Walking Bicycles this December

Ok, this is just to remind...perhaps just myself that Wallking Bicycles are playing the Empty Bottle this Monday 1st December.  For those of you that have seen British post-punk bands like The Violets, and Ipso Facto on YouTube and long to see those bands live put away your passport 'cause we have an answer for them here in Chicago.  I bet they won't even bitch about being compared to Siouxsie and The Banshees like The Violets do.  Go see them.

Kaspar-Zig

Asobi Seksu

  It's not a deliberate thing going to the Empty Bottle like every other week.  Last year I probably went like once.  A lot of bands I like happen to gravitate to there, now.  The venue is small, well Ronnie's on California (I think) is far smaller.  The 'Bottle  just knows what resonates.  On this Wednesday night in October Asobi Seksu played.  Post Honeymoon opened and damn I just went blank as to who the middle band was.   I liked all of them but my resources were limited to one thing.  The name Asobi Seksu I believe means "playful sex" in Japanese.  This is a  loud shoegaze  muscle car  driving down 26th street in Little Village.   

 Yuki the singer  drives it with urgency, like she's late for work.  One can dance to them like the Cocteau Twins.  Yet their blood pulses faster than that iconic band.  I say it like that because the songs are kind of fast for shoegazer.  Yuki's voice sometimes delicate and soft, seems to be on the edge of being consumed by the bass,  and fuzzy guitar, but no, these are dogs that she trained like Cesar Milan. Yuki can be soft and whispery in one moment and in the next she soars above the guitar and bass.  Every song has something to hook you with.  Sometimes it's the bass....for me it's often the bass, sometimes it's her voice.  Listen to "Thursday" on the Citrus CD.  Yuki's voice is at a calm pace in stark contrast to the faster chaos of bass and guitar, yet is never consumed.   The pace of most of the songs is relatively fast.  Yuki just calmly rides the storm.  With some shoegaze, one can get lost in the clouds.  The uninitiated just lose interest, they get lost in the fog.  AS never get that way.  Each song forms it's individual relationship with the listener.  "Strings" has this extra kick in the middle.  This segment just changes the pace and gives you another reason to like the song.  It almost feels like it's a different song but it totally fits.   As we compare Asobi Seksu to bands like Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, and so forth, it is my belief that we will be comparing future acts to this band here.  In the future I believe they will be called icons.  I just hit a wall.  Perhaps I will write more on them when my wit is easier to find.

Kaspar Zig

More from Faceless Werewolves

This is Ms Erica, drummer and singer for Faceless Werewolves.  She was so cool.  Part of why I go to see these bands live is to see how they handle the unexpected.  The drum kit had a set of spare drum sticks handy just in case.  And it happened.  During a song she lost one of the sticks.  It just flew out of her hand, she grabbed the spare, and saved the song.  That was a cool recovery.  I met her later on to ask her to sign the poster.  She did that and left lipstick on it, as well.  I hope they come back to Chicago.

Zig

Faceless Werewolves

You find the best things in the most unexpected days.  Here are Balderamo Valdez III, Kelsey Wickliffe, and Erica Barton of the Faceless Werewolves from Austin Texas.  I wanna go to Austin now.  These guys were that good.  It was a Tuesday night.  Normally an odd night to go see a band, but at the time quite the norm for me.  When you adapt your weekend to Tuesday Wednesday your reward is what gets stolen from the regular Friday-Saturday that most people have.  Faceless Werewolves played the Empty Bottle on I think 17 July.  As late as the Sunday before, I did not know they exist and now I listen to their music on most days like a recurring soundtrack.  

  All three band members sing, Baldo plays guitar as does Ms Kelsey, and Ms Erica plays drums.  Having all three sing is an advantage, for there are as many voices to like.  And there is something egalitarian about all three being the voice.   There is no one frontperson. 

So how do I describe them?  Texas indy garage-rock? That's one way but that's assuming I'm using the term correctly.   There is this working class thing to them as well, or maybe it's just how I hear "Phoenix Rose", "Life Is Strange", or "Get Me Howlin".  It's like when you are the first in your family to enter university.  Your working class roots never really leave you.  This working class thing they got....if it is not exclusively in my head is all over their music, and it can appeal to indy, art-rock fans.  They have that immediacy of garage-rock.  You can drive to them on long stretches of highway at 80 mph.  


Years ago I saw Love and a 45 .  This movie stars Renee Zelleweger. I don't know if it's because I heard the band  say that their from Texas that suddenly I put them and this movie together, but they so belong on the soundtrack to it.  Their Texas identity casts such a large shadow that it reaches all the way to Illinois.  Some states can do that, and Faceless Werewolves are great ambassadors for Texas.  I just loved them that much.  Listening to "Get Me Howlin'", and "Money, You Ain't Got Enough"  gets you driving way over the speed limit on I90/I94.    
If one is curious about them, they can go to their websites facelesswerewolves.com

I met them after the show, specifically Baldo and Erica.  They were very nice people.  I wanted to bullshit with them a little more but sometimes your graceful exit presents itself before your wit.  I'm a shy person so it's the graceful exit that I took, but not before Ms Erica took pictures with me with her disposable camera.  I hope I came out well.  And I bought the CDs.  I should have bought a shirt as well but I did not.  

This is the second time I see Ms Ayria, Jennifer Parkin.  I've been aware  of her for sometime before.  I've heard her stuff played at Nocturna and Neo here in Chicago.  Very dancey, aggressive industrial from Canada.  I believe she was in Epsilon Minus.  I regret to say that I held the CD once in my hand when I visited the now defunct Evil Clown Records.  I held it in my hand but put it down.  I loved it but figured I can get it later.  And then Evil Clown closed on my ass.  Now I feel like I'm behind.  But in my defense I knew I would love this artist the second I heard her.  

  This performance was on a Saturday in October.  Ayria was touring for her new CD "Hearts For Bullets".    I forgot the date.  The venue Reggies is on the southside of Chicago.  It's quite a venue to have that far south.  There is a huge record store on one of the upper floors and still another venue next door.  One is a bar one is a restaurant.  If my pictures look bad it's because I just wanted to dance, and on and off I did.  There is something you get from documenting it the individual performance in picture and video.  You want to enjoy it for the long term.  They are just the best example of industrial dance music. I took Natalie my friend to see them with.  I was sure she'd like them, but they sounded too clean for her. I don't get it.  She liked I:Scintilla.  I thought this just liked that but ......anyway, I'm not surprised she's into Cradle of Filth . Ayria had everyone dancing.  It was one of those nights when everyone was there and got it.  It was a night when everyone was at the front of the stage as close to the fire as they can.  This was not a lackluster performance.  The crowd was into her like she was a headliner.  And she was into them.  It was as if no one saved their energy or attention for the next band.  This was what the crowd wanted  and got it.  And these images capture for me what I was feeling and thinking  at the moment, even if they are not apparent. It was a wonder to see how it was all produced in front of you.   And Ms Parkin looked lovely in black and white cyber gear.  It was not too extreme, black reflective skirt, industrial boots, white top, cyber yet functional enough to dance in.  Fem, yet dominant. 

   Ayria was touring for her" Hearts For Bullets" CD.  After the performance I knew that merch table was going to bleed me dry.  But when you like what you got, you never feel that poor.  You feel the investment.  On CD this does not lose any of what you get in performance.  You know how you can love a performance, that performance then prompts you to buy the music, and then in the car on the way home it sounds flat.  Not Ayria.  I'm always fascinated when an artist knows how to sell you (if dancing is selling) on themes of vulnerability, weakness, hitting rock bottom like in "girl on the floor", a harsh interior view of  oneself.   And we are dancing to it, identifying with it.  And the party just continues with "Invisible".  The lyrics don't strike as too sappy, but resonant as there is a fine line. The lyrics are worth just reading off the page because thats when you feel the full weight of the song.  On the Flicker CD, there is "Cutting".  And it's about.....cutting.  But we also have songs like "My Revenge On The World" to balance the inward facing rage.   The music is dancey as industrial always should.  Ok, Im almost hitting a wall.  

Kaspar-Zig

I:Scintilla at Reggies

These are from the latest performance of I:Scintilla.  This was at Reggies on the Southside of Chicago.  They played first in support of Cruxshadowes and Ayria.  It was a Saturday night.  Normally I work on that night but I did not want to miss this, a fabulous local industrial band performing with two awesome touring bands.  Cruxshadowes as much as I like them, will not draw me by themselves.  I am often influenced by who comes with them in support, yet I'm always glad to see Rogue, his wife, and everyone else perform.  You can just tell how authentic their energy is, how spontaneous it feels.  And they do it all the time, all over the world.  I shall write on them and Ayria later, but for now I just wanted to unload this few shots of Ms Brittany.  I:Scintilla is the kind of goth/industrial band that comes out of that subculture as well as supports it like any fan would.  I've seen Ms Brittany at the local goth/industrial places like Neo and Nocturna.  There are bands that goths like and then there are bands that goths are in.  This one I'd say is of the second variety.  I've seen them perform at least 5 times.   Each time in a different context that will never be repeated.  How many times will I:S perform along a burlesque troupe?  In that event, it seemed to me like the host was unfamiliar with the band when she presented them.  It was a little outside the box and it was more wonderful for it.  In this night at Reggies it was with an audience more familiar with them, and that is good too.  I've so many more pictures to unload, but for now this will do.  I don't want to exhaust all that I have to say.

Kaspar-Zig 

A Review of Panda Riot

  So here I am, finally referring to this event in the past tense.  These performances are fleeting.  It's the best of what we have and then it disappears.  It only remains if we as fans keep attending and documenting these performances.  Panda Riot has played in some great small venues, like Darkroom on Chicago Ave, and The Abbey Pub on Elston and Grace.  This was their Empty Bottle debut, and I believe their first as headliner, with BlackMath and Girls as support. Every band in this show was excellent.  I could not bring myself to buy the cassette tape BlackMath had.  It's just too retro.  I haven't used the tape deck in a long time, and I like hearing it in the car, I can only play CDs there.  That said, I wanted to buy a CD, but none was available.  I will write on them later.  At the moment it's all about Panda Riot.  "She Dares All Things" is a nice splash of cold rose water during a summer morning.  It wakes you up, and helps to frame all the little good things that happen to you during the day. I can say that about the song as well the entire album by the same name.  Indeed, I found myself listening while still feeling engaged with the world around me.   Hearing them and seeing them live is just as rewarding.  And also I like rose water. "Marker" stands out to me.  I believe they played it last night.   When Rebecca Scott sings "suddenly I'm happy just to be..." at least that is what it sounded like, I'm kinda drifted towards there.  It's the kind of shoegazer stuff that does not lose you in the clouds.  This is not Cocteau Twins singing in tongues, or the Cranes taking you on a tangent for two minutes before realizing you just missed two minutes of your life figuring out that you don't like what you heard.  Having said that, I must say I love Cocteau Twins and Cranes.  If one is inclined to like said bands then Panda Riot is most certainly for you.  One cannot help the comparison, yet it does not come with the same baggage we have come to tolerate from these other bands that we still love.   Also if you like My Bloody Valentine, don't lament the fact that you didn't go see their soldout show in Chicago, don't lament that Cocteau Twins have broken up.  Panda Riot is right here.  Don't wait until they sell out the Aragon.   Now that I've mentioned all these other bands in relation to Panda Riot, there is one other thing.  In goth clubs there is a certain way people would dance to this.  Cocteau Twins makes people dance so beautifully, elegantly.  Goths just concentrate their ornate movements, slow down their pace.  Panda Riot played in that set would perpetuate the elegance, and make you dance for another 5 minutes that you did not see coming.  A goth club is I think the only type of venue where people would feel inclined to dance to this at all.  It is where people discover the rhythm to make them dance.   

  When all the bands are small, it almost does not matter who plays first.  It can actually work better if you are first in that way.  Still I think it's important to note the progression of this band to being a headliner, even if it seemed poorly attended .  The relationship one has with the recorded songs develops and evolves with each live performance.  I think it's why I like seeing bands over and over again.  Each performance is individual and worthy of it's own praise.  The first time, you don't know even if you are going to like what you hear.  The second time is actually the first time only better, anticipation making all the difference.  Now your attention will not wander.  Hearing it on CD is only one part of liking a band.  

Kaspar-Zig