Cincy’s Bad Veins – on paper – appear to be a bedroom/studio project for Benjamin Davis (vox/gtrs/keys) and Sebastien Schultz (drums), but the duo has been wowing audiences live with the help of a 1973 reel-to-reel tape player named Irene that augments the sound and fills in where other band members are missing. Their self-titled debut (released in July) is an experimental indie pop album that sounds a bit like Brandon Flowers (Killers) fronting a Sparklehorse/Apples in Stereo/Longwave mash-up.

MP3: Bad Veins – “Gold and Warm”

Division Day, meanwhile, is a veteran of the first (and, to date, only) Donewaiting SXSW day party, performing in 2008 alongside El Jesus de Magico, Catfish Haven, Goes Cube, AA Bondy, Joseph Arthur, Midgetmen, and Spinto Band. Much like the Chicago-by-way-of-Columbus band the Loyal Divide, Division Day’s music has made a pretty significant transformation from a Granddaddy/Silversun Pickups-style indie-rock to something darker and more synthetic sounding (think: Radiohead + Nine Inch Nails – Trent Reznor’s anger).

Show info:
Division Day/Bad Veins/Afortiori
Skully’s Music Diner
September 16
$8 in advance / $10 at door