So Bailiff the band is just starting out, which is a lucky thing for all of us, because it means we get to watch something real cool right from the launch. The band is new, but the musicians have been around for years. They’re all real sharp players, working the tension between restraint and release. Josh’s melodies are super efficient, delivered deadpan against a guitar that’s saying as much as the lyrics are. The drums—well, that’s my instrument. Ren’s drums are fucking great, pulled so far back that you might not recognize how much technique and taste are informing the part. And the bass is just plain dangerous. They’re tight enough that you’d think they’ve been on tour together. There you are. Not much else to say about a band at this stage, I reckon, except: Get involved now, because you’ll be seeing their name around Chicago soon enough in any case. Cheers!

One part Rolling Thunder Revue, one part banged-and-bruised balladeering, two parts just plain strange, These United States have their sights set on a rock-and-roll reformation. Taking their cues as much from Walt Whitman as from Wilco, Jesse Elliott and co. walk the thin line between the coffeehouse and the roadhouse, spinning something fiercely, unapologetically positive out of the sinking reality of an empire gone Titanic.

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