Kap Bambino

Hi,

So I just saw Kap Bambino last Friday, 20th March.   There was no preparation for this.  I saw them on youtube and still that did not prepare me for the nuclear powered frenzy that was coming.   I wrote it down some time ago their name with an exclamation point to remind myself of what I'd see.  Still, I had no idea of what's to come.  It's not until the night before when I really did my research.  That's when the anticipation slowed down the waiting.  The venue in Chicago (Schubas) is small.  Crystal Castles when they played Chicago the one time I saw them was at Abbey Pub, bigger and with a balcony.  Months later they would sell-out the much bigger Double Door.  I worried that Schubas would sell out fast for Kap Bambino, since they seemed far crazier than CC.   To my surprise, the crowd for Kap Bambino seemed smaller than say Sybris a month before.  Dare I say about half or less than Sybris.   For KB if you went to the back of the room to get a drink you can still make it to the front if you survived the mosh pit in the middle-front of the room.  Yeah, shoegaze bands don't usually inspire mosh pits.   They inspire a type of contemplation of the moment.    You get to enjoy the cruise if you are listening to shoegaze in the car....live you want to stand and dance casually, and just lose yourself into the haze of the fuzzy guitars.  

  With Kap Bambino, you don't want to relax.     This is Bacchus trapped  inside a little french girl whipping the crowd to a frenzy from start to finish.....wait.  No one took their clothes off.  It wasn't like that.  But it was intense, it was violent.   The mosh pit was so crazy, it sometimes devolved into girls getting into personal shoving matches.   I was right in the front of the stage inches away from the mosh pit.  The lead singer of KB threw herself into it like 3 or 4 times, at completely random times.   The crowd loved her for this, and seemed to collectively keep her from any real harm.   When she decided to climb back on stage, the people gently helped her up.  The singer never seemed to miss a beat.  In the midst of this spontaneous mosh pit, I can still hear her warble about.  It takes an intangible level of comfort to be able to do that in a show.  You have to know you got the crowd completely won over.  There are some performers that really need that fourth wall that cannot be crossed.  And there are those that shatter it and go straight for you.   In the mosh pit the KB singer bounced herself from people.  I felt her sweat in my hands.  In that tiny stage, she convulsed like an electro Katie Jane.  She drank from a bottle of what appeared to be Jack Daniels...so Katie Jane.  People from the crowd would hand her a soda bottle and she'd take a swig from that.  I even saw a little Ian Curtis in her movements.  In the midst of this a girl next to me took a quick hit of weed from her glass pipe.  The spark of the lighter drew my attention momentarily.  Inhibitions were lowered, the manic energy was in everyone and spilling all over the place.   We have to know that these moments will never be repeated ever again.   

  Lets for a moment step out of this craziness.   I can think of venues that would kill the buzz  by separating the performer from the crowd.   Some places don't even allow for cameras.  I won't go to those venues.  They allow for those moments to slip past them.   I really cherish the one performance I saw of Crystal Castles.  Abbey Pub is not that big, but I don't think they can contain CC again.  Yet the bigger venues that can contain CC or Kap Bambino may actually delude the experience.  For those that went to this Kap Bambino show, I think we feel fortunate and privileged to have been there.  I'll put more pictures up later.  

Zig

Magnetars

  So a week ago last Wednesday I saw this free show at Darkroom.  The bands that played were Panda Riot, Magnetars and Bliss City East.  All shoegaze bands.   All with female singers, and so I go after it like a moth to a flame, and I bring my brother-in-law with me.  What a way to send him on his second leg of his vacation.  Panda Riot has played Darkroom at least twice before...I think.  This city is fortunate to have them live here.  Their music enriches the local culture.  I've written about them already.  I'll go see them again and again.  And they are writing new music.   Bliss City East, as new as they are have band members with a long local history dating back at least 10 years in other bands.  I'm happy to see them productive still today.   Magnetars I have never seen before and they really blew me away.  They were awesome.  The singer Elizabeth was playful and sweet on stage.  Even before she took the stage I noticed her.  She had this little top hat on and this silvery-grey costume.  Ms Elizabeth stood out before she sang a note.  She used props, wore different masks for each song.  Every song was a new dedication.  "This one goes out to all the sexy people" she would say....or something like that.  Ms Elizabeth loved performing.   For one of the songs she wore these huge sunglasses that made her look like Katie Jane Garside from Queen Adreena.  Elizabeth did this cute robotic dance for that specific song.   It was a fortunate find for me to see them because they will be traveling to some festival in Manchester, England in May.  It's great for Magnetars because so early in their development do they have this chance to travel and be influenced by this gig.  And for Manchester it's a chance to see a hint of what we have here.  When next they perform back home in Chicago it shall be as seasoned travelers.  

Ms Pezz on a Monday night!

  Monday 2 March, I saw Ms Pezz at Uncommon Ground on Devon Ave.  I barely caught her but hey I made it in time to capture some images and video.  I wrote about her already and I can't praise her music enough.  The CD "Because I Have No Control" is the best.  The songs are intimate, minimal, and resonant.  Just because they are quiet, intimate does not mean they won't hit you.  In her up coming CD she will play the accordion as well as piano.   I really am anticipating it's release.  Ms Margaret writes the words but you feel them like they came out of you.  "Meet Me Anywhere", hit me especially 'cause I have traveled.   This song is full of casual history references of famous explorers.   I was a fan when I saw her in Reggies and I will be a fan when the new CD comes out.  It's quite the odd and cool thing to see these kind of performances on a Monday night.   It's the coolest thing when a weekday takes the spotlight away from the weekend.  I get a real stick-it-to-the-man feel.  It was nice to see this and to talk to Ms Pezzetino afterwards.  These are the artists that are so cool, it's hard to believe they live in the Midwest.  Ms Margaret is from Wisconsin.  I felt so good about going to this gig that I went to Weeds on Dayton near Halsted for Open Mic Poetry.  I'll be seeing Ms Pezz again when she releases her next CD.

Zig

Asobi Seksu, in March

This is Bell I believe.  They played just before Asobi Seksu.  They reminded me somewhat of These Are Powers, and High Blue Star.  I get this feeling that there will be more from her that I will really like.  There was a CD they had out but I did not get it.  I was just too damn poor and so that kind of made me more critical, more willing to wait and see if I will miss her.  If Bell came back to Chicago with a new CD to promote I would certainly go.  I suppose I put these pictures up as a reminder.  For this performance I was poor and so I was more willing to find something I did not like.  

  So last week I saw Asobi Seksu again.   It does not feel like it was that long ago when I saw them the first time.  It was last year but it just feels like a few months ago.   Actually it really was a whole other world away the last time they came.   Bush was still president, Cheney was still Darth Vader, the economy was barely starting to tank, I think even all the banks that went under were still functioning.   And it was a Wednesday, my normal day off from work.  The day before I saw Yelle.  Yes it was a different Chicago, still on the cusp of the major economic recession of our time.   Partying like it's 1999.  Two thousand zero, zero, nine, party's over.  So when this band comes to town it's like a reminder of how good you had it.   I forgot, this was about Asobi Seksu, right?    

  This is this band's second time I see them right, and it's actually a matter of months.  One would think that they are promoting the same CD as before, but no.  Asobi came to promote "Hush", their newest.   The last time it was with "Citrus" I believe.  It's a different experience to just dance to them playing right in front of you, rather than waiting always for the right shot with your camera.  Or keeping it steady as you take down a whole song as a concert video.  It feels much more immediate.  So, some of the songs I took down last time, I just indulged my eyes, and ears for the moment.   When you're seeing them perform through the camera's view screen you have to kind of displace your sheer enjoyment of it....yeah, I repeat that line of thought a lot.  

  Well, I've been listening to "Citrus" regularly since last fall when AS came to the Empty Bottle.  There are the songs that sink in straight away and then there are the songs that took some time.  In the mean time, I can ignore the magazine articles in let's say VENUS ZINE.  Actually I'm not certain of where I saw reviews on AS, but I have noticed them, and it's nice to be able to ignore them 'cause, well I already have seen them live.  I nearly blew my ear drums out they were so loud.  This second time I worked my way up the semi porous crowd until I reached the stage.  I noticed nearly everyone around me with something to protect the ears.  I stuffed some tissue paper in my ears just before they started.  If I were to recommend this band to someone, I'd start them off on "Citrus".   If you read the reviews or articles and wanna see them live, put cotton or tissue paper in your ears or you will come out more deaf than Rush Limbaugh.  "Hush" and their self-titled CD that came out in 2004 I'm still working on.  I guess I'm saying that there is a marked difference between "Citrus" and these other two.  There is another album out there...I could not buy it last Thursday when I saw them so I can't comment on it.  It was painful not to buy it.  I know I can just snort it from iTunes, but I still value the physical product.  "Familiar Light", "Gliss" on "Hush" are classic AS that does not sound formulaic, and yet they have the same furniture lying around.  It amazes me how instantly recognizable they all are as Asobi Seksu, and yet each song stands out with their own little quirks.  "Me and Mary" even has a little Joy Division moment.  

  

Golden Filter

 It's been far too long since I last wrote on this thing and there are so many performers that I've seen that I need to write about, so let us begin.

Last Friday 27 February, I saw with Greg my brother-in-law this smoothest of cool band Golden Filter.   They played at the Sonotheque.   The venue itself is great.  I saw Flutter there when she had her CD release party for "Dolls Like Me".   I always like going to the Sonotheque.  We walk into the place and it seems like a regular club night.  There is no sense of anticipation about the band.  That I found puzzling.  There was DJ equipment all over the stage as well as instruments, but no feeling that there will be a band playing, and that fucked with me.  I could not enjoy the music that was playing in the club 'cause I kept thinking I got the wrong place.   I started to feel embarrassed because I brought along someone else.   I relaxed when I was told Golden Filter would be on at midnight.  

This band I was anticipating since about a month ago.   They describe themselves as "pop, disco house, death metal" on their myspace page.   They are from New York.  It takes less than a minute to be a fan of their dark disco smoothness.  "Solid Gold" is pure timeless disco of the most refined.  This is the song that hooked me.   In terms of what I have documented here, if one likes the more clubby dancey Chloe Day, Golden Filter is an effortless sell.  This band goes down easy with no cheesy after-taste.  It's too well chilled.  They will be back in April at the Metro.  I'm so glad I caught them before at such an intimate venue as Sonotheque.  They are a bit mysterious.  The stage stayed dark through they entire performance.  The beautiful lead singer shrouded behind her blond hair.  This band is just beyond excellent.

Zig