Ami Saraiya at Hungry Brain

Originally I intended to go see her with Julie Meckler at Schubas, but I could not. I don't like missing combos like that. Julie fucking rocks. So I find out nearly on the day that Ami is playing Hungry Brain Tuesday 15 March. I know I go on about her a lot. Perhaps I repeat a lot of shit just to fluff up the mention of seeing Ami here and there. I do that with everyone. And these gigs are indeed different from one another as Schubas is distinct from Hungry Brain. Schubas can seem small and cramped for a mid-size venue depending on who....yes depending on who. I did not go to the Schubas event, but I know Ami, and Schubas. I can calculate something from there. Hungry Brain is an easy to miss cafe on Belmont and it's a Tuesday. It's only going to magically appear if you are actually looking for it. That night it was host to a stand-up comedy event. Ami was to sing in the end. Given all the, you know, real venues she's played(Empty Bottle, Hideout, Subt's, and Schubas), it's really cool that you can still see her in all the smaller places. I don't say real just to sound like an asshole. But Hungry Brain has indeed a smaller profile than say Empty Bottle, and for that reason the more singular, intimate performance. For one you see the massive shift in audience. One can reasonably expect a good crowd at Hideout. But what is preventing that same crowd from Hungry Brain? Yet, at the Brain all I saw were perhaps friends of the previously performing comics, barely populated. Well, her drummer from The Outcome was there. I think the fact that Ami Saraiya does this is way fucking cool, and worth the mention. And that makes Hungry Brain awesome! So Ami is there to promote the new EP Ami Saraiya & The Outcome. It has three songs, Hanging By A Thread, Purging Purging, and Cattle Prod Hands. They all got Ami's usual sweetness. She's been circulating them around for some time now. And I've been waiting for them to release the last one forever. The accordion on it makes you feel like you're in the movie Amelie. It's like in the midst of no reason for feeling good, comes wonder and that slight euphoria leads to feeling good in the middle of an other wise boring Tuesday night. Ami finished her set with an as yet unreleased "Automatic". She had the small audience participate with her. That Amelie feeling lasted me the whole drive back to the south side.

Zig

Wanton Looks

Saturday 5 March, at Quenchers. How perfect would have been if I had made it for all the bands, right. I wanted to see Maybenauts, and The Handcuffs, as well as The Wanton Looks. The infamous Traci Trouble fronts this band. For a start lets say they are kind of like Joan Jett. Imagine The Fabulous Miss Wendy with an all girl wolf pack to back her, to sight a recent approximation. I say wolf pack because you see immediately all their individual identities as well as how good they fit together as a band. They all appeared to have fun. I bought their CD so long ago when they opened for The Dials at Double Door. So right now I have to lean on the memory of this performance to go on about them. And there's youtube as well. They are just straight ahead abrasive and cool, too impatient to be mysterious. Its fast, its punk....I think. Here and there Traci would say shit, and banter with the crowd. Quenchers is so small. Its a bar with a back stage. Having this close in this tiny space spoils you 'cause you get used to that kind of closeness to the moment. From this performance Traci seemed to be unpredictable, spontaneous. There's no fourth wall between Traci and her crowd. Indeed she would get off stage and play her guitar inside the crowd as far as the cord allowed. I nearly got whacked with it, when she would violently turn and swing around. The Wanton Looks finished their set with Electromagnetic Force. I seem to know many friends that know her. I mean she's infamous. I don't intend for it to sound so lewd. It's just to sight examples of how close one can be to these awesome local bands. You know them just a little, and you see the human fragility that we share with them. You identify with them beyond this rock star shell. I learn to enjoy the live performances because they are not rock stars. They are like me.

Zig

So this is Sarah Pedinotti of Railbird. They performed at Reggies Music Joint, the side with the tables Last Saturday 12 March. I'm gonna take my time writing the whole review of them performing, they are hard to describe but are easy to like. Every show of theirs is different from the last. Well, I've only been to this one, but they play with the energy like it's the last show they will do. They just seem to be that kind of band. They play like they've been together for years. I was especially impressed with their drummer.....anyway. Railbird is awesome, and their CD No One is awesome. I've read somewhere that they kind of call themselves (in part) roots music of some kind. I'll go with it. It's a matter of figuring out which roots, because in this original creation there are derivatives of other styles that they fuse organically with beats and electronics.

Railbird at Reggies

What is it about Brooklyn? A lot of really cool bands are from there. It's almost routine to hear that now. I did not expect the weirdness out of a name like Railbird. They were here at Reggies to promote the CD No One. Right off I'm gonna have this really hard time describing the sound of these guys. But I have seen more and more of their peers, if I may call them that, like Ryat (who has played Reggies), Phantogram,..they combine organically guitar, electronics, and percussion, beats. They're all kind of hard to describe. They are all different animals from each other but they combine instruments and styles that previously seemed like water and electricity.

Live, they were on! The accordion player was coked-out energetic, I don't know if he is in the recording, he was all over the tables with his accordion. And you can't play like that if the rest of the band does not have that natural craziness, and oneness with their instruments. They covered a Cab Calloway song. The one that he played in Blues Brothers. I also noticed the drummer of the band Jeremy Gustin is also the producer. I'm not an expert on drums but he seemed to me very skilled and sharp. They all got it. On the CD, besides Hushaby, I like Strange, it has this sweetness that reminds me of Ditty Bops, only Railbird is far more electronic and far more urban. It has this 50's thing, very slight but there, oh yeah I guess those are the roots I was looking for. The song has some personal resonance for me. I suspect this resonance can be more wide spread with this song, and I think it is indicative of how well received they can be. This hmm weirdness as intangible as it is can appeal to a wide audience without being pop music.

Zig

Esben And The Witch

Thursday 11 March 2011. Empty Bottle. Before even the band starts, there are the clues that tell you at once how well this gig will imprint. I see Sarah and William, then Aimee, Ruben. Musicians, DJs and friends of that I (presume to) share a kind of short-hand with. These are goths that I see at death-rock and shoe-gaze themed nights, industrial nights, and vegan restaurant. We like the same music and the specific web of culture it attracts. Some thing at Empty Bottle got described as "haunting and eerie" and I had to go and investigate like the stoners at Ghost Adventures.....Travel Channel? No? Never mind. Seeing my fellow investigators inclined me to like further Esben And The Witch. What gets so many goths in one place? EATW has the dark trip-hop atmosphere with the random post-punk sprint and the casual, lazy psychedelic delivery of Rachel Davies. Hell I could go on. So I do the usual ritual of not over-loading on researching the band. I want the live experience to be the principal means of imprint. I see half a video of whatever band before and that kind of decides it. So they set up and I notice the one drum thing in the front. To me that means hmm, crazy tribal drumming. And yeah, that's what I got.

Esben And The Witch are from Brighton, UK. They were in Chicago to promote the CD Violet Cries. Eerie and Haunting are but a beginning. This is Warpaint tripping on acid in The Lake District of England. You are gonna have some cool trips and some scary trips in the land of Coleridge and Wordsworth. Rachel Davies sounds just like Warpaint, all chill and lazy. Only she trips on a different world, and can take her sweet time describing it. E&Th W are great at creating this dangerous, faerie land sound scape. Each song has it's own sonic atmosphere that is used for various means. In Argyria, you are held in wonder of it as you jog along the shore. Before Rachel says a word you are OK to follow her pace to a sprint. And after you spent this cardio exploring this world pretty and quaint, that's when they stop trying to startle the tourist. That's when they draw blood. This world, the sound of it is often chill, repetitive until familiar, that is one way they hook you, with shallow water then plunge! You can almost tune out exactly what Rachel says in Light Streams if instead you focus on that lazy delivery. The dread comes when Rachel's voice corners you alone. The coolness of Rachel's voice is that she can sweet talk you with sound, empower you with it and scare with the meaning later when you are reading the words. Or she can deliver the chill with her voice alone. Dancing to Chorea and Warpath in Procession at Late Bar is different from reading, or really listening.

The full empowerment of Marching Song you feel later when you read the lyrics. This is the song that sold me the whole album and set me up for the rest. It sold me the band, everything. But the moment has me right by the stage, when Marching Song was second. Hair covers her face. Rachel Davies beats this drum with ritual shamanic passion, and holds your short attention span hostage. I mean no one that was in there was looking up their messages on their cell phones. It was that brilliant. Rachel drifts to the back of the stage and beats the drum sticks together like she's imposing a rhythm on her heartbeat. It's three pulses Rachel hits the last the hardest. You feel empowered to see her perform. You feel empowered and familiar with the mystery invoked. So, I found myself stomping to the song as well. Most of the memory of the concert is locked into that song. Everything else is just fragments that a narrative pieces together later. Just to see this singular drum in front of the stage is dramatic, tribal. They don't put it out for nothing. And so Rachel hits those drums, the cymbals in just the right way that I will discover later when I'm hearing it. I think if you like bands like Telepathe, Bat For Lashes, School Of Seven Bells, and yes Warpaint, this band deserves a look. And do it before they do on The Vampire Diaries,or some damn show like that. I could not stay for their entire set. An urgent matter I had to take care of. But I felt not as if I missed out on the band. I was fortunate to have the chance to see them at all.

ZIg

Ami Saraiya is performing this Thursday 10 March at Schubas. It's her CD release as Ami Saraiya And The Outcome. Get the CDs, all of them because these are songs that you want to hear again in your daily life. Ami's music has this way of weaving itself into your mental routine. Her music has always reminded me of 1920's, 40's. It's in the pace of her songs, the instruments in her band. There is something that screams "period-nostalgic" about this band. At the very least there is a style about this band that is consistent, and identifiable. And so you look forward to hear it, to see it. The ep that Ami is releasing will be available for $1 at the show. Julie Meckler is opening!

Bone And Bell

I was expecting her in that blue makeup she has in her pictures.

Bone And Bell caught me with the chilling sweetness of "Flying, Falling, Crawling". That song is straight out of Twin Peaks. And the song is so minimal; voice and a ukulele, and your every day is veiled in some mystery, and sadness. It's on her free ep L*O*O*M. I looked her up after seeing her scheduled for Schubas. Then they featured her on NPR. The very song that hooked me is playing on the radio and they interview her, Heather Smith of B & B. I missed the Schubas show, but I saw her last Wednesday 2 March at Quenchers. After NPR I thought there would be more people. I felt a greater urgency to see her live, to see her first. Before I feel crowded out by so many trendy assholes, I want to see her first. Well, at least that's what the id urges with. And for once it worked well enough to arrive at Quenchers on time. Something I did not know until the show was that Ms Heather is also in a psychedelic rock band, Seek Dark, Seek Flesh. I was a fan of Bone And Bell well before walking into Quenchers. Still not knowing a lot about the band, but in wonder of what little I did, I jumped at the chance to see it live in such a small venue. And there was a lot I did not know until after that show, like how absolutely new the band is. Q's was I think the third or fourth show. Heather seemed to know everyone in the room, all but me. Once Bone And Bell started, the room filled some more. Under the B&B moniker Ms Heather plays the ukulele and keyboard. For some songs including "Flying, Falling, Crawling" there were two backing singers. And with these instruments a foggy mystery world is delicately woven. The uke' brings you back to your innocence, while Heather's haunting voice uses that to draw you into the mist, and deeper meaning. This is something other artists that I have featured here do effectively and deserve mention with B&B, like Eliza Rickman with her toy piano, and Uni And Her Ukulele. They know how to keep your attention with the humblest of instruments, and make them sound, cool. So Ms Heather played the sweet and otherworldly "Flying, Falling, Crawling" second to last. I've gone on about the song as if it's the only one, but it's not. It's a faerie world Bone & Bell sing about, and I think this is an artist that can tell a lot about the culture we inhabit. Ms Heather Smith is someone to watch.

Zig

Asobi Seksu, in Late February 2011

After buying the shirt for BRAHMS I was too broke to buy Asobi Seksu's latest. The shirt was to keep BRAHMS in mind for when they come back. It was my first time seeing them. This was my third time seeing AS. All three times the world changed on me. I think I took a vacation day from work to see them the first time. My friends Killer Moon was still just Jesse and Amaris. I felt such great urgency to see Asobi Seksu, like it was the only time. The world was different around me when I first was made aware of Asobi Seksu. Citrus was the CD that first hooked me to the band, with "Thursday", "Strawberries". There are just so many songs. They have that sweet feminine voice driving these aggressive guitars and drums. Fearless, power-shoe gaze, that gives you this instant feeling of nostalgia with the songs even without actually taking you back. You're still driving forward, just in an old muscle car. My routines were different then at the point of discovery. We were all at the beginning of the Great Recession. Yeah, I'm gonna capitalize that. It was urgent for me to see AS live and fill the nostalgia cup. It's fascinating to feel like you have an old relationship with a new song. And now it's March 2011. The third time seeing AS is now behind me. Seeing them this time was a much more casual thing, and I actually do have that long term relationship with AS. I have a real history with the music now. The unsigned BRAHMS hooked me with their song "Repeat It", for which they have a video. They played that song second to last. They were awesome, dancey like Depeche Mode/Golden Filter. The audience was big but hard to read. They seemed kind of luke warm to them. They were not being ignored but I was probably one of three people dancing to them. Then Asobi Seksu played to that same casual familiar audience. It was nice to see old friends that you know like the band, like Scary Lady Sarah and William Faith. They create and promote the music that I have identified with for years. They played and appreciated shoe-gaze when the rest of the world sneered at it. Oh, yeah. AS played from their new CD as well as all those songs that have played in my head for the last few years. It's nice to have a few constants even as the local and indeed the entire economy crumbles under your step.

Kaspar-Zig