Goose Island rocks with tie to Metro

Goose Island Fest

*5 p.m. tonight, Saturday and Sunday

*A. Finkl & Sons, 2011 N. Southport

*Tickets, $20 per day, $50 for three-day pass

*(312) 559-1212; www.gooseislandfest.com, www.metrochicago.com

They may be a time-honored summer tradition on the Chicago musicscene, but generally speaking, I'm no fan of street fairs: Peopletend to come for the beer rather than the music. Ironically, the mostnotable exception may be the festival that is actually sponsored by abrewery.

For several years now, the Goose Island Fest has presented one ofthe summer's most exciting rosters of cutting-edge rock. This year,the bill is even more impressive, thanks to the local microbreweryjoining forces with the venerated rock club Metro.

Three packed evenings of music start at 5 p.m. each day tonightthrough Sunday outside the wonderfully industrial setting of the A.Finkl & Sons steel mill along the Chicago River at the intersectionof Cortland and Southport.

Tonight's lineup begins with locals Yakuza, who play aninvigorating and hard-hitting mix of metal, punk, free jazz andworldbeat. It continues with the country-punk of the Waco Brothers,who, despite their ubiquity, never fail to deliver a foot-stompinggood time. But it's the closing trio of acts that are an indie-rockfan's dream.

A veteran Goose Island performer, Bob Mould always seems to givehis all for the festival, shrugging off his sometimes dour stagepersona to enjoy the setting and the music. Guided By Voices are sureto be inspired by the plentiful beer as well, and a sizable portionof the underground music scene considers their amphetamized power-pop to be nirvana (though I've always been of the opinion thatbandleader Bob Pollard desperately needs an editor, since only one inthree of songs is truly memorable).

Closing out the night are New York avant-garde/noise-rock legendsSonic Youth, who rarely perform at such events. The group has been ona late-career high since acquiring a fifth member and third guitaristin former Chicagoan Jim O'Rourke, and it released its strongest albumin a decade with 2002's "Murray Street."

Saturday's roster starts with Cincinnati's melodic punks Spindleand continues with singer-songwriter Charlotte Martin and Chicago art-punks the Detachment Kit. It kicks into high gear with another actwith local roots, the Alkaline Trio, who are still riding high aftertheir spring release, "Good Mourning," which continues to hone anappealing line somewhere between emo and pop-punk.

Capping the night are the consistently thought-provoking and genre-hopping Libertyville singer and songwriter Ike Reilly and the once-again reunited New Wave legends the Psychedelic Furs. While RichardButler and his mates haven't released much new music of note, theirfirst three albums--1980's self-titled debut, 1981's "Talk Talk" and1982's "Forever Now"--remain dark, droning and indelibly catchyclassics. As nostalgia acts go, their appearance is one of thehighlights of the summer.

The festival concludes Sunday with a lineup that veers fartherfrom rock toward the avant-garde and hip-hop. It starts with the J.Davis Trio, which is vying to be Chicago's answer to the Roots with acool mix of jazz, soul and rap sounds.

The Los Angeles rap crew the Pharcyde is a long-running and widelyinfluential group that veers far and wide to incorporate an array ofdiverse musical influences, mining a tradition that includes De LaSoul and A Tribe Called Quest. In a similar vein is Family Tree, whorecently released the melodic and adventurous "Tree House Rock."

Defying any attempt at genre-categorizing (and please don't callthem "post-rock"), hometown heroes and instrumental alchemistsTortoise make a rare outdoor appearance in the penultimate slot ofthe festival. Finally, it all wraps up with the less adventurous butmore commercially successful chill-out grooves of keyboardist JohnMedeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood, the trio knownas Medeski, Martin & Wood.

*****

Meanwhile, back at Metro proper (3730 N. Clark), local glam-poppers Kill Hannah gear up for the fall release of their AtlanticRecords debut by topping a strong all-ages bill that starts at 6:30p.m. Saturday.

The group has recorded a driving and catchy set of effervescentNew Wave pop with producer Sean Beavan, whose list of creditsincludes Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, No Doubt and Slayer. Thealbum, "For Never and Ever," is due to be released Oct. 28.

Also on the bill and forging ahead in a similar style is Caviar,the new group fronted by Figdish veteran Blake Smith. The band's self-titled 2000 debut was a gem, but it never got the push it deserved,and Caviar was subsequently dropped from their label, Polygram. Theband has been biding its time before its next full album with astrong EP called "Laurel Metallic," recently released on theindependent Brilliante Records (www.brilliante.tv).

Opening the show are Egostatic and Ivory Wire. Tickets are $12;call (773) 549-0203 for more information.

*****

Yes, Wilco's fourth album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," stands as anart-rock masterpiece, and Sam Jones' film "I Am Trying to Break YourHeart" is an artfully shot and gripping account of its making. Butthat doesn't mean that both aren't ripe for parody.

The ever-cheeky Jake Austen (the always-busy DIY auteur behind thefanzine Roctober, the cable-TV dance party "Chic-A-Go-Go" and themask-wearing garage-punk group the Goblins) has teamed with filmmakerJoe Losurdo to produce a short film called "I Am Trying to Take YourCash," crafted in the great Spinal Tap/Rutles "mockumentary"tradition and lovingly shot in grainy black and white.

While recording their new album, the Goblins wrestle with aninsensitive record company, the inevitable personnel conflicts,draining "creative differences" and an attempt to incorporate weirdtime signatures. The scene where the pressure of it all prompts oneof the band members to lose his lunch a la Jeff Tweedy is a classic;he forgets to open the zipper on his face mask.

Watch the Goblins section of the www.roctober.com Web site forinformation about when the film will be released and made availablefor purchase.

Pop Music Critic Jim DeRogatis co-hosts "Sound Opinions," theworld's only rock 'n' roll talk show, from 10 p.m. to midnightTuesday on WXRT-FM (93.1). E-mail him at jimdero@jimdero.com or visithim on the Web at www.jimdero.com.