A few Chicago music news bites

• Gapers Block has the details on a free sampler from Andrew Bird called TheNoiseTrade sampler, which contains new tracks from his upcoming album Break It Yourself as well as B sides.

• Loud Loop Press posted about Sausage Fest 2012, a two-night SXSW send-off party that will happen at the Empty Bottle on Saturday, March 10 and Sunday, March 11. The lineup includes Running, Bad Drugs, Apache Dropout and more.

• Chicago Tunes gave their take on a couple recent releases from locally-based bands: Failure by Unicycle Loves You (which we delved into too) and ANY KIND by Any Kind (which includes members of This Is Me Smiling.

• Over at wbez.org, Jim DeRogatis blogged about a new Chicago music festival on the way called The Spring Awakening Festival. The fest will have an electronic/dance focus, be held in Soldier Field and feature the likes of Skrillex, Moby and Afrojack.

• LostInConcert.com posted a few new live photo sets and writeups, including Foxy Shazam at Metro and Northpilot at Lincoln Hall.