Magic Key

So I saw Magic Key last Saturday at Burlington. All of the new work can only be caught live.  That is so fleeting to me. So I go see it. Its culture worth recognizing. But that only happens if enough people are impacted and perpetuate. The second I became a fan of Queen Adreena/ Katie Jane Garside it was out of one show in Whitby England. I craved hearing stories from friends that have seen her live multiple times. It seemed to me a colossal wrong not to know her in the States. I became intensely interested in her music, her story etc. She is among other things a road that connects from her cousin PJ....and we call her Siouxsie, but Katie Jane just calls her abuela. Fucking hell I was going somewhere with this then it ran off....So I'm glad to have the long view of Magic Key. Its just my impulse to document this concert by concert. I especially feel it when you know only a fraction of it is archived or otherwise recorded. Some shows like that from the iconic Katie Jane Garside, are just going to be that one iconic show that you saw because of a series of accidents. Out of that show a tremendous amount of influence.

  Magic Key is something I've seen deliberately multiple times and I think it represents well what is cool about Chicago music. That does not mean that Chicago necessarily knows her back as much. Well....I take that back. She has been written about in the Tribune I think. And I've seen her with very appreciative crowds...mostly at Empty Bottle but also in many other small to medium Chicago venues. It still feels as if I can only speak of her among a very few. Or I gotta get out more....right, that too. I don't listen to much outside of NPR right?  So I don't even know if they play her on radio.  It used to be just the powerful voice of Aleks, her intense Farsifa keyboard playing, in a knife fight with the drummer Deric Criss, short-fused psychedelia. Now under the name Magic Key. Aleks has a commanding stage presence. Her recorded music, tense, dark and in a rush but vivid enough to paint a picture you become more and more in wonder about. And her outfits were always the best...colorful. Always makes me wonder what she will wear next. Anyway now I dare not describe the electronic instruments that she plays. It's not just her banging a keyboard. The layers of atmosphere have multiplied. The pace slowed but the fog remains tense. But at least now there's a trail to hike. Still, hmmm, remember in Buffy, you don't go pissing off Willow by killing off her girlfriend and then go hiding in Twin Peaks. So it's tension feels dense with storytelling weight. Its amazing to see Magic Key manipulate the tension with layers upon layers and then minimally, slowing down with just her voice and limited instruments, with generous parking space between those instruments. We lost Fielded, but we still have Magic Key. There is music to anticipate from Magic Key. I don't know when, where or anything.Until then we only have May A Lightning Bolt Caress You. And we have a long journey from that point. Its something I cannot help but document.

Zig

Agent Ribbons

This could have easily been just a fabulous dream in which I see the vaudeville-punk Agent Ribbons play Empty Bottle and with them was architecture, Rebecca Scott's other shoegaze project besides Panda Riot. You know how dreams just throw things together, have really cool people do cameo appearances that happen to know one of the bands. You have this vivid awesome dream in anticipation of the actual show. Only I didn't dream this. And the local shoegaze architecture did play the same stage as Agent Ribbons. Oh and cameo appearance. Natalie Grace was there and she knows the band. I thought she left for NYC. I'm glad she's still in Chicago and playing Coles 30, November.
  I don't think the two bands were even aware of each other until that night. Its not to say that they are incompatible. They just sound real different from each other. But in my head they were old furniture. In my ipod they are neighbors. I don't recall how I came to know Agent Ribbons. How ever that happened, it compelled me to see them the first time at Beat Kitchen. Damn nearly missed the whole thing and could not afford anything from their colorful merch table. So I have made it a point to be on time for them the last few times. And they were very nice after the show. So I am at the stage where I go see what I've become familiar with over time like Chelsea, lets go join the circus, La Noche  from On Time Travel And Romance. I think they sang Wood Lead Rubber. from Chateau Crone. Lyrics are easily remembered without being catchy and annoying. They are direct, plain and witty, and clear in how she explains things. So its easy to identify with.  This new release is an EP on vinyl called Let Them Talk. Its real tireless work touring like they do, often broke. The time they spend on the road makes the time spent performing seem instantaneous. They had I think ten more gigs after Chicago I think. Oh and they knew Natalie Grace! They are so enthusiastic when they play. Natalie Gordon as always takes her shoes off to better bounce around the stage. I get a feeling of sincerity with each song. What the fuck do I mean with that? Hmm, .......let me think.....open veins, and a sweet witty directness. You want to sway back and forth with a drink in your hand to La Noche. I have a soft spot for that song 'cause it reminds me of old Mexican music. And it takes a very special troubadour like Ms Nat to make you sway to I Was Born To Sing Sad Songs without the baggage of really feeling sad. I really like how that song is put together.  After the show talking to Natalie and Lauren was nice. I ran into Natalie Grace and found out she was friends with the band. Its nice to see the world small like that. If you're into that sharp wit of Rasputina, Dresden Dolls....just to name a few, then Agent Ribbons deserves to live off the music.

Zig

Man Is Man

Man Is Man is another one I saw when my iMac was out. They played Hideout with Bone And Bell. I was far too late to see Heather Smith and B&B. I think she was finished by 9:45. I caught most of Christa's Man Is Man. The new release is called The Birds Will Eat Us but I did not see it on any merch table. So I could not get it. Her stuff is scary dark. Rural-children-of-the-corn scary....not urban. Urban implies developed, tamed. Rural is on the outer fringe of that. Rural implies a type of isolation, with different noises at night. I heard it said that night by someone in the audience or by Christa herself, women should write more scary shit.  And people should write more about them. Well I do try....writing about them. Without the CD I have to go with what I recall. The crowd was a good size. I know it's Hideout, it's small but it's subcultural capital is bigger. She played with her usual autoharp. She had a full band but I think it was the last night with the cello player. That's tragic 'cause I really liked him in the band.

  So I always go to those words to describe Man Is Man. Sometimes I use "rustic" instead of rural to put in front of "dark". I'm not trying to dance around the word "country".  I can't bring myself to call this country music. For some reason I feel a distinction. There are things Christa seems to stare in the face and describe passionately without a sense of pity. She could describe to you Dante's Inferno like a dispassionate fucking tour guide. Tragedy, drama, loneliness, these are things you find in her music but you're not weighed down by the sadness. There are artists that do sad very effectively. They sell it to you very well. Man Is Man somehow empowers even in the darkest corners of your interior castle to make you feel like you can change your lot. Shit is happening but you got a gun that they don't know about. Yeah...listening to MIM makes you feel like your packing. I wanna say more...but there was nothing on the bloody merch table!
Zig

Moritat

During the month of September I saw bands that I could not write about because my computer crashed, and had to get that sorted out. So some of these gigs that I write about are long ago but write about them I must. Please bear with. One of them bands was the local Moritat playing Lilly's on Lincoln Ave a short walk away from the Biograph Theater. They were playing songs from the new Clill Blanzin ....I gotta make sure I don't spell that wrong. I swear that "n" was not there when I bought the damn thing. I arrived too late to see Ami Saraiya And The Outcome.  Damn it! At some point the Lilly's audience seemed to grow a little impatient and were expecting to be wowed by Moritat, as if to say "I dare you to impress". That suggests to me that perhaps they were not familiar with them. The crowds from other venues they've played for don't act like they are entitled to a speedy transition from one band to another. Maybe it's a Lincoln Park thing where the audience thinks they are the rocks stars, and the band is just the help. This was the same attitude I saw Laura Meyer get at Uncommon Ground. But at least the crowd seemed big for a place of it's size and in the end I believe they were indeed impressed. Since it was my second time there I could not tell if this was a group of regulars or what. Lilly's is small but makes the most out of its confined space. Like in Subt's you can climb the stairs and see the band from the balcony. I guess it's like having two Whistlers stacked on top of each other. When the windows are open you can see whoever is playing as you are walking down the sidewalk. I didn't really ask anyone but the crowd seemed appreciative and impressed by Moritat by the end of the night.

  Since I think early 2009 I've known the band. I called the trip hop at the time as a knee jerk reaction from hearing Venus on keyboard on Yellow House, a song on their first CD. They kept my attention with the EP One Minute Fade and now I'm still going on about them over Clill. Trip hop, I said....now it's just one impression out of many. I don't know if this is from watching them live a lot. I like how they jam session in the middle of some of their songs like Noise, Cats, oh and Wheelin'. Theres like a middle segment where you just hear them jam. If you're already sold on all three of their releases this really works well because its like an extra kick of cardio. It's in these moments when you see the engine parts flex as they cruise around. The three moving parts are Venus on keyboard, Corey on drums and Konstantin on bass. Venus is the primary voice but they all sing.  I can really hear instruments individually. The cool thing about not having a lead guitar show boating around is that you can hear everything else so clearly. The bass stands out and everything. Nothing washes together into a fog. If you listen to as much shoegaze as I do, time away from the fog is good sometimes. So they got songs that sound great on CD and really blossom for you live.