zanias

  I don't recall when but I do recall that it was a Linea Aspera video on Youtube that got me to learn about  Zanias. I see the videos and not really believe that you will ever see this live, especially when you see the short lifespan of the band. As if all the videos are of something that existed, and I missed. In the same remote way that you discovered for yourself so many bands, this is how I would learn about  Zanias. And if I really want a CD, I can do that too. Baked into the experience seems to be this belief that some bands that you learn about will stay far away, at best a used CD bought at Reckless. Linea Aspera had a short life. My awareness begins late 2016. Then I see this on the Empty Bottle calendar. Zanias! She's really coming to Chicago! And she was amazing. I arrived on time to see Wingtips and I'm so glad they are local. I want to see them again. I said hi to a number of friends in the goth scene, and stroll around the Bottle until Zanias. I didn't fuck around. I got ready and showered on-time. The usual dousing with rose oil, rose perfume. All of that usual shit that I do to make me feel somewhat confident later, on time. I put on my favorite We Are Hex shirt, the one with Jilly's eyes shock-staring back at you. WAH is totally the cult band I like to represent. They are dark leaning garage rock, gothic grade dark. My cat bore holes in the middle that I will have to patch up later. I want that shirt to have a long shelf life. Zanias was one more awesome show to imprint on the shirt. So I wore it.
 
  Only now after the show, am I doing more research. I'm hearing Keluar now. I came into the show familiar with only a bare minimum. I wanted to be overwhelmed by her live set. Zanias was by herself as I recall. One song she played I was already into from Youtube.  Yeah, it's on Keluar. Hmm or is it on Linea Aspera.  Damn...As this song hit, I think the crowd reacted as well. In the haze of a wondrous set.....something familiar to hang on to in the fog of amazing. There is a depth to her voice, hmm almost smokey. I'm kind of .....old, I can't have shit sounding too fucking girly, its weird. Or for some other reason weird for my age.....anyway. I bought the shirt. I don't think she had any CD's left. I was so stunned and tongue tied. I could barely utter to her when she made eye contact "Linea Aspera?". I came home with the shirt. I remembered she noticed my We Are Hex shirt. She liked the eyes on it, I think. I managed to say, "oh the are from Indianapolis...." So I came back with the shirt. I think Chicago was on the tail end of a tour that included Mexico City. I can still hear the music on Youtube while I go buy it.
  There is a natural darkness to her cold electronics....I know, its too late to be so damn obvious. That word, cold is often used to describe her sound. Cold implies a color along with temperature and eventually a season. That is part of what I think of when I hear this described as cold wave. There is a reason I saw some of my goth-friends at Empty Bottle. Something about Zanias is familiar to us. I'm hearing her and I get flashes of And One, and he's comfort food for the ears. Something about her is old. And so we are there. Its perfect for a goth night dance-floor. There is so much of it on line to binge on like crazy. There's Keluar, Linea Aspera, and now Zanias that I am crash binging to write this, to help me retain the memory. I want it more Ken Russell than just plain German Expressionist. Those are the easiest props to find in my memory. The easiest colors.
  I recall her dancing exactly as I saw in the videos in Prague. Ms Alison is beautiful, commanding and with casual ease on stage. For some tracks she beats a solitary drum stick. The instruments that over a span of bands are minimal and begin to form a signature tethered to Ms Alison. I could also in binge listening miss the differences. But I notice a ......signature, not as pronounced as say And One's, but a signature sound all alone to Ms Alison. And still within implied parameters, her music, and right now Keluar, Vitreum, can have this cool jam. It's been called cold, but the icy exterior covers a warm flexibility. They can sound like Telepathe, minimal cool weirdness. Right now, I don't know what I want to hear on Youtube as I write this, Linea Aspera, Keluar, Zanias. Its all falling on top of me. Its all brilliant. And she could only play so much of it at Empty Bottle. She played what I heard online, but now all these other tracks are assuming a place in my memory, in that disturbing Ken Russell style. They assume a place so that I remember them all.
Zig  

No Men

  This free show was scheduled to be at Double Door but ended up at Emporium. A friend of mine that I see at a lot of the same bands alerted me first to No Men. I credit him for introducing me to Videotape as well, so I listen to him. Then Ian's Party came along and I saw a posted video of them playing. I was fucking floored and hooked. I would miss their show for Ian's Party but caught this here gig at Emporium. Can you believe they moved to Chicago from Austin. Yes, you read that right. As in, they live in Chicago right now and they came from Austin.
  
 
  The power wielded by that single guitar is incredible. Its like he harnessed and trained a hurricane to storm the seas on command. And that control is fine tuned to when and where he wants a lightning strike. They have this ability to harness a sound that can fit an intimate space and in the next moment turn that sound into a raging metal avalanche. The sound they harness they can fit in small spaces, and the next corner its fucking Godzilla. They have that flexible intensity. This was from that one performance that I saw, and its something I want to see again. I'm a fan, hellz yeah.
  So, out of this one gig started a chain reaction of deeper research and appreciation with the download of Dear God, Bring The Doom and listening to the previous collection of the first two EP's "Houston" and "Maybe Tonight".  The two EP's were done when they were a 4 piece in Austin. It was one song that stuck in my head that compelled me to do all the habits of preparation to go see them at Emporium. One song R.N.R.G.F., pulling me in and I think I could almost hear it as I walk closer to the venue. I actually think they were playing it as I was showing my id at the door. I think they were finished with it as I closed in on the back of the crowd. I think that was still near the beginning. There were other songs that left a mark.  Right now, those are from Doom. Each track covers a wide range of textures of sound. Skiing down a mountain prone to avalanches, soaring above them those same mountains the next corner. Different and interesting struts down wide ranges of soundscapes Doom travels in minutes.
  No track wastes time establishing itself. Intense, fast, dominant, with a cool resting state, or a simmering burn.  Pursley the voice and beats a separate drum....is on fire when she does. Pursley fronts a mighty beast with DB on Bass/Guitar and EH on Drums. All this I write on the basis of hearing the music after. Time and thought is spent hearing the downloaded music. All this is after seeing them. What got me to see them was one song Rock N Roll Girl Friend. That song hooked me and had me driving with that worry of missing it and not eventually relate to the rest. One song sold me completely and had me go to this show at Emporium. I came home with a cassette and download....oh, a shirt that with some good cardio I will look better in. I will go to their next shows. They are local now. I am happy to know they moved here.
Zig


Pursley Voice/Drums
DB Bass/Guitar
EH/Drums