Slow Dance

On a whim I checked out on-line what was going on at Empty Bottle and found out about Slow Dance on a Free Monday. They were the headliner. I downloaded their free songs and went to their show. I was too broke to buy anything or even get past the door so I'm glad the night was free. It turns out their EP is due out soon, so that means that they will be back....one hopes. So there will be another chance to get the shirt that I saw as well as the EP. This was I believe their first time performing in Chicago.

I go to the Bottle a lot, and even if I don't see familiar faces, I see familiar types. You don't dress up that much for Empty Bottle. It's way too casual. I did not see anyone I knew, but in retrospect I wonder if the same process as I got them there. Or was it the other bands. Slowdance headlined but that can often mean a much thinner crowd by the time it's your turn on stage. Unless they really came to see you. So the crowd was indeed modest and at first spread out. Eventually some would concentrate in front. Their website says to go see them outside of their element which probably makes this the first tour out of their native Brooklyn. A lot excellent music comes out of there. I've never been to Brooklyn, and so the more I hear that place in the context of the music that comes out of there, the more mythological it seems to me. It's quite the shoegaze mecca. There is indeed a feel of that with Slowdance. It's moodiness is gray but not dark. Not real foggy like shoegaze. There's an alertness that almost is giddy. In researching them I heard comparisons to Debbie Harry from Blondie, and Nena w/99 luftbaloons. And that's about right, and it saves me from over-using my shoegaze crayon. I had no idea the lead singer Quay was this lovely. I noticed her before walking around but I did not know she was in the band. Her form-fitting outfit was simple, like she couldn't be bothered to change after waking. Ms Q is much too hot. She just is and so what if I noticed. If you look up the band you will discover that Ms Quay-Quin Settel is referred to with another name on Facebook, Momo. Ms QQS is the most well traveled member of the entire band. I think she's from California originally and has lived in France during grammar school.

We Are Hex at Abbey Pub

Ever since seeing We Are Hex earlier this year at Empty Bottle I've been devouring Hail The Goer. But one can say it's devouring me. And I'm still riding the effects of seeing them live that first time and now I got to see them again. Jilly is a crazy energetic performer on stage, and way cool of stage. The energy is spent after the show and so she's cool. The music is such that it's kind of required for you to go ape-shit. And Jilly does. She bounces around the stage, at Empty Bottle she went into the crowd. This time at the Abby there were not enough people. It's really not on them, the band. People are lazy with the music they listen to. So in a way, I'm elitist by default. So this second time I saw them coming and now I have all these songs that I now want to hear and see live. Scary Lady Sarah DJ'd that night and so it was nice to see her and William there. She always knows of bands ahead of time....always. A lot of music I listen to is filtered through her. SLS knows my taste well before I even enter the room. The show begins to a modest crowd. I believe this time they played from Gloom Bloom the CD before. Wait....I do believe Jilly said they are playing new music. I just love how Jilly moves, it fits right into the chaotic mess her band creates. She bounces, throws herself around and sticks her tongue out the side. All this just comes out instinctively. It's like Jilly learned to dance by feeling the music and reacting to it from the gut. It amazes me how often they gig.

You can't half-ass it, and they've been performing a lot. We Are Hex are workhorses. So whenever you see them live, know that the performance you saw is something they pulled out of themselves the day before and will do again the next day. The first time there was no sense of anticipation to urge me to go see them. I was just saving myself from a boring Monday night. So my expectations were modest at best. Rabble Rabble was the headliner and they always pack the place. I stayed for them. But my curiosity compelled me to see WAH. I believe they played a lot from Hail. It's impressive how separate the songs are from each other. By the time I reach "Cutter/Giver" I'm not thinking about how similar it sounds to like two three other songs. My attention is firmly and entirely on each song as they play and that's because that is how compelling each song is on it's own. Don't let the dirt in here" has this part that Jilly starts in mid-song from a languish to a shriek chasing you and the rest of the Ghost Adventures crew out of that abandoned hospital. "There's gotta be something more!!" is the battle cry that repeats until exhausted....it's probably the only time I think I know what Jilly says. They don't tread on the same paths. Garage rock becomes just one side this band has. They got that pre-harnessed primal energy of garage rock. But they got multiple speeds, they can slow down in mid-song. You catch your breath, and enjoy the wonder. The way you do when you see a string of abandoned homes and wonder at how they got that way. It's not airy/fairy stuff. The scary fascinates. And then you don't know what to call them. Garage rock becomes the most eye catching thing to call it, but not the only thing.

Ringo Death Star

It felt like a long time since I've seen Ringo Death Star. Awesome name for a band. This was my first time. I think it was for a mid-week shoegaze fest that Scary Lady Sarah had at Darkroom. My friend Philly Peroxide or Scary Lady Sarah posted a song from them at The Shoegaze Collective. I believe the song was "Summertime". I loved the song but when you have withering funds, you don't even want to window shop, but there they are on my radar, and then there I was in front of them. They were promoting the CD Colour Trip. Well, at least that's what I came home with. Even as I researched them my first impression is still this live performance. I did not share in the anticipation that my friends had for them. It was just so apparent I had to trust in their word, in their natural enthusiasm. I said shoegaze right? They were loud and had the engine of punk. But not the anger. In retrospect RDS remind me of Asobi Seksu only with a breathy male vocalist. I gotta say this, the bass player Alex was lovely. She sang as well. So there I am in front of her, and I'm really digging the band. They bring that wonder that naturally comes with the gray fog of shoegaze only they don't just walk you through it, casually, aimlessly. There is an urgent force driving you through that fog. Live, you would not know this as shoegaze. Such bands usually don't inspire mosh-pits but Ringo Death Star did....alright with two, three people. They even let some of the audience play the guitar. Normally this looks like the show is devolving out of control, the band goofing off and all. But apparently they knew what they were doing, and were in full control of their performance.

Austra

So on the weekend of Pitchfork I saw Austra for the first time at Empty Bottle. They are this dark-sounding electro band. Wait, Wait.....I said Empty Bottle. Their darkness is incidental and not deliberate so as to not scare off the indy crowd. They are but one Bauhaus shirt away from being a goth-electro band and that would almost put us all in Darkroom. They weren't taking their chances. The two back up singers were roughly dressed alike. The one closest to me appeared to have this unibrow but it's just her make up. My gaze kept steering towards her, because that struck me as so Frida Kahlo. I liked how she danced. She had real stage presence. There is something that feels original about Austra. Lyrics are thoughtful and thought provoking. You can just take out certain phrases as sound bites, but that's for later when you got the CD and lyrics to read. Perfect for goth-clubbing. I mean this is something Neo can really abuse. Very electronic sounding and yet I see all these conventional instruments. Still I'm no musician. The lead singer Katie Stelmanis I assume had this way of dancing. Her hands moved like a witch conjuring something scary from ......something more scary. She wore this gold thing. The crowd was huge for them but I don't recall anyone dancing. I'm still working through the songs. I'd rather post the pictures now rather than wait for the words to describe them to come out.

Salem Bitch Trials

So last Thursday 21 July I saw Salem Bitch Trials, a local riot grrl inspired female-fronted punk band on a mission. They played the fourth floor in this place called Multikulti near the corner of Augusta and Milwaukee. I missed them this one time at Reggies, so it was a mission for me to see them this time. At Reggies I bought the music and shirt and that compelled me to go on time to this gig. SBT is awesome. I'll write more on them as I collect the words.

They are about the message, the mission as much about the music. It was not my intention to use alliteration...sorry. Right from the name Salem Bitch Trials you know the band exists because they see something wrong with the world and they intend to see this wrong corrected. OK, now I'm gone.

Staring Problem

As I listened on the ipod and became familiar with their music, I felt the sting of missing them that one Wednesday night at Whistler. The void of that moment you fill with an idealized portrait, made more vivid for being absent for it. Well I didn't entirely miss Staring Problem. I bought the tape and downloaded their music, got two pictures of the band. Between then and this time at Ultra I was becoming this fan of Staring Problem. It wasn't just me seeking songs out on the ipod. The songs play randomly in my head as well. Tegnology got my attention first, but now it's more. And each song strikes differently it's own resonant imprint without sounding too familiar. That's the thing. It has to be familiar for it to resonate to begin with....most of the time. And they have their influences. But it does not feel like they are treading too closely to them. They have just the right sense of urgency in the bass. Urgency that is expressed fast or slow, balanced with a casual vocal delivery.

Its a wonder for me to see this live in a small place. Staring Problem is from Carbondale, Il. I'm always curious about where a band comes from because I see them as perhaps indicative of what can exist there. So this makes me curious about Carbondale. In researching the band I ran into a little something about Carbondale. That they have one of the oldest "basement scenes". Instantly I want to spend a week there just to know that for myself.

I noticed how Pictures Of Morrissey In Jake's Locker was a little faster live, as if they saved a little something for the live dynamic performance. I didn't notice anyone dancing that night at Ultra, but everyone seemed concentrated on them. This is the kind of post-punk( if I may call it that) does induce movement. Empty Bottle material. Goth-club material. This is something goths can dance to, something we can assume as our own. I notice how gender neutral Lauren's voice....feels to me, not sounds...feels. How do I explain that? It's not that ....girly sounding. Having said that. I do like "girly", but that is not what I find here. A feminine voice yes, and fronting a band that gets comparisons to Interpol on youtube. It's noteworthy the calls to tour Europe. I believe a female voice can indeed speak for a male point of view. Just listen to Anna Calvi sing "I'll Be Your Man". It totally works.

So I walk into Ultra Lounge knowing who I will see. The place is bigger than Whistler. It's divided into two rooms. It was my first time there. This place Ultra Lounge is within walking distance of other venues I've been in. Its on Milwaukee Ave close to Whistler and Coles. The Congress is also right there. Well, Ultra is the one closest to Congress. I actually liked the band before them but that's for another post. There was a good, attentive crowd. I noticed right away the Depeche Mode T-shirt on Lauren(?). I had this shirt years ago. It is no common high school relic. It represents an influential band during an impressionable time. So this DM shirt Lauren wears evokes some strong memories, what can I say. I wear band shirts all the time. I can't wear what I don't know or don't like...perhaps I'm just projecting.

Moritat

Moritat headlined this show with Pezzettino. So it's not that often when three musicians that you like are in the same room. I say three because I include Julie Meckler. She did not perform but her appearance is noteworthy for me. My expressionist-film dream-sets can cast these three together easily, sure, but it's nice to see the stars arrange themselves into the constellations we observe. I've always liked how Venus plays the keyboard. It's different from what I normally look for. Aleks/Eva, Kristeen Young, Amanda Palmer, these are keyboardists that are individually dramatic, over-the-top, aggressive and urgent to express their point. All this has the common link of wanting to be observed. The keyboard sounds from Moritat are relaxed and in no rush to tell you anything. The other bands build towers, Moritat builds you a finished basement. The keyboard is deep, relaxed but not boring or slow and lethargic. So the music catches your attention without seeming to want it. That is how Moritat has hooked me with a lot of their songs. And yes Venus does indeed play guitar. If you follow the band you know that her comfort level is with the keyboard. She learns the guitar well. I'm just a fan what do you expect me to say. It's like PJ Harvey suddenly wanting to play guitar.