Last Minute Plans: Pete & J At Hideout Tonight

By Lizz Kannenberg in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 29, 2009 5:20PM

Brooklyn's Pete & J aren't trying to keep up with the trends that fly out of their home borough every other day, and that's mostly because they don't have to. Who needs keytars or Nintendo sounds when you've got pristine pop melodies and the kind of killer harmonies that melt the hearts of folk fans everywhere?

That's the crux of Pete & J's (that would be Pete Harper, who grew up in the northern Chicago 'burbs, and Jason Blynn, along with drummer Sarab Singh and bassist Whynot Jansveld) charm - they fulfill all of your hipstery band-approval needs with a smattering of scarves and appropriate levels of dishevelment, but they never come across as trying to prove that they belong in the fickle world of indie rock. They don't have to, chiefly because their brand of polished, thoughtful pop will never go out of style. We're not the only ones who've been mesmerized by the quartet's melding of modern garage edge with the sweet folk rock sincerity of Laurel Canyon-era staples like CSNY and The Byrds - Paste Magazine called P&J one of the 10 best bands at last week's CMJ conference in New York.

We were lucky enough to catch one of the band's sets there and we're confident that their Simon & Garfunkel-y (say, it, it's fun!) sound and nice guy lack of pretense will win over tonight's crowd at the Hideout. Get there early for a rare live set from one of Chicago's brightest (no pun intended, seriously) songwriters, Alison Breitman.

Tonight, October 29, at the Hideout, 1354 W Wabansia, 9:00 p.m., $10, 21+