Ami Saraiya

I still marvel over this.....Ami Saraiya lives in Chicago. She played Gallery Cabaret at 2020 N Oakley on 20th February. It was my first time there. The place is in a middle of a regular Chicago residential neighborhood. It looks like it was once a seedy pre-gentrification local bar. I think there were some local thugs still walking around as I drove past looking for the place. Once inside I looked for clues that can betray it's past. Perhaps I'm just assuming a past it does not have. All this curious speculation drifted into the background because Ms Ami was already performing. Whatever period music you are familiar with Ms Ami seems to remind one of that. Takes me back to "The Great Gatsby". Ami just has this swing to her that's old world, decadent, and still familiar. She's just so damn steam punk! For me she evokes the iconic sounds of pre-1950's America, old and innocent. "Up Down, and Charmed" was a favorite of mine from her Archeologist CD that she played that night. It's nice to see it live after I know I like it. There is this cool sadness to it, a drunken swing. Everything is in black and white. It completely evokes a theme in a movie. Each instrument has it's own little pull to you like separate characters in a story line. There's the voice, violin, guitar, drums. You feel caught in this narrative between them. I know I'm not really following the words in the song. That will impact later. When the song is slow you're hanging on every thing the characters say. Ami's voice being the protagonist. The pacing of the song, the title says it all. The peaks and valleys are effective and dramatic feeling. "Up, Down&Charmed" was already a favorite. Seeing it live is it's own wonder. How I describe this song I guess I can apply to more of her songs. Calling Ami's music "rock" sounds so misleading. It's not that style of decadence. On the Radiant Darling CD, listen to "The Otherside" and "Tears". They evoke periods and styles that precede rock and roll. She played songs from Radiant Darling. Becoming familiar with the songs only makes you want to see Ami live. Her music is just too fun to just have it on CD, on an ipod. If I hear her songs and immediately my mind is using costumes to dress everyone up, then I have to see her. I almost forgot the dueling accordions. They played this Bollywood song. She will play again this weekend. Chicago is fortunate to have her locally, because this is someone to see over and over again.

Zig

Explode Into Colors

I don't know much about this band. It's two drummers and a bass player. Drums and bass, there is a reason they name a whole subculture of music with just those two instruments. They 'cool. Explode Into Colors is not a Drum and Bass band. They just know their weapons. They use less instruments, less clutter. The potency of "less is more" is apparent here. There is no lead guitar to distract you from deep dancy bass guitar. When I looked them up on youtube, the song that hooked me was "Sharpen The Knife". It was bassy, it was aggressive and a little messy. I loved it. I just imagined hardcore fans behind the camera bouncing around, dancing. The song just makes you want to jump around like it's House of Pain. They were performing at Subterranean in Chicago and so I went to see them. The place was packed, not sold out, but full enough to restrict some movement. I arrived in between bands, so I went to the front as people go get their drinks, take a piss. The Subt crowd this time seemed to be a little too well dressed for who they were seeing. Explode Into Colors seems like a Empty Bottle band. I've seen bands play all the local small venues, crowds just look different from one venue to another. I know they were all there for 'Colors but they were so stoic, mostly just standing there, not bouncing around as I imagined. I'm not going so far as to say the audience was not into them. They were appreciative yes or else they would have melted away, gone home early. I bought no CD, there was none to buy, only vinyl, and I got no record player. I write this as a reminder to get it later. Zig

Pezzettino in Chicago Tuesday 2 Feb

I hauled ass to the Elbo Room on Lincoln Ave. I never miss Pezz when she's in Chicago, well almost never. I feel very fortunate for being so familiar with her music. I go because if I don't I fear that it will disappear, well what I mean is that I go with that urgency. What I get a lot from this is how well she articulates the process of breaking off toxic relationships, like in "Parasite", from her latest, soon to be second CD Lion. Asserting oneself in the presence of the toxic. Her songs make you look into yourself, into your vulnerable self...and make it a source of strength. In performance that means you see the pained expressions flash across her face, expressions that are intact in the amber of her recorded work. In one of these pictures she looks so sad and depressed. That is how intense her live sets are. She is articulate and direct like dialogue in a play. The characters in her songs always speak and act out of righteous anger. Pezzettino is a counter-puncher like in "Walk From Here".

And so she says "I'm moving on..Don't think I'm hanging on!" and it's not focused on the loss, but forward and happily away, and that's so empowering....This is a great time to see her live because the weight of what she says shows in her face when performed. And this weight is not a burden for the audience to see. I believe what she expresses is resonant. And so she makes the accordion this really cool instrument. Who has not been wronged? The pendulum swings from pained to serious. She did this longer piano piece (that will be performed at some point in Milwaukee with a huge orchestra I think) with three distinct segments. It's so cathartic to see the emotions in her face as the piano rushes forward or simmers back. You can't help but identify with what she says. You are just cornered by just the use of piano and voice. Ah yes the name of the song "Pedestrian Drama" I believe. It's long but you don't really feel it 'cause your going through this dramatic roller coaster trip. It's gonna sound absolutely grand and operatic with orchestra. For the moment you get it in it's intimate minimal form of piano and voice. Then there are the songs that have her bounce around the stage. She has this happy playful side to her. "Timing" is a new song flirtatious and loaded with caffeine. The long bellows of her accordion sound faster with the beat she imposes with her stomping around. "You Never Know" also is lighthearted. It's her cardio song. The accordion also brings out the serious side, just like her piano work. 2010 finds her in the middle of this massive creative surge. Well honestly I haven't known her to have writers block. She is always writing music and for more and more instruments. Her live solo performances include xylophone in addition to piano and accordion.

Eliza

Ms Eliza is a wonder to behold with her toy piano. Her song "Black Rose" from the EP "Gild The Lily" has not left my head since I saw her last. She performed with a string quartet behind her this past Saturday 30 January. I went to this thing early but with an urgent pace because I thought I was late. I did very little research on ER, at least before the show.... just enough to like her. She is a trained pianist. I can totally get when a performer just sort of picks up some gimmicky instrument and learns it on the go.....Eliza Rickman is not that person. She is university trained. It's a different thing when she touches a toy piano. You feel horse drawn by nostalgia. In Ms Eliza's hands that toy piano can haunt like one of them old fashion dolls winking at you at 3 am. Forgive if that sounds embellished. I got it. You wanna know how dark she just naturally is? She covered Nick Cave. Natural darkness that is also innocent. I don't put them two words together like that just because they sound cute. Nostalgia is what the innocence leaves behind. And then there's that creepy doll thing. She has a personal history with the toy piano. Since childhood I believe. Then in university she majors in Ragtime piano, and then arranging. And then there is her voice. She comes straight from an otherworldly golden age.

This was my first time at the EP Theater in Pilsen. We were actually early. I took the time to soak up the place. It looks very nice but there is only one toilet for everyone, and there was a lot of people. I was so glad I didn't need to go....any way. I did not know how much I would like Ms Eliza coming into this performance. I had no history to urge me to see her. Just a need not to be late to something. You go and you find out how much of this artist is actually already resonant in you. And so "Black Rose" has played in my head with ease as though it has always been there. The toy piano sounded like she got it from a haunted house. Damn thing was indeed enchanted. EP puts her singular weight on the toy piano . She briefly said what inspired "Black Rose", I forgot exactly what that was, but it made me listen to the song more. The toy piano really reaches into you and captures some very specific feelings if not memories. The words she says you want to make your own. Yeah, I'm a fan.