Kristeen Young

  Seriously, what is going on with Elbo Room. I was thinking, hmmm, its Kristeen. She will pack them in. I was thinking it can sell out. Elbo Room is such a weird venue. Each time I've been there, very few turn up. Its like a rip in time/space, a warp bubble that can only hold so many peoples awareness. I knew I was entering this warp bubble as I got closer to the venue, it just feels isolated. It's a very under used venue, a hidden spot in the open on Lincoln Ave which is normally so fucking busy. Chloe Day I saw once on a Wednesday 26th December. A handful of people saw her. Pezzettino, the same. Only about five or six. And now the same for Kristeen Young, hmm about ten. I was thinking wow! Seriously?! Before her set even starts I rip down a poster for her to sign later. This turned out to be one of those intimate shows you don't see coming. It just feels wrong for Kristeen Young to have that few a crowd. I anticipated more for this. All of us there recognized the rare moment for what it was and took out their camera/phones. I....just had a camera. I think everyone in there bought merch from KY.                    

  She has the open passion of an Argentine tango musician. Plays with that same frenzied pace. She is a rock opera star. Intense as her pictures can barely contain. Her hands land so heavy and fast on the keyboard, like she's blaming them. She does not slow down for you to catch your breath. Tori Amos might slow down for you, like in Choir Girl Hotel , but not Ms Kristeen.  You need to keep up, learn your steps or you just fucked up the audition. Crashed and locked into memory are theatrical and vivid rock expressions. They do not bore. They incite.  I recall her going on back and forth with her drummer, as if waiting for him. These brief fun, genuine exchanges are part of the slowly warping German Expressionist memory of seeing Kristeen Young live a second time, still iconic. And now I have new music to explore.  By now I've had some time to do that.  When I saw her at Empty Bottle I bought the one CD Music For Strippers, Hookers, And The Odd On-Looker. Every song in there steals the stage from next. Each song hits like its the only fucking one, only its all of them. The headliner was Aleks And The Drummer.  After this Elbo Room show I bought what I could. V The Volcanic, and The Knife Shift, but I wanted one of everything. I wanted a shirt.  If I had 100, I would have blown 100.
     For a long time that CD was all that I had and I dared not look beyond it.  Yet it was exactly what I like to hear, a full blown crash of piano rock, intense and smart like a piano driven Miranda Sex Garden.  Slowing down does not mean less intense. It means a longer burn with that branding iron.

  I just could not obsess over one more girl and her keyboard. But Strippers is just too awesome, and I have more than a few CDs of Tori Amos any fucking way.  A lot of what I listen to starts as exactly that and from there they evolve away from each other until they appear as different animals. And with Kristeen there is much to obsess about, or at least read about. There is a lot to inspire an underdog narrative. Once you are a fan, you kind of take her side. I did not look beyond Strippers, for a while. But I did hear it a lot. I just knew and trusted there was something beyond, before, and after. Strippers was just to hold as a reference. More music to obsessively follow. In terms of seeing a live show it was just one time, iconic. The chance comes to see her again, and I jump at it. The urgency at times allowed me to think Elbo Room would sell out. It did not, to my surprise. So, happily now I listen and explore The Knife Shift and V The Volcanic.  Just the names of the songs invite a listen. Jealous of Loved Children, Pictures of Sasha Grey. Everything is Mine Because I'm Poor, Fantastic Failure, these are all great names. And lets not pretend we don't know who Sasha Grey is. Y'all know. Zig.

Spaces Of Disappearance

   Spaces Of Disappearance here have this song about Dick Cheney. Its on Passionate Electronics. Dick Cheney in the Light. Its the best.  Then.....  Valmont...Angst. They all hit you like that. I've been hearing them on my ipod. I saw them play it at Hideout. Was dancing to it. This intimate Hideout show with Axons opening. The Hideout stage is already so fucking small, easy work for a memory gone German Expressionist. I went for a jog with it. When you can stick more into the ipod, is the best, and I suppose that is when I noticed what a crazy hidden treasure we got. I needed the download code to stick to my ipod. Dick Cheney himself I think gave them a shout out over the internet.....and creeped everyone out.  Elaine said this on stage in between songs.
  I feel like such a moron for not recognizing Spaces Of Disappearance for being so awesome.  That aside. The rest on Passionate start leaving their mark....leave me with this look of disbelief. They live in Chicago! I fecking know them! I see her at these other shows. I've missed a whole bunch of her shows.
  Valmont de Merteuil kicks ass. Frontwoman broods and lights the noir trip hop spark Angst continues and harnesses. If you can recall how it felt dancing to Bel Canto, then Sister Soleil, and then Portishead for that second time at Neo. Something that instantly feels like its that classic subcultural dance floor after glow. And now I'm recalling that I've seen them twice and pow! It is hitting me. At their Hideout show I was dancing, .....not like a moron at a Wedding calling attention, but.....I was dancing. I listen to Passionate first to last, straight and wondered when was the last time I binged on Bel Canto like that. I don't.  I skip around because I don't like everything. Each one on Passionate is like the single that attempts to best define the band if you will...only its all of them.  Meaning they are all great songs that demonstrate how great songwriters Spaces are. Each track reveals a new depth. Its like they have in their blood, reflexes, muscle fibers, a deep and fundamental understanding of what induces dancing, movement, like without pandering. The really real first time seeing them was at Multikulti, with Sexy Fights. Missing Spaces would have left me an incomplete show.
  I saw three bands that night, Spaces is one of the three that's local. I see Elaine in so many shows that I attended. The whole time she was being awesome and it took me some time to know it. Then I have to figure out how to say it. I can't just say awesome every three, four fucking words.  I got songs that are sinking in, hitting me from Passionate. Damn it! I figured this shit out so fecking late it's embarrassing. As a fan, it was great to already have met Elaine.....and Adele. All three bands that I saw were impacting. That is such a rare occurrence. I'm trying to write separate entries about them. Axons was first, then Spaces and then The Old Adage.  I was into Spaces,  yes......now, I am way the fuck into them.
Zig

Cygne

  There is this little bottle of perfume oil that a friend of mine gave me years ago when she still lived in Chicago. I held off using it. It was just so awesome, beautiful a scent that I had to really pick the moments for when I would indulge in using it. It so closely resembled rose oil. I don't like smelling bad, and so I shower....even if it makes me late. I wore this perfume oil for when I saw Cygne....Laura Meyer , the traveling blues/folk troubadour at Uncommon Ground on Clark. Rise Up!  I'm waiting for the right time to hear it. I like the name Cygne, gives her this luchadora mask, and reveals a more aggressive side through it. I waited for the right drive to hear Rise Up!

What she casually says in between songs has the gravity of Morgan Freeman dropping some casual knowledge in mid conversation. So imagine the power of her lyrics, when she says "I believe in ghosts".  She ain't trying to scare you with that, she's telling you what she learned from that belief.  I'm quite timid and the perfume pulls me out of this shell, or it makes it easier to carry the bloody shell around.....it helps. Sorry for bringing all that up in between about perfumes and all that, seeing the artists becomes such a thing that brings out these personal rituals of mine. It was Sunday 5 April. I don't recall the day as being really cold. I think it was a first gasp of not so cold weather. Parking around the venue I knew would be an extra special problem.   The Cubs were playing that day. Still I found a spot on Southport across from Music Box. So I make it.  So why the fuck do I go on about the process of preparation all the time? Hmmm, I think it is important to note effort. What got you there, in what state of mind were you in when walking into Uncommon Ground. I'd like to think the few five people give or take that saw Cygne did so deliberately, purposefully. As Cygne she has a new LP
   She packs such power in two minutes. Genius is modest, but comes packing. Righteous and aggressive is Too Good For A Bad Man. I mean really its like pissing off common sense. Her voice is clear, so you have nowhere to go before State Of America. Laura just channels her inner Melora Creager in that track. Break feels for me a welcome sweet left turn. I find it nice and endearing, I can identify it as something that will have lasting wonder for me. And its 3 minutes. Other tracks will hit. And you start to see how well it all works under the name Cygne.
  And Laura knew every individual that saw her, including me which feels like quite the honor. I thought that was fabulous. So she was relaxed. In between songs she gave extra insight into those that I've been listening to since the first time I saw her. There is a story behind Ghost that involves a haunted pizza joint....I think. Ah yes....Motel Room Blues #3! There was I think more than one track from Been Here Before. Walls....I think I heard that too. All those tracks are great with a band and they are intimate and impacting when it's just her and her guitar.
  
I noticed Laura does not use a guitar pick. I'm thinking now I should have written down the casual yet grand statements she says in between songs, about those very tracks, and about the nature of why we write songs to begin with. I mean seriously she channels Morgan Freeman sounding wisdom and coolness that she has packed on in miles traveling around the world and back.  Rise Up! is just kicking my ass right now. And while I do that, she releases Passenger 5th May. So there is no catching up to her. And I write slow.
  
Yet still her performances that I see I am compelled to document. I bought that and another LP Close To Home. Out of that one already two songs have grown on me Dungeon of Love and Blue Moon. Her back catalog actually stretches back, and there is a lot of music yet undiscovered for me. But it all started from Been Here Before and I recognized a lot from there. This live imprint will urge me to listen to new and undiscovered alike in one shot. She is blusey, cool, mysterious, introspective and still direct. I always feel wiser for listening to her songs. Its easy to identify with her statements. I feel fortunate to have seen her more than twice, and she casually reveals more of the moments that happened to make her write certain songs. Passenger now gives me more reason to want Cygne back to Chicago.