Listen to Obits play "Moody, Standard, and Poor" at the Empty Bottle...

Sadly, last night, I missed Hozac's People's Temple and the sloppy fun of Loose Dude's. I was a bit bummed, but bopping around to the always entertaining, fresh Subpop signee's Jaill...it made me happy that I got there at least to catch them.

The mighty OBITS, consisting of Rick Froberg, Greg Simpson, Sohrab Habibion, and Scott Gursky, tore apart the Empty Bottle last night with a ton of scathing cuts from "Moody, Standard, and Poor" , launching into the stratosphere in a mere two weeks.

I regaled them in stories of interviewing and filming Handsome Furs, in which Dan Boeckner told me Obits singlehandedly turned him around on SXSW, and how it was insane he even got to meet Rick Froberg.

Make no mistake, the fellows in Obits are extremely nice. Downstairs in the green room of the Empty Bottle, I asked Sohrab if he was the one that agreed to let me record it. He smiled, stretched his hand out, and excitedly introduced himself...later, Greg Simpson gave me a shirt and a fresh copy of "Moody, Standard, and Poor" for the price of a record. Swell folks.

They began their set with new cuts off their soon-to-be-released sophomore Subpop outing...peppered in some classics like "SUD", "Widow of My Dreams", "Milk Cow Blues", and "One Cross a Piece".

It can take quite a bit to engage with new songs noone has heard, but these new tracks, as you can hear below, have all the bite and hooks of anything Rick Froberg and his band of cohorts has put out. A completely engaging, sweaty, brutal set with a few heart-felt ballads, and slow-jams by Sohrab in the mix. This was their third time gracing the Empty Bottle's stage, and by far the strongest.

Now I just have to fix my record player...


OBITS Start their destruction of Chicago's Empty Bottle with a slew of new songs, "Run", and another cut off "I Blame You"

Enjoy :


Raging on with "Widow of my Dreams" , "One Cross a Piece" , "SUD", "I Can't Lose" , and more new jams off Moody, Standard, and Poor! Out in two weeks on Subpop!


They end their reign of fire on the Empty Bottle in Chicago with ripping new songs "Killer", "Shift Operator", "I Want Results" , and end with a double encore of "Milk Cow Blues" and "Talkin' to the Dog". INSANE!!! Thanks to the OBITS!

...and please watch this space on April 4th for some big news