Faronheit

For anyone who hasn’t heard of Stars before, they’re the main band of Amy Millan, who is both a former full-time member of Broken Social Scene as well as a solo artist herself. In Stars, Millan has the added benefit of Torquil Campbell, a guy who more shares the spotlight than tries to steal it. This allows for plenty of back-and-forth singing and harmonizing, all while backed by friendly and often beautiful indie pop instrumentation. What escalated Stars’ popularity amongst the indie community was their 2005 album “Set Yourself on Fire”, a sharp and gorgeous record that featured smartly written songs and just the right degree of production to make the album sound small when it was anything but. Quietly anthemic is a great way to describe tracks like “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” and “Ageless Beauty”, two highlights on an album packed with them. A couple years later Stars would return again with “In Our Bedroom After the War”, which attempted to push their sound to the “next level” mostly by going big or going home. The compositions swelled in size, and suddenly this small band was playing second fiddle to huge orchestral movements and choruses as wide as Canada itself. For a band that had earned their reputation on the idea that big things come in small packages, many long-time fans had adverse reactions to that last album. After yet another sojourn into solo album territory, Millan returned to Stars a few months ago and they officially return this week with their fifth album, “The Five Ghosts”.

The good thing about Stars is that they seem to know that they screwed up with their last record. Whether that was a function of fans telling them so or simply poorer album sales, somewhere along the line they must have realized “In Our Bedroom After the War” wasn’t their best work. To try and get back the magic of “Set Yourself on Fire”, the band brought Tom McFall, who produced that album, back for “The Five Ghosts”. In a similar fashion to your average movie sequel, McFall’s efforts this time aren’t as effective this time around, and in some ways it’s almost like he forgot how to properly produce this band. Much of the new album sounds muddy and clumsily put together, with the vocals shoved to the forefront above all else. It takes away the power that many of these songs might have had otherwise, when you can barely tell there are strings in the background on a track like “Winter Bones” or the synths on “Fixed” get relegated to wallpaper rather than allowing them to shimmer and shake. You listen to these new songs and then go back to “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” to hear the swells of horns and strings and wonder exactly what happened to that band.

Of course some of the problems with “The Five Ghosts” rest on the band too, not just their producer. To their credit, Stars smartly pulled back on the bombastic anthems of their last album, but did they pull back too far? Even compared to the densely layered indie pop of “Set Yourself on Fire”, “The Five Ghosts” feels small. Perhaps that has a lot to do with the somber melodies that populate this new record. This is by far the darkest and most depressing Stars album to date, and the lack of peppy pop songs isn’t helping anyone. But in addition to the dark clouds overhead, many of the songs are similar to one another and relatively pedestrian as far as melodies are concerned. “Coffee house bland” seems to be the name of the game here, where the idea is to keep the sound broad and avoiding risk wherever possible. In other words, Stars aren’t taking any chances towards furthering their sound, and instead they’ve regressed worse than a former alcoholic picking up the bottle again. It’s tragic to hear a band that was once so fascinating and full of life come off as bland and practically neutered.

Believe it or not, there are some good things about “The Five Ghosts”. First off, none of the songs are terrible. There may not be any surprisingly great moments, but there aren’t any abhorrently bad ones either. And secondly, the Amy Millan-centered songs turn out the best in this case mostly due to her vocal performance. Her breathy vocal style lends itself well to the balladry many of these songs contain. Not only that, but she lends a fair deal of weight and emotion to these songs through her voice, something that hasn’t always come across in anything she’s done previously. So really though many of the songs may not be the best Stars have to offer, Millan’s star does particularly shine in this instance, while Torquil Campbell takes a little more of a backseat and lackadaisical approach to his singing than he normally does. Like the tone of the album though, your general impression of it might come off as somewhat gray. To put it another way, a good review quote for the album cover might be, “Eh, it’s alright.” So Stars won’t be making any new friends with this spirit-themed album. A couple highlights do come in the form of tracks like “Changes” and “I Died So I Could Haunt You”, but for the most part results are sketchy at best. Here’s to hoping that yet again Stars can keep their ears to the ground and find a fresher, more adventurous path to take next time around. If not, their visibility as a good Canadian indie pop band might just disappear like the spirits in their album title.

Stars – We Don’t Want Your Body

Buy “The Five Ghosts” from Amazon

It’s only Tuesday and the music keeps coming. Yes, there’s plenty of songs for you to amuse yourself with today. The clear highlight of all these songs is the brand new Blonde Redhead track. If you’ve not yet heard it or downloaded it, it comes highly recommended. You might also want to check out songs from Steve Mason and Procedure Club. Trust me when I say though that there might not be a whole lot of songs familiar to you in this bunch, but many of them are worthwhile whether you know it or not. That’s kind of the point of Pick Your Poison.

Blonde Redhead – Here Sometimes

Chilly Gonzales – Never Stop (Rap Mix)

The Emotron – Drink A Beer For Me

Focus – Hocus Pocus (Buffetlibre Remix)

Landing On the Moon – She Wants

Luna Is Honey – Claws

Neighbors – Hooligans

Procedure Club – Feel Sorry For Me

Random Patterns – Psychic Luau

Sad Day for Puppets – Monster & the Beast

Son of the Sun – The Other Side

Steve Mason – Am I Just A Man

The Stone Foxes – I Killed Robert Johnson

Unicycle Loves You – Mirror, Mirror

For those living in Europe, the new Foals album “Total Life Forever” has been out for at least a month now. On U.S. shores, it arrived last week with surprisingly little attention paid to it. This after Foals built up a small storm of hype before the release of their 2008 debut album “Antidotes” and didn’t quite make good on the initial promise their couple singles seemed to display. When they did get it right, they did so with sheer energy and math rock-infused guitar work, punching up more hooks than you knew what to do with. Songs like “Mathletics”, “Balloons” and “Hummer” all hit as hard as they needed to and got people’s attention, but as with so many bands these days, that attention was quickly diverted. As suddenly as they had appeared, Foals again disappeared.

Though it should be, “Total Life Forever” is not the kick in the crotch that Foals so richly deserve. In this metaphor, “kick in the crotch” is intended to imply a good thing, insomuch that your full and undivided attention is given to anyone who does so (despite the pain it might cause). The root cause of this apparent lack of hype surrounding Foals these days might have something to do with the adjustment they’ve made to their sound compared to two years ago. Whether or not the public’s own tastes have changed (in two years? probably.) is up for debate as well. The highly energetic, almost danceable approach that the band took on their first album, complete with vocals that were more yelps than actual singing, have been all but eliminated on “Total Life Forever”. Instead of that, the record has primarily mid-tempo, occasionally spacey songs with tuneful singing. It’s a legitimate step forwards for a band that initially came off as fun and simplistic rather than smart and complicated. To put it another way, Foals have come a long way in two years to prove that they’re able-bodied and up to the challenge of holding down a long and hopefully lucrative career making music.

You notice things are different right from the very start of the album’s opening track “Blue Blood”. The tempo is slower than the quick speed punches that peppered the band’s debut, and frontman Yannis Philippakis proves he can do more with a vocal track than just shout random phrases. By the time the song crosses the 5 minute mark there’s an even fuller sense of surprise given that much of the first album featured songs that rarely ventured longer than 4 minutes. In fact, nearly half of the 11 songs on “Total Life Forever” actually make it beyond 5 minutes, and 3 of those songs even go 6 minutes or longer. Despite these surprisingly exorbitant track lengths, very little of the album feels stretched or boring. Plus, there’s a fair share of songs that maintain a normal length, and many of them could function as singles. “The Orient” and “Miami” are already two tracks that have been released as individual singles in Europe, but so has the brilliant “Spanish Sahara”, the longest song on the album which clocks in at around 7 minutes long. In all, these songs have a much looser and relaxed feel compared to the almost vacuum-packed tightness that dominated their earlier stuff. Whereas the “Antidotes” material attempted to ensure that not a second of music was wasted, by allowing the new songs to breathe a little bit more, we get a new side of the band and everything feels much more organic and natural. There are moments, in particular on the second half of the record, where some of the songs get a little too spaced out or lack a wholly compelling hook. If you are looking for hooks though, there are plenty to be found, though none grab you quite as firmly as they did on the last album. Considering the trade-off is a more mature album with legitimate singing and a strong emotional core, the end justifies the means.

Without a doubt, Foals could have made another energized math rock record in their sleep. It probably would have been enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable, similar to how their debut “Antidotes” failed to keep the spotlight focused on the band for more than a few months after its release. “Total Life Forever”, by contrast, is the smart move they needed to make to survive. Of course that’s likely to turn off fans of that first album who might be upset by the more languid pacing and decreased use of the staccato guitars that math rock is typically defined by. Hopefully you stick with Foals though, because the new record is the best thing they’ve done to date. It’s just a shame this album isn’t getting more attention, at least from what I’ve seen and heard these last couple months. While it doesn’t quite rank among the absolute best things 2010 has had to offer so far, it’s definitely close. Where Foals will head next with their sound is anybody’s guess, but for the moment they’re right where they need to be.

Foals – Spanish Sahara (Deadboy Remix)

Buy “Total Life Forever” from Amazon

Happy First Day of Summer! Though it may have gotten extremely hot in your area already, and though Memorial Day is typically regarded as the “start of the summer season”, June 21st is actually the beginning of this scorching season. Anyways, in honor of what’s also the longest day of the year (sunshine-wise) also boasts one of the biggest collection of mp3s for Pick Your Poison. Among the multitudes of good stuff, you may want to pay close attention to the new Blitzen Trapper song, a John Prine cover by My Morning Jacket, and a fresh track from Sharon Van Etten. Of course what you may want to take care of first is downloading this new song from The Books, whose new album is sure to be one of 2010′s most attention grabbing.

Afrobeta – Two Different Worlds

Blitzen Trapper – Dragon’s Song

The Books – A Cold Freezin’ Night  (follow link; mediafire)

Continents – Land of Plenty
Continents – Be A Guide

It Kills – Sailors

Keegan DeWitt – Say La La

KIra Kira – Drakula Darling

Lille – Tall Shoulders

Motorboater – You’re So Vain (Remix of Carly Simon original)

Murder Mystery – I Am If You Are
Murder Mystery – Change My Mind

My Morning Jacket – All the Best (John Prine cover)

Mystery Jets – Flash A Hungry Smile

Quitzow – Cherry Blossom

Romany Rye – All the Boys

Sharon Van Etten – I Couldn’t Save You

So at this point the jig is up, right? When talking about Gorillaz, we’re more than fully aware that despite being represented by animated characters, there’s a full band of actual people behind them, right? I think that Daman Albarn, animator Jamie Hewlett and Co. are essentially done with presenting this project as an animated band in the sense that they used to do interviews in character rather than as themselves. Yes, the main entities of Murdoc, Noodle, 2D and Russel still exist when watching Gorillaz music videos or even in concert, but as far as promotional duties are concerned, I’ve seen more interviews with the actual people behind the cartoons than the actual cartoons themselves when it comes to the group’s latest (and best) album “Plastic Beach”. This is a stark change from the last two records, and it makes me happier to hear words coming out of Albarn’s mouth rather than a fictional character who may or may not be messing with us. That said, I’m very pleased with this week’s Live Friday, which features Gorillaz and also has a totally legitimate interview with Albarn and Hewlett about the project. What follows is an informative look into the band with the veil lifted, and many burning-ish questions are answered. But really, you may be more in this for the music. The band does 3 songs off “Plastic Beach”, all of which come off sounding much like their album versions. That tends to happen when you’ve got a lot of programmed beats, and all the work done by your guest stars has to be pre-recorded because they’re not out on tour with you. But Albarn does do his vocal stuff live, among other things, and there’s a live drummer, so if you’ve got no idea what Gorillaz sound like live (there’s an equally, if not more compelling visual component to their shows), this is a good indicator for you. And I can’t really remember the last time I heard Gorillaz do a radio session. All that said, this is a pretty great session of you like Gorillaz, and at the very least I suggest you download these songs.

Gorillaz, Live on WXPN 6-11-10:
Gorillaz – Stylo (Live on WXPN)
Gorillaz – On Melancholy Hill (Live on WXPN)
Gorillaz – Rhinestone Eyes (Live on WXPN)
Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood (Live on WXPN)

Stream the entire interview/session

Buy “Plastic Beach” from Amazon

Ah, there’s nothing quite like a nice and quiet Friday in June. Well, except for the severe thunderstorms that have been destroying much of the Chicagoland area. These things happen sometimes. That’s not going to stop a week-ending edition of Pick Your Poison of course. Today’s also been relatively subdued for new mp3s, but there’s still a few for you anyways. You may want to have a listen to the song by The Modern Skirts, which is pretty good. Also great is the Pallers song, along with the remix done by Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. Have a great weekend!

The Flying Change – Singer

Joy Ike – Sweeter

Modern Skirts – Rebecca St. Claire

Newislands – We Are the Night

Pallers – The Kiss
Pallers – The Kiss (Suburban Kids With Biblical Names Remix)

Suck Shaft – There Are Children Here

Yellow Fever – Bermuda Triangle

A new song from Crocodiles heads up today’s Pick Your Poison. Additionally cool tracks you might want to check out include an alternate version of a new Hot Hot Heat song, a fresh single from Sambassadeur, and a couple cuts from Western Vinyl’s own Secret Cities. Thumbs up all around.

Alexa Wilding – Black Diamond Day

Crocodiles – Sleep Forever

Don Diablo – Who’s Your Daddy (Black Noise Remix)

The Foxymorons – Skinny Cow Blues

Hot Hot Heat – 21 @ 12 (Alternate Version)

The Innocence Mission – The Happy Mondays
The Innocence Mission – God Is Love

Sambassadeur – I Can Try

Secret Cities – Boyfriends
Secret Cities – Pink Graffiti, Pt. 1

Sonny and the Sunsets – Too Young to Burn

Pick Your Poison has been pretty mp3 heavy so far this week, and you think it’s got to let up sooner rather than later. So as it is mid-week, things are a little lighter today, but what’s lacking in quantity is more than made up for in quality. Of all things, there’s a new song from Danzig – which isn’t so much a personal preference but an aesthetic one. Two great Chicago bands get some attention, so you’ll want to check out the songs by Disappears and Mazes. Math rock band Tera Melos has a new song out, and it’s quite catchy. Throw in a remix of a Foals song and an amazing new, hot weather track from Magic Kids, and you’re in great shape. Check those things, and much more out below!

Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants – Get Along

Danzig – On A Wicked Night  (follow link; free via Amazon)

Disappears – Gone Completely

Foals – Spanish Sahara (Deadboy Remix)

JM Airis – Numbers Man

Magic Kids – Summer

Mazes – Things I Threw In The Well (Scott Masson Remix)  (follow link; sendspace)

Richard Laviolette – Funeral Song

Tera Melos – Frozen Zoo

Two Hours Traffic – Noisemaker

Unbunny – Landslide

The band Viernes is the Florida-based duo of Sean Moore and Alberto Hernandez. They’re two friends with musical inclinations who decided to get together every Friday and mess around with various sounds and sonic textures to see what they could create. Those weekly sessions, combined with a knowledge of rudimentary Spanish, should tell you exactly how they chose the name Viernes. As for the sound that emerged from those experiments, well, they make up the tracks you’ll find on their debut album “Sinister Devices”, which came out last week. Also a case of what’s-in-a-name, the album title, along with its white smoke with undertones of red cover should give you a relatively accurate idea of what mood you’ll come out of these recordings with.

As the glo-fi subgenre continues to make waves among hype peddlers most everywhere, the consistent movement towards electronica has inspired plenty of other types of music to incorporate computer-generated beats and sounds into their repertoire. One of the newer and fresher products to emerge from this of late is a movement being called electrogaze, or dreamhop. The basic idea is to use the dark, washed out guitars of shoegaze and combine them with dreamy electronic landscapes. As a natural cousin to all this, psychedelia also plays an important role in the sound, and if you like to listen to music while on “enhanced substances”, you might find electrogaze very much to your liking. But that most basically defines what Viernes is all about on “Sinister Devices”, crafting shimmering and ethereal melodies often mixed with vocal harmonies that have earned them comparisons to bands like Liars, The Radio Dept., Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective. The wealth of instruments they use across the album is impressive as well, because for all the odd electronic squelches and heavy My Bloody Valentine-esque guitars, the splashes of piano, xylophones, horns and a host of other musical devices are what turn these very good melodies into amazing ones. That, along with the way each track unfurls in an entirely unpredictable and challenging way is further testament to just how smart these guys really are as musicians. There may not be any hooks to officially speak of, given the album’s complete shunning of the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure, but a song like “Sinister Love”, where the same phrase gets repeated over and over again can be equally as compelling and memorable. You also get a couple flat-out instrumental tracks on the record, which serve less as stopgaps between singing and more as continuations of the hazy beauty established by those glorious harmonies. Put together in its entirety, “Sinister Devices” provides one album-length journey into lands of darkness and dreams. Wonderful only begins to describe it.

Some might see “Sinister Devices” as an unfocused and formless piece of wallpaper. The complaint is understandable, but those who argue it are either missing the point or tend to have a tough time with songs that lack obvious choruses. Each song works as a solid piece of music unto itself, but the real experience here is listening to the album front to back in one sitting. There are layers and hidden pieces that reveal themselves through time and patience, which is largely why the repeat value on this record is so high. From a purely lyrical perspective, most of the songs will feature a few words or phrases repeated throughout, so in some respects that lacks depth, but like Sleigh Bells does, the words don’t matter so much as the way they’re presented. Viernes says that their songs are about many things such as fear and tragedy or love and money. The lyrics don’t so much drive that point home, but the dreamy soundscapes do. And that’s the point – to let the instruments do the talking for you. It may not be the brightest and most upbeat album in the world, and it can certainly be challenging at times, but “Sinister Devices” more than earns its keep through dynamic and darkly beautiful compositions. Given the lack of press surrounding this album so far, it may be destined to become one of this year’s hidden gems. Don’t let it pass you by without at least stopping for a taste.

Viernes – Entire Empire
Viernes – Honest Parade

Buy “Sinister Devices” from Amazon

Tokyo Police Club is a band that really got their legs thanks to the proliferation of music blogs around the mid-00s. Their fast-paced and hook-filled indie pop with a punk edge was particularly easy to like, as were the couple of EPs they released prior to their debut album, 2008′s “Elephant Shell”. That debut full length record showed a remarkable progression for a band whose lighthearted and speedy melodies earned them a fairly rabid fan base early on. The songs may have still clocked in at under 3 minutes apiece for the most part, but the lyrics took on heavier topics and the tempos slowed a bit to accomodate that. There were also more intricate and carefully crafted melodies, which still had enough hooks in them to keep old fans satisfied while bringing in new ones. Still, pieces of “Elephant Shell” felt too restrained or coldly calculated, whereas their earlier EPs seemed to hold a “live fast and die young” mentality to them. That Tokyo Police Club are still around and making relevant music when you halfway expected them to be burned out or relegated to the pile of “formerly hyped” artists is something of a testament to their continued evolution and drive to prove their worth. Their second album “Champ” came out last week, and it’s something of a course correction from their last effort.

The first track on “Champ” is “Favourite Food”, and initially the most noticeable thing about it is that it’s almost 4 minutes long. That’s almost double the length of many of their older songs, and the slowed down tempo is a little different as well. Singer David Monks also seems to have gotten more emotionally gritty in his vocal performance. He sounds like the world has put him through lots of tragedy and now he’s singing tales about his experiences. Despite that initial impression, one of the better things about this new album is that TPC are loosening up again and removing some of that completely serious vibe that was all over much of “Elephant Shell”. Songs like “Favourite Colour” and “Breakneck Speed” wax nostalgic over the best (and worst) memories of earlier years, when you’d mess around, get into trouble and ask the most trivial of things to your friends. While none of the new songs have that raw punk energy that was so omnipresent on their earliest material, many of them are have a faster tempo than the stuff on the last album. There’s also hooks galore that’ll stick with you long after the record is over. First single “Wait Up (Boots of Danger)” is a fun little number that features a chorus of “Wooo”s that makes it understandably easy to sing along with. And while a song like “Not Sick” is actually a little slow for these guys, what it lacks in tempo it more than makes up for in Monks’ upbeat lyrics and vocal performance, taking the track and it’s bouncy synth melody from simply nice to heartfelt and joyous. It’s that sort of sheer moxy that separates Tokyo Police Club from their similar indie pop counterparts – with a turn of a phrase and a simiple vocal performance or harmony, a song can go from good to great.

While the ultimate success or failure of Tokyo Police Club’s debut “Elephant Shell” was largely based on heightened expectations from the band’s early EPs, “Champ” no longer has such pressure to deal with. With nobody exactly sure where the band would go on their new album, what they delivered on was a continued evolution of their sound. Such a move was absolutely necessary, and it keeps the band relevant amid a large collection of other bands looking to capitalize on something similar. For a group that makes music this compelling, it still begs the question as to why they’ve not yet achieved a larger scale, more mainstream success by this point in time. Tokyo Police Club have proven they’re up to the challenge, and though they may not be the most inventive or original band out there, that their songs stand out due to smaller things like vocal performances or lyrics or simple hooks. “Champ” is one of their best arguments in favor of that, and it’s definitely worth listening to if intelligent indie pop is something you actively enjoy. It’s certainly good enough to keep your interest in this band for at least another couple years, just to see what they’ll pull out of their collective sleeves next.

Tokyo Police Club – Wait Up (Boots of Danger) (via Pitchfork)

Buy “Champ” from Amazon

We’re midway through June, and with summer on the verge of “officially” starting on the 21st, these Pick Your Poison entries are getting hotter every day. Plenty more great mp3s for your downloading pleasure today, including a new song from Black Lips, a remix of a Phenomonal Handclap Band song, and something to remind you that the Cowboy Junkies are still making music. Have a look-see, and as always, take what you like.

1959 Hat Company – Intersection

The Belles – Time Flies When You’re Losing Your Mind
The Belles – The Late Hours

Black Lips – Before You Judge Me

Cowboy Junkies – Stranger Here

Diskjokke – 1987

Hallelujah the Hills – That Ticking Sound You Hear

Kacey Johansing – Angel Island

Korallreven – The Truest Faith (Ghostape Remix)

Loch Lomond – Wax and Wire

Neil Nathan – California Run

The Phenomonal Handclap Band – You’ll Disappear (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)

Springs – Waste My Time

Thunder Power – Heartifact

The best surprises are always the ones that you never see coming. Well I suppose that’s the definition of the word “surprise”, but I’d also say that some supposed surprises are easier to predict than others, like a TV show’s season-ending cliffhanger where the hero is in serious danger of being killed. You may be surprised to learn that at the start of a new season, the hero survives and escapes the deadly situation. Of course there’s also the bad surprise, where your hopes are high and are met with ultimate disappointment. But the surprise I’m talking about is the sort where you’ve got little to no expectation at the start, only to be completely floored and blown away by something incredible. Rarely do such surprises happen, and that’s really what makes them so special and immensely difficult to capture. Such a surprise happened to me on Saturday night, and as part of this show review, I’m obliged to tell you about it. But first, some finer details.

The venue is Lincoln Hall, the newest (and one of the hottest…booking-wise) concert venue in Chicago. It’s a late show, and The Futureheads are headlining a bill with The Like and The Static Jacks. After arriving a little late, I learned that The Static Jacks had already finished and The Like was preparing to start their set. My history with The Like has been a short one that I can sum up in a quick sentence. They released a debut album in 2005, which like their band name I moderately liked. They’re now releasing their second record this week. They are an all girl group who make relatively inoffensive but moderately catchy rock songs that primarily deal with the subject of boys and romance. It’s all far more intricate and developed than the almost “Plain Jane” exterior it might come off as, especially if you’re fully aware that a couple core members of the band are daughters of music industry veterans. Ignore that point and just listen to the music, because it’s definitely good enough to have come from a group of clearly talented individuals. That said, as a live act, The Like aren’t half bad either. Boasting a slightly revamped lineup that was established last year, the girls came out and quickly kicked things into high gear. They powered through their set at a dizzying pace, rarely stopping even for an applause break. Stage banter was virtually nonexistent, except to thank the other bands on the bill and the crowd for coming. As for the songs themselves, they were decent. The Like performed them with pluck and aplomb and were mostly engaging in their delivery. There was nothing revolutionary or immensely exciting about how it all went down, but then again neither are their songs. It’s the sort of music you’d expect from these girls, and it’s also good enough to make you wonder why this band isn’t more popular. There’s a catchiness and general enjoyment to the songs, and I honestly believe that’s worth a lot. Most of the songs they played were new ones from their upcoming “Release Me”, and they had a solid 60′s girl group vibe to them. I’ve yet to hear the new record, but based on the live versions of the songs, it has potential. So does The Like’s live show. They may not have blown me away with their set, but I’m confident that as they continue to make new music and do plenty of touring, things will continue to improve. Best of luck, ladies.

Buy The Like’s “Release Me” from Amazon

To the strains of Cheap Trick’s “Hello There”, which prominently features the line “Are you ready to rock?”, The Futureheads emerged on stage prepared to do just that. Whether they’ve been using the song all tour or it was specifically chosen for Cheap Trick’s hometown, it made for an amusing start to what would be a show filled with fun little moments just like that one. “Hello, we are The Futureheads. Prepare to meet your doom,” said frontman Barry Hyde as the band launched furiously into the title track of their new album “The Chaos”. The song itself is much like a time bomb, filled with raw energy and featuring the countdown of “5,4,3,2,1″. As suddenly as it had started, less than 2 minutes later, the music abruptly stopped, and the band did too – frozen like statues in place while the crowd cheered up a storm. After a good few seconds of this, the band ripped through the chorus one last time. If that’s not the absolute right way to start a show, I don’t know what is. “Thank you very much, Chicago. This is the very last stop on our U.S. tour, and I want it to get messy in here tonight. I want you all to go to the bar, grab a bottle of vodka, pour it on yourself, and then set yourself on fire,” Hyde quipped. “That’s the spirit!” guitarist Ross Millard chimed in with the pun. And so it went, clear that not only would The Futureheads rip through their four album catalogue, but they’d do so in the most entertaining way possible. See, unlike so many touring bands today, The Futureheads have the oft-coveted characteristic known as stage charisma, and they’ve got it coming out their arses.

Of course the show wasn’t all about witty banter, even though it did include some great commentaries on the USA vs. England World Cup match earlier in the day (“our goaltender must have had olive oil on his gloves or something”) and Chicago (“I love the architecture here. You’ve got a lot of things that spiral, and that’s fantastic. I especially love your carparks [parking garages]. Chicago has the best carparks in the world.”). No, speaking specifically for the music, The Futureheads delivered a performance that was directly relational in energy to that of their songs. Fast, fun, upbeat, and markedly faithful to the original recordings. That is to say, the tempo and vocal harmonies weren’t off in the least, and that just made for a better show. The music itself kind of pushes you in that direction initially anyways, but the band and their great, loose energy drove it home. They also covered every necessary song in their entire catalogue thus far, and smartly pulling much of the material from their first album and their most recent one. Particularly great were renditions of “Meantime”, “Decent Days and Nights” and “First Day”, all of which held up to the lofty standards they presented on record initially. The new songs fared quite well too, in particular “Heartbeat Song”, “Struck Dumb” and “Jupiter” – though my favorite of the new stuff probably came with “The Connector”. In addition to that, crowd participation was heartily encouraged, whether it was clapping along with the beat, doing the “bouncy dance” (jumping up and down mindlessly), or splitting the room in half for a sing-along game to “Hounds of Love” that saw The Like and The Static Jacks returning to the stage to help out. More often than not, those “this side sings one part, and the other side sings another part” games are foolish ploys that never work out as well as you might hope. While the crowd-infused version of “Hounds of Love” wasn’t exactly perfect, it worked about as well as it could be expected to.

After powering through a 16-song set, The Futureheads said goodnight, but then naturally said they’d be back in a minute for an encore. True to their word, they weren’t gone for more than 60 seconds, and when they came back, they played the very first song they ever wrote, “Le Garage”. From the sound of things, the band only intended on playing a 2-3 song encore. What wound up actually happening was a different story. The venue might only have been 3/4ths full, but what crowd was there only wanted more. Given that it was the last night of their U.S. tour, the band looked like they didn’t want to leave the stage either, so they played a couple more beyond what they had originally planned for. It got to the point where they claimed they’d never done a 5-song encore before, but something that night coaxed them into it. They may have played 21 songs total, but given the speed at which they ripped through them, only about 90 minutes had passed and most of us were having the time of our lives. Still, all good things must come to an end, and after powering through “Man Ray”, The Futureheads called it a night once and for all.

At the beginning of this now lengthy piece, I talked a little bit about great surprises. The ones that sneak up on you when you least expect them and knock your socks off in a great way. The Futureheads’ live show was one of those moments for me, not just a stand-out highlight of my concergoing year thus far, but perhaps the most dynamic and fun time I’ve had at a show in a few years. This coming from a band that I had a moderate liking for going in and felt that if they just did their harmonies right that’d be good enough. Instead they went very far above and beyond any expectations I could have had and earned a spot among my favorite live acts. Their U.S. tour may be over, but if you’re from Europe and you’ve not yet seen The Futureheads, make sure to check and see if they’re coming to your city sometime soon. At the end of their set, Ross told the crowd that it was their first show in Chicago in four years. He also said they’d be back sooner than that next time. I certainly hope that’s true, because I’m now eagerly looking forward to the next time The Futureheads come to town.

The Futureheads – Struck Dumb
The Futureheads – Skip to the End

Buy The Futureheads’ “The Chaos” from Amazon

Set List:
The Chaos
Walking Backwards
Robot
Heartbeat Song
Meantime
Struck Dumb
Decent Days and Nights
I Can Do That
First Day
Skip to the End
Back to the Sea
Sun Goes Down
The Beginning of the Twist
Carnival Kids
Hounds of Love
Jupiter
\*ENCORE*/
Le Garage
The Connector
Work Is Never Done
Stupid and Shallow
Man Ray