Cross Record

I caught a part of the Cross Record show, and afterwards I got the CD which is actually two separate EP's, Magnetic Current, and Ring Bell. So the following will be about hearing this later. I'm really digging this band. They mostly remind me of another local act Bone And Bell, and Festival, a band fronted by Ms Fielded herself Lindsey Powell. Ms Emily Cross even plays the uke, which superimposes a beach, a shell to hear the ocean through. You see through the vague nostalgic glass with in a volcano. The names of the songs are also quite precious. You can go into deep thought with this music, but with the suspense of what is beyond the fog. Dense with tension, mystery and innocent sweetness like a Kate Jane Garside satellite project. Call me a snob but for me it would be the lesser of us that don't appreciate this band cross record. I seriously need to lay off black cat. It's like the Fielded side project Festival. Love that song. These powerful and influential first impressions don't often carry the burden of analysis. Now I'm devouring holy well. The music of this band is like a vineyard. It will yield well over time, that's not saying that I'm not into it now. I'm really digging this now. Ms Emily's voice is clear, and so listening to lyrics will reveal more bends in the maze. I mention only Emily but there on more musicians in the band as the pictures show. There is more I can say about this band but I just need to post this how. Oh and They will play The Hungry Brain again this 9th January, Yay!!

The Sentinels

As late as 8pm Saturday 17 December I did not know that in a matter of hours I would be at Pancho's in the audience seeing this local band The Sentinels. I had given up on the remote possibility of any such highlight. Nothing was on my radar, as I meandered around the internet. I may have ran into the name of the band before, but only now did the convergence of many separate moments ignite the urgency to go see them. Somehow I look up Pancho's and with hours I'm standing on one side watching their gig, some brain cells hold a constant vigil on the thought of how easily I could have missed it still at home or worse possibly becoming aware of the show after it's done. So I'm so happy to have not missed this. The Sentinels are fronted by Liz Elle. Music Of The Pleistoscene, is the CD. Generally speaking they got the heaviness and intensity of say between Shirley Manson pre-Garbage and Melissa Auf Dumar. Say I change my mind 'cause describing them is still a moving picture. Naming the two bands and including The Sentinels in the same thought says they got the indy rock coolness to merit a listen. They saved me from the fog of boredom. Liz voice is light womanly. It's not deep like Ana Calvi. On stage Ms Liz does not go ape-shit crazy like Jilly from We Are Hex. She was coolly dressed like it was open mic poetry at Weeds on a Monday night. It was the hat. It was the shirt. And so you look at her like she has something to say, not just sing. I'm still in the struggle as to how to describe them but I can say that I like Meadow Of Darkness. The acoustic guitar is flowery like All About Eve. The songs are not sedate but their charm is less obvious than in the other artists mentioned. Give them the time and the picture sharpens. Saracen Smile is a long but scenic journey, not slow, but one that I will take my time discovering. It's like two songs. See how the music soaks long term. I struggle with how I would best introduce them, live or on CD in the car. I don't recall which songs I saw live. The foggy memory of discovery does not recall which songs I heard live. I see them live with several different lenses, one just enjoys the visual, the moment. The other documents and packs as much into the moment to enjoy later. Sometimes I'm too busy documenting to analyze what I'm documenting. First time and listening to the music later are separate moments that reinforce each other. To name them is still because I heard them later on my own time. I will return to them with more time spent listening. For now I'm in that stage of early discovery of something cool. And this enthusiasm leads me to post up pictures.

Moritat

I arrived too late to really see them last Sunday 6 November. But I saw them at Quenchers not too long before. Moritat is one of those bands I see in the context of a longer narrative, and from there in the context of a wider Chicago scene. One episode in a longer evolution, in a chain mail of other stories. Changes you see from the observance of more than two performances. It's a compulsion of mine, that helps to better document in the footnotes what went on in Chicago, around Chicago, and what went on with me. In observing them, and writing about them I document a fleeting delicate music scene and my self exploration as by-product.

Venus plays guitar! Her comfort is in the keyboard. She used to be the exclusive voice, and now it's pretty much everyone. Their trip hop sound is relaxed and casual but alert like a boxer. Betrays no stress but is not boring. The two tangible CDs that are available from them are One Minute Fade, their latest. But they first appeared on my radar with Yellow House which they had for free. The title song and Noise are the songs that best display this relaxation that still build tension and interest in this tension. They are writing and performing new music. And did I say they are making Venus play guitar. When Venus hits the keys it's with no cathartic display. I've seen keyboardists that seem to still be working things out, hammering the keys or reading the stress on their faces. It's not like that with Venus. Yet songs like have that sneaky urgency of a faster assembly line. I've described other stuff as trip hop like Panda Riot but Moritat seem miles away from airy faerie shoegaze. What registers as trip hop does so cleanly away. Moritat feel more like creatures of this world, familiar. Another cool by-product is the bands you meet through .....the bands you met. A casual suggestion from Venus had me stay to see The Eternals! I always see Julie Meckler at Moritat shows. If Venus is on stage, Julie is on the floor. They support each other. Julie is all kinds of awesome. She performed and I was well and on time for that.

Still Corners

The pictures could have been better.


Sarah invited me to go see them at Schubas. This was something I almost missed, almost. And for that it's something I cherish more. Still Corners have breathy female vocals clear like something meant to be followed. Having said that I'll figure out what Endless Summer says later 'cause it's too much fun hearing. The voice is just one more amazing instrument. I'll enjoy discovering what the songs says to me later. Can't be bothered to analyze it. It's not just the product of the singer. The keyboard drone if I may describe it so highlights a tragic imprint. My attention is drawn but braces for a sadness foretold. Often it feels like her voice is the only thing that holds your attention, but lets get back to the live moment. Sarah invited and off I went. I arrived to hear a good three four songs. That's long enough to catch a good live impression to superimpose over hearing it at home. The visual I get is what my mind will always visit this moment like a holodeck from Star Trek. This Thursday I almost did not share with William and Sarah. It was a very porous crowd, on the light side of medium to be generous. I can't remember which song I heard first live. Tessa don't move much. That makes it easy to take pictures so it's no complaint. However you are inclined to present your work live is how I wanna see it. This concert brightened the dull midweek low like only surprise left turns can. Too damn poor to deserve to enjoy and yet there I am grateful to have the moment to feel right there and document to analyze later. As of late it is a rare gasp of therapy. What you incidentally and deliberately listen to form a kind of soundtrack that better colors your own personal narrative. Endless Summer held in it's translucent glow the fragility of nice moments that come in the middle of a sadness felt. You can really dance some demons away to this one. Catharsis with a cool empowering finish. Creatures Of An Hour is the CD Still Corners were touring for, and I can listen to it multiple times. All the songs have like that, cool and noir feeling. Lets you tolerate a deep hard interior look. But perhaps I weigh this with too much unworthy baggage. This works if you're giddy too. I'm not saying you need to be sad to like this. Its not so slow that it will put you to sleep. Goths in a shoegaze night can certainly find the rhythm to dance to this. You're hardcore if you drive to this. It relaxes a drive you already intend to make. Revisiting the night, Schubas can look so big sometimes but one can tell the crowd was not incidental, if sedate and relaxed. This was not the loud driven shoegaze of Ringo Deathstar. Still Corners don't seem to be in a rush. They are coasting the natural downward slope. Having said that, you won't feel bored with their pace. Small or big they were there for you without question. It felt like that for Still Corners. William and Sarah were the only definite goths among them. And then there was me. Each song I hear I replay the highlights of that night. I nod and smile to Sarah and William again, glow in the conversation we have later.

Architecture

I like shoegaze music. It came to my attention by way of goth music and culture. In terms of my own experience, in the order that things just came to me. There is a lot of music I like the came to me by way of that filter. Scary Lady Sarah brought to my attention the live performances of a number of bands under that net. So my own narrative and experience with shoegaze will have her influence. During a common goth night if it's Cocteau Twins that first put you on a dance floor. If that is how you found your rhythm. Well, it is not so much about dancing but what are your parameters of appreciation, what gets and keeps your attention and what does not. Certain bands can just open a door that never closes. For me that left me open for local acts like Star, Panda Riot, and so inevitably architecture. Alright, so the first two on the same night. Star at first I noticed would gig a lot locally, opening for bands not really tethered to shoegaze, and then nothing. Panda Riot on the other hand continue to perform and evolve and now are signed to a local label. I can't even count how many times I've seen them at Empty Bottle. Let's just say your a fan. Your blind spot would have to be really big to not know architecture. I know technically they are distinct but at this point y'all are conjoined twins to me. The one constant being Rebecca Scott. So blunt are my ears, so fuzzy my sight but happy I am to have seen both live. I think it was a Monday when I went to go see this band. It turns out I was on time to see them and Planets. I'm glad I saw them together, they were so different. Lets say Wax and Wane jolts you to the floor, architecture can keep you there with........ They evoke the same mysterious cloud but with a more clearly spoken text. It's in the perfect rhythm for a 30+ goth with a hard wired mid 90's pace. So there is a dance floor worthy of this music and the local promoters to further appreciate this. If you are already sold on Panda Riot then architecture at least an easy sell. For this performance they even had their drummer. I do wonder how the person that discovers them on their ipod first thinks about them, what is the first visual they get from hearing it? Are they as mysterious as they sound? Visually they are no more weird looking than the people that go see them at Empty Bottle on a Free Monday. Strictly casual comfort clothes and delivery that perhaps subtexts to the fan that they can do this as well. Or it could be just me over-reading what they are not projecting. It's not hard to imagine bands that sound like architecture, They easily evoke other iconic bands with that shoegaze tag, but how many can you see live and behind some liquor store for more cost to them than it was you even with the 5$ cover?

Planets...more

Pictured here are Deborah on lead guitar, and Elizabeth Herrera on drums.
Deborah again and Miranda Fisher on Bass.

Planets

It was a complete accident encountering Planets from Austin, TX. I was on facebook when I noticed Architecture was playing Crown Royal Tap on Milwaukee Avenue. In looking them up was when I did the same for Planets but for some reason I thought they played already like days ago or something like that. I go to the Planets facebook page, not wanting to like what I saw or heard. You look for what not to like because it makes it easy to miss. But Planets are too awesome. So I was sad because I believed that I missed them, but Architecture was still playing and so I dried my eyes, and off I went. Driving all the way from the south side of Chicago time is usually always running against me. I get there believing that if I catch anything at all it will be good. I glance past the door guy and I see the girls from Architecture with their gear everywhere, and that confirms it. Door guy says they are just about to start, yay!!! Oh and this is about Planets. I did not know they were going to play until I looked at the merch table. Yay, again!! But, damn, I instantly regretted getting that 5$ Pizza slice at Village Pizza the Sunday before, 'cause that meant I was too broke to buy the CD. But at least I was there, and I soaked it up. They sounded so raw and punk to me live. You know how Joy Division sounded a certain way live than on studio recordings and yet we appreciate as fans these differences. I like how they sounded on their live recordings as well as the studio versions. It's the same for me in this case with Planets. There is a slight difference in translation. I don't know if that is deliberate or just me, but I like both sides of the coin. We are in an age when even the strains of rock that sought to throw out conventional sounds themselves become a kind of convention, a style as well as an era. Punk has it's origins well documented, it's OG's if you will. But those legendary bands I think do not own that name, that tag, for if they do for ever backwards our gaze will be. Not all of us were there and of age during the mid to late 70's. I'm here now and so are Planets, and I'm glad I saw them. So at first it seemed that Deborah was the lead singer but I cannot say that now. At some point they all sing lead including the drummer Liz. They got two lead guitars and one bass. I know I can further explore what I heard by listening to what's on their facebook page, since I could not buy their CD ....yet. That would delay this post for too long. I saw them, I'm happy I did and will look for them when they come back.

Bliss.city.east

Thursday 20th October has me in the front of a bliss.city.east show at Latebar where Philly Peroxide DJ's for Shimmer, the main shoegaze night. I first became aware of b.c.e in 2009 on the early end of this long recession. That really feels long ago. Recession years feel like dog years. I thought that was the middle of the recession. We are still in it! They did not have a CD then and so my human memory of their individual performances had to take refuge from the weight of many other bands and their CDs that took up space in my ipod. So here we are late 2011, and I see them again just before the XD Records First Annual Showcase event at Reggies Music Joint 19 November. So Perry, b.c.e guitarist has been busy. The band went and found themselves a live drummer, but hell everyone but Perry and Kim are new to me. I remember when Ruben and Gail were in. New drummer still noteworthy because my memories are at best enshrined episodes, flashes of their more detailed narrative. I saw them on stage, that's it. I go see bands, they help best to document my own narrative in this world. It's good to have them actively in my radar, in the ipod. There's this one video they got, and their videos are awesome, and this one is because they show all these images of the depression, all of it to point out how low we have gone today. At least that's how it seems to me. This past Thursday night at Latebar finds me in front of this busy local shoegaze band with a bunch of Shoegaze Collective people. As they went on before me, I thought how difficult this night would have been to pull off in venues such as Hideout, and Empty Bottle. This is mere speculation but this night was possible because of a very dedicated few who carved out a themed night in a like-minded venue. However it happened, I am grateful. I just know it's an uphill struggle.

Anika

Anika was who Slowdance opened for. Anika would DJ later on somewhere else that Monday 10 October. I stayed to see how it would hit me. Ms Anika has this weird voice, real deep and kind of...well, off. There is no reason to like this girl's voice, and yet I left Empty Bottle a fan of Anika. She sounds like she's moaning. It's gonna sound like I'm taking the piss but I'm not. It's just that I see these critiques coming, or at least I think I do and I react from there. The very reasons others dislike her music are the very things I find endearing. Anika is from England and is half German. I'm not offering that as the reason why she's so damn stiff on stage, and her voice so deep and moany. Like a female Ian Curtis with a cold. Once I like a performer, I do so for every quirk they got. And for Anika, besides her voice, it was this sort of anti-stage presence, like she got on stage to ask who lost these keys. Near stoic and oblivious to the movement inducing bass guitar as if sinking into herself, not even breaking a sweat, or a smile. It was at least easier to take pictures like that. So Anika's voice does not take right away. Wait a little. These quirks take time. Look into her background. A more interesting image develops that you almost dismissed. Ms Anika was a UK Political Journalist, Science and Education Correspondent. This has the coolness of a local NPR reporter, let's say from Market Place fronting an awesome band. It gets better. In Cardiff, Wales while studying at university, she worked behind the scenes in the music industry as promoter, DJ, something Anika continues to do. Being a journalist means to me that you have this compulsion to document what you see, to provide this narrative for the world to follow. It means that you are a writer. On top of that she is a journalist for which there is no such shelter as escapism not even in her music. Now Anika worked as Political Journalist. That invites a special read into her lyrics. For this live show I remember the bass player. The guy had to sit down he was so good. I like it when they have the bass be in the front. The first language Anika actually learned was German before English. I can understand that. Spanish was my first language. It was the language of home and family. Your first language will affect how you learn and speak every other one you learn after that. Anyway, I sat on this post long enough.

Zig

Slowdance at Empty Bottle....again!

I think it was this guilt for missing the Occupy Chicago marches in downtown that propelled me to not miss Slowdance open for Anika....hmm. Anika, that's another blog post. Friends of mine went to the marches that I could have met with and all but, I could not go. So I cannot speak to being there but the marches are noteworthy to me and seeing Slowdance will remind me that they occurred on the day of their Chicago appearance. Grand it could have been to go to both and witness both. I think this was the last leg of the Brooklyn band's second mini-tour. I caught both shows, yay!! I can't recall whether I downloaded their music before they came to Chicago or after. The song "Cake" I downloaded after their first Chicago appearance. The song is all in French. So every impression the song will make will be not from what it says but strictly from how it says. Momo's voice very casually rides the impatient bouncy guitars. There's really something iconically familiar about the song. It's gonna remind you of something you heard in a vague before. Like it would make weird sense if this song and band were old because then it would confirm that you did hear this song before.....you just don't know when. So for lack of better words "Cake" has this iconic impression on me. It plays in my head a lot. Its one of them songs that my mind indulges in doing so. It's so fascinating to see them on these early tours because these are the experiences that they will learn from when touring becomes part of their routine, and the tours become longer. The tours are not yet the new normal. It is quite a singular moment to catch them at this time away from their home. I guess it is a speculation what lessons they will take from these early tours. All I can do is applaud them for doing them, and be happy that this was how I encountered them, before reading about them on Venus Zine.

The Pack A. D. 6 October 2011

Their last show at Empty Bottle was last year and I think it was a Free Monday, it was in support of the CD We Kill Computers. Their bluesy working class sounding aggression just felt like the right kind of engagement, reaction to these rough times. I looked them up yes, but I did not intend to see them the morning of. I find that fascinating. Not knowing what will be the soundtrack to your life, and then from around the corner there it is. The soundtrack is what contains without explicitly saying it, the memories of those moments. The music reflects back to you what happened, when. The Pack A.D. have their blues down. I'm not a blues person and it's even apparent to me. I like their use of it in all their songs. It never tires because of how fluid it's in their hands. It does not sound conventional to me. And that's a danger with a band that has strong identifiable roots that you can see spanning across all they produce, repetition. In their hands the blues are an outsider's tool they use to reinterpret rock, and dare I say blues as well. And they do it all over again with the new CD Unpersons. Still bluesy but never repetitive. I can listen to it forwards and backwards. Indeed some of the songs remind me of PJ Harvey and Queen Adreena's DJin. This is not me name dropping bands. And I'm not saying that PJ is a Delta Blues woman. She don't have to be. She does well enough being PJ. Where was I? Oh yeah blues....It's still an identifiable streak in her early work, right? Wait, where was I before that? Oh, The Pack, right. It would not occur to me to put those three artists together before, even as I love them all.

Eliza Rickman!!...Again!

She has this really sweet and playful song that only gets played when she feels at ease with the audience. It kind of requires audience participation, it's called "Foot Soldiers". Eliza said, "this song is about Napoleon". Which drew giggles from her crowd. The song is on youtube...not the version she played Saturday 8 October. Audience members are given these little novelty noise makers that normally irritate but in the context of this song are brilliant. You randomly play them while the song goes on, and it totally works and you have a great time participating.

So I caught a part of her show at Whistler. I saw Eliza Rickman play her accordion as well as toy piano. Yes, I said accordion, and also I caught all of her performance at High Concept Labs just across the street from Hideout. The second time was with other musicians, a cello, violin, etc. And she played mostly from this grand piano. I don't recall that many songs from her currently available CD Gild The Lily, except for Black Rose, and I think Cold Shoulder. I like Whistler for its intimacy but often you can still hear the background noise of people talking as the musician is playing and that can be just rude especially when the artist is someone like Eliza who shows up with a toy piano and accordion. Songs like those mentioned work their catharsis when the room is filled with stillness and contemplation. Psychedelic bands like Dark Fog, Killer Moon can drown all that and impose their presence. High Concept Labs felt different. The space was bigger, had old wooden floors, couches, regular seats, nice washrooms, and an atmosphere that focused attention on the performer, very hush. It was not the place to have a casual conversation with a band in your background, your rudeness would really stick out. The place seemed well suited for a classical music performance. You don't talk over a cello, violin. Just the right space for Eliza, and there were a lot of people there to listen to her. Whistler has its merits but it can be too loud for a tiny place. As I ponder this further, it's been loud for many musicians. Aleks from Magic Key made a passing comment about this as well right to the audience but the murmur continued. It embarrassed me slightly to be in that crowd. Last year Eliza moved to L.A. I recall. This last Saturday she mentioned moving from there....she did not like living there and is happy to be away. The forth coming CD was recorded in Chicago and I can't wait for it. She has gigged Chicago a lot now that I think about it, more times than I have noted here. All the songs that she plays with violin, viola (I think) and cello will be in this new CD. I'm quite sure Eliza was happier at the HCL turnout. There was no way to predict with that slight indifference at Whistler. I hope Ms Eliza stays happy and productive. She gives a voice to silent kindred spirits.

Staring Problem

So most of these are from the show at Ultra Lounge that I did catch. I have one from last Friday but that is after the Pancho show was done.


Officially, I'll have to say I missed the performance, but I did manage to chat them up a bit later. It's nice to have that, and also they released a new EP that one can download for free from their website. I hear it and it reflects well with the previous downloadable CD. Every song reflects well on the band. Every song relates to the whole. I hear Seed and I want to hear Tegnology. You hear one song and you are instantly curious about what else they got. I'm glad I did not discover this in some goth themed compilation CD of bands, 'cause that would be just one song. You don't get the kind of fatigue you feel from listening to three songs at once. It's dark chocolate casual. Not deliberately but casually dark, post-punk.......the kind that print in mostly black shirts, but not seemingly interested in shaping an image. In the same company as other local acts like Walking Bicycles, at a glance they can sound like early Siouxsie....wait, wait!!! Don't roll them eyes like that. "Don't they all" you say. But if that is what gets you to listen and since they are an active band. Go see them. I'm wrong? You liked them anyway. If the name of the queen of goths......something waiting stuck in the period of....I'm always wondering what was ignored when we discovered some artist that first identifies a scene. I guess I feel that urgency for all bands I listen to and encounter. I can see Staring Problem do dark themed festivals like...Projekt, as well as a headlining gig at Empty Bottle. Really broadly speaking there are bands that just wear black because it's easier to wash clothes that way. And you can tell the singer washes that old Depeche Mode shirt in Woolite Dark.

Aleks/Eva...no...Magic Key

So I saw Ms Aleks under the new band name Magic Key at Whistler this Thursday 29, September. Whistler is such a small venue, it's easy to fill the bastard to capacity. It looked that way as I was looking for parking. There was a line in front. Normally that is discouraging enough to have me go home, but I did not put on my dwindling supply of rose oil perfume for nothing. The intimacy of the place is worth the wait. I make it inside and on time, yay! Magic Key....Aleks continues to play all new songs I think including one that she wrote yesterday. I say Aleks because the rest of the band was not on stage with her. That can be a drummer.... formally known as The Drummer and perhaps one or two other musicians. For the moment we still only have the CD May A Lightning Bolt Caress You. It's just 5 tracks and so you know there is more. Rarely does she do anything from that CD. They still point in the direction of what she is doing now, you still see a distance. They can barely speak about what is to come. The new songs are as dark and urgent and more elaborate with multiple layers of sound that still carry you in a rushing current. Well, that's with a full band. On stage that last Thursday of September Ms Aleks went solo. After this performance I put her in the same company as Fielded and Telepathe. Huh? So what if I've seen them all at Empty Bottle? Fielded, in it's most ambient never bores, too tense. Aleks in this solo show has this and so the comparison. As many times as I've seen her, it's always been with a full band. The idea of a solo show at Whistler is not the same thing as Empty Bottle. I think Aleks felt a little outside that comfort zone as she seemed shy to me at first. I always go on about how cool it is that Whistler is small, but sometimes that means you can hear people talk when you don't want to, and that can bother the artist sometimes.

To this day my father listens to the classical music station, and so since my childhood I acquired this high you get from listening to classical piano. There is a rawness, a sincerity that contemporary rock and pop lacked during periods of my childhood and classical piano often was this border-less refuge. There's a point. Yes, it relates to Aleks.....before I forget. Classical piano had this singular authority in how it articulated emotion. Just with the music you felt with the weight of a narrative. The composer knowing how to weave different scenarios for conflict, and breathless climax. There is some of that in Magic Key. And where some bands seek to put you in a state of innocent wonder like some sweet shoegaze does. Magic Key seems to warn about the margins of that wonder-land, colorful but dangerous.

architecture

Ok, so these pictures are actually from when they played as Panda Riot in the summer of '09 I think. I did not take so many when they came back as architecture. I've seen this band perform in one way or another so many times I'm familiar with the clothes they wear. The shirt that Rebecca wears I see it on her all the time. It's not a bad thing. You see a band a few times, your going to notice some things. And I like having this familiarity with the music that I like.

Late....I know. Way after The Reader reviewed it. But I've been meaning to write about them since learning of them earlier in the year. They are Rebecca Scott and Melissa Harris. Yes class that Rebecca....from Panda Riot and Melissa briefly was in the band herself. So they are local and both musicians have a long term relationship with the Chicago music scene. I've been a fan of Panda Riot for a number of years. I've seen them gig a lot. They have a full CD and EP available, and have a good two CD's worth of material in the works. And so briefly was Melissa Harris as part of Panda Riot. As architecture they carry on this urban faerie take of dream pop with the CD when we were young. The CD has 6 songs, all brilliant. Brian Cook of PR mixed and mastered. The lyrics are clear, easy to follow, much like in Scott's other band, and so one can feel included in the mystery evoked. The other-worldly yellow brick road is paved most effectively with the girls' voices. They register just above haunting. If you are already a fan of Broadcast, Cranes..Arrghh!!!! Look them up....architecture can be for you. They sound perfect for dancing at Shimmer at Latebar, Scary Lady Sarah's monthly shoe-gaze night.