Like fellow Chicagoans Mucca Pazza, Environmental Encroachment is a many member performance art/punk rock marching band who describe their live show as featuring "multi-media stage performance antics including dancers, hooping, juggling and skits." EE are also known for dressing up as bunny rabbits and pretty much laying to waste any venue at which they show up. ‘Venue’ is a term to be used loosely when referring to EE’s live show, as the term could mean the Kinetic Playground, NASCAR rallies, art shows, protests, Buddhist Peace and Happiness Parades, or your backyard. One of these days, they may even conquer lucid dreaming and show up to play a gig in your subconscious. Should they appear to you, be at least armed with the knowledge that you’re about to experience one of the more exciting, creative and truly unpredictable live acts that Chicago has to offer. (Appearing with Black Bear Combo at Kinetic Playground on Jan. 5) --text: Jon Graef--photo: Bob Goins

The music of The New Fuse is as thoughtful and well-constructed as the name implies, and is backed up with an intent rarely executed in our hurried world. The band melds the musical skills and experiences of Chicago's very own Shane Davies, Brent Kimbrough and Chris Morrow — three men with extensive and wildly divergent musical resumes fusing together to achieve oneness. A seamless medley of jazz, funk, blues and rock, The New Fuse delivers a steady, chill sound laced with a sense of urgency. Not pompous or showy, it impresses a casual mood that respects its listeners: both the music snobs and the curious alike. This ensemble has curried much favor with Chicagoans who simply appreciate the power of good, live music since 2004. And soon The New Fuse will give fans something good they can take home with them, in the form of their debut album In the Now. (Appearing with Super American Happy Fun Good Time Jam Band at Double Door on Jan. 11) --text: Jen Fischer

Chicago-based Plane, led by producer and Blue Room Studio owner Edgar Legzdins on guitar and vocals, is hardly an undiscovered act on the scene. On the heels of the release of their second album I See Love in the Future, the band noted by Pitchfork for being too eclectic for catchy-ass electro pop forges ahead on the road of what some have declared the new indie — a psychedelic new wave revival of sorts in which the addition of newcomers Joe London and Justin Boyd only solidifies Plane’s transition. No stranger to grassroots musical fundamentals, Legzdins (whose father was a Latvia political folk singer and activist during his childhood) brings that same type of freethinking thought process to the table with Plane. Part soulful and glistening with other parts moody and full of despair, this record is captivating from start to finish. (Appearing with Welcome to Ashley at Subterranean on Jan. 4) --text: Jyn Radakovits

You know that feeling when you stand up too quickly, and it feels like the room is spinning around you, and all you can hear is a faint buzzing in your ear that sounds like a hearing aid being tuned? That’s basically White/Light, minus the dizziness. Chicago’s own Jeremy Lemos (Lacerati) and Matt Clark (Ambulette) kick up the frequencies to create an atmosphere in which white noise reverberates in a dense black hole. With the hand-held shruti box, an Indian wind instrument similar to a harmonium, Lemos manually oscillates static fuzz at varying intervals while a dissonant Clark heavily crashes guitar chords which begin spontaneously but gain melody through repetition. Sometimes appearing with Lichens’ Robert AA. Lowe (90 Day Men, TV on the Radio) as White/Lichens and with storms of sound that last anywhere from five to 20 minutes, this band is definitely not for the impatient or hard of hearing. (Appearing with Teith and Head of Skulls at Empty Bottle on Jan. 7) --text: Amy Kaufman

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