The Bad Signs

I maybe caught like the last 3 songs and then I bought the CD Black Magic Moments. Its 9 tracks of fucking wow! The Bad Signs came with Ringo Deathstarr. Lightfoils opened the show at Chop Shop. They are from Nashville. They have already been featured in Noisy.  They were founded by members of the punk band the Blacklist Royals and fronted by country singer Samantha Harlow.  All the crayons that I was going to use on my coloring book of original and spot on descriptions are pretty much used. The store shelves are empty but everything but the most generic black. All the brands with references to Tarantino, Nick Cave, and I think David Lynch were used to describing The Bad Signs. Hmm, so I guess here I can chew on why. They are the three fucking kings of cool...with very different signatures of it that are present in the music of The Bad Signs. Its no accident that two of these names are film directors. The songs are perfect for storytelling, being in a soundtrack for some kind of Nick Cage cult movie. It was a matter of seconds that while reading and researching for this great band that I saw all three of these names used to describe them. And I absolutely agree.  I'm suddenly wanting to see Wild at Heart, Blue Velvet in one end of the spectrum and Pulp Fiction, True Romance and Death Proof. There may not ever be films with music from this band, I mean what are the odds. Imagine discovering the soundtrack to Grease without ever seeing the movie, or knowing there was a movie with it. Such is

that noir gravitational pull. Immediately they evoke in strong American noir colors, they paint you the picture you want to be in. They paint for you in sound the sequence of your best moments. They romanticize without being sappy. You want to be Fonz, but not when he jumped the shark. They are the Fonz after the show was picked up by HBO. When I researched them before seeing them my impression was indifferent to warm. It was actually unfair of me. I was just checking fast enough to dismiss them. That half-ass impression made me just on time to when I was fully ready. Now I can't get enough and marvel that the universe almost let me miss them. Almost....
Zig

Eve Black, Fauvely, Hobbyist...and then Shimmer

 
 I planned it like this.......yet even in this plan you must accept that it can all go south. Go to Tonic Room early enough to see Fauvely and then from there go see Rani's new band Eve Black at Martyrs, and then from there bask and finish the night at Shimmer. The venues were a short drive away in the same fucking North side. Seeing Hobbyist in between them was completely accidental.  And I need time with them....but wow were they crazy! As soon as Fauvely was done and I can say hi and talk with them, then I would be on my marry fucking way to see Eve Black.  And so it almost happened.
  Second Tuesday means Philly and Sarah have their monthly shoegaze night. This was ambitious and fun thing to try, seeing all these shows and finishing the night dancing to shoegaze. Shimmer is this comfortable space. I understand Slippery Slope reverts to it's natural state on other days but when its Shimmer, its for me.  Its special and it would feel way more coming in from all them shows.
  To my warped German Expressionist memory I was going dump all these fucking events and make sense.....    Yeah...that Rani.....from Resistor... Dream House...Girl Detective. I fascinates me to no fucking end that I can call Rani and Sophie friends. Seriously? Let me just stay in this fucking universe as a stray black cat.  And in this German Expressionist world of course Rani and Sophie are friends.  Let me tell you how small the fucking world is.  Its gonna shrink to a familiar neighborhood.  Resistor's last performance was Fauvely with Dorsia!
  Eve Black is her new band...Rani's. I've been a Siouxsie fan since high school, but I was not familiar with all her music. I did not explore any further than what I knew and was familiar with. I was not into seeing cover bands. In comes Rani, she starts Dream House and it was impacting. I had to confront this dislike for Cover bands.  I mean here comes this friend, I'm a fan of ......hers and she's crossing all these wires that I kept apart, and its fascinating...... I was reintroduced to Siouxsie and all her music that I knew and did not know as much about. It was fascinating because her own voice for Girl Detective is different from her Siouxsie voice and yet they are both authentically hers.
  Girl Detective sounds to me.....like Mono, remember Mono? They got that one song into the Great Expectations soundtrack, Life In Mono. Then add to that, Mira, this Projekt band from around 2005. Sorry, trying to genuinely pin down how Rani sounded with her old band. I was angry at myself for missing so many Girl Detective shows and Solemn Meant Walks shows.....that becomes relevant...this is how I tie it in. SMW is my friend Ami's band. And she played guitar for these Siouxsie gigs. I went to a number of them. I got to see and I got to know these friends.  I missed their shows, but now they are friends and that is way cool. The mystery remains for me...where the fuck was I when they was playin'......
  Fauvely has been getting written about a lot....and I fucking love that. I am curious as to what the wider world thinks of this band I like. It's a window out of my own bubble....alright, a filtered window.  Its great to see others give this band that attention. "oh really,  you like Fauvely"....do fucking tell, please. Fauvely  showed there is real strength in being vulnerable, self critical...even sad with their first EP Watch Me Over Complicate This. The live gigs were great because they were so different from each other, revealing living sides to each song. The band was still figuring itself out. If the music that you chose to listen to as the soundtrack of your best moments then surely it must matter this.........There was an evolution that I observed with each show.  I have seen Sophie's Fauvely in small venues like DC Torium and at Empty Bottle.  Most recently, just casually in the space under Subt's. I think I have seen more than a few at Empty Bottle.  She has played a lot lately because she is promoting her newest 8 track Tides, and wow! She is also playing new songs I think that have yet to be recorded.  I gotta say, I am into this! Tides is bold, dramatic.  It takes off sprinting uphill on rough country.  Its way different from Watch Me. But...it is not unrecognizable from it. It's still Fauvely.  As much as Tides is about her roots in Savannah. Fauvely still had to be a Chicago creation and I am fucking cool with that.  

  So these two band are playing the same night, but at different times.  Eve Black will play last at Martyrs which means Fauvely will play before somewhere.  I walked in time to catch some of the set of Fauvely. Hi, Sophie! You know this song.......you know I must come off like a trekkie nerd....you know, Jon Lovitz with the ears...trying to talk to William Shatner. I always feel on the edge of making it awkward.  The other side of that is I do feel at relative ease around them, they are all cool people. Hi, Scott! It felt good to have the time in between shows. I was not intending to even stay for the next band, but I knew for sure that I would not be into what was before Rani so I dragged my feet. It just seemed weird to not stay so soon after seeing Fauvely. Still I remember stepping out. Then, I wandered back in...I mean yeah....take a piss, tie your shoes, soak the place in. The stage of Tonic Room is weird...it just is. It was my first time at the place.  This foggy German Expressionist memory has me sitting next to Sophie when Hobbyist begin their set.  Originally I was just coming back in to take a piss, kill time, but certainly not intending to stay and see who is next....and she tells me to sit down, and I do like a good little Zig. And then now...Hobbyist drops a brick wall of awesome...we're not at Eve Black yet. I'm listening to Soulless Lies now and I need a fucking moment.  That is just one song from their self-titled 2013 release.  In seeing this and while seeing this, I had to step back and see how fulfilled was the night already, how abundant it was with these wonderful moments. These are not artists I get to see from a distance. Their struggle to exist as such is like salmon swimming against the current. So Hobbyist has to have their own post. Here I have them as my first time seeing them. And I saw them by accident after Fauvely. So now I say bye to my friends for real this time. It turns out, Rani knows Hobbyist, had them at Resistor.

Martyrs is a venue I rarely see myself go. Its not deliberate. I actually don't know why. Its way up there on Lincoln Ave. There is a band still playing before Rani. Damn, I was real lucky to stay at Tonic. So now I actually have time to wander around... hi, Rani! Guess who else I just saw.....and now finally.....wait, washroom first. Alright now, we are ready for Eve Black.

They keep reminding me of This Ascension, goth rock/ethereal. Also, Autumn, Changelings....Solemn Meant Walks . They are also goth rock with a heavy ethereal presence. This is kind of where Eve Black sounds to me. I like the two downloadable songs The New Horizon, To Breathe Again.  I was genuinely into every song they played. They have a show coming up 18 January, a Friday with Solemn Meant Walks at Underground Lounge!! Martyrs is more of a regular place. Its around the same size as Empty Bottle.  This was a long time coming, Eve Black, Rani's new band. You get hints of how great it will be, little confirmations that present themselves along the way. I was already into Girl Detective. Naturally I'm at least curious, if not inclined.  So when it does come around, on a Shimmer Tuesday, with Fauvely and Hobbyist....this is a constellation of starry moments that I shall put together as something to remember.
Zig  

Spaces Of Disappearance

  Elaine from Spaces of Disappearance sang as Courtney Love to cover some songs from Hole. This cover band included Adele from Axons and I could be wrong but I think Danielle from Impulsive Hearts was in the band as well but she could have been just in the audience. I forgot the name of the place. This night, near Halloween in this fucking place I forgot....bands get to do covers. Before Elaine belted out her best Courtney. It was a real effort for her I think she said, to have to do that vocal range all the time.  Her regular singing voice is smooth and clear.  I only had a casual awareness of Courtney Love, never really dug into her music. It's not because I would not like it. I knew I would. The hype around her felt like familiarity. That makes you not get around it until some friend of yours dress up like her and cover some songs with her friends.     There was a band covering Portishead. They were fucking good.  Elaine had her Courtney Love look down. I saw more than a touch of Daisy Chain Saw era Katie Jane, but that would have to be intentional on Elaine's part therefore I was over thinking her effortless costume. This Halloween themed event was supposed to be at The Mutiny, but they are unfortunately closing. So they moved it to some place on Fullerton way west, just past Pulaski I think. I forgot the name of the place, but it seemed to have a space for the locals and a back room for the shows. The building itself was old as shit. Was once owned by a burlesque star, I think. The place has history. I wasn't knowing this when I was walking in. Adele's husband told me. He's cool too. He was there this night. In shows I would go to see anywhere in Chicago, if I saw Elaine, there was Danielle and Adele somewhere around. They all got their own bands. I see all three of them hanging around together all the time during shows. This is what my German Expressionist memory can narrative down. Frontwoman Fest was on them. And through that funnel I saw so fucking much. I think that was how I saw Impulsive Hearts the first time. Elaine would play a few of these. Elaine's Spaces has crisp original yet resonant beats and synth. I would place her in the company of Fee Lion, Pixel Grip, Sexy Fights. They are very original and resonant in what they do. And this is what Elaine is as well with her band Spaces. She weaves a clear texture of sound even when the beat alone is slow. The texture holds you down and has you follow willingly. I call it a texture....I have no better word for how she puts it all together, but there it is. The common thing with all her music is that it hits that urge to dance like it's a gag reflex. Each song...hits...that...spot differently.
  Where ever she goes, her music will carve her out a welcomed home. These friends of mine, I am lucky to have. So is you is telling me these here three are my friends....shut up and don't fuck this up....that is a choral chant that is on mesmerizing repeat whenever my radar scans them together. Adele, Danielle and Elaine. So here we were in that venue that replaced The Mutiny.  There was an urgency to go see this show because I saw a FB post with a picture of all three. They were posting a picture of them after band practice. I thought it was the actual show, and I thought I missed it. I go to this one with greater urgency thinking it was a second gig. But I made it.....yay!! These friends of mine are musicians and I think their music should be known. Its culture they create that make where they live an awesome place to go. They create and they help others do the same....and then they let me hang around them like some lucky stray cat. That such people exist, yeah that part is easy to believe. They let me hang around them, that there is the incredible part.
Zig  

Ringo Deathstarr

  It is never lost on me who I see when this band plays Chicago. Its always cool because that field is
usually within my own parameters. Its usually someone I already like or have a curiosity about. This bubble is small. That is so cool that you have to snort it like blow, is this.  Sometimes its people that I am friends with.  I'm sorry...that was a fat line I snorted. I need a minute, this shit hits the head first.  Numbs the gums, right?  Well, you know you can't let it stay in your head. You can make a total ass of yourself. Anyway....I saw the Pandas, Scott Cortez, Sophie from Fauvely. Lightfoils...Lightfoils. This show at Chop...I am lucky that I can be at relative ease in this environment, that I can be an accepted animal in this ecosystem.  Ringo Deathstarr are made people, in the shoegaze world, they are made, like five fucking families made. They are from Austin, Texas. They brought someone way fucking cool with them, The Bad Signs!  They are getting their own post, but the experience was together. Their CD Black Magic Moments was fucking crazy! But once again, they are getting their own post. Back to Ringo Deathstarr.
  They play loud and aggressively. You need ear plugs to be near them, something, rolled up napkin, or you are fucked! They will blow you fucking ear drums out .  They will raw dog your ears like you is something special. The album I bought from them this time was Mauve, from 2012. It is now 2018 and that year, anything past 2016 really strikes me with such innocence.  This specific album I have will imprint starting now. I know its a product of a certain place in time. God's Dream I heard before and so shit will strike according to what imprinted first. And out of that fog I got Pure Mood somehow. Oh, and Colour Trip ....and all this because I like the track Summertime, not even the whole album. Well, yeah...the whole album, but not until way way later. That one song, days before the first concert I saw them.  As well as I can recall, that was Darkroom on Chicago Ave. So I bought that one when I could not find Summertime. Every thing I got from this band was from their merch table.

 Its always individual songs on their albums that hook me from this band. Sometimes its one song that holds me to an album until the rest sink in, like with Summertime. On Pure Mood Stare At The Sun and Dream Again have the main gravitational pull. I let the others bloom at their time.  Sometimes they sneak up on you when they decide to play it.  Also they are so abrasively fuzzy, that I can sometimes get lost in it. The songs kind of reveal when they are ready. That is how the shoegaze fog keeps its mysterious edge. Live, they kill it all the time.  They are masters at harnessing the aggressive fuzz and swirls of their guitars. Elliot Frazier's breathy voice is  chill and relaxed like on a couch, while his guitar wails away. 

Ms Alex Gehring with her bass blunts the sharper edges of Elliot's tornado swirls.  It was a cool show at Chop Shop. The band seemed to be at ease with the Chicago crowd, revealing stories about their travels, acid trips, places they hate....They are well traveled. They've played Japan and Europe. When I see them here, its always to a big crowd that is already sold on them. I don't know if I would introduce someone new to them. They are not for a beginner.  I don't got time to be looking over and seeing if they is into it. That's why it makes me happy to see the friends that I noted earlier. These are musicians seeing other musicians. Preachers and choirs and lowly ushers, and they are all from the same fucking denomination. We are the best possible audience for Ringo Deathstarr. Outside of that bubble, they get murdered for the name alone. For me, to a beginner they are the canary in a hungry coal mine. If you do not like shoegaze, or at least something like it, this may fall flat. And that's cool, more parking for me. I'm sold on them. Zig

Lightfoils

  I missed their part of the show at Chop Shop, but they introduce me to so much and I came home with more music than I knew what to do with. Lightfoils released their latest. The pictures I post up here now are of previous shows I caught. They opened for Ringo Deathstarr and they played Summer Time. That is the song that got me into Ringo Deathstarr. Perhaps I should have saved that for the Ringo Deathstarr post.  So Even as I missed Lightfoils their presence I felt and I took home their latest Chambers and wow is it brilliant.   It means something to me when they open for bands like Ringo Deathstarr. They are kind of a medium big fish, in the same pond Lightfoils shares with them. These are made people. Yeah, let's put it that way. It helps to put some other well worn metaphors down.  Lightfoils has put in the work to be known locally for a long time. I don't know honestly how well received they are beyond Chicago. That is something I am curious about.  Its possible you may like Ringo D without giving a shit for Lightfoils.
  One can argue that its too likely that one would already know both. Yeah, this was a incomplete dream gig to see as I missed the Lightfoils end. I cannot imagine their show went on without playing  This Time Is Up.  I'm still into the novelty of seeing my friends put a video with their new music.  I'm into this song. I don't know if this makes sense, but there are bands that I would use to introduce novices into a certain type of music. Meaning that....its easy to get into them. I think.  They are the gateway drug into a larger world and also into their own back catalogue. For me this is Lightfoils. This Time Is Up is the song. The curiosity spills over into what is next, what came before as well as hold your attention for the moment that it has you. The aggressive drums twist, stop and turn on sharp corners. The bass must then respond in kind, blunting the sharper ends, and creating its own impact. Then dueling layers of guitar swirling and spinning about in a near psychedelic trance. Jane's voice ethereal, surfs the aggressive waves.  
  Summer Nights starts with a more relaxed, familiar pace that sneaks into a faster almost psychedelic sprint. It's 8 minutes....but they don't fuck around with it. They don't make you hear filler shit. Its well worth listening to. I like the drums on Duende. It's the first thing to give the song it's pulse that is felt even in segments when it is absent. On this foundation Jane's voice can climb and soar.  Its where the traction begins. From there all other elements can function with ease, sounding almost separate from each other momentarily like they can take it into a jam session.  Honeydew takes me to the crystalized reason I began to like them to begin with.  It takes me back to before Hierarchy, the fucking REMIX LP. It has that original sweetness. And it does something extra to me to have this as the last song. It feels like a reassurance. Something that says we are still us, and we are still here. I'm glad they are here and that this is where they are from. The Bitter Over won me over last....I researched mostly YouTube and then Bandcamp.   If the songs are long, the time was well spent. Its for me like when Warpaint decide to jam in the middle of the song. The length is not self-indulgent. Its cool, I would not want the songs any shorter. Chambers is great for every single track for me.
Zig