Missed Puerto Muerto, kinda

I'm always late for stuff. And I'm feeling this one to some degree. Puerto Muerto opened for the Mekons. I actually made it on time to see the Mekons but that is now who I went to see but I stayed for them anyway. I was actually curious to see if PM had any merch to sell and I went ahead and bought their latest CD. What often happens is that I dislike what I hear and as a result feel like a Kentucky fried idiot and I'm $15 poorer for it. Not this time. It hurts that I missed their performance, but catching this soon-to-be-hard-to-find CD is better than missing them entirely. I know very little about them. They are a husband-and-wife team, they both sing and they are local, but for some reason the CD that I have will be released as British import. Huh??? But they are local. I don't have the CD in front of me, because I'm at work but it is worth supporting the band for. I shall write more on them later.
Kaspar-Zig

High Blue Star

This is High Blue Star, Ms Laurie's band when she's not with Attrition. It was a Saturday in July of '07...or was it a Friday. Attrition was headlining a show that included I:Scintilla, Dale Yod and High Blue Star. I read good things about I:Scintilla, but reading and seeing are vastly different things. Dale Yod I don't recall how a CD of theirs got into my hands, but I liked it, and here's my chance to see them.

.

Attrition

Last year Attrition performed twice in Chicago. This is from one of those performances. I'll upload video later. Attrition is legendary. They've been around for years, since the early eighties I believe. They first came to my attention in the late 90's when I first started going to Neo and Nocturna. "This Girl Called Harmony" is a goth club classic. They have other songs like "Amsterdam Eva". The girl singing I believe her name is Laurie. She also has her own band called High Blue Star. Laurie is not the first female singer for Attrition, but I like her the best. There are performers that engage the audience to some degree and then there are those that create a fourth wall like an actor in a play, and inhabit this character and let them loose. Laurie has a killer stage presence regardless of who she performs for. In Attrition her movements are distinct from High Blue Star. In July '07 both bands played and I was there, and glad to be so. I'm just so at a loss for witty commentary. I was just so awe struck by this girl's performance.

Puerto Muerto Tonight at Shubas

I read about them in the Reader months ago. I liked what I read, and kept them in mind. They are playing tonight at Shubas on Southport and Belmont. Right on the corner. This past Sunday I saw the play "The Great God Pan". I shall write more about that later, but I need to address my curiousity about Puerto Muerto. I don't know what to anticipate, even what I read could be all wrong.....but that's true about everything I read. It could all be wrong.
Kaspar-Zig

Haale, Saturday 29 March at Kinetic Playground

Haale is one of those performers I missed seeing last year when she played Chicago last year during the World Music Festival. I even missed her free performance at Borders on Broadway, by a few minutes. I bought her two eps right there because I liked what I read about her in the Reader. I heard the CDs in the car while on the way home and it hurt that I could not see her play, because I had to be at work. Her music would sound great in Nocturna in a set that includes Dead Can Dance, Rhea's Obsession, Vas, Hungry Lucy, This Ascension..and so on. This is just the artist the goth crowd should just claim right there. Goth culture is not a scene that Haale is deliberately playing for. It's a crowd that would truely appreciate her music. For those of you goths that miss dancing to that one long 10 minute song from Dead Can Dance. This girl Haale is for you. Do you guys miss hearing Monica Richards sing anything from Anwyn Beneath The Waves. Ms Haale is for you. She is Iranian and a New Yorker I believe. I think she once described her music as sufi psychedelic rock. That is the text that convinced me to see her. Sufi's know their music and I've been listening to some before I knew of Haale. She does have her Sufi music down. She rocks like PJ Harvey. The two eps , one is called "Paratrooper", the other I just forgot, have the impact of two full CD's. They don't feel like singles, with just one song worth hearing. There are at least 3 songs on each ep that I like. The new full CD that she is touring for "No Ceiling" I can not give enough praise for. Off the top of my head I like "Off Duty Fortune Teller'. There is something about that song that reminds me of Aimee Mann. It strikes me that she chose to highlight this fortune teller's off- time. Away from all the materials that identify her duty, she still has this power. The song goes that she needs nothing but what's inside. The way the song was put together, everything reminded me of Aimee Mann....a very good thing. Writing this blog for the moment still feels like I'm writing to myself, but for those that do read....Go SEE Haale!!!
Zig
P.S.
There are lots of youtube coverage on her already, go do some research.