pezzettino on Friday 13 Feb

Reggies on Chicago's south side I went to go see a girl with an accordion.  That's right.  Her stage name is Pezzettino.  I looked up who was playing on that day, found that I liked what I heard on her myspace page.  Listening to tango music opens you up.  The Bandoneon is one of the coolest instruments around, and we got Argentina to thank for it.  I suppose I've learned to seek it out in some way here.  The accordion is it's closest equivalent and I've noticed more and more musicians are using it.  Well, that can be due to what I deliberately seek out.....alright I'm going on this tangent, on to the band.

   One has to admire a musician that can go it alone on stage with an instrument as unusual as an accordion....or anything.  I totally am into Uni and Her Ukulele  who came to Chicago late in 2007.  At the very least I had to see and hear Pezzettino live.  I walk into Reggie's and  there is Ms Pezz herself (Margaret Stut), looking pretty with this massive accordion.  I caught the last four songs I think.  I know I caught "Pendulum", well the last 30 seconds of it...damn.  That song left an imprint.  There is this darkness to that acccordion, like when you played a record backwards just to see how satanic it is.  It's on her current CD "Because I Have No Control".   The other songs I believe are from the new CD "Lion" which will be released some time in April.  On "Control" she also plays piano.  Minimal and effective.  Right off I l love about four songs,  It's just her and the piano or the accordion, and I hear it and I don't need to hear any other thing other than what she already does.  Maybe it's just me turning 36, or not.  I find it urgently necessary for me to support the smaller bands, for they are the true measure of our culture.  The trees that don't make a sound to you as they fall I hear loud and clear.  Perhaps it's that I choose to stay in this forest of mine, of which Pezzettino is a neighbor from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I gotta go and kill me this writers block.

Zig

Oh, Pezzettino will play Uncommon Ground in Chicago March 2nd

My Gold Mask

   Friday 6 Feb, was a busy night.  It started for me at the Empty Bottle to see My Gold Mask and Bengal Lancer.  I'm so glad I was not lazy and dragged my feet.  I've been late to things I really wanna do, and when I arrive late it feels like I shot myself in the foot.  Tonight I was on time for everything!  Bengal Lancer was nearing the end of their set.  I only caught a part of it, but it was enough to want to see them again.  They had no CDs out so I believe they shall later.  And then came My Gold Mask, which are also the main members of Bang Bang.  In fact as Bang Bang they had a new CD out last year.  So when they performed under this new name I was curious, since with the old name they are quite good and successful.  They opened for Long Blondes last summer.  Why the new name?    Off I go to the Empty Bottle to answer this question.  As MGM they went minimal.  Jack's guitar,  Gretta's voice, drums and space.  That is all they needed.  Any more instruments would water down their potency as My Gold Mask.  That extra space (where other musicians would be) plays almost like an instrument itself.  Minimal does not mean slow or ambient, the space lights them up like the only house on the block with electricity.  The minimalism also makes them sound more intense when they do slow down, as with "Like Eli".  Hearing "Cocaine Nose" makes me play air guitar like Jack.  It fascinates me to no end to see artists recreate themselves, break the mold.  Bang Bang and My Gold Mask are like night and day and yet are products of the same people.  Look up their myspace page they are playing Abbey Pub 15 March.  Get their demo CD when you go, its just that good.  I get a feeling they will run out.  I'm hearing "Oh My Soul" and Damn!

Kaspar-Zig

Burn Out w/Sybris

  So this last Friday was my first time seeing Sybris live.  After reading about them, knowing about them, from a distance for some time now.   I'd be at Reckless Records and run into the name by seeing a poster or running into the CD while looking for something else.   I remember looking them up on Youtube.  There was always keeping me from seeing them live, or buying the CD.  A good distance was always between me and this band....lack  of money, time off from work, something.  But it was a matter of resisting the temptation to buy, to seek out the time.  You mislead yourself into believing that resistance builds character like Seinfeld trying not to piss in the parking lot of a mall.  So last Friday I finally took a piss.....and I felt better for it.  Fuck character, and then I seized the night and went ahead and I saw two shows in two different venues.  The second was Sybris at Schubas.  We walked in just in time, they were in their first or second song.  The lead singer Angela plays with such infectious enthusiasm.  I felt it all the way in the back of the room, as my own.  The back of the room was as close as I could be without being an asshole and weaving past people.  These few pictures are evidence of that.  It was a packed house....well, enough to restrict some movement.  If you needed a drink and got it yourself, you can find your way back in the front, but it would take some effort.  Angela has this beautiful completely unguarded smile when she plays.  I can see it even when I play the CD "Into The Trees".  Angela's voice works for me because she sounds....weathered, not too girly, or young.  On their myspace page, they describe themselves as "indy/shoegaze/metal".   I would still not know how that is put together until hearing some of their songs.  I found the shoegaze, found the indy, the metal is somewhere in the room, but I'm always too lazy to find that.  Still, I loved what I heard.  "Burnout Babies" is on their myspace page, and it's indicative of how massive the rest of the CD is.  Remember when you first heard Placebo or Strokes and they felt resonant but not pop?  Every song imprinted, but not because the songs sounded alike.  It was just the signature of the bands themselves.  I mention Placebo especially but only as a starting point.  Comparisons are subjective.   I would not call Placebo shoegaze, and yet I use them to describe Sybris.  

  Here in Chicago, there is sometimes a club night dedicated to shoegaze, and it's called "Shimmer".    It's an awesome way of putting together the fans of this music as well as the musicians that do shoegaze.  Thank you Scary Lady Sarah.  It don't surprise me to see a goth making this effort.  I've been to many shoegaze concerts and some don't get to be as packed as with Sybris, and in part it's because they don't know the kind of audience they can have with the goth crowd.   This Wednesday is Alla at Darkroom, and School of Seven Bells at Bottom Lounge.

Zig

The Dyes

So I saw the Dyes at Reggies on the last Saturday of January.  Their music on their myspace page sounded great.  If this is psychobilly music then where the fuck have I been? I believe this was the first such band that I go see. There was no reason to miss this thing.  I had the time off, the venue was close and parking at this place is still relatively good.   Cermak and State streets still have some good parking spots.  But the area is slowly being gentrified, so enjoy the transition while it lasts. 

   I totally missed Curiosity last week at The Abbey Pub, and so that made me want to go see The Dyes more adamantly, and seeing and listening to them on myspace is still only part of the experience.  An opinion is not truly formed until I actually see them live, if I can.  I walked into Reggie's not knowing how massive they would be.  Often the first band that you see of a certain type will define for you that said type for a long time, an imprint if you will.  A band will leave an imprint that can repulse or attract you, and make you wonder about who else sounds like this.   But I'm veering off again.  The Dyes were amazing.  Rugged, familiar and timeless they sounded to me.  They do this Buddy Holly cover that they totally owned.  They recall for me a certain 50's nostalgia, yet so relevant now, and so timeless.  But the real impact comes from songs like "I don't know", and ....Did that sound too bland.?  They were fast and aggressive.  Even the slow song sounded muscular and dominant.  It makes me wish I could hear it while I drive one of my uncles old muscle cars....yeeah!  The big green tank that got buried in the '79 blizzard.  Sorry, I got carried away, but this band is crazy good. I noticed the singer often grates down her voice like how Bjork does it sometimes.  She sounds so cool when she does that.  They deserve a massive subcultural following.  Let them share the stage with let's say World Inferno Friendship Society and they can quit their jobs.  Yet allow me to explain a few things.  I believe they can attract a wide audience.  I can see goths liking this, fans of Nick Cave, Johnny Cash.  The gothic/deathrock magazines should be all over this band.  

  If you like PJ Harvey, let's take a chance.  I ain't sayin' they sound like all them artists.  I 'm sayin' these are parallel worlds that need not be so separate after all.  But perhaps these are only in a constellation of my own creation.  These are the neighbors that dwell harmoniously in my own universe, ipod, mental soundtrack.  I know they are playing again, but I forgot when.

Zig