Videotape at Emporium.

 Emporium shows stretch past 11pm.  So this was kind of made for me. Glass Ceiling, and I've been hanging from it upside down since. Using Placebo in the same sentence of describing them puts them in a distance from what comes to me when I hear it. In this space they share with Broadcast. They are very spacey in their aggression. The Creeps as of late has reminded me of Placebo, in its kinda aggressive, assertive pace. Walking In Circles.....has me fucking stuttering all over again. I have to compose myself its so awesome. Its steady pace intimately begins and slowly includes more instruments.   Its a spot of light that slowly reveals itself as a sparkling baroque chandelier.  I can't even recall which ones they actually played.

This is perhaps my third time seeing Videotape this year. This was a Wednesday, after the Walking Bicycles gig. I can list some significant shows that I was late for.....there was this one basement gig at some home at U of C...never mind. I gotta let it go. Seeing them live sparks interest in the recorded tracks. The music absorbs and reveals on a longer cycle. Hell,  I think I just described how this works for all or most of what I choose to listen to. I look for what I caught that last time. I do not recall if they performed new work. I think they did, but at this point that is speculation. I was just happy to see one more gig. And I can relax. I have their latest work....and the one before, and I'm too broke to get anything else. I can listen with the comfort that I already have it documented. I have reached that point with this band that if they got something out new, shirt, vinyl, CD. I'm gonna want it.

 Sophie Leigh I mostly recall wearing black, different variations of it. She has a smile that is bright enough to use during construction season at night. This is the voice that delivers those sounds that I crudely represent with the names of other bands. Videotape is brilliant and I should not be among a few that know and like them. Oh all these are on This Is Disconnect. If you miss Miranda Sex Garden here is Videotape  with Chicago shoe gaze tracers that you can only see in black light. If you have developed a gag reflex upon hearing the word "shoegaze", this band is still for you.
Zig

Solemn Meant Walks

Solemn Meant Walks.....After a bunch of times of not catching them at all. After all these thwarted efforts, I finally sort of catch them well after their set and bought the ...lets see, the self-titled CD right there. What is cool and notable for me is that my friends from Killer Moon were there as well in the audience. I'm going to see them again at some point. Two shows of them coming up, one of them is with Spiritual Bat!!! Before the recession remember there was a Borders on La Grange. It was a nice drive out to there, a canopy of trees and beautiful one of a kind looking homes, that you will always want even in the smallest way. Well that's the background that projects as I hear some tracks on SMW. Yeah, early fall idilic drive down Wolf Rd after buying the Amelie soundtrack and The Gits CDs you had to special order. This is really an early impression, still in flux even as I try to write it down, pin in down. There is an autumn/early spring feel to this, black and white with lots of grey in between. You are brought to a near romantic appreciation of cooler weather, before the real cold newly asserts or just after its last gasp.  Ami Gloria's voice is deep, remote and echo-ish like is coming from around you. As I listen what draws me to eventually read and focus on lyrics is how they sound before any meaning settles. Fleeting had me in less than a minute. It just had this relentless forward drive that pulls you under. Then Vanessa breaks that up and chills you out, and still holds attention. Realizing takes you back to that happy-in-the-gloomy-chill muscle car drive. This is great! I really look forward to their gigs. Their shirts look beautiful....must get one as well.
Zig

Walking Bicycles.....To Him That Wills The Way

  The really cool thing about catching this show was noticing all the different bands that attended. I saw them from Bellwether Syndicate, Lightfoils, Moritat, all active bands. I saw Venus and said "That thar' is Sarah and William......" All these bands that actively swim along in my head and not all the time  are they ever in the same venue. And Sarah being a DJ I wanted her to be aware of Moritat. Oh and Toupee played before them and I caught all of their show. I bought their LP the first time I saw them and....wow! But this is about seeing Walking Bicycles and finally having To Him That Wills The Way....and the long hard road that willed it to exist. I was unusually productive writing wise that Monday 11 August. I finished a post I had in the queue that I thought I would never find words for. The whole time I knew that after this its Walking Bicycles time at a Free Monday at Empty Bottle. I'm so unusually focused on this writing that my usual procrastinating habits barely take. This is when some very close friends debut their work. I'm giddy like fucking De Niro in Goodfellas. Someone close to him is being made. Too happy to see what already happened.  I'm almost done with this post on White Hinterland when I found out about ......Robin Williams, and all this on top of what happened in Ferguson .....that happened while I went to see Lightfoils I believe.  I think about how fortunate I am at the moment, because the storm of tragedy can hit anyone.  Cops can be awful bastards, and sadness can be overwhelming. I don't understate to be cute. I could not believe this was to be the harsh light of tragedy that shines the little stage I chose to see Monday night. So thats more mindfulness to carry around to Empty Bottle. I needed to see and hear something with a substantial load of "fuck you" brand of defiance. And Walking Bicycles packs that into an LP vinyl. Hearing Vitamin Z on the ipod had me drag out those extra reps on the pull-up bar in the park like the Bartendaz!  Really...I was stuck on six and while hearing.....Its one of many that kind of breathe this air with a natural urgency. An engine that is a  rolling thread of calls and responds between the bass and lead guitar weave rapidly in sprints. Its like an animal that can stalk and then sprint in short power bursts. Now that I have the actual downloaded LP, I can kind of relax to be honest. Its not this elusive future recording. Many musicians I know have not recorded their most awesome material because it costs money.....fucking anyway, me and these rants. I can really enjoy these tracks as recordings that I can listen to and carry around. Walking Bicycles in my ipod are in close proximity to Warpaint, We Are Hex. I was nearly wearing down So and Badada.  Now I got all these songs crashing on top of me. Its Boethuis, Warpaint, The Messenger all have this natural urgent rapid blood flow. And Jocelyn's voice has this howling, haunting authority. War Paint starts and goes between this intimate whisper like tone this leap off a cliff. All these impressions are just sort of streaming from me. Back to the performance. It should not be taken for granted. Its to show that people can survive and come back, I find all this very inspiring. And so seeing Walking Bicycles is of special significance to me. Some of these pictures are of previous gigs.

White Hinterland

And on a Free Monday too! This comes on the heels of missing a Nocturna I wanted to go and then a Bittersweet at Berlin on Sunday that I also missed. So here comes this Free Monday at Empty Bottle I barely researched for. I checked half-assed White Hinterland before. Alright, She's cool.  I remember the decision to see her was done without a thought, and so, little research, just blind trust in my previous decision. I'll go....so I do, late....but somehow I make it to most of her show. I just wanted to see what it was that I was being late to. I still did not know.  I noticed a massive spillage of people just out side the entrance. Oh shit, that can mean something.  Another indicator for me is parking. I parked right around Roberto Clemente high school, that can mean a big crowd, right?.  All this is making me rush my steps, but there is a girl walking in front that I don't want to make her feel uneasy. I keep a distance.....There is something awesome that I am missing. I need to walk faster, but still. Damn, I can hear her as I show my ID. I actually catch more of her show than I believed I would. The show itself ran late I was told. I'm still processing how awesome the CD Baby its! Brian from Panda Riot was there. What he told me about White Hinterland made me anticipate hearing it in the car more. I don't recall if it was before or after the show when I saw him. I can ask him shit. I see him in so many shows. Casual comments from him lead me to other bands I like. Yes, there is a lot of work I can trace back to him but......oh, White Hinterland....Baby, right. So here we have another lone performer...with a very compelling presence. A large part of it is her voice but it does not stop there. Her voice indeed is something that carries heavy weight. Its something I can listen when the instruments recede around her. She plays from a keyboard. In researching to write about seeing her live. She was so nice afterwards. So now I got reasons to really cheer for her. In looking her up, I remember reading about her sounding like 90's R&B. And there was something vaguely familiar and comfortable in listening to all the tracks....Ring the Bell I can hear all day. Baby reminds me of Portishead with a more soulful voice. You are shaken with the chant "is this my weakness!" in the end but not before a set of dramatic steps of climb and fall until the crash. If you let the CD play each song is a new discovery. Metronome is awesome as well. These words are just poor hooks that hopefully lead one into supporting this artist. Currently No Devotion has a grip on me as I write this. It has this simmering confident stride that betrays good preparation for whatever can come from around the corner.  From there it climbs like its about to jump. And do it does eventually into a cloud that drifts many bands, not just one. And so I'm not even going into Sickle No Sword, you look it up...go!

away. Its not so much me listening to the words but feeling the sound of them and the dramatic....everything else. By the time you reach the last song .....Its the feeling of crash discovering
Zig

Another Panda Riot show

Another Panda Riot show. How many times is it now. This time its at Emporium Arcade Bar on Milwaukee Ave. I should have missed the show, I was running late for it. I had to drive a cousin back home....to Indiana, come back, shower, drive to this show that fohhck it I was late for.  Driving there was essentially another training exercise. I did not expect to make it on time. I park with the usual long distance from the venue. Its me never believing I'll get rock star parking. So there is Brian smoking outside off to the side of the entrance. Hmm, there is no...urgency evident on him. A casual slouch that knows there is nothing to anticipate for a while. Naw,.....that can mean anything.  Fuck, that can mean their set is done and he chillin'.  I've seen them a bunch of times, sure, but a thwarted effort always hurts. And I feel like a moron that was caught being a moron. I still ask.....as it turns out. The gig itself was running late. I turn giddy again. Does not help Brian much....the band has been at the place since 8pm and my happy ass arrived just after 11pm.  You know that scene from Jerry Mcguire when Tom Cruise is in the office on the phone with all those lights that blink until no more. The band before them was just sucking all the time. Its not really on them. I noticed a lot of their audience actually familiar with them. And I can start counting the people that I'm quite certain came to see Panda Riot. I noticed them at one moment, and gone the next. So there's time to kill on our side. I see Cory and then Rebecca. Cory is in Lightfoils as well. They got a new CD that I eventually want to hear and see
live.

I feel bad that I missed their last show at Empty Bottle I believe.

   Its an 80's video game bar. We watch Rebecca reach a high score on....I forgot the name of the arcade, damn. Its gonna bother me. Its an iconic game at that........I notice a number of singers of other bands that I imagine would have stayed for Panda Riot's set had it not stretched well into 11pm. Rebecca's partner in her other band architecture stopped to say goodbye, work in the morning. There were a lot of Panda Riot supporters that had to leave for that reason. It was a Tuesday night. I just barely arrived....early apparently. So I'm good. And they've been ready to go on for a while. Eventually the go on. They play familiar songs that they got in their new available album and new songs that for me streamlines and focuses the sounds, the things that drew my attention to begin with are tweaked and feel naturally matured. I still get that feeling of wonder from their music. Beats are heavier and faster thanks to Jose, more risk taking, more assertive, muscle. This is the first record I believe recorded with Cory. Some of these songs I remember before they became recorded and tangible. Its something to hear them and for the moment not have it to take home, and now I can. When they only had She Dares All Things and then Far And Near they were already playing from Northern Automatic Music.  Nice, something to anticipate. In The Forest (Some Kind Of Night Fills Your Head) is the first one I recall being able to call dark with a good degree of comfort. Black Pyramids is the the first to strike me as more assertive, confident. Its always fun to see Jose as the drummer. Through him is channelled all that joy and power. Its infectious and you see it in Cory. I hear Good Night, Rich Kids, and I can finally take that home and wear the shirt....just not in front of them. I have this inner fear of being seen as too obsessive a fan. Some tracks for me do echo back to She Dares .....and among those are the stark and cool departures that separate Northern. So at least for me I see a transition....an evolution within Northern.  And so for this late performance I can hear a lot and not feel like its sand passing through my hands. It does not twist and fade in memory. And it all begins again with them playing like two new tracks I think.  They are not done and there is a lot of work to anticipate from them.

Prince Rama

My camera was broke for the duration of this show. So I took pictures with a borrowed iPhone. Still I'm glad I caught it. They also screened the 15 minute movie made based on all the Prince Rama songs I think from Top Ten Hits Of The End Of The World. That and Trust Now I have not stopped listening too. They are dense with night-time and day-time spacey, beat driven psychedelia. Call them otherworldly and that is but a beginning. They would further add seasonal differences. I'm going on what they said in interviews. I regularly hear otherworldly shit. Sometimes, it puts you to sleep. I give sleepy otherworldly CD another go....and I fall asleep even sooner. That's not even possible with Prince Rama. They know how to hold attention in a trance as they repeat Trust.....Trust. I can trace the worlds of music that led me to knowing Prince Rama. Not many of those can I hear an entire album at once. Nimai is an active drummer. She stands and dances as she drums. I think her primary influence is African drumming. Her enthusiasm glows and is evident on her face. I recently read that Nimai just quit alcohol. I am overjoyed for her. When one is a fan of a musician as I am of Nimai and Prince Rama, their success is personal. It means something to me that she is a happy person before everything else. I see this thing and I go home, sleep and bask in the after-glow, (or go to Neo if its a Wednesday night). Prince Rama....the sisters have to drive the long hours to the next stop on tour.  The more I read about them, the more I like them, basically. They are well rounded, intelligent artists and what I saw at Hideout is but a fraction of it. I was happy to see it all again.
   Having experienced the 80's I like how they dive into that decade.  I like the narrative of each song as a single from a fictional long lost 80's band. Each song implies, or begs to tell a greater story......the faint signature of a long forgotten band. That adds to the fascination for me.
  We arrived on time to see The Buttress, she performed and was quite good herself and we got her CD as well. Since that one night at Schuba's,......Prince Rama's music hmmm, I circulate them viciously.   Some track of them plays in my head, certain songs are in an orbit of 20 or less. I have not exhausted my wonder of them, nor do I ever see it coming. I just read an interview with them, Prince Rama, and I feel happy, fortunate......and fuck it, proud to be a fan of them.  I guess in finding their music I feel I have found kindred spirits and then reading interviews just reinforces that. The pictures I can show here are of the Schubas gig. But this post will be about the Hideout show.....or at least by now what little I can recall of it. Yes?.....Fuck it, moving along. The Hideout just concentrates an experience you've had in another bigger venue.
Zig

Walking Bicycles

   The Friday night I saw Walking Bicycles at The Hideout, is the same night they broadcasted the Angel Olsen interview on Sound Opinions on NPR. I guess its gonna stay with me the many nights I could have seen her. I think she even hit Whistler. Ehh, sob, right?  So I listen and take this in and get ready.  I must say it feels good to read about them...Walking Bicycles....its quite the relief that its not just in my fucking head. Its like a voice in my head suddenly now appearing as text on a Chicago Innerview piece, and then Brooklyn Vegan and Stereogum all talk about them. I read this in anticipation of this Hideout gig.  All is well. I don't stall, I shower on time. I go with my sister and her husband. She's going on the sheer trust of my enthusiasm. He's already sold but has not seen the band live yet. We park in that diagonal parking they got. We stroll to the entrance and there's the band chilling outside. I feel really at ease around them and so it feels cool to have them meet who I bring. The euphoria of that moment still reaches out to soften the headache that chills the hands from writing further.
  Anyway, so I'm all happy 'cause this is like the fucking green room meeting you. This is who I bring to see the Bicycles. My sister has met Jocelyn and Julius when seeing My Gold Mask. Has no fucking clue whats to come out of Jocelyn later on. I mean she's wearing glasses.....no tattoos, no pointy Vulcan ears. Nothing as obvious as lets say Jilly from We Are Hex. There is nothing in Jocelyn's smoking casually outside that is a tell as to how she brings it on stage. And she greets my sister warmly. Sister is in for a surprise in about 15 minutes. They go inside to get their drinks. I chill outside with my friends in the band.
   As we sat outside and talked. Jocelyn noticed a group of attractive high heeled women spill out of a car and head inside. Hell we all noticed them, they looked so out of place. They just didn't look like they came deliberately to see the show. Jocelyn was sure as hell they were not there to see her. You just know who your fans aren't. It was a curious thing to see. Why would you go inside Hideout, pay,...to not see the band? For a night that had Peter Murphy/Ringo Deathstarr play one end of town Mars Volta playing another, Walking Bicycles held a good crowd. They held their own on a competitive Friday night. They are an easy sell for me for friends that I know went to other shows that night. I would not bring them to see this as they long to see something else. I will not deprive them of their shows they long anticipated ........and I say that in my tenderest Michael Caine voice. I would feel like utter shite to see fucking downcast eyes on a bloody iphone.  Shit let me switch off me Michael Caine voice. There were other shows....big shows that played that night. Yeah, I'm thinking Peter Murphy/Ringo Deathstarr. Hell yeah I would have gone to that. Its about how and when to sell a band. This was an easy choice for me.
  Bicycles have the effortless subcultural coolness of an old muscle car an older relative once had. Alright....I am a full believer in the band. So I go straight for the muscle car reference. I was in a sad spot when I heard Welcome To The Future. This one song foreshadowed the Great Recession for me. Braced me for leaner times. Sometimes whatever music that finds you, its not for nothing that this happens, since much of it is produced in the face and in the wake of hard times. Their sounds strike as weathered, proven and streetwise like an early forgotten Siouxsie contemporary, or for me an older cousin with a cool car in a bad neighborhood.  For me they never disappoint live. I'm starting to become familiar with their set. There are songs I like and anticipate for the moment I can only hear live. Vitamin Z makes me wanna train parkour. Something about it imprints the image of someone rapidly descending down a winding staircase, indeed running with the sure grip and elegance of an animal. And for me it comes to the space between instruments. The engine is transparent enough to marvel at the individual components. I go on about the bass, yes. But it needs something to call and respond to and in comes the guitar. The drums dictate how fast the blood pumps. So/Badada, happily now are tracks that circulate regularly. Them being familiar fuels the crave to see them live. Now I anticipate their show on  11 August on a Free Monday.
  Jocelyn's slightly husky voice is just right, has a natural authority. You can hear her clearly over the audio tapestry of rolling jangly bass, deep, fast power drums and guitar weaving between all of it. Her voice, a howl from deep inside a cave. When I say early Siouxsie, its the bass that introduces that impression for me. And breaking it down further its about the raw aggressive punk sound they share. Yet they do not sound telegraphed. Having Deric as drummer is like having racing tires that grip well on mountain curves. His beats are fast and land heavy. There is something about how the whole engine works that allows this transparency. Fucking hell I'm sorry if this turned out really long.
Zig