Oh yeah I saw Natalie Grace

Wednesday 10 November. Natalie Grace Alford plays Pancho's Bar. I've never been there. The show originally is supposed to be at Ronny's. That place is such a dive, small and kinda gross. The place is underwhelming, and yet it has seen some really cool bands. And so they move all those shows to Pancho's Bar which is a block north. I don't know why but I don't blame them. And so I'm there at Pancho's on this Wednesday to see Natalie Grace. This girl belts out this deep and womanly howl. If she was your third grade school teacher Ms Nat instead of a singer, that voice would make you piss yourself from across the room when she catches you not paying attention. Everybody has a crush on her, and everybody fears "Iron" Ms Nat. Seriously, she has this booming, dominant voice. Natalie Grace can shout you down, and the next homeroom can hear it how badly you fucked up the homework. So in many ways I feel fortunate to have encountered her as this awesome singer rather than one in a pantheon of many traumatizing teachers.

Her voice is deep and booming, and her delivery is passionate and dominant. You have to hear how she emphasizes repeated lyrics. Natalie often rasps her voice like she's been screaming at you the whole time. Not that she does scream, but you get that energy from someone that hits you with her hips behind every punch. So I said she's passionate and dominant, but not in the indy rock star mode. I've really struggled as to how to describe her. She's not in the mold of PJ Harvey, Melissa Auf De Maur, Katie Jane Garside. She is indeed intense. There is a sincerity in her delivery. But she is different. Her full hearted belief in what she says resembles a soul music artist. Well let me explain that. She has this way of letting the innocent moment move you without filtering the full weight of sincerity. The artists that have this sort of thing into their identity and sort of wave it around are Soul Music artists. Some of Natalie Grace's early performances have her using hand claps, looping together a gospel like chorus. She played the keyboard in most of her performances. This was the first I've seen her with a guitar. And that changes things, but the constant thing is this blue-eyed soul. This term fits her perfectly in her stage presence, style of music. I have once described her music as being kind of doo wop, like her demo CD which I don't think Natalie just carries around her when she plays. That one day she had it, and I asked. And now I got a point of reference to compare the live shows to. The live versions of her songs are rapidly evolving away from the original demos. Still, if you like what Natalie plays live would you not want to hear how her music sounded when she first put it down?

Julie Meckler

She did a Free Monday at Empty Bottle about a month ago. The EP Julie has available and is on her myspace page, has just three songs. And I like them all for the music and the message. Well, I can't help but read a message, especially with "Deportation Blues" and "Mexico". I can't help but read an affinity for Mexicans and undocumented immigrants in general. I don't always meet people that put that sympathy so out there, if they have it at all. It's always very impressive to see immigrants support each other's struggle because indeed we are the same. Anti-immigrant campaigns always have Mexicans as the poster children of what you don't want crossing the border. We have Minutemen in Illinois as if we were a border state. So back we are at the Empty Bottle with Julie. I don't want to overemphasize that message/affinity while forsaking the fact that Ms Julie rocks like a French PJ Harvey, feminine and dominant. What I emphasized earlier does not make her music sound bleeding-heart-whiney. I can't help but see what I do because I don't believe that music is escapist entertainment. The very act of escaping is a reaction to the world around you. You don't run and not leave tracks. You don't call something "blues" for nothing. The blues is the very edge of the blade that Julie forges and wields. "Deportation" has muscle even without the lyrics. People in the front were all over this. The crowd that Monday night would easily over-crowd the sweet little closet that is The Whistler. The rest of her awesome set still has yet to be committed to CD. I think that is what they will be doing this winter. So, I don't recall what I heard so much as recalling how I liked it. There's a folk element to her music as well. Her music can easily work acoustic. She left behind an acting career in France to play the blues in Chicago. That statement sits in my head a certain way. You gave up all that for us? Damn....thank you Ms Julie! She has played as far as I know five gigs here and I have been to at least three of them and she is amassing an audience. Parking around Empty Bottle was indeed difficult that Monday night.

Zig

Spiritual Bat

These are from the first time at Nite Lite Cafe in Berwyn I think. This most Unchristian band playing an all-ages Christian venue. At least they had pizza and soda so I indulged in that while I stood gawking at Rosetta the dreadlocked goth rock lead singer of Spiritual Bat. The bottom text is about the second time earlier this year 2010. I will add pictures from both performances as I find them. And after the shows as well.

For these pictures with the white wedding dress, it was in the Christian venue. At first that felt weird but then the place began to sell itself. The couches were cozy. You can eat pizza and drink soda. These sneaky Christians. The crowd was light medium and young looking. It was at first strange to share this with a bunch of kids, but then again would it not be cool to see Cocteau Twins at eleven, Strange Boutique at thirteen. These bands I discovered afterward. I wonder how these kids will reference this night with Spiritual Bat.

This was so long ago, I can't remember exactly when but it was in the summer, or was it this past spring and it was at Darkroom when I saw Rosetta and Dario from Spiritual Bat all the way from Italy. It was the second time they visited Chicago. I specify their names because I was fortunate enough to get to know them. They are a sweet couple that play awesome goth rock. I met them before seeing them play, and perhaps that influences. You want to like them and therefore you do when you see them on stage. Off stage is indeed where they first secured my loyalty as a fan.

So they already had me by the time I saw them cover Joy Division's "She Lost Control" on youtube. It's not the only video of them performing. There seems to be a lot. Spiritual Bat is a touring work horse with the cardio that takes them across the world. On top of the fact that I like the music, I'm fascinated with the wisdom they have earned in miles on tour. I guess now is when it occurs to write about them because their dark rock is so autumn like. When I saw them this last time the weather was mild and pleasant. The second time seeing them is indeed the sweetest.

I had a whole year to take in the CD "Through The Shadows". Goths like to dance, it's not a frivolous thing for us. It's what gets us to to floor that is different. "...Shadows" does that in the Batcave tradition. So, if that is what you already like, then this is what keeps you in. The more movement inducing songs come late. I'm talking about "Newdance" and "Sogno Tribale". The crowd was small for them unfortunately that night at Darkroom. I do wonder how they were received elsewhere on this tour. Chicago let it slip, but I still noticed. It was this small turn out that saw Rosetta moving about the stage with her real natural dreadlocked hair.

Naturally but not deliberately dark sounding rock music. But this is not saying they are dated to an obscure 80's style. To say Batcave is to imply a certain timelessness, a phase shift away from timely shackles. That is what they evoke to me off the hip. I believe this is what will keep the name Batcave current and running. I don't know if this will sell away from the sub culture that it spawns from. But if you are in, this is what keeps you in.