Staring Problem

Earlier in the week there was a show that I was too late for.  I arrived just as the band was finishing. I saw the various friends that I know around the local goth scene, including some that perform in the very bands I like. I notice the lead singer ofStaring Problem . My chronic tardiness embarrasses me and I did not want to be noticed by anyone but I think she saw me. I've been late to some of her shows as well.  However, I was well on time for her show at The Burlington where just about all their songs played were new and as yet unrecorded this one Wednesday night. That is what makes these shows so damn irresistible, when only the present tense holds it like water running between your fingers.  Nothing to take home yet. I arrived at a decent hour well before  they started. My only fear was not getting in due to my expired drivers license at the time. You see it in their eyes when they take a good look at it. Sometimes you don't get in. That sounds like such a pussy first-world set of problems right? Ahhh woe is me....the pain, the pain....as Dr. Smith once said.....in Lost In Space. I have since corrected this problem.
If you like what SP have out already, this would only strengthen and deepen your appreciation. I really like their use of just the basic instruments, guitar, bass and drums. The muscular bass I always notice for what it does and for what it allows the lead guitar to do. I've heard this thing hmmm about Chicago actors when they go to NYC for auditions in theatre. Its built into their training to make the other actors look good instead of competing with them as focus. The bass in being this....selfless support.....its the fucking muscle car for the lead guitar. Having said that.....it did not go unnoticed the new bass player. But going back to the muscle car metaphor its the same car I've known them to drive. The songs are longer than the previous work.  Hmmmm, well I meant it as a good thing.  Wait.....I didn't mean the others are too short.  I can say this. Immediately I liked what they played that night. It made me glad to see them continuing. You know how people are glad to see a cable show going one more season after you like them. After time you're familiar with them. I cannot recall one low turnout show for Staring Problem.  I always see a good crowd for them in all the small venues I've seen them in. Their band shirt I once bought from them my toddler niece likes.  Its a picture of a cat. So there is more music to come

and recordings of it. In the middle of the year and still so much to anticipate from it.

Videotape

This was for an acoustic set they did for Cafe Mustache, on Milwaukee Ave, just north of California. I was curious to see how they would sound in that intimate cafe space, a rare moment to go after. Videotape will headline that 29 July Free Monday Empty Bottle gig that has Walking Bicycles as support and Pamphleteers as openers. That show I have been anticipating for what feels like many months. They are a band that I found through the abundant local shoegaze channels. So for me, the identity of the band begins from there but does not stay and takes off into all directions and somehow that fuzzy shoegaze cloud follows.....from a distance and leaves behind that fresh-cut grass and garden hose smell all over the place. Hear some of this at dawn and you become this rabid morning person ready for the day. They got the fuzzy, aggressive guitars that can be the foreword leaning engine or the fog that makes you slack and relax. And when they are sweet, its not over-powering sugary pop. So, how Between Me + You sounds......without their drummer is something I wanted to pass the time figuring out. Their music has been playing in my head a lot as of late.  This Is Disconnect just crashed on top of me like a stack of bricks and here I am trying to tell of the strike of each one. So that changes things, being familiar with the music as you look for where to sit in Cafe Mustache. I was already into them before my ass found a nice couch to sit in. On the way to a Panda Riot show I found them and they introduced me to Rock Falls.  So many shows of theirs that I have missed this is one mission that for many reason I must not fail to do.
Zig

Laura Meyer

I can't help but feel personally invested in her travels, dare I say included.  Laura Meyer has toured the world with her music. I remember reading posts from her in England, France, Scotland, Germany, Italy....hmm, India as well as her performances back at her current home in California. And as she travels her music plays in my head. You start to feel personally represented by the songs. Its not saying the songs are about me. They did not start out that way of course but hey, isn't that how we want to feel about the music we choose to hear? Things happen and she observes and she writes and sings. Then I see what the mirror reflects back to me. Words resonate for a reason. There are interesting stories behind Walls and hmm, Ghost. These I heard at the Lilly's gig. And something happens with the fan to seek this out. The music now represents you. You did nothing to create it but somehow it resonates harmoniously. So seeing her posts are better than Travel Channel black tar heroine.  She is a friend who is this roaming poet/musician. Her FB posts are always going to be interesting when she's all over the place. I only started hearing Miles From Nowhere a good year after seeing her at Uncommon Ground. It was like becoming a fan all over again. It was one of two CDs I bought from her. The other is Been Here Before. That one I heard in the car on the way back home....no, first I went to Sarah's death rock night.....sorry. The night juxtaposed many events on top of each other that only my experience can tether. For what does Scary Lady Sarah's death rock night have to do with Laura Meyer. That means that when she comes around, you fucking go, and I made it at least once out of two attempts. I saw her at Lilly's on Lincoln Ave. From that night I would pick up Golden Delicious. So from this artist I will have music that will burn long term. To be honest I already downloaded it, but its awesome to have the CD. I went to her Uncommon Ground gig.....late, but it was with the intention of finally getting the shirt. So when she comes back that is still a mission. I've seen Julie Meckler, and Moritat there before.  I must confess this place is in an area I'd rather not go. I feel more alien there than normal. Its Lincoln Ave. I know...boo, fucking hoo its not Chirac. Well......parking can be difficult.
  It was a small and appreciative bar audience of I think in and out of ten people. Some of those being in the band that would play next. I got there way, way early....good parking. I go in and upon seeing her it dawned on me that we only met one other time. But she remembered me and it was cool. I don't want to come off as this overbearing jerk.
  Having this in a tiny bar....fucking hell I already used that black tar heroine metaphor but this moment warrants it. This gig for me...... Lilly's stole an artist that is fit for Empty Bottle, Hideout, Whistler. I hope that in the future Laura visits these other venues. These are where her ideal audience goes. Keep giving us a chance girl! Musicians, some at least have is a group identity or network to help spread the word.  Some of the bands I write about for example have a few songs that get clocked as shoegaze or goth, or dark and that pulls towards them a kind of group identity that can translate to an audience. I don't see that kind of loosely woven network of music nerds around ........me. I do think this has that out-of-the-box appeal to audiences of those collectives. It feels out of your normal beaten path yet somehow this is a natural fit, and its for a reason. LM is a folk/rock artist, bluesy. And your aesthetic is dark enough to like her. Or.....Oh, shit!  Really? Am I the only fucking nerd in this regard?  I don't want to be. I want Chicago to appreciate Laura Meyer more than I think it does. You know what....I'm basing this off two gigs. And she did spend a number of days here.....hmmmm. And I may well be just talking from my ass. I can only speak about the one night I actually saw her. I missed the other two gigs but I'm glad she stayed here for as long as she did.
  You can easily see into Lilly's when your walking by. The windows are wide so you can't help but hear and see what's inside. Chicago does indeed have its venues that can best appreciate her. On this Friday night, its a small and fortunate handful of people. I really gotta be grateful to Lilly's for having her. I got to know better the songs I liked already. Its great to have the recorded collected work, but nothing keeps it breathing the way a live show does. Friends of mine have told me of how they saw Warpaint....or was it School Of Seven Bells with just a handful of people. You know what? I get it. I don't go missing those moments. I am happy they have them. The example propels me to seek out my own.

Rock Falls at Cafe Mustache

I am awestruck by this artist Rock Falls. So minimal and so grand and powerful is her whispery voice. Her name is Annie Reese and plays under the name Rock Falls. Its also where she calls home. So as you like the music you like the name of it and it begins to represent the mysterious that caught you.  What made Twin Peaks? The mystery and the wonder. In the Midwest one name the sweet mysterious goes under is Rock Falls. I have never been there and yet when I hear the songs Annie Reese has under Rock Falls, I kind of want to visit. I caught this show at Cafe Mustache on Milwaukee Ave.  She opened and Videotape would play next. Her songs are striking.....No? Give it a moment. Which song? Hmm....it's either Juntitled or Stop Your Heart for me.  They put you in these intimate playgrounds, safe for vulnerable and away from all harm and judgement. She was in mid performance when I found a couch tucked away behind a table of people to take these pictures.  It was just Annie and a guitar, looping pedal....perfect for.......well there we were, Cafe Mustache. Eventually I would buy her two song EP..S/T on vinyl from her and become the fan I am now. I was still in the process even after buying the vinyl. I wasn't just sold right there, but I was curious and now I think she's awesome and brilliant. Ghost In The Doorway is massive! Its not a shallow sweetness that leads to the hidden rooms of one's interior castle. Rock Falls leads you by candlelight, blinking on occasion but never extinguished. The strength of Annie's vulnerability is bigger on the inside.  As we hmmm....discover musicians like Angel Olsen who is fucking amazing, let us not allow artists like Rock Falls to go unnoticed.

Wax Idols on 4.20. 2013

I'm newly obsessing over Wax Idols, 'cause I saw them at Empty Bottle, right on 4.20.   I could have seen them for free at Cole's in 2011! Where did I fuck off to then? I got to Empty Bottle early enough this time to see TV Ghost. They were great! I mean they were hanging-from-the-fucking- chandelier crazy! I've been shying away from the male voice over the years and so the ones that grab my attention have to bust through this filter that has calcified. So when I say I love TV Ghost, I mean it as sincerely as I can. They were brilliant and powerful and weird. This tiny reference here is to remind me to get their music later. I understand Hether and the lead singer are now married. After seeing this one gig of TV Ghost....I get it! He was sexy and I don't even like using that word. I wish their married life well and full of happiness. I've seen her name spelled two ways, and so I guess I will chose one for this post that is long over due.
  By the time I get to see Wax Idols, there is a whole lot written about them reviewing the latest CD Discipline And Desire. It started when I liked how they took the piss out of Pitchfork. I fucking loved that. I was on their side from that point on. For some reason my instinct is to side with the band when they stick it to the man.  I am now a fan. Everything I write is in that context. A lot was available to read  and see about them before ........seeing them. I don't know how different my post will seem in the face of all that has been written already. All the good parking is taken. Still I have to give this a go. My instinct is to write. I don't just want to post pictures of which I took a lot. I can at least recall this one show that is somewhat iconic for me. I could not afford the two CDs they had available. Believing that I can perhaps get that later, I got the shirt instead since perhaps that would be harder to get later. I have so few white shirts. Normally thats for a reason. Theirs was just too awesome. Its just gonna be one of those things that will nag me for years. I wanted snort everything on that merch table actually including TV Ghost. Everything into the veins! This is the one show I will see of them in a while. So far removed from that one performance. Will I try here to review that moment?  Ugh, that R word. I so rarely dare to use it since when I write I am already sold as a fan. I took so many pictures. I still have not bought the CDs. I certainly shall....for real, meanwhile I could not help but download their live performance available on Free Music Archive. I am eternally and humbly grateful to them for that. It helps to retain the memory of seeing them. That is important, to have seen this with my own eyes or else the experience is not truly mine. Hether Fortune is a confident, dominant performer easily in command of her audience. I would glance back at the crowd on occasion, the way Amelie does to a movie crowd. Hether moves and you want to have the same swagger embedded into your movements. The drummer, her eyes have the stopping power to halt a stampeding herd of wild animals. Its not the same as wanting to imitate as much as believing that I can have the same effect in the little moments that I have, be it in conversation.....or things like that. Alright, to be clear it is not my desire to have the stare down power of Christopher Walkin. But a natural command of your audience, yeah.  That will come it handy. Everyone on that stage had that perfect command of what they were doing and you want it to rub off. Somehow you want to take as much of the performance with you as possible. That inspires confidence from within.  Her voice has this natural authority. Its deep and its clear. Hether also works as a professional dominatrix. Thats juggling two different jobs...two different worlds. A lesser person may read that and immediately roll their eyes upon hearing the name of the newest CD and that would be very shallow indeed and I invite anyone interested in the band to look up this interview on Emusic.com. Its very insightful, and just maybe will get you to listen to Lebanese music. The more I read it, the more I feel....represented by her music. So more enthusiastically I will buy the music and wear the shirt. There are many performers that I needed time to actually form an opinion on. Wax Idols got me straight away, the reasons I would find out later.
Zig

Shana Falana

I'm running so behind. I saw on a Free Monday at Empty Bottle  Shana Falana a newly discovered but long existing star from the Brooklyn shoegaze constellation. Most of the following impressions were formed over time after listening to interviews on Youtube, listening to the newly bought CDs. When you get the two CD's at once its kind of overwhelming.  But it started with seeing her live and it snowballed from there.  Shana can just do all the styles in all the continuum of music I like, which is roughly the tense, dark, heavy, .....mysterious rock, and its in both CDs. Exactly the stuff I learned to dance to in Nocturna.   In The Light....stays mysterious, but is also happy and innocent, sincere.  Diabetes I got it coming from both sides of the family. I can't do too sweet anymore. Less people can do it for me.  And so there is something about How SF does it, that I just want to hear it over again. Deep and textured sounds that can still be small and intimate.  You are never in a fog. The instruments are clear. So is the voice. Learning the lyrics will be an effortless, wonderful task. I did say shoegaze .......that is the road that lead me to this artist. From there you are taken with her music and you kinda forget what got you there.
  Her narrative includes the deep study and appreciation of a lot of music I like, such as Dead Can Dance, Kate Bush. Wait, wait, it gets better. When living in San Francisco she studied Bulgarian folk music for I think 5 years. These are influences to appreciate when one listens to the most recent...hell everything. This five year emersion into Bulgarian folk music....Shana was very specific on what she liked, "raw, mountain Bulgarian folk". There is an intangible something binding the continuum that spans lets say the two most recent releases. And we can read or not read into what she chooses to study or like when you listen to her music.  There is something already in her that seeks out what it does. It is her nature before nurture. And I'm happy that she wandered this far away from Brooklyn. As I listen to this  I am so reminded of Mediaeval Babes/Miranda Sex Garden. They did like 3 full length albums as indie, experimental rock, MSG during the 90's. Then some from that band formed Mediaeval Babes....sorry for that tangent. These are bands I've been seriously into.
  I rant for it to make sense to me......Shana Falana took a chance on herself in reference to In The Light, very different from Velvet Pop. Songs were shaved off until a more truthful representation of Shana was all that was left. Keeping the songs was the safer way to go. I would still love to hear the songs that were taken out, but still this risk she took I find admirable, and I'm willing to listen to the final product as she sees it fit.  All that I gathered from seeing the two part Youtube interview.
  Something to marvel about when listening to Velvet Pop is how different the songs are from each other even under the general umbrella of dark, heavy, mysterious. Listen to Brainy Fox, I Don't Want It, hmm after You Know . I thought it was a compilation of different artists at first but with time, what binds the continuum will be more apparent. I do not recall what previous research compelled me to see her at the Bottle. However, I do recall what sold me live. It was Anything from Velvet Pop, and Light The Fire . Both impacted on me live and the recording. And lets say for the moment they represent the two seemingly different CDs. On stage it's Shana and her guitar and a drummer. When you hear them later this distance starts to form between them before it seems to shrinks as in settles in the mind. What binds the whole continuum is this ritual authority that is in all the instruments. In VP your attention is commandeered  in the first 3 to 5 seconds with the various styles held within. They are without question rock in many of its most crystalline forms.  Light has songs that don't fully reveal until well into the middle two minutes, yet your attention is sustained because your curiosity is always engaged. Your wait is not cheated. The longer more ambient ride pays off, at least to me. And this is the risk that I admire her for doing. She went long hand and trusted her money on it. Stripped the final product of all that sells easy to see what happens.  Dizzy Chant progresses and spins itself taking with it more instruments, more complexity with each turn. I don't know what she says but her voice has the authority to make it not matter. Its too magnanimous and irresistible to ignore. You're running downhill, descending the stairs with more instruments shaping your step. It begins as this intimate voice and guitar conversation that becomes this nice dream pop dinner party.    U R Everything has you sprinting some green wild open flat field with the speed of a downward slope. You got the open joy of Julie fucking Andrews. You are never lingering about. This dream pop with forward drive And your not overpowered with sweetness or directness. Songs have the time to develop slowly and pick up momentum. Some have a second wind that almost creates a different song within. Perhaps its me becoming this rabid fan. I like In The Light and Velvet Pop. The shock that comes from hearing them both has you marvel at the artist that much more.
Zig

Fielded 2013.

This was the first time I get to buy a CD from Fielded and listen to it on the way home. I can get the vinyl later. Oh, actually I already have Terragiest!  I made it on time to catch a part of the hypnotic, electronic Gel Set.  Fielded was next, and was touring for Ninety Thirty Thirty. A lot of the songs contained I first heard live at various places. I imagine it was the same with many that Monday night 29 April at Burlington. Some in the heavy-ish audience seem to sing along with Lindsay. That's because we know them tracks like old friends that orbit back and you can't wait to see them. They kept bringing me back to the different memories and venues in which I first heard them. Lindsey dancing in the middle of her crowd hits with a history behind it. A cold Chicago winter was not cold enough to keep me from seeing Lindsay do Arms Of Heaven at Crown Tap. Mortville on Chicago's south side, in the summer of I don't fucking remember,  I'd like to think I heard them all there, but I'm not so sure. Its still such a novelty and a welcome diversion from the usual venues to have had that kind of music that far on the south side. Still, lets just bring it back to Burlington on a Monday night that did not feel like a Monday night.  I'm happy to have experienced both the recording end of this music and the live performance side of this. Strictly hearing it conjures up one image and then there is actually seeing it. That leaves a different impression all together. If I were to listen to this before seeing it I would imagine someone sitting at a piano....or something. Its incomplete, until you see it too. She has that....far -and- away stare that gazes through you, the room, the bar and into the street, away.  Alright for those that rolled your eyes......there's a real intensity to her eyes when performing. Heavy curls make her sweat more apparent. Sometimes she puts it up but not here. Oh, and I could not but notice. I don't know if it's me adjusting to her music. It always struck me as dance friendly weirdness with urban street corners that cast strange shadows at night. Warmblooded modern, electronic.  She brings that foggy human randomness to it. Awh.....fuck it. I was trying to go all the way without using the word "dark".  Could not help myself. And that is apparent when you hear and see it. Her movements always remind me of an impassioned preacher almost unaware of the spirit slowly taking over. Her hand sticks straight out. I know I mention some fucking variation of this all the time about her. I say it all the time because its part of the consistent on stage Fielded. Its always awesome to behold. Its gonna piss you off extra hard to see
Magdalene Sisters after hearing Chapel Of Lies. You see the movie and you need the raw outrage to have an articulate expression. This is what Fielded gives us. My mind clusters stuff together....I got no real say. This one I recall under many costumes. I heard it in the car on the way home. I think there will be some European gigs behind her by the time I post this. Anyway so, its always great to see  Fielded. It will be interesting how a European audience reacts to her. I'm glad she's touring. I can say that she is consistently well received in Chicago. I always make it to the front but the closing wall of eyes behind me suggest that future gigs will be sold out.  I'm glad I caught on to her music early enough. I like Burlington, its small enough.Soon enough...too small. Anyway, what else? I'm glad to find myself being an early enough fan. I remain in total awe of Fielded.

Zig