Moritat

I arrived too late to really see them last Sunday 6 November. But I saw them at Quenchers not too long before. Moritat is one of those bands I see in the context of a longer narrative, and from there in the context of a wider Chicago scene. One episode in a longer evolution, in a chain mail of other stories. Changes you see from the observance of more than two performances. It's a compulsion of mine, that helps to better document in the footnotes what went on in Chicago, around Chicago, and what went on with me. In observing them, and writing about them I document a fleeting delicate music scene and my self exploration as by-product.

Venus plays guitar! Her comfort is in the keyboard. She used to be the exclusive voice, and now it's pretty much everyone. Their trip hop sound is relaxed and casual but alert like a boxer. Betrays no stress but is not boring. The two tangible CDs that are available from them are One Minute Fade, their latest. But they first appeared on my radar with Yellow House which they had for free. The title song and Noise are the songs that best display this relaxation that still build tension and interest in this tension. They are writing and performing new music. And did I say they are making Venus play guitar. When Venus hits the keys it's with no cathartic display. I've seen keyboardists that seem to still be working things out, hammering the keys or reading the stress on their faces. It's not like that with Venus. Yet songs like have that sneaky urgency of a faster assembly line. I've described other stuff as trip hop like Panda Riot but Moritat seem miles away from airy faerie shoegaze. What registers as trip hop does so cleanly away. Moritat feel more like creatures of this world, familiar. Another cool by-product is the bands you meet through .....the bands you met. A casual suggestion from Venus had me stay to see The Eternals! I always see Julie Meckler at Moritat shows. If Venus is on stage, Julie is on the floor. They support each other. Julie is all kinds of awesome. She performed and I was well and on time for that.

Still Corners

The pictures could have been better.


Sarah invited me to go see them at Schubas. This was something I almost missed, almost. And for that it's something I cherish more. Still Corners have breathy female vocals clear like something meant to be followed. Having said that I'll figure out what Endless Summer says later 'cause it's too much fun hearing. The voice is just one more amazing instrument. I'll enjoy discovering what the songs says to me later. Can't be bothered to analyze it. It's not just the product of the singer. The keyboard drone if I may describe it so highlights a tragic imprint. My attention is drawn but braces for a sadness foretold. Often it feels like her voice is the only thing that holds your attention, but lets get back to the live moment. Sarah invited and off I went. I arrived to hear a good three four songs. That's long enough to catch a good live impression to superimpose over hearing it at home. The visual I get is what my mind will always visit this moment like a holodeck from Star Trek. This Thursday I almost did not share with William and Sarah. It was a very porous crowd, on the light side of medium to be generous. I can't remember which song I heard first live. Tessa don't move much. That makes it easy to take pictures so it's no complaint. However you are inclined to present your work live is how I wanna see it. This concert brightened the dull midweek low like only surprise left turns can. Too damn poor to deserve to enjoy and yet there I am grateful to have the moment to feel right there and document to analyze later. As of late it is a rare gasp of therapy. What you incidentally and deliberately listen to form a kind of soundtrack that better colors your own personal narrative. Endless Summer held in it's translucent glow the fragility of nice moments that come in the middle of a sadness felt. You can really dance some demons away to this one. Catharsis with a cool empowering finish. Creatures Of An Hour is the CD Still Corners were touring for, and I can listen to it multiple times. All the songs have like that, cool and noir feeling. Lets you tolerate a deep hard interior look. But perhaps I weigh this with too much unworthy baggage. This works if you're giddy too. I'm not saying you need to be sad to like this. Its not so slow that it will put you to sleep. Goths in a shoegaze night can certainly find the rhythm to dance to this. You're hardcore if you drive to this. It relaxes a drive you already intend to make. Revisiting the night, Schubas can look so big sometimes but one can tell the crowd was not incidental, if sedate and relaxed. This was not the loud driven shoegaze of Ringo Deathstar. Still Corners don't seem to be in a rush. They are coasting the natural downward slope. Having said that, you won't feel bored with their pace. Small or big they were there for you without question. It felt like that for Still Corners. William and Sarah were the only definite goths among them. And then there was me. Each song I hear I replay the highlights of that night. I nod and smile to Sarah and William again, glow in the conversation we have later.

Architecture

I like shoegaze music. It came to my attention by way of goth music and culture. In terms of my own experience, in the order that things just came to me. There is a lot of music I like the came to me by way of that filter. Scary Lady Sarah brought to my attention the live performances of a number of bands under that net. So my own narrative and experience with shoegaze will have her influence. During a common goth night if it's Cocteau Twins that first put you on a dance floor. If that is how you found your rhythm. Well, it is not so much about dancing but what are your parameters of appreciation, what gets and keeps your attention and what does not. Certain bands can just open a door that never closes. For me that left me open for local acts like Star, Panda Riot, and so inevitably architecture. Alright, so the first two on the same night. Star at first I noticed would gig a lot locally, opening for bands not really tethered to shoegaze, and then nothing. Panda Riot on the other hand continue to perform and evolve and now are signed to a local label. I can't even count how many times I've seen them at Empty Bottle. Let's just say your a fan. Your blind spot would have to be really big to not know architecture. I know technically they are distinct but at this point y'all are conjoined twins to me. The one constant being Rebecca Scott. So blunt are my ears, so fuzzy my sight but happy I am to have seen both live. I think it was a Monday when I went to go see this band. It turns out I was on time to see them and Planets. I'm glad I saw them together, they were so different. Lets say Wax and Wane jolts you to the floor, architecture can keep you there with........ They evoke the same mysterious cloud but with a more clearly spoken text. It's in the perfect rhythm for a 30+ goth with a hard wired mid 90's pace. So there is a dance floor worthy of this music and the local promoters to further appreciate this. If you are already sold on Panda Riot then architecture at least an easy sell. For this performance they even had their drummer. I do wonder how the person that discovers them on their ipod first thinks about them, what is the first visual they get from hearing it? Are they as mysterious as they sound? Visually they are no more weird looking than the people that go see them at Empty Bottle on a Free Monday. Strictly casual comfort clothes and delivery that perhaps subtexts to the fan that they can do this as well. Or it could be just me over-reading what they are not projecting. It's not hard to imagine bands that sound like architecture, They easily evoke other iconic bands with that shoegaze tag, but how many can you see live and behind some liquor store for more cost to them than it was you even with the 5$ cover?

Planets...more

Pictured here are Deborah on lead guitar, and Elizabeth Herrera on drums.
Deborah again and Miranda Fisher on Bass.

Planets

It was a complete accident encountering Planets from Austin, TX. I was on facebook when I noticed Architecture was playing Crown Royal Tap on Milwaukee Avenue. In looking them up was when I did the same for Planets but for some reason I thought they played already like days ago or something like that. I go to the Planets facebook page, not wanting to like what I saw or heard. You look for what not to like because it makes it easy to miss. But Planets are too awesome. So I was sad because I believed that I missed them, but Architecture was still playing and so I dried my eyes, and off I went. Driving all the way from the south side of Chicago time is usually always running against me. I get there believing that if I catch anything at all it will be good. I glance past the door guy and I see the girls from Architecture with their gear everywhere, and that confirms it. Door guy says they are just about to start, yay!!! Oh and this is about Planets. I did not know they were going to play until I looked at the merch table. Yay, again!! But, damn, I instantly regretted getting that 5$ Pizza slice at Village Pizza the Sunday before, 'cause that meant I was too broke to buy the CD. But at least I was there, and I soaked it up. They sounded so raw and punk to me live. You know how Joy Division sounded a certain way live than on studio recordings and yet we appreciate as fans these differences. I like how they sounded on their live recordings as well as the studio versions. It's the same for me in this case with Planets. There is a slight difference in translation. I don't know if that is deliberate or just me, but I like both sides of the coin. We are in an age when even the strains of rock that sought to throw out conventional sounds themselves become a kind of convention, a style as well as an era. Punk has it's origins well documented, it's OG's if you will. But those legendary bands I think do not own that name, that tag, for if they do for ever backwards our gaze will be. Not all of us were there and of age during the mid to late 70's. I'm here now and so are Planets, and I'm glad I saw them. So at first it seemed that Deborah was the lead singer but I cannot say that now. At some point they all sing lead including the drummer Liz. They got two lead guitars and one bass. I know I can further explore what I heard by listening to what's on their facebook page, since I could not buy their CD ....yet. That would delay this post for too long. I saw them, I'm happy I did and will look for them when they come back.

Bliss.city.east

Thursday 20th October has me in the front of a bliss.city.east show at Latebar where Philly Peroxide DJ's for Shimmer, the main shoegaze night. I first became aware of b.c.e in 2009 on the early end of this long recession. That really feels long ago. Recession years feel like dog years. I thought that was the middle of the recession. We are still in it! They did not have a CD then and so my human memory of their individual performances had to take refuge from the weight of many other bands and their CDs that took up space in my ipod. So here we are late 2011, and I see them again just before the XD Records First Annual Showcase event at Reggies Music Joint 19 November. So Perry, b.c.e guitarist has been busy. The band went and found themselves a live drummer, but hell everyone but Perry and Kim are new to me. I remember when Ruben and Gail were in. New drummer still noteworthy because my memories are at best enshrined episodes, flashes of their more detailed narrative. I saw them on stage, that's it. I go see bands, they help best to document my own narrative in this world. It's good to have them actively in my radar, in the ipod. There's this one video they got, and their videos are awesome, and this one is because they show all these images of the depression, all of it to point out how low we have gone today. At least that's how it seems to me. This past Thursday night at Latebar finds me in front of this busy local shoegaze band with a bunch of Shoegaze Collective people. As they went on before me, I thought how difficult this night would have been to pull off in venues such as Hideout, and Empty Bottle. This is mere speculation but this night was possible because of a very dedicated few who carved out a themed night in a like-minded venue. However it happened, I am grateful. I just know it's an uphill struggle.

Anika

Anika was who Slowdance opened for. Anika would DJ later on somewhere else that Monday 10 October. I stayed to see how it would hit me. Ms Anika has this weird voice, real deep and kind of...well, off. There is no reason to like this girl's voice, and yet I left Empty Bottle a fan of Anika. She sounds like she's moaning. It's gonna sound like I'm taking the piss but I'm not. It's just that I see these critiques coming, or at least I think I do and I react from there. The very reasons others dislike her music are the very things I find endearing. Anika is from England and is half German. I'm not offering that as the reason why she's so damn stiff on stage, and her voice so deep and moany. Like a female Ian Curtis with a cold. Once I like a performer, I do so for every quirk they got. And for Anika, besides her voice, it was this sort of anti-stage presence, like she got on stage to ask who lost these keys. Near stoic and oblivious to the movement inducing bass guitar as if sinking into herself, not even breaking a sweat, or a smile. It was at least easier to take pictures like that. So Anika's voice does not take right away. Wait a little. These quirks take time. Look into her background. A more interesting image develops that you almost dismissed. Ms Anika was a UK Political Journalist, Science and Education Correspondent. This has the coolness of a local NPR reporter, let's say from Market Place fronting an awesome band. It gets better. In Cardiff, Wales while studying at university, she worked behind the scenes in the music industry as promoter, DJ, something Anika continues to do. Being a journalist means to me that you have this compulsion to document what you see, to provide this narrative for the world to follow. It means that you are a writer. On top of that she is a journalist for which there is no such shelter as escapism not even in her music. Now Anika worked as Political Journalist. That invites a special read into her lyrics. For this live show I remember the bass player. The guy had to sit down he was so good. I like it when they have the bass be in the front. The first language Anika actually learned was German before English. I can understand that. Spanish was my first language. It was the language of home and family. Your first language will affect how you learn and speak every other one you learn after that. Anyway, I sat on this post long enough.

Zig