architecture

After missing Panda Riot at Late Bar with Corey from Lightfoils on bass, there was no way I was gonna miss architecture share Empty Bottle with Agent Ribbons, two bands that are very different from each other. I was happy to see them, it was like my ipod was projecting on the Empty Bottle stage what it normally plays on random. First architecture and then Agent Ribbons.  Architecture played mostly new material that will be released early next year. These days the dream pop/shoegaze act consists of Rebecca Scott and Melissa Harris. On the last song they had Jose from Panda Riot play drums. I can't recall if I heard it before but it was brilliant. It had the usual alert faerie sweetness and clarity that is normal from architecture/Panda Riot and now a darkening maturity and a faster more aggressive pace, like when you're no longer a tourist. There is purpose in your step even as your fascinated by your surroundings. The drums they used saw the brunt of this new found aggression. They beat that shit down like an unruly kid at an orphanage. It was dramatic to see Rebecca and Jose ganging up on the same drum. So there is great work to anticipate from architecture early next year. This gig was probably their last until then. They got to get back to writing new material.

Spiritual Bat

The Spiritual Bat was also so long ago. Rosetta and Dario I can actually call friends from Italy. They were here on business. For a goth rock band, that means a tour. They were touring for the new CD Cruel Machine. They played Livewire Lounge on Milwaukee Ave, a 21 and up bar on a Saturday in September. To  miss this would have indeed hurt. When you miss something that you anticipated going to and the very event is on Facebook it eludes you all over again and it was the best show ever, meanwhile they go all the way back to Rome, and I have to get the CD from Metropolis or something like that.  Oh, wait but I didn't miss it, and I bought the CD from the band and a shirt that fits. The first shirt I got deliberately smaller so that it can be a muscle shirt....I know. It still fits me like a titty shirt. Anyway its so refreshing to go to a real goth rock gig, where people deliberately wear black. For me The Spiritual Bat do music that...ages with you. And more and more they are the reason I still like goth rock. That Saturday night I went saw people that I've known in the local goth culture for years. Some are old friends, that came from England for a family wedding. So I did not feel like I was surrounded by a bunch of kids in corpse-paint. We all still like this and it matures with us. It stays relevant and contemporary. And the musicians themselves are roughly our contemporaries.

   I was really happy for Rosy and Dario because they finally saw a good crowd for them. They were the headliners and people waited for them. The other times I've seen them in Chicago it was for smaller audiences as if only few knew they were there, and that embarrassed me. They once played for a Christian all ages venue and that felt weird. The pizza and soda were good but still....weird. I said goth rock eh? And that implies a way of sounding that The Bat has down. Can this appeal for one that is not already sold on those two words? Well I did not see many of my Empty Bottle friends that night. Does not matter. There are so many of us sold on the music already. Goth rock from the Bat means spooky atmospheric guitar, bass combo, Siouxsie-like voice of Rosy. On the dance floor the songs on Cruel Machine have a pace that is fast enough to attract youth but not too fast you lose all the aging goth rockers still trying to dance. Some of the tracks that are say 4-5 minutes long have segments that let you feel that goth rock engine. Chance  and Crucifixion have that bassy sprint in the middle. On stage it was Rosy wailing passionately away with the occasional mirror on her hand. Dario plays electric guitar. Pictures don't do Rosy's dreadlocked hair justice. It's the first thing I noticed when I met her, and I always tell her how fabulous they are.  She started out as the drummer of the band like over ten years ago. Live Rosetta free's herself from playing an instrument and so the small stage concentrates the performance to her voice and movements and hair. Thats the thing I don't expect on bigger venues where I expect distance. The capacity of the venue seemed to be less than Darkroom, but not by much...lets say just a little more than Whistler. As of this post they are home in Italy and this event I speak of is long behind them, one of many for them. Their operation is small enough for them to remember individuals that go to their shows. Its the coolest thing when after meeting the band, they tell you happy birthday on your Facebook page. What? I wasn't expecting it. Its those things that put you at ease when seeing them again and again. These are your friends that you want to see succeed when touring.
Zig

Fielded

This feels like so so long ago. My computer was slowing down already by the time I was seeing Fielded live this past September at Burlington. I don't even remember which songs I heard that specific night. I can say " I heard this song....that song." She was touring for Terrageist. The crowd was massive at the tiny Burlington. I was happy to have arrived early. A concentrated wall of eyes behind me. Yeah, I was in front. All the performances I've seen of this Chicago native at this point blend into one massive night spanning vastly different venues....and costume changes. So perhaps what I tell here may be what I saw before in them other times. Lindsey went casual for that grimy DIY venue on the shady end of Chicago's south side. I don't recall a costume for Hideout or Empty Bottle. She does very well in medium to small venues. Empty Bottle being the biggest to the smaller Burlington. It always feels like she has a loyal cult following in Chicago.
  You become familiar with the songs, her movements on stage. Lindsey sinks into her impassioned preacher character in full blind belief in every word she says. An outstretched hand free of any instrument is....you only see this passion in a Baptist church. She loops her amazing voice into an eerie chanting chorus.  Sometimes you see the process, the building of the song.  The voice is as much an instrument of sound....before even using words. Lindsey trance-casual, like an altar-girl  after they let girls reluctantly serve in Holy Cross in the old neighborhood lighting candles before the ritual. Horse got me like that. The tension between the ambient moments holds you until you are trotting along to an odd dance segment. Her voice is always clear and so it's easy to follow what she says...later when you buy the vinyl, there are lyrics to read. In the moment what is striking is how she says it.
  Live its massive. Sometimes she gets into costume as in this last time. But that translates well when you're driving to it, dancing to it. It feels deep and crazy like Katie Jane.  These aren't mindless, bassy dance tracks. It's heavy and thought provoking with dance-worthy impulses. At ease with the darkness. Red Queen I can dance to at Nocturna. I'm glad to know the performance end of her music. I imagine it's rare to play long numbers like Horse. Its a risk to play it. Perhaps one risks losing the crowd. But Fielded knows her audience and trusts us to follow anyway. I like that. I don't think she played it for Burlington but I do recall this live at some point.

   I don't know the instruments she uses. That embarrasses me into hesitating how to describe them besides saying electronic. She has a ....very organic soulful electronic sound. Her music often intensely surrounds us in Other-worldly chants, and it's no accident it gets called post-apocalyptic pop. It's music for a parallel universe. There's....regular ambient, and then there's Fielded's.
To write this I had to research, right? I marvel at the projects that have her stamp, Ga'an, Festival, and now Fielded. But I've been knowing all that and barely now am I beginning to see how funny she is as her character "Rhonda". So me as a fan as one can imagine, I am in greater awe of all this in Lindsey Powell.
Zig