Chicago's Maps and Atlases make music that's hard to wrap your head around. You need a map to figure out where they're going. At first they sound like Don Caballero (of the "American Don" era) with their crazy time signatures and distortion-free rock-outs, but then at other times they sound like Danielson (mostly due to the singer's voice... as far as I know, he doesn't sing in a tree, though) crossed with a more meaty version of Joanna Newsom's strange folk-freak-outs.

Whatever they're doing, it's different and really cool. You just got to keep up. We saw them play awhile ago in a mostly empty outdoor parking lot that also happened to be huge. But though the venue did everything it could to make the show depressing, Maps and Atlases wouldn't give in to the less-than-ideal setting. They still rocked it to the fifteen people who were lucky enough to be there. These guys are another notch in Chicago's busy musical bedpost.

BUY TICKETS TO SEE MAPS AND ATLASES AT THE HIGHLINE BALLROOM!