. So no more gruff phone calls or unreturned e-mails for all of the frustrated musicians out there. Although New York-based, the company has grown to include other major cities across the nation and is expecting to continue expanding. The site also sports a blog so you can stay up to date with their picks of artists to watch.

Gigmaven has teamed up with Heave Media to host a Windy City launch party tomorrow night, January 6th, at Subterranean featuring an impressively eclectic group of artists.

Opening the night is eccentric psych-electronic duo Wolf in a Spacesuit. If my telling you the names of the members were Algebra Huxley and Arthur Aircraft elicits a chuckle at their literary references, this is probably the band for you. After that will be Dozens, a dynamic trio of who use their multi-instrumental talents to provide a chamber-pop sound with an edge that allows them to avoid Grizzly Bear comparisons while retaining the sweet vocal melodies. They’ve been kicking around every major local venue for about the past year, so hopefully 2011 will bring some national attention for these guys.

Third band The Loneliest Monk have gotten a lot of attention recently for their theatrical brand of pop music with a classical spin. The cello-drummer couple exist somewhere between the Dresden Dolls and Eyes Wide Shut; this is a band described to give a performance more than a show. Get a glimpse of what to expect from their music video and read an interview from last summer.

Any dedicated follower of this blog already knows how I feel about closing act Netherfriends. After a holiday break-inspired boredom spell, helmsman Shawn recorded Alap, an ambient/drone album released for free on the first day of the year. This will be the last show by Netherfriends in Chicago until they wrap up their whole 50songs50states project, so you don’t want to miss this one.

Doors to the 21+ show open at 8:00 p.m., tunes start at 8:30. Tickets are only $8 and still available here; don't forget to spread the word around about Gigmaven to all your musician friends.