Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at Nightfall

Especially in America - and especially among bands - there's always been a certain romantic appeal to the idea of rebelling against convention and forging one's own path.

That's part of what attracted fans to artists such as Elvis Costello, Kurt Cobain and other nose-thumbers, and it is at least part of the fuel that has been driving the indie revolution for the last 15 years.

In that sense, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's rise to fame 10 years ago makes perfect sense.

photo Clap Your Hands Say Yeah founder/lead singer Alec Ounsworth.

IF YOU GO¦ What: Nightfall concert series featuring Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.¦ When: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15; SoCro opensat 7 p.m.¦ Where: Miller Plaza, 850 Market St.¦ Admission: Free.¦ Phone: 423-265-0771.¦ Venue website: www.nightfallchattanooga.com.¦ Artist website: www.cyhsy.com.DISCOGRAPHY2005"Clap Your Hands Say Yeah"2006"Fall 2006 Tour" (EP)2007"Some Loud Thunder"2011 "Hysterical"2013 "Little Moments" (EP) 2014 "Only Run"THE OPENERSoCro is the stage name of local hip-hop artist Eric Lisica. His musicblends elements of hiphop with the electronic music of European discotheques - as he says, "Eurotrash meets Southern class." For more information, visit Facebook.com/ soCroMusic.

For the Philadelphia rockers' self-titled debut album, lead singer and founder Alec Ounsworth decided the band would record and release the album rather than make concessions in the interest of securing a record deal.

When it came out in 2005, the result was an explosively popular album that was released at just the right time, as more and more bands were realizing the potential of home recording technology and the Internet to help them circumvent the corporate label machinery.

The album now has an average critical score of 84 percent, according to review aggregator Metacritic.com. Billboard called it "deserving of the hype for what is - quite possibly - a nearly perfect album."

In a review touting it with its highly prized Best New Music label, Pitchfork Magazine similarly praised the band's independent approach, saying, "[It] proves that it's still possible for a band to get heard, given enough talent and perseverance, without a PR agency or label."

A decade later, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is touring the country this summer in support of its fourth album, "Only Run," which was released June 3. As with the band's other albums, it was a self-produced project.

Despite the same approach to recording the music, the faces behind the beats are drastically different. Lineup upheaval in the last two years has left Ounsworth and drummer Sean Greenhalgh as the sole remaining founding members still with the band.

On Friday, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's tour in support of "Only Run" will bring its members to Chattanooga, where they will take the stage at Miller Plaza as this week's Nightfall headliner. Local hip-hop artist SoCro will open.

Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.

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