Do This! Drug Rug At The Hideout Tonight

By Lizz Kannenberg in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 20, 2009 6:40PM

Ew, this week's weather has been a dreary reminder that our all-too-brief summer is just about over. Luckily, we Chicagoans are pretty good at finding sun in things other than the weather. That's why so many of us will be at the Hideout tonight for Cambridge, MA's Drug Rug, a psychedelic pop explosion that'll lift the mood of even the mopiest Midwesterner.

We've been fans ever since stumbling upon the duo at a SXSW day party a few years ago, and we came back to tell you how the whole thing reminded us of our mom's trippy bedspread from the '70s. Not much has changed ( and that's a great thing) on the group's latest offering, Paint the Fence Invisible (Black & Greene). There's a bit more grit in singer Sarah Cronin's delivery on howlers like "Hannah, Please" and "Haunting You" and a bit less of the psychedelic wandering of DR's 2007 self-titled debut, but all that hand-clapping '60s pop fun is still front and center. The "ooooh, ahhh" refrain of "Blue Moon" and jangly string-bending of "Never Tell" aren't breaking any new musical ground, but like summer itself this is the kind of snappy, happy soundtrack that you just relax and enjoy. Sepia-toned production and throwback organ tones recall the best of convertible days and barefoot nights, and that's one memory we'll hold onto deep into the Chicago winter.

Drug Rug plays the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia) tonight w/ Mazes, 9:00 p.m., $10, 21+

Photo from the band's Myspace