Fauvely makes me think

 

  Cocteau Twins are thought provoking and dance inducing. They would make me think a whole lot more if I could understand what they say. Over the years I developed an appreciation....naw, more than that, for the quiet, intimate songs that just let you sink into yourself and explore your own thoughts. I am into this like that rare strain of weed that you follow a Vice television crew into Colombia to try.  Wait, wait....where are you going? What is wrong with my drug metaphors? I don't want to labor with this metaphor, its like I'm tagging my own fucking house. My point is made, let us say. What's wrong with Vice? Having a few vices around is what makes the world spin. Anyway....this is the soundtrack for the interior castle. Fauvely is now part of that soundtrack. This has me looking back to this early Videotape EP that has some intimate tracks as well. A renewed curiosity emerges a bounce back to Get Mine,.....for no fucking reason.  So I have been listening to it. Fauvely first caught my attention for being minimal, intimate and drifting. It was haunting, but not scary. Like them kids from The Others covering songs from Miranda Sex Garden.  Hmmm, actually them kids were really creepy. Damn these metaphors just fall apart before I even finish.....So this time I caught them....Fauvely at Burlington Monday 8 May. Right now, I'm about this band. Watch Me Overcomplicate This is the six track EP.  The Empty Bottle release event was nice. I took a poster down....alright, two. No...its not weird.  It just seemed like a bloody waste to trash them. Music, that for me is timeless,  will still leave behind time capsules. I like to preserve them. The tiny slice of time they take in performing in a venue is all too brief. The posters on that good hard paper, disposable to most but I guess not if you like the band. That is worth preserving as well. I know that sounds like a lot of intangible bullshit, but that is as best as I can explain the urgency to see these shows. I think I'm turning into Steve Buscemi from Ghost World, a very weird type of music collector. Still...not weird. 
 
So I barely caught the last song when they played Silvie's on Irving Pk. That made this one at Burlington no bullshit, a mission. After Empty Bottle its the smaller venues. Burlington is smaller and yet it has seen many of the same bands as the Bottle, and it has a nasty bathroom. That door might as well be a curtain. So it makes it one of the cool venues. A Monday night here is going to be cool....ain't supposed to be. There are too many forces at work that keep it that way. Fauvely makes Monday night cool. In part it is the novelty of having a band I like play a weekday night. I've had some time to listen and explore on my own the Fauvely EP. I go see them over again to best revisit the best memories of seeing them before.
  I don't have exact lyrics to read to be sure but phrases are sticking out like head lines. The title song had some with open vulnerability. And things that easily come out in thought and not so easily in conversation, "I wish I could think faster...I don't know if I'm happy", all of them reveal different shades of vulnerability, and that is difficult to do and still be elegant, composed. So I'm really into listening to words to see what headlines stick out as I mentally stroll in the German Expressionist/Magical Realist memory. For a Monday night, this is a sweet way to kill the time. And these are the moments that are in need of documentation. The individual performances matter to me. I need an iconic visual to lock into the memory. That happens when you see a performer a lot.  And you create that deeper iconic painting in your mind. I was gonna be slick and just record Break on video which is my favorite. I love them all but Break would be the one. So I got the space on my memory card. But somehow the fucking camera...malfunction! Fuck! This is some fucking Charlie Brown bullshit! So I gotta just take pictures. I do recall Sophie singing about her home town or something, that got me curious. I don't think she was referring to any one on the EP. Anyway that is just me rambling on.
Zig

Panda RIot/Impulsive Hearts/Wyys

  Long ago, way fucking back, I had a dream that said they was from Philly.  Yeah, Rebecca and Brian. Weird heh. Well since I've had that dream the Pandas have been playing a lot locally and occasionally touring east, then west. There is a lot that Panda Riot simultaneously represent. For being this work horse, playing Empty Bottle more times than fucking Jesus. Shut the fuck up. I know Jesus never.... Sit the fuck down. I mean they've done all the venues multiple times. Following them meant learning of Ringo Deathstarr, School Of Seven Bells, Warpaint, Pale Dian. And the closet with all the local band collection is over there....Don't fucking open it! Its gonna avalanche on top of you. In following them I feel fortunate in accumulating memory on top of memory. Culture does not exist in isolation. In following one thing there is a lot that you will learn along the way. And so yes indeed I will mention them other bands. For playing relentlessly local, they are a fucking Chicago band. She Dares All Things from 2007 is an innocent,  wonder paced stroll. Little doom to their blissful urgency. Rebecca's voice is clear. You can dance to the title song like Amelie discovering Shimmer at Slippery Slope. Its day-time shoegaze that gets you dancing at night. I listen to the tracks now, and they just chill you out to let you be aware of the moment. It lets you stroll through it like a tourist enjoying it. There's an EP Far And Near that keeps that wonder but establishes a real beat, a  pace is visibly faster and more urgent and with an awareness of the dark. Then this cute vinyl EP with Serious Radical Girls. The two EPs were released it seemed because it more represented what they played live. They were already playing from the LP Northern Automatic Music and for me the EPs  are tangible steps in that direction. It was what you can take home, besides the first LP they were not playing from anymore. Since Northern you got Jose' and those seriously urgent beats. And on bass you got Cory.
  So all this behind me is what I wrote before 17 May. On that night on Kubla Khan's stage they played all new music from their upcoming Infinity Maps. So I was only barely familiar with everything they played and...that felt great. I was in a state of total wonder again. And I loved it all, a fevered dream that I have to write down for the fragile vision to last.
  I parked in front of the church, I walk for Empty Bottle. I didn't want to miss Wyys but there was this couple strolling in front of me in a bubble absent urgency. As I near the door I can hear Venus from Moritat, now also the voice and keys for Wyys. They were on first. As they go on I take note of all my friends there, for what is Kubla Khan's dream without of a few friends in this mother fucker. There's Elaine and Adele. To them I credit my earliest memories of Impulsive Hearts, at Front Woman Fest . Then I see Cory, then Kon...and Cory the drummer for Moritat. All these faces I see as I hear Wyys. I am most curious about them because I am familiar with the separate components of the band.  Venus is from Moritat and Donna is from Beat Drun Juel and I am a rabid fan of....both, oh, you know that already. After hearing, and seeing BDJ live I am curious as to how Donna plays her guitar in this band. I am just used to seeing her play lead. What part of the engine is her. I have heard the two demos that are out and I hear Venus and I recognize her voice and keyboard....oh wait I am hearing Wildfire now.  There's Donna. The nuclear guitar solo. Hellz yeah. It was Moritat that first introduced me to BDJ. So now I also like Wyys. So I was way happy seeing this being mindful of who was present with me.
  There would be a constant swirl of orbiting familiar faces that night. I felt at ease drifting around them. I saw all the guys from Lightfoils who is the next mission 27 May with My Gold Mask. Between sets I drifted around. Conversations I can barely recall. Every performance impacted as if each show was a headliner and I was seamlessly drifting between three separate shows in three separate time periods....and no fucking TARDIS!. Hmm, So for a while when Wyys was on, I would forget who was next. For that brief moment fully invested in Wyys. The fog detached me from any expectation. So it really hit me over the head to actually see Impulsive Hearts next. And when they played, the fog detached from my mind who played before and who would play next. The fog created distance in strange ways. In the middle of Impulsive Hearts and Wyys felt like it was so long ago, like days ago perhaps. That distance can work in your favor when the band in front of you is awesome. Its the coolest to have Sorry In The Summer on vinyl. That's the LP released 2016. Its fascinating to listen to this many times over before having lyrics before you to read. You are just into how it all sounds like a surfer beach party soundtrack, a sweet innocence. To have Danielle in front of me while I occasionally figure out the best angle for a picture, is the best. This moment would repeat with Venus and Donna and Rebecca. I'm all for taking it all in with your own fucking eyes but them eyes recall best what you take down with that camera. Before Sorry, there was the self-titled EP released 2014. This time worn familiarity grows a fondness that blisses out innocently to the dark serious MDB. I'm dancing to this and the lyrics read to me like its about a Miss Daisy Buchanan trapped in a dangerous relationship I believe. Immediately I am reminded of Aimee Mann when she was in T'il Tuesday, Voices Carry. And also, Heather Fortune from Wax Idols with ...hell, all of American Tragic. They make me mindful of that extra layer of suffering, even as you are dancing away. 

     Reading lyrics from the LP sleeve is fun and seriously insightful. The songs imprint themselves over again and so when I danced it was with greater conviction. To some I just danced away, distant was the band before, the present felt more imposing allowing no thought about the future. So when Impulsive Hearts played, I was into every song. A part of me forgot Panda Riot was next. It felt great to be only vaguely familiar with their set. Everything was from the new upcoming LP. I was dancing to all of it like Snoopy and all the fucking Peanuts were there. After the show I bought from them two shirts. Brian was kind. Yeah Zig, here's a medium. I'll throw in this XL..... It was greatly appreciated. The Medium I can aspire to fit after I can do more than 10 pull-ups, 40 push-ups daily. And have the cardio of a fucking zebra. The XL I can relax in now and start on that cardio. So I've just said my second round of good bye's and this time actually head for the door with the two shirts in hand. It's note worthy how nice and dry it was outside walking into the Bottle. When I opened the door to leave it was pouring, pounding rain, with thunder and wind. It was no fucking bullshit. It was a drunken slap of "fuck you bitches" by mother nature.  I was slapped the fuck back. I had to make sure of this so I observed the reactions of others leaving. Pow!! The same as me. And these bands have yet to load their gear.  The wind blew the rain side ways in pulses, and into this Donna walked with gear in hand covering her face with the other.  Donna has left the building! As this is still Kubla Khan's dream such an act seemed defiant of far more than the rain.
Zig

Crystal Bright and The Silver Hands

  Its barely dawning on me the significance of what I saw with Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands. I barely become aware of this show a week away and I don't even recall how. What led me to that name Crystal Bright I don't recall that....does not matter, it don't move this forward. We arrive on time to see her entire show. Underground Lounge is a nice hideaway in the middle of some busy streets. We parked on Belmont and walked a long rainy Clark that I barely recognize. The exact type of douche bro's that I see on TV are all over fucking Belmont, Clark and Halsted....and we gotta navigate around them and their conversations. Honestly what got me to even think Underground Lounge? These fucks!!...they are drifting in their world and I suppose here I am in mine walking around them invisible at best. I anticipated not having parking anywhere near Underground Lounge. So I obliged us to take this long way soon after we got off Lake Shore Drive. Its not really a big deal. Park....rain,  a walk among the douche bags. Its cool. And it was. I mean, way fucking cool!  I should have been stoned cool!  Seeing her live brings me to see more of her live shows on Youtube.
  I bought Muses &Bones and heard it on the way home. I'm glad she played from it. There was a lot on the CD that I heard live. I loved everything. On the merch table, the shirts, the other LP, ...The 2011 LP will be this reference. But I wanted to take home everything. Andugu is so savagely awesome! I so should have just danced to this one. Really, the room stoic yet appreciative, did not lend itself to dance. I'm dancing my ass off now with the videos from Youtube. There's this one from North Carolina where the camera pans to the audience and they are all dancing. It was beautiful, unguarded, happy dancing like in The Peanuts.

  I can see how the steam punk scene likes her. Her music seems to come from this mysterious contemporary, parallel other period. And she seems to be a master of all these instruments, drums, accordion, saw, andungu,...keyboard. And its not just that. There is something of the culture that she absorbs from the instrument. And this is crazy evident with Andugu. The accordion brings in the old world. Crystal Bright played in a mariachi band! I am blown away by that. She sang songs in spanish. Has studied flamenco in Spain. That is significant to me. You know what. I bet she knows Lila Downs. I mean know who she is and all that. Anyway, It makes her music weirdly familiar to me because I grew up listening to spanish music, and woven into that experience is listening to mariachi. I honestly felt thrown into this other-worldly period. I'm almost sure she played Fall of The Seraph . I believe she played a good deal from Bones. She mentioned one about Sherlock Holmes I think. I'm glad I have this tangible CD that I bought to support. I get to listen in the car, and I'm a fan now.
Zig

Before they play.

 I usually write after. This time I want to try writing about them before the show. Instead of just anticipating them all and doing nothing with that. So here are some of these bands that I want to see for May 2017.

Beat Drun Juel
 Satisfy is a signature song from them, well for me. Its on Youtube. My first impression was that they sounded to me like PJ Harvey. And Like PJ, Donna is a gifted guitarist. Donna often loses herself in her performances, trance like and instinctual during her guitar playing. When she plays guitar it seems to be another genuine voice, and it is fascinating to see. Aggressive is an easy word to describe them, but only when being specific or it is meaningless. I mean, everyone is described as aggressive, right?  The aggression comes directly from Donna, often her voice and for sure her guitar playing. Its the whole band, yes, but she is the tip of the spear as well as the metal the spear is made from.  Alright, alright, that sounds cute and all...right. I have seen her solo shows. Donna can bring the intensity up with just her voice and guitar. Her guitar solos have some fucking balls. And there is that urgency and tension in her voice. It builds a structure that promises to crash and fall. There is no whine to her blues, but Nick Cave style coolness. And there something old about Beat Drun Juel, a natural maturity, a blue's maturity.  So I am like the one hundred person to call Beat Drun Juel aggressive, right...and so are many others, I understand. What is also evident is how great a guitarist Donna is.....damn, I said that in the beginning already.  The skills are in the bones, in the muscle memory of her hands. In many ways you see two performers on stage.  Her EP Off Your Face is a mother fucker. And This Is How I Get Over You. And it feels like its just the beginning. Let It Out lights a series of short fuses with Donna screeching...well Let It Out. Donna has such an awesome howl. Satisfy starts out intimate with her low womanly howl that crashes together with all her instruments. She climbs a series of mountains and then causes an avalanche.....on purpose. Its dominant and cool when not just intense. Her resting state is cool. Awful World swaggers as it slows down. I See You is like sung from a tight rope.  This is who is playing Friday 5 May with Walking Bicycles.

Impulsive Hearts
 Chicago Surfer beach rock.
I have not surfed. The closest beach I know is still by a lake. I once went to Miami to see some friends there. They took me to a beach, a real fucking beach with an ocean. The vastness of it. I almost had a panic attack. I felt as if the ocean could swallow me up. So my concept of surfer-beach party rock is a work in progress. This concept does include a mention of Impulsive Hearts. Sorry In The Summer is the bands first LP and it is the best! I am a fan of every song. Before that it was a self-titled EP with four songs. Danielle's voice is breathy, almost like a loud whisper. She disarms quite effectively and behind the green screen after you've pretended to smoke a bowl while pretending to surf in the lyrics lie distress, depression. You've sad-danced your way into the third song before you know it, but so many of you have done that already to Joy Division, and Cure and the DJ is damn near sick of hearing you constantly requesting them. I'm not saying at all that she sounds like those bands. The music puts you surfing in front of those blue screens. And yeah, some of y'all are smoking. I don't judge. I was first alerted to this awesome band by another rock star, Adele from Axons. No....I'm not putting rock star in quotes. I really mean this, Adele from Axons is a rock star for me. When she says this is a favorite of hers, I fucking listen. Anyway, she told me this at Front Woman Fest. I think the first one. They've held them all at The Burlington. Impulsive Hearts will play Wednesday 17 May with Panda Riot, Wyys at Empty Bottle.

Walking Bicycles

  Among my favorite memories of Empty Bottle are with them. I feel at ease around them, they are my friends. I think it was 2007 when I first saw them.  They woke a taste for local music that was dormant before them. I think for me they sound more post punk than blues. Due to my occasional travels to England, I was looking more towards what was going on over there. I came back from England with an obsession with Queen Adreena, and Katie Jane Garside who was the lead singer, Soho Dolls from London. I can fucking go on. All that was over when I saw the Bicycles....Well I still fucking love Katie Jane Garside, but perhaps my point is made.   More punk Siouxsie than PJ blues rock are Walking Bicycles. The bass rounds the edges, is the first blunt and heavy weapon that is still light so they stride like a parkour runner in the urban ruins.  This has the bounce and energy of death rock...without being death rock. Its darkness is natural and without intent. My first time seeing them, I thought of this as a good band to talk with Sarah about. It turned out she already knew them. It was one of them moments that made my friend Sarah so magnanimous to me. She would already have history with bands I was barely discovering.  Jocelyn's voice is slightly hoarse. Her voice is comfortable in the grey like a narrator. I don't remember what got me to go see them that first time. You know what got me to ask for the night off my third shift job on a possible heavy Monday night. Wait...I do remember. I had bought a CD of Aleks And The Drummer at Reckless Records. They were on first and so that is what got me on time....yeah. Bicycles were second and then The Dials. Welcome To The Future, Whirling Dervish, the songs that made me a Bicycles fan. Future is from their 2006 Disconnected. They don't actively play from it, and that's cool. I'm saying in case you like what they do play live, consider buying it as well as To Him That Wills The Way. That is what they play from live. Its intense, light on its feet and hits heavy and cool. And no one moves before y'all hear me call Walking Bicycles dark as urban hell. No one has better moves in this hell than the fucking bicycles. So is defiant with its combo sharp sprints and tense in its brief resting moments. They all have signature combos of blunt punk intensity that can take off like a muscle car.  War Paint, Faster Than Light. And this is a punk anger that is old as well, a maturity. I mean all of them really. They are writing and playing new music. They are playing Emporium with Beat Drun Juel 5th May and I cannot wait for the combo of them bands.  I need to post this before some of these bands play.
Zig