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.