Loma

  It was a little painful seeing this from way in the back. Its not how I pictured it in my head when I knew this was coming. Its my fault for arriving when I did. But, I did see the whole show. And I got to talk to Emily Cross after the show. She was so sweet and kind to remember me. Cross Record's Wabi Sabi is fucking brilliant! So the new Loma debut under Sub Pop is brilliance building on top of a foundation that I can't help but see. I see the Aztec temple under the Sub Pop cathedral. Like with Star Wars, some characters come with deep sub text, a greater back story. ......I'm glad for Emily, that Sub Pop has her back. All my Cross Record memories are sweeter now. The physical CD's of the double EP a treasured relic of the archive. Because now, I'm hearing the whole Loma CD. And I don't know how I would get the back catalogue that I do have. To work backwards from Loma and to find what I got now...hmmm. OK, I did dwell on that a bit much. ....I tried to kill it earlier. Alright....I'm staying on Loma...now. Loma was selling me already with some of the videos on YouTube. Dark Oscillations, Relay Runner, Black Willow, they all strike you without telegraphing the other. And now on top of that the videos are great. Hmm, well let me see. I can't really use my shoe gaze crayon. I'm still saving that for Lightfoils.  I got the CD and shirt. Now I can hear it in the car. And wow do these songs hit me. I Don't Want Children was deep and sweet, and actually romantic. Has a fleeting hint of Bjork's Pagan Poetry. Emily's voice floating delicately with the heaviest of words exploring romantically the what ifs of having a boy, a girl while stating clearly what is not to be. The music sometimes reminds me of one of them wind up musical boxes playing some sad shit, like on a harp. Emily in breathy whispers lays out plainly and beautifully over. That song just fucking took the wind out. It reminded me of Pagan Poetry and then it gets deeper. Relay Runner is fun. It shakes away the seriousness of the previous track, while still channelling Aimee Mann. The last time they were here as Cross Record, I could barely recognize what they played. In their hands their music is more fluid and flexible. I can hear in these new songs where the gears would permit some flexibility.
 

I'm really glad I got the lyrics to read and ponder on. The music really imprints that way for me, when I can read lyrics. With Relay Runner you also get these easy to catch phrases that work on their own as headlines. Dark Oscillations I like especially. The music reminds me of Bela Lugosi from Bauhaus only with Emily's wise words.....and its not fucking 9 minutes long. It has that tension of something slow with an impatient urgency behind. Perhaps I can go on about how deep and smart the music and all that. I can say that I'm sold on Loma, and Emily Cross! I was glad to see you back girl! I was not going to take pictures from as far back as I was so along with the painting I have found some pictures from Cross Record at Double Door.
  After seeing each of the videos, the songs rotate regularly in the mind. Not in a bad way. My mind gives the songs welcomed time and space. In a way you buy the merch to obsess less about it. I seem to obsess less intensely with something I did ultimately see. I may write still the same but without the obsessive streak. This Loma show has traces of both the unseen worlds where my mental German Expressionist set designers, directors of photography love to color, and the have seen world where they work with a real memory. The Julie Taymor in my head is gonna take over from here. For not having been right in the front, a part of me feels like I missed something, but I got a weigh it with what did occur and who I met. And Emily....she remembers me from when Cross Record was still in Chicago. I got to talk to her a bit. I had my moment when she recognized me as I orbit briefly past.
  The drive could not feel any fucking slower. Cicero has that construction at Midway, and the ever present traffic slow down by Ford City. I made it on time for Loma.....I was way in the fucking back. I did slowly creep closer up. I did not want to shove my way up like an asshole. At some point I noticed Venus from Moritat/Wyys in the audience. We would hang around at the bar later, with two of her friends. Schubas the bar and Schubas the music venue seem to be different places fused together. A neighborhood bar in front of a music venue. I sat with Venus and her friends. Its been a while since I've seen her. Next to us were the most frat boy stereotypical bros yelling "shot! shot! shot!" These mother fuckers, do they even know they play music up in here?
  Friday, 11 May was a busy night. And I planned on going to see my friends from Lightfoils at Sleepy Village. Loma was playing Schubas, both on Belmont. To see both seemed like something cool and doable. Emily did a painting in the middle of their set. I think I have seen this on some YouTube video as well. I took a picture of the painting she made in the middle of her performance. I captured less on camera that night. But I can go on about the music I took home. I was hearing it as I drove to see my friends at Lightfoils. I had no illusion of catching any of their set. I know they got another gig in June. But I was playing Loma in the car while driving on Belmont, to see my friends. I park right near the place by accident. Go in to say hi. Oh hi, y'all. I just saw Loma....right thar' at Schubas. Some of my friends from Panda Riot are into Loma. Rebecca had Black Willow down! By mistake I thought at the moment it was another song Joy...my mistake. So I ended the night chillin' and going on with my friends from both the Pandas and Lighfoils. I binged on whatever I could of Loma while driving to Sleepy Village, and then home, and...well now.
Zig  

Pixel Grip

 
  I saw them at Co Prosperity Sphere, and I will see them again ...at least that is the plan. I only recall seeing them once before at Emporium with Born Days, and Jovan, Spaces of Disappearance. Spaces was also performing at Co Prosperity, but I did not make it on time for Elaine's set. I was bummed for that but at least I made it for Pixel Grip.  I saw Adele there as well. Co Prosperity is located in the  Bridgeport area of Chicago. Southside. That is such a novelty for me. The area around reminds me of how my old neighborhood of Back Of The Yards used to look to me as a kid. Perhaps even that childhood picture was too rosey to actually exist. Yet the postcard still does, and the area around Co Prosperity resembles it. A fascinating little walk from where I parked. For right now, I can't explain how I still made it late for Spaces, but that is just me always going on about what I did not see. Well allow me to go on about what I did see. That will make me feel better. A good number of bands from Chicago have this seeming disco inspired sound and they all manifest it differently from each other. This is no complaint. I fucking love it. Sexy Fights, Glass Lux, Fee Lion....There's another one, and I can't recall the name.  The thing is to write about them and capture in writing the differences that are there. Don't want to write the same thing about the different bands....Anyway...Pixel Grip.
 
  I cannot recall exactly when this was, before the memory gets too fuzzy, that's why I write it down. As I walk in and pay the cover, I notice Rita setting up. I wondered in that moment if she was actually taking down her gear. Perhaps they were done is what crossed my mind. I did not ask. I walked to the merch table to say hi to Elaine. Hey girl! Even as I miss her shows sometimes. I'm glad to see her performing with these other bands, just because I don't see it, it still happened. It becomes what is cool about Chicago. Elaine's band Spaces makes Chicago cool.  Her synth pop songs have many interesting beat textures that are dance inducing and still unique. She's in this fucking scene too. It don't really matter that I missed it. The tree still fell and it made a noise when it hit the bloody power lines. Hmm, yeah so Spaces is cool.  Oh, hi Adele! She is here as well. Now the show can start.
  I take pictures but the urge to dance to this bass heavy awesome disco sound is ever present. Try staying still for Soft Peaks, Diamond.  You can't. I saw your head nodding. Eventually, I just forgot all moves and just bounced in place. They all wear florescent green on black. Reminds me of TRON.
  So everyone performs differently. Fee Lion I've seen has her control, and that's cool. Pixel Grip's Rita throws herself into it, into the space where the audience is, bounces around, rolls around, its fucking fabulous.  Hmmm, so here I am going on about how they perform. I'm slow walking the memory, refreshing images with YouTube videos. Searching for the right words, a different way of saying synth pop. These are the local heroes of that sound....any sound. They are holding down a culture of music that reflects back to us. We can see clearly who they are descended from, who they sound like to us. Yeah, its all subjective opinion. And so we reveal about ourselves as we describe what we hear and see.  Its more on the sweeter end than Fee Lion, not as dark. Still bassy with lyrics on some songs that you can say with her. Burning embers and natural kindling that are unique to Pixel Grip flash away as I try to describe. 
Her enthusiasm is contagious. She gets the crowd into it. There's this YouTube video that was taken during SXSW, and its an awesome recording of her enjoying the moment with the crowd shouting "thank you!!....thank you!....."  Its nice to have that moment recorded. And its what I have available to see before they record it ......officially I think?  Anyway.....I was dancing my ass off in between taking pictures. And this band is from Chicago!? Fucking wow!!
Zig

Fee Lion

   Her slightest movements display a commanding stage presence that you can see through the fog's layer of mysterious. I was already into all her songs on the six track EP. Don't even ask which one of the six. They are dark, sleek, disco. Darker than say Golden Filter. Hmm. I think I may have said that before about someone else, well then, this one fits that description as well. Dark, sophisticated disco. I hesitate to add the word retro. There is only a slight nod if that. Only because it reminds me of Golden Filter and Chromatics and no further back than that. I'm not taken way back to 70's disco, or even Italo disco. Its glamorous and yet not cheesy, just way fucking cool. 
   These live shows brand onto memory.  Seeing Fee Lion so briefly in that venue on the 25th floor of Virgin Hotel, made us more determined to see her whole show at The Hideout. Shows there tend to start early, so we were on time to this motherfucker. It made a big difference not having to think about how soon to leave to the next show. We can just be fully in the present moment at the Fee Lion Hideout show.  It is such a small space to behold the compressed power of Fee Lion.  I like how she covers In The City from Chromatics. The song just suits her very well. I was right in front of the audience, and all people besides me seemed lost in their minds dancing and watching her. It was not just the music that set off the crowd, it was also the little movements she did. A performer on stage sometimes loses her shit and jumps the crowd, roll around the floor, however the fucking moment hits, not Fee Lion. Part of the fascination is in seeing her in full control as everyone around her loses their shit upon hearing a new song of hers. And this would be after the audience is already sold. All six EP tracks I've played up and down, in heavy rotation since seeing her with Ela Minus. She plays them and in between these two...I think two new songs she played.
  So...let me gather myself. If she can cover Chromatics, that says something, right. Fee Lion is kinda for you.  Each song seems to have that feel of being the only song worth hearing. Each track with it's own identity, its own balls to be the only one you like. And as one song imprints and you think that one will be your favorite, in comes the next and the next. Vision is brilliant! RE is brilliant! Ad/just is brilliant! You hear them in the car long enough over and over again. They get built up. And each one heard is its own separate concert once you hear it and see it live. You recognize each song in less than a second.. She plays them, dances in this way that just shows she is in command while everyone in the audience loses their shit. Fee Lion has this stage presence. You know how some of the best stand up comics don't laugh at their own jokes while everyone awash in laughter, and agrees and is in the palm of that comics hand. That to me was Fee Lion live. Well...I only glanced here and there, and I did observe in glances people dancing, carried in the moment sort of. She was really nice afterwards at the merch table, I bought the shirt. All of us that went together came back in a state of bliss. I'm so happy to have her live in Chicago.
Zig