Relax, sports fans. Steve Goodman's iconic Wrigley Field anthem isn't about to go, Cubbies, go.

A WGN Radio songwriting contest this spring "in search of the next great Cubs anthem" panicked certain die-hard Chicago Cubs fans, who assumed the radio station was out to replace Goodman's ballpark classic, "Go, Cubs, Go."

Billy Yost has a lot to live for, but he sure thinks about death a lot.

His band, the Kickback, has been toughing it out on Chicago's scene for a few years now, earning word-of-mouth raves and landing at least one worthwhile prize: On Monday the Kickback starts a monthlong, weekly Practice Space residency at Schubas. The gigs will serve as something of a honeymoon -- two days before the residency begins, Yost is getting married.

Yost, however, talks like the Woody Allen of Chicago indie rock.

"I was in the shower one day and I just had the realization that I was going to die," Yost says. "I watched Warren Zevon on David Letterman's show talking about how he was going to die when he had cancer, and something just clicked -- these waves of massive panic. I don't want to not be alive. It seems hilarious to bring up in polite conversation. I haven't been able to find a way to deal with that. It's definitely informed the music of late."

Some bands say "world tour," and it means they've booked Vancouver immediately after Seattle. Chicago chamber-pop band Canasta is taking their show overseas -- to Mongolia.

The excursion is part of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs' Arts Envoy Program. The tour begins Feb. 3 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital, and continues to Sainshand and Dalanzadgad before returning to Ulaanbaatar a week later.

By a certain age, hearing wide-eyed kids making "trippy" music begins to fray one's patience. But then comes the occasional band with real smarts lurking and maybe smirking behind the smoky haze and glassy-eyed gazes. Chicago's Secret Colours is one of those. The sextet's latest "EP3" (), a fine five-song follow-up to its 2010 self-titled debut, drones seductively with hallucinogenic grooves but enough comfy pop hooks to keep us from slipping into a bad trip.

Chicago jam band Umphrey's McGee has been around more than 15 years and recently released its 12th album, "Death by Stereo," and first for Dave Matthews' ATO record label. In all that time, the sextet has developed a visually arresting stage production -- but they've never made a video.

Until now. Today the band premieres its first video -- for "Booth Love," one of the first singles released ahead of "Death by Stereo." The video, directed by Travis Rime Brooks, showcases a glorious summer day in Chicago, following three roller-skating sirens through the city, complete with champagne at Wrigley Field.

See the new video here ...

Diane Izzo is still speaking. Call her partner, Marco Zas, and if he's not home, the voice of the late Chicago singer-songwriter still invites you to leave a voicemail message.

"I don't know how to change it," Zas chuckles, then stops. "Even if I did, I probably still wouldn't do it."
Izzo died in February after a grueling battle with cancer, but her voice -- and her acclaimed songs -- still resonates with fans and especially musicians throughout Chicago and beyond.

As part of the announcement of this weekend's First Annual Diane Izzo Memorial Concert -- subtitled with a line from one of her songs, "Venice": "Yeah We're Pitiful but We're Gods!" -- local luminaries chimed in with memories and praise for Izzo's underappreciated talents.

(Wind-Up)

Liz Phair's comeback didn't exactly stick, Sarah McLachlan's revival of Lilith Fair tanked and Sheryl Crow's pretty much gone country. What's a fan of strong '90s women in rock to do? Check out Company of Thieves, a Chicago band led by Genevieve Schatz, a small woman and a big voice.

With the lungs of Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde) and the lilt of Dolores O'Riordan (the Cranberries, but without her trademark falsetto break, thank heavens), Schatz is a dynamo on record and on stage belting in front of this basic but bold rock band. She writes the literate lyrics, too -- the popular single from 2009 debut "Ordinary Riches," after all, was "Oscar Wilde" -- and the new single "Death in Communication" frames a miserable relationship with some keen allusions ("Honestly, my honesty was always what I gave for taking your bread / I never thought you would have hung it high above as you did over my head").

Mr. Robotic released a debut CD in February -- begrudgingly. The Chicago rapper, aka Columbia College student Marcas Harris, has been writing and recording high-energy, club-ready songs for several years, and he claims to be making a full-time living from it. But the Benjamins haven't been coming from album sales ("Boy in the Band: A Love Story," a six-song EP, is his first physical offering) or iTunes downloads (though a small set of his tracks first appeared there last year). Instead, Mr. Robotic plugged his fledgling career into the other side of the music business: licensing songs to movies, TV shows, advertising and much more.

"I don't necessarily think the album is dead; I'm just not sure I need one to be a full-time, working recording artist," Harris says. "For me, I've got a commercial this week, a TV show next week. ... The people I work with getting commercial placements, they just need songs -- and, you know, they're hungry."

"Commercial placements" -- that means more these days than just hearing your song playing on the car radio while handsome doctors drive around on "Grey's Anatomy," or even landing on a movie soundtrack. Mr. Robotic songs have been sold for both of those uses -- he was on the soundtracks to a couple of B-flicks last year ("Skyline" and "Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming"), and his songs have been used on "Jersey Shore," "The Hills," "Greek," "The Beautiful Life" and more -- but he's also written a theme song for a sports drink and an exclusive song for a national chain of yogurt shops. A Mr. Robotic song was used as background for a LeBron James highlight reel on ESPN's "SportsCenter."

Each time a musician places a song in one of these spots -- ka-ching! It may not be a loud ka-ching, but in a troubled economy and a music business whose revenue model has been dismantled and decentralized, every little ka-ching counts. Websites, in-store promotions, social-media campaigns, smart-phone apps, you name it -- businesses have myriad new opportunities to try to turn our heads with a catchy tune, and they pay for each one.

Urge Overkill, "Rock & Roll Submarine" -- Those occasional appearances by Chicago's once-storied Urge Overkill during the last several years have been intermittent preparation for this new album, out Tuesday, the band's first since 1995's "Exit the Dragon." The band flamed out after the "Pulp Fiction" exposure ("Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"), but leaders Nash Kato and Eddie Roeser have wisely eased back into things without too much pomp. Now we'll see if the new songs have the same stomp.

In concert: Urge Overkill plays a show May 20 at the Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake.

Scattered Trees, "Sympathy" [] -- The second album Nathan Eiseland wrote and recorded was his first with the Minneapolis-Chicago band Scattered Trees, and it was called "Song for My Grandfather." His latest is called "Sympathy," but it could easily be titled "Songs for My Father." The band was literally scattering in 2009 when Eiseland's father died, and he dove back into writing new songs to work through the experience. Last year, he summoned the band back together, and they recorded this eight-song meditation on loss and love. This album is one long "Sympathy" card, for sure -- a collection of thoughtful lyrics that suffer from the music's hyper-restraint and lack of color. The songs aren't downers in themselves -- "It's 2 a.m. and my words are wearing thin on you," Eiseland sings in the Stars-y "A Conversation," but though his lines are often heavy they never really wear -- but the production (or lack thereof) and consistently slow, dragging tempos make them mope instead of mosey.

In concert: See if the music comes alive on stage when Scattered Trees plays its CD release party at 10 p.m. Saturday at Schubas, 3159 N. Southport. Chaperone and the Loneliest Monk open. Tickets: $10.

In other Chicago(ish) music news ...