Breath Of Life. A random review

 Breath Of Life. These are from when I saw this band at a Whitby Gothic Weekend. I believe I bought like two CDs based on seeing this one performance. I also bought a shirt with brilliant art work that I need to replace. I had since lost one before being able to download it. The one I did not lose and so I have it downloaded, saved and archived is Lost Children. Thinking about this band carries a lot of baggage. This is in my Traveling To Whitby soundtrack.  So this band if you like, comes with with a windows view of a subculture.  That is not to say that BOL need and are dependent of it. This is just how I found it, all dark and lovely. You can choose to close the windows, but there they are and what a view I had into the gothic subculture. This is for you if you miss the days of The Shroud, Mors Syphilitica, This Ascension, Collection D' Arnell-Andrea....and a bunch of other bands from Projekt. This is the music that invited a costume, made us pull out all the frilly ornate movements. It was at just the right pace for goths to dance their elegant best. A parallel world separate but similar to shoegaze. But 'gazers are too busy looking at their Adidas down to notice the frock coat you're wearing. Every bit as mysterious and often dark. If you're a goth, its all one continuum. So lets just say this is on the gothic end of the spectrum....right. And with the right kind of sweet. The voice is not juvenile girly, but mature, like you're being addressed by a contemporary.

Noamina is a song on the Lost Children CD and is likely to stay in your mind a bit. Its the one that hooks, if at all. Its this one that brings to the surface This Ascension at least to me.  This one I recall live as well. It made us dance. It got me to spend money that I don't regret spending to this day! If that one song does not do it for you then that takes the gas out of me wanting to sell it to you. If Noamina does it for you then you got a lot to catch you up on. They are consistent without sounding like they are just retreading familiar ground.http://www.myspace.com/thebreathoflife/music

Rachael's Surrender

I haven't seen RS in many years. To give you an idea as to how long I was still using a disposable camera with film back then. That is a fucking long way back. I'm lucky to have the CDs I do. This show I caught was at Live Wire Lounge way north on Milwaukee Ave. Fortunately for me the gig was running late due to so many bands playing that night. Ruben Surrendr I'm glad to know for many years. I learned about his project Rachael's Surrender way back during the internet's early adolescent years. I didn't even know this was Ruben's until we both went to Whitby Gothic Weekend with Scary Lady Sarah. The name of the band I just found intriguing. Then I finally heard the music. RS has been through many changes since forming in 1996. They briefly had Elysabeth Grant before she went with Black Tap For A Blue Girl. These days and for a long time it's singer-songwriter Liz Nickrenz.  Unless I'm wrong, that's who I photographed on film and now on my digital camera. The voice of Liz is immaculately angelic and clear. In fact, everything is clearly heard, the drums, guitar, keyboard, like a house compulsively cleaned by a synth-pop staff. It's no strain to listen to lyrics. They are actually a fun and interesting read especially after having listened to the songs. You become personally invested in exploring the various and varied motifs all neatly and individually packaged in this beautiful synth-pop wrapper. As I write that I'm thinking about Prohibition Suit, Pirates, and Shadowloss .
  Every song has a well thought out....something to hold you to it, words to identify with, a narrative to follow. All three of these mentioned songs are from the LP Asteroid Love Song which can be downloaded right from the website which I will post at the end when I exhaust this rant. That works for me because I do have some of the CDs and my iMac had a problem downloading from one of them. And this band is local, from Chicago. It was stupid luck to have all three time, place, opportunity collide to provide the physical product...and shirt. As they say in Sound Opinions, this is a buy it, if you are there to see them play.  And it being synth-pop it also compels you to dance on top of everything. Goths love to dance.
  Live Wire Lounge is a small venue that I've been to three times to see bands loosely tethered with homemade gothic string. Most of the time, there is no cover. This place is on a north-west end of Milwaukee Ave. Street parking can be good to...fuck all.  It's not as bad as...say Wicker Park. This end of Milwaukee feels like a lonelier stretch, less congested with competing venues. So the parking thing is mostly better.  Live Wire Lounge is the kind of place that makes feel at home the various subcultures that like to wear black...metal, rockabilly, punk and goth. And yes they are all different. So Rachael's Surrender was right at home. It's mostly goths that listen to synth-pop leaning music. The bands that played there that Friday night were very different from each other, no real common tether. I left soon after RS finished their set. I think there are more live gigs to anticipate from this band and to know me is to know that I will try to make it to every one.
Zig.
Oh, here's the link to them!

Rachael's Surrender

Cross Record

It was not too long ago when I became a fan of Cross Record, the project of Emily Cross. I met her at a Killer Moon show and that lead me to see her band play Hungry Brain on Belmont Ave. She was kind enough to give me her double ep, and I was hooked when I heard Loyal Dog. Somehow that one stops me in the middle of 87th when I go jogging with the ipod. It makes me think a lot, and not always about what the song says. It just places more weight on my random racing thoughts, lets me know that they are important too. It snowballs from there to Black Cat...that one sticks out for it's sightly faster pulse, but still makes you think "what's goin' on?"  I actually thought it was Festival when I heard it......don't make me explain Festival. Emily Cross does beautiful, pensive rock. One can say that you are gently invited into her mind, but it's more my own that I feel invited to, and it is just her music that provides the flashlight. So for me its as much about pondering the mysteries of what you think, the interior castle as well as where you physically are at the moment you're listening. So 87th and Central feels a little more like a random corner of Twin Peaks...at least to me. The common place is wondrous again. And each time I hear this I'm pondering something different . One may argue that this is what all music does right? I guess I'm pre inclined to like music from CR. I also like Emily's breathy vocals.  This road leads backwards to bands like Ruby Throat, Bone And Bell, Angel Olsen....only with less weight on the sad, and more on the wonder. I haven't even begun on the new LP Be Good. It does not disappoint. If you like shoegaze eventually you may run into Cross Record. It's a permeable bubble the Chicago shoegaze subculture is. Songs like Cups in the Sink have that sound if not deliberate. I'm not quite calling it that...hmm mostly because I have not found CR through the usual shoegaze channels, but I can see how someone would at first listen, especially Cups. If I may venture to guess, I do not think it's what Emily Cross would call it. What she does I think is separate from that identity. Fuck it. If you are a shoegazer you will like Cross Record, you will be a fan of Emily Cross. Just don't brand her with the hot iron. That's not the shoegaze way, right?  I was not expecting Em to have new work when I saw her gig at Schubas on the second to last Sunday of December. And like the last time, she just gave me the download code for this new LP. That was tremendously sweet and generous of Emily Cross, and I am grateful for her kindness. . Dirt Nap is easily a favorite because it has this slow deliberate pace of a ritual being performed before you, a deeply felt personal ritual. Alright, whenever I say "slow". I don't mean boring or why would I write about it. I forgot who Cross Record was opening for that night I saw her play. There seemed to be a good receptive crowd for her. I did not get the feeling she was being ignored at all. Emily played with a full band. Anyway I look forward to seeing her perform again at Township 24 January at 9pm. 
Zig

http://www.crossrecord.com/index.html

Prince Rama!

I don't think I was even aware of Prince Rama as late as November. I found out about them when I was looking up the Schubas calendar. It really fascinates me how late these bands hit my radar because it means I could have missed them entirely. Even once I'm aware of them I could drop the ball by being late to the show. But I was not going to let this one go like that after missing so many gigs already. A migraine took the want out of seeing Lightfoils at Whistler. I was already recovering but I did not wish to risk its return, so I did not go. Then I missed the 8MM/I:scintilla show the following Wednesday at Ultra Lounge. I was just late to that. Then I missed Sabrina Chap on Thursday. And I've missed Angel Olsen at least three times.

   I was hungry to see something and Prince Rama barely appeared on my dim and saddened radar. This one gig has to make up for it.. Right now as I tear through Trust Now,  it enshrines and corrupts the memory of the actual show. Most of what played was from World. The songs on Trust are longer like 6 minutes many of them and they still hold attention. I got in front, right near the drummer, Nimai Larson I believe.  A medium tight crowd formed behind me, attentive and not casual. It felt like people that have seen them before. Well...that belief is instinct and baked into my experience of seeing a band. I usually think that anyway. But I've been to shows where the audience seems thin or indifferent even to the headliners, but not this time. They seemed to know who they came to see. I kinda didn't. I knew I would like what I came to see....that's it.
  Unguarded, open joy Nimai seemed to have in performing. Her drums felt immediate..... joyous and with conviction. I understand she trained in African and Indian styles. Nimai stands because she likes to dance. I got this one show to extract many impressions from the memory. Across from her is sister Taraka Larson on keyboard, main vocal and occasionally guitar. I'd like to say that her clothes betrayed a fondness for 80's aerobics, as does the second track of World. The look is completely delivered with her beautiful...80's hair....hmm, that could be just be how she naturally has it. There was a bass player between them.  Visually is the two sisters. They came in support of Top Ten Hits Of The End Of The World, most of the live material I saw. Wow, I made it this long without calling them.....psychedelic. There is no way around it. But you also have the club worthiness of Telepathe to push you through the fog. The drums that....are like say, Changelings or This Ascension, goth club friendly right there.  When I hear that word "psychedelic" part of what defines that for me is a willingness to drift away from you into a mist, almost allowing attention spans to wander and check calls on cell phones. Dance floor weirdness from Blades to We Will Fall In Love Again.  I haven't liked them like that front to back since Warpaint. Right now I'm cramming in both CD's. They are bricks falling on top of me. Each song eventually will leave it's individual imprint. Trust suspends you in the fog of chant until the middle then the electronic gears kick. But I can't be asked to pick a favorite either. Live they did not stay distant and mysterious. Taraka Larson had the audience carry her front to back. Both would carry on enthusiastically sharing the space with their audience. The last song they did right there on the floor. Perhaps I will have more to say about Prince Rama as the dense layers reveal. At this moment I am too in the middle of appreciating it's initial impact.
Zig

Magic Key

So I saw Magic Key last Saturday at Burlington. All of the new work can only be caught live.  That is so fleeting to me. So I go see it. Its culture worth recognizing. But that only happens if enough people are impacted and perpetuate. The second I became a fan of Queen Adreena/ Katie Jane Garside it was out of one show in Whitby England. I craved hearing stories from friends that have seen her live multiple times. It seemed to me a colossal wrong not to know her in the States. I became intensely interested in her music, her story etc. She is among other things a road that connects from her cousin PJ....and we call her Siouxsie, but Katie Jane just calls her abuela. Fucking hell I was going somewhere with this then it ran off....So I'm glad to have the long view of Magic Key. Its just my impulse to document this concert by concert. I especially feel it when you know only a fraction of it is archived or otherwise recorded. Some shows like that from the iconic Katie Jane Garside, are just going to be that one iconic show that you saw because of a series of accidents. Out of that show a tremendous amount of influence.

  Magic Key is something I've seen deliberately multiple times and I think it represents well what is cool about Chicago music. That does not mean that Chicago necessarily knows her back as much. Well....I take that back. She has been written about in the Tribune I think. And I've seen her with very appreciative crowds...mostly at Empty Bottle but also in many other small to medium Chicago venues. It still feels as if I can only speak of her among a very few. Or I gotta get out more....right, that too. I don't listen to much outside of NPR right?  So I don't even know if they play her on radio.  It used to be just the powerful voice of Aleks, her intense Farsifa keyboard playing, in a knife fight with the drummer Deric Criss, short-fused psychedelia. Now under the name Magic Key. Aleks has a commanding stage presence. Her recorded music, tense, dark and in a rush but vivid enough to paint a picture you become more and more in wonder about. And her outfits were always the best...colorful. Always makes me wonder what she will wear next. Anyway now I dare not describe the electronic instruments that she plays. It's not just her banging a keyboard. The layers of atmosphere have multiplied. The pace slowed but the fog remains tense. But at least now there's a trail to hike. Still, hmmm, remember in Buffy, you don't go pissing off Willow by killing off her girlfriend and then go hiding in Twin Peaks. So it's tension feels dense with storytelling weight. Its amazing to see Magic Key manipulate the tension with layers upon layers and then minimally, slowing down with just her voice and limited instruments, with generous parking space between those instruments. We lost Fielded, but we still have Magic Key. There is music to anticipate from Magic Key. I don't know when, where or anything.Until then we only have May A Lightning Bolt Caress You. And we have a long journey from that point. Its something I cannot help but document.

Zig

Agent Ribbons

This could have easily been just a fabulous dream in which I see the vaudeville-punk Agent Ribbons play Empty Bottle and with them was architecture, Rebecca Scott's other shoegaze project besides Panda Riot. You know how dreams just throw things together, have really cool people do cameo appearances that happen to know one of the bands. You have this vivid awesome dream in anticipation of the actual show. Only I didn't dream this. And the local shoegaze architecture did play the same stage as Agent Ribbons. Oh and cameo appearance. Natalie Grace was there and she knows the band. I thought she left for NYC. I'm glad she's still in Chicago and playing Coles 30, November.
  I don't think the two bands were even aware of each other until that night. Its not to say that they are incompatible. They just sound real different from each other. But in my head they were old furniture. In my ipod they are neighbors. I don't recall how I came to know Agent Ribbons. How ever that happened, it compelled me to see them the first time at Beat Kitchen. Damn nearly missed the whole thing and could not afford anything from their colorful merch table. So I have made it a point to be on time for them the last few times. And they were very nice after the show. So I am at the stage where I go see what I've become familiar with over time like Chelsea, lets go join the circus, La Noche  from On Time Travel And Romance. I think they sang Wood Lead Rubber. from Chateau Crone. Lyrics are easily remembered without being catchy and annoying. They are direct, plain and witty, and clear in how she explains things. So its easy to identify with.  This new release is an EP on vinyl called Let Them Talk. Its real tireless work touring like they do, often broke. The time they spend on the road makes the time spent performing seem instantaneous. They had I think ten more gigs after Chicago I think. Oh and they knew Natalie Grace! They are so enthusiastic when they play. Natalie Gordon as always takes her shoes off to better bounce around the stage. I get a feeling of sincerity with each song. What the fuck do I mean with that? Hmm, .......let me think.....open veins, and a sweet witty directness. You want to sway back and forth with a drink in your hand to La Noche. I have a soft spot for that song 'cause it reminds me of old Mexican music. And it takes a very special troubadour like Ms Nat to make you sway to I Was Born To Sing Sad Songs without the baggage of really feeling sad. I really like how that song is put together.  After the show talking to Natalie and Lauren was nice. I ran into Natalie Grace and found out she was friends with the band. Its nice to see the world small like that. If you're into that sharp wit of Rasputina, Dresden Dolls....just to name a few, then Agent Ribbons deserves to live off the music.

Zig

Man Is Man

Man Is Man is another one I saw when my iMac was out. They played Hideout with Bone And Bell. I was far too late to see Heather Smith and B&B. I think she was finished by 9:45. I caught most of Christa's Man Is Man. The new release is called The Birds Will Eat Us but I did not see it on any merch table. So I could not get it. Her stuff is scary dark. Rural-children-of-the-corn scary....not urban. Urban implies developed, tamed. Rural is on the outer fringe of that. Rural implies a type of isolation, with different noises at night. I heard it said that night by someone in the audience or by Christa herself, women should write more scary shit.  And people should write more about them. Well I do try....writing about them. Without the CD I have to go with what I recall. The crowd was a good size. I know it's Hideout, it's small but it's subcultural capital is bigger. She played with her usual autoharp. She had a full band but I think it was the last night with the cello player. That's tragic 'cause I really liked him in the band.

  So I always go to those words to describe Man Is Man. Sometimes I use "rustic" instead of rural to put in front of "dark". I'm not trying to dance around the word "country".  I can't bring myself to call this country music. For some reason I feel a distinction. There are things Christa seems to stare in the face and describe passionately without a sense of pity. She could describe to you Dante's Inferno like a dispassionate fucking tour guide. Tragedy, drama, loneliness, these are things you find in her music but you're not weighed down by the sadness. There are artists that do sad very effectively. They sell it to you very well. Man Is Man somehow empowers even in the darkest corners of your interior castle to make you feel like you can change your lot. Shit is happening but you got a gun that they don't know about. Yeah...listening to MIM makes you feel like your packing. I wanna say more...but there was nothing on the bloody merch table!
Zig