Alex and The Drummer

  It's been about a year since I first heard of Aleks and The Drummer.  As I recall they played a free Monday night at the Empty Bottle some time last year.  It was an iconic night for me.  I came out a fan of all the bands that played that night.   Walking Bicycles played "Welcome to the Future", like they're foreshadowing the recession.  And then the Dials...and then the Dials!  I could not believe they were all local.  

 Aleks and the Drummer were the opening act.   Tonight they headlined.  Their cd is an ep with five songs. So when they play live they will always play something that is not on cd yet.  On that Monday night when they were the opener Aleks played this dark-nursery-rhyme type of song.  It reminded me of Switchblade Symphony, very chilling, slower than her other songs, goth friendly.  Each time the costume was different.   I like how the songs evolve live over the course of many performances.  Aleks and the Drummer make the minimal sound muscular, as they fill the room.  They play with this urgency and intensity like Martin Hannet saying "faster but slower".    They are a sophisticated synth-pop, art rock band that can find itself be played in any goth club.   This band is what the local gothic culture can support.  Or it can all just be, all in my head.  But this is how I sing the praises by including it in the world that is already familiar with me.  Aleks has this powerful operatic voice.   One song is done in Aleks native Polish.  Hearing it takes me back to a childhood of Catholic school.  All the nuns and priests spoke Polish.   It was the old language of the Back of The Yards, and St. Joe's on Hermitage.   So hearing Polish in the context of this awesome local band is special to me, like it's from the old neighborhood.  The pictures I leave here are of two different nights.  One set is when she played New Years Eve at Subterranean, the other are of this past Saturday.  It's always a question to me what will Aleks wear for a performance.  It's always something deliberately colorful and bright.

I  have not stopped hearing the CD "May a Lightning Bolt Caress You".

There is this effortless sophistication to it that will keep the music timeless and relevant for many years.  

Kaspar-Zig