Maps and Atlases heads south

Maps and Atlases is a fitting name for the Chicago-based quartet playing in Bloomington and Terre Haute this weekend as it has many critics and fans wondering exactly where it and it's music comes from.

The short answer is that the band met and formed in Chicago out of the arts community surrounding Columbia College and that its songs usually involve intricately woven guitar lines combined with frenetic drums and the declarative voice of lead singer Dave Davisson.

The long answer is that band members Davisson, Shiraz Dada, Erin Elders and Chris Hainey have either grown up or spent a substantial amount of their lives in places like Texas, Philadelphia, Chicago and Maui and that each member's individual skill at their instrument allows the band to explore avenues of sound unavailable to most acts. In other words, bands of this musical caliber rarely come to the area.

Maps and Atlases will be playing tonight at 7 p.m. in Bloomington at the WIUX Mansion, located at 815 E. 8th st. and in Terre Haute tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at the Phoenix (1300 N. 25th), an ancient school turned music venue on the north side of town. Both shows are open to all ages and cost under $5.

Music critics can't easily explain bands like Maps and Atlases, and when critics can't explain what they hear they typically call it "noise" or more optimistically "noise-rock."

But if the band is musically talented and has songs that seem at least somewhat familiar to the critic, the critic will say the band is a "post-something" band and this is where things can get hairy. Let's say a music critic likes punk music and knows that a band is good, shares a few elements with punk but is beyond the musical confines of punk. The answer to their problem is to say the band is "post-punk." The problem with this is that people don't understand how to apply the label and often call a band's music "post-something" when the band isn't really beyond anything at all. Too often, bands in the Terre Haute area get labeled "post-hardcore" when the band isn't even as good as original hardcore, which was never that good to begin with, and most people regret listening to once they turn 20. Maps and Atlases is the kind of band that can easily be labeled a "post" band because of the wide variety of sounds and styles that are heard in its songs, but its apparent influences are simply too many to list. For this reason, it might more accurately be called a "proto" band since it is on the verge of something new and are pushing rock music somewhere it hasn't been before.

This weekend local music fans will have two chances to see a very promising and talented act. After the release of its new album "Trees, Swallows, Houses," the band will be headed to the East Coast.

You can sample a few songs and get upcoming show dates at www.myspace.com/mapsandatlases and at www.purevolume.com/mapsandatlases.