How to Dress Well, aka Tom Krell, doesn’t make music that’s easy to listen to or enjoy by any stretch of the imagination. That can also be considered part of his charm though, that he doesn’t bow to anyone’s standards. There are influences, that’s to be sure, and you could hear flashes of Bobby Brown or Michael Jackson in some of the tracks on HTDW’s 2010 debut album Love Remains. Those influences were filtered through Krell’s unique lens, and there was such a lo-fi, effect-laden treatment to everything that it often felt like you were listening to an R&B record underwater. Krell’s falsetto vocals also tended to sound like they were recorded from the opposite side of a room, the distance providing a chasm of disconnection against the intimacy of the lyrics. It was a symbolic gesture more than anything else, as we’d later come to find out that his struggles with depression have often kept his family and friends at arm’s length. That more or less informs how the new HTDW record Total Loss functions, although this time the production work has become more polished and easier to listen to. Krell is also much more up-front and personal this time too, and it makes for an open wound of a record that’s an emotional wrecking ball with a heavy dose of beautiful composition. The R&B flavor is still present on this album, but it’s a little more scaled back and minimalist in terms of composition. There are plenty more icy textures that glide and drift past instead of big beats and vocal posturing. If you’re expecting a bunch of “Ready for the World” clones to create clear highlights across this album, you will probably end up sorely disappointed. There are tracks like “Cold Nites” and “& It Was You” that are some of the most fascinating and complex pieces Krell has ever put together, and while their melodies affixed with accoutrements like finger snaps and intense vocal harmonies may have a lighthearted air to them, the lyrics are anything but. Where this record truly excels though are in the moments when atmosphere truly takes over and beauty shines through. There are post rock symphonic bits like “World I Need You, Won’t Be Without You (Proem)” and “Talking to You” that cut so deeply while saying so little that you halfway expect Krell to turn into Sigur Ros at times. That’s a very good thing, and it shows plenty of promise for his future records. Then again, those same sorts of elements were all over last year’s Just Once EP, and they’re only minimally represented on Total Loss. In a sense, the mixture of different styles on this record can make it seem less than cohesive at times, and the lack of important benchmarks across the whole thing can leave it feeling a little front-loaded. This isn’t a perfect album, nor does it quite accomplish the great things Love Remains was able to do. What truly holds this record together in spite of everything are the lyrics, which tend to devastate at every turn. But while this record weaves its way through darkness, the end starts to shine some light through in a powerful and meaningful way. “Set It Right,” in which Krell names the many friends and family members both living and dead that he’s loved and cared for in spite of everything, is probably the most important track on the entire record. “As far as love goes, it’s one step at a time,” he sings like somebody hoping to rebuild a long dead or dormant connection. With any luck, this album marks yet another step in the right direction for How to Dress Well.
Okay, let me point out something that’s really weird and really cool. So “magician” David Blaine is never one to avoid a publicity stunt for the sake of doing something dangerous, which is why he’s now choosing to spend three days and three nights inside a metal suit where he will endure constant metal shocks. You’ll be able to watch the whole thing online, and I’m sure curious people will check in on him to see how things are going. Where this whole thing gets weirder and cooler though is with the involvement of Mr. Andrew W.K. See, the man who gave us “Party Hard” and plenty of other party anthems will be stepping in front of a keyboard this Sunday at 7:30pm EST and using it to hit Blaine with one million volts of electricity. The keyboard will be powered by a Tesla coil, which is how the electrical charge will be delivered to Blaine. That’s going to be one shocking (and probably painful) keyboard solo. Will you tune in? Will you be amused? Here is the spot on YouTube where you can watch it. I’ll be out of town, but somebody let me know how it goes. Equally electrifying is today’s edition of Pick Your Poison, which features some great songs from Bambi Lee Savage, Dawn Hunger, Rain Over St. Ambrose, Wooden Wand and Young Fathers. In the Soundcloud section there’s great stuff to stream from Black Moth Super Rainbow, Electric Guest and Saturday Looks Good to Me as well.
Okay, let’s do our usual thing on Wednesdays and talk about a couple upcoming shows happening in Chicago soon. The first I’d like to get to today is The Dig, who will be playing at The Tonic Room next Friday, October 12th. By the way, if you’ve never been to The Tonic Room, let me say that it’s one of the cooler small venues in town. Great place to see a show. But as for The Dig, they’ve been making a name for themselves these last few years, playing shows around the country with bands like The Walkmen and The Antlers. Their 2010 debut album Electric Toys earned them early respect, but their new album Midnight Flowers really brought them into their own. Stream the whole record here. They’ve got just the right mixture a good modern indie rock band should have these days, from guitars to synths and strong vocal harmonies. The energy is there too, which the band channels into their dynamic live performances. Don’t miss seeing them if you’ve got the chance. Tickets are $10 for this 21+ show and are available for purchase here.
Next up, if you enjoy a good piano rock band now and then (who doesn’t?), you might want to be aware of the Jacob Jefferies Band. While the piano does play a big part in their sound, guitars play a large role too, hence the descriptors of both piano and rock. Think of them sort of like if Ben Folds had a musical baby with Tom Petty. Their latest single “Suffocate My Heart” earned them Buzzworthy status at MTV, which between you and me doesn’t mean that much these days, but any praise is a good thing. They have a tendency to be poppy and fun, which makes it seem like only a matter of time before they’ll be playing large venues and have multiple songs on the radio. Until they get there though, they’ve got a show at the Elbo Room on Thursday, October 11th. It starts at 8pm, is a 21+ show, and you can get tickets here.
Okay, now it’s onto today’s Pick Your Poison. Great set of tunes today to help you get over the hump that is mid-week. Don’t miss tracks from A.C. Newman (ft. Neko Case), Brainstorm, Ceremony, Mardeen, Steffaloo and WRITER’s cover of Santigold.
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s new album release day. I’m pleased to bring you a list of artists that have new stuff out this week, so feel free to check some of these out if you’re so inclined: Balmorhea, Beth Orton, Dark Dark Dark, ERAAS, Flying Lotus, Frank Turner, How to Dress Well, Immigrant Union, John Cale, Joseph Arthur, Lightning Bolt, Maserati, Matt and Kim, Moon Duo, The Mountain Goats, Muse, Sun Airway, Taken By Trees, Tift Merritt, Tilly and the Wall, Tori Amos, Ultraista, The Vaccines and Why? I’m not going to say what I recommend out of that bunch, but there are definitely a few gems in that pile. There are also a few gems in this pile of mp3s below, all part of today’s Pick Your Poison. Don’t miss downloading tracks from Damon Moon and the Whispering Drifters, Elliott BROOD (covering David Bowie), JAN, Kuky Tala, Lord HUron, Prince Rama and T.H. White. RAC’s remix of Mayer Hawthorne is pretty good too. In the Soundcloud section I’ll advise streaming tracks from The Joy Formidable, Lust for Youth, Madrid and WIN WIN.
Scott Lucas is something of a film buff. In 2004, he titled Local H’s fifth studio album Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?, which referenced the actress known for her roles in films like Carrie, Halloween, Rock and Roll High School and Stripes. His 2010 record with his “solo” project Scott Lucas and the Married Men was called George Lassos the Moon, a call back to It’s a Wonderful Life. Local H has been playing shows in Chicago on New Year’s Eve for over a decade now, and they always have themes to them with movie connotations. 2001 was their tribute to Stanley Kubrick, for example. Here are the intro videos the band showed before their themed NYE sets in 2010 and 2011, the former which pulls from 1930s musicals and the latter which is a mixture of a Rush concert film and Terence Malick’s The Tree of Life. So yes, it should come as little surprise that Local H named their new long player Hallelujah! I’m a Bum!, inspired by the 1933 Al Jolson musical of the same name. The plot of that film essentially glamorizes and satirizes the hobo lifestyle during the Great Depression. Considering the current state of our economy and that we’ve got a big election coming up, these are the topics that Lucas and drummer Brian St. Clair have chosen to focus on for this record. Like almost every Local H album, the unifying theme makes it a concept record, complete with seamless song transitions and reprises of melodies and lyrics at various points throughout. Listening to the whole 60+ minute, 17 track affair from start to finish in one sitting is pretty important to grasp all that’s being done, however there are a handful of songs worth focusing on if you don’t have the time or fortitude to take on the whole enchilada each and every time.
The first half of Hallelujah! I’m a Bum! is largely focused on how we’ve been trained and indoctrinated to believe lies perpetuated by authority figures, designed to keep us calm, complacent and to hold us back from achieving our full potential. “Cold Manor” is about how our education system lets us down in that regard, feeding us with the wrong information when we’re kids so we don’t ever know better. “They Saved Reagan’s Brain” is an indictment of the GOP and Wall Street greed, attacking the idea of trickle down economics and using the aforementioned President’s own words against him in sound clips from his 1983 Evil Empire speech. The focus shifts to Chicago for “Blue Line” and “Another February,” both songs about trying to survive the city’s harsh winters when you don’t have a warm bed to sleep in or a car that will start. The former track actually uses both El train sounds and a clip of a homeless person riding the rails, explaining he does it to avoid freezing to death at night. There is a clear divide in this album via “Cold and Mannered,” which reprises “Cold Manor” in a slower, more resigned lo-fi fashion. The band originally said they were going to make this a double album, and while press releases along with the extensive track listing certainly promote that idea, if you buy it on CD you’re still getting one disc or if you buy the mp3s in bulk it won’t cost you more than any other single album. Call it Local H taking the politics of this to the next level by keeping costs down in a tough economy.
When the second half of Hallelujah! I’m a Bum! kicks off with the 75 second guitar-and-horns stomp of “Trash Fire Bummers,” things feel a little different. Okay, so the introduction of horns is something new for the band and make for a nice touch, but there’s also a shift in perspective that permeates the rest of the album. Now that we’ve learned how the government, politicians and the economy have led us astray in our formative years, it’s time to examine the further damage we’re unknowingly causing ourselves and others in the present because nobody told us otherwise. “Get it out of neutral/ Make yourself useful,” Lucas demands amid frenzied guitars and staccato horns on “Here Come Ol’ Laptop.” He’s trying to slap people out of their fevered delusions and back to reality. “Ruling Kind” gives a rather fair and calm assessment of how we need to get rid of politicians that don’t have our best interests at heart. But then the Republican party gets hit with more barbs on “Limit Your Change” and “Paddy Considine.” The first predominantly features sound bites from people like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin with their famous quotes like, “I like being able to fire people” and “How’s that hopey-changey stuff workin’ out for ya?” All of it is intended to expose their supposed hypocrisy, that in a quest to destroy President Obama they’re actually harming our country too. Following that is an indictment of the conspiracy theorist middle-aged white man, both believing and spreading misinformation about how the President is a “secret Muslim” or that only people of color are allowed to have a say in government.
If these sorts of topics sound a bit depressing and unpleasant to deal with, remember that the last Local H record 12 Angry Months was a very personal look at the crippling issues dealt with in the year following the end of a long-term relationship. Lucas and St. Clair also aren’t Japandroids, the similarly loud duo working hard to make rock and roll a celebration. The slog through this dark take on American living in 2012 is intended to get people angry about our failings and equally inspired to fight for actual change in our system. In other words, this is Local H’s pseudo take on Rage Against the Machine, and perhaps surprisingly, they wear that hat well. After looking inwards for so many records, it’s refreshing to hear them make music that truly speaks to millions of disenfranchised Americans. They become the voice of the middle class, deeply unsatisfied with both political parties (it’s worth noting there are a few criticisms aimed at President Obama on this album too) and frightened at the idea that we’ve been lost as a nation for so long we might never find our way back. Hallelujah! I’m a Bum! is an essential record to listen to as we prepare to vote this November, but its intentions and aspirations expand beyond that expiration date. Whether we hit another recession or not, America will likely remain in turmoil for many years to come. It’ll be good to have this around to remind us why and help vent some of that anger. Or you could completely ignore the lyrics and bang your head to some heavy garage rock for an hour. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
Click here to watch the video for “Cold Manor”
Click here to watch a video of “Night Flight to Paris” being performed live in the studio
What a start to the week! I don’t know about you, but I’m not the biggest fan of Mondays. Today though, was pretty spectacular music-wise. First, Death Grips got into a fight with their label, Epic Records. See, they promised their fans they’d be releasing two records this year. The first was The Money Store, which came out in April. They completed their second record, “No Love Deep Web” a few days ago, and it was slated for an October 23rd release. Epic backed out of that release date though, and told the group they’d now like to release it “sometime in 2013.” Well, one of the things you probably shouldn’t do is piss off guys that call themselves Death Grips. In a seriesofangrytweets last night, they said they were just going to put the record up on their website starting at midnight PST on October 1st (today). As they said, the label people will be hearing the album at the same time as everyone else. Well, not only did it go up on the site for streaming, it was up for free download too. Of course since then their site has crashed and will probably take a few days to repair. In the meantime though, feel free to stream/download No Love Deep Web from Soundcloud, or just download the whole thing via Mediafire or DepositFiles. Nobody’s trying to stop them from giving it away, at least not yet. Once that genie is out of the bottle, there’s not really any way to put it back in anyways. The cover art, by the way, features the album title written in marker on an erect penis. I’m not going to link to that, and if you want to find it, do a search for it. So yeah, a new Death Grips album (which may or may not be your thing) being given away for free is great and worth it, in my opinion. Also great news: Godspeed You! Black Emperor have announced they will be releasing their first record of new material since 2002. Not only that, but it’ll be available for purchase in two weeks (Oct. 16th). The title of the new album is ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!. If you’re a fan of the post-rock collective, then start getting excited now. For more information on that, and to preorder, simply go here. Okay, now let’s do today’s Pick Your Poison. Don’t miss tracks from Beaten By Them, Broke For Free, Guards, Jemez Mountain Hawkz, Marine Electric and Peace. The Canyons Wooly Mammoth Remix of Tame Impala is worth a download too. In the Soundcloud section, stream new and interesting stuff from Example, Star Slinger, Teen Daze and Tennis (covering Television).
Happy Friday! Remember when that Rebecca Black song was popular because of how excruciatingly bad it was? I despised those that took the song seriously and used it as their theme song for days like today. These days we’ve got a far better option to get us pumped for the weekend. It’s far better, and best appreciated in video form, though only listening to the audio provides some inspiration if only because you recall the images and dancing while doing so. But this trend too shall pass. I’m reveling in the moment though, and am starting to wonder if there is a quintessential song that we can call the all-time weekend-starter. Like, if you had to pick a single song to listen to on Friday afternoon for the rest of your life, what would that song be? I don’t know if I could make that sort of commitment, though if I did it’d probably have to be something classic I’ve loved for years and wouldn’t ever get tired of. It’s a tough choice. Chew on that while you’re relaxing in front of the TV or something this weekend. In the meantime, please enjoy these fresh from the harvest mp3s in today’s Pick Your Poison. Highlights include tracks from Autumn Owls, Crystal Castles, Cultfever, dEUS, Dracula Lewis, The Glitch Mob, Midnight Magic, Naytronix, and Parade of Lights. In the Soundcloud section please keep an eye on streams from The 1975, Dinosaur Jr, Milano Sun and PAWS. Have a great weekend!
I am what you would call a Beach Boys fan. The reason I word it that way is because I’m a bit selective in my fandom of the band. If you want to talk about Pet Sounds or Surfin’ USAr or even a greatest hits record, I’m on board. Most of the other stuff I could care less about, save for a handful of songs. I respect their legacy, but don’t really like some of the inter-band drama they’ve had over the years. To me, Brian Wilson’s return to the Beach Boys in the last couple years was a bit of a triumph, especially after his personal difficulties. For much of 2012, the band has been celebrating their 50th anniversary by reissuing some of their classic albums, recording a new one and touring around the world. I happened to see them when the tour came through Chicago last May, and it was a great time. They played all the hits, and to see all the remaining members together on stage was a genuine treat. Unfortunately all is not well with the Beach Boys. Mike Love, who owns the Beach Boys name, announced a couple days ago that following the band’s final UK tour dates coming up he was kicking Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks to the curb. Basically Love said he only got everyone back together to make a ton of money surrounding the 50th anniversary of the band, and now that they’re done with that he doesn’t want them around anymore. On the other end, Wilson said in an interview that he, Jardine and Marks had so much fun during this tour and can’t understand why Love wants them gone. Jardine has backed an online petition to try and keep the original Beach Boys intact. What’s ironic to me is that a guy with the last name Love could be so heartless. I’m just glad I got to see them together before this whole thing blew up. I wish them all the best and hope they can find a way to settle any differences there might be. Okay, let’s talk Pick Your Poison for today. Recommended tracks come from Cardio, Dazzletine, Immigrant Union, KOPPS, Night Moves, Paper Diamond and Undesirable People. In the Soundcloud section don’t miss streaming songs from Andrew Bird, The Weeknd and Woods.
I have a certain admiration for Prince, and it’s not just because of his basketball skills. I’d like to think that almost everyone in the world has at one point or another in their lives enjoyed a Prince song. Whether it’s the millennial staple “1999” or classics like “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Little Red Corvette,” the man has a catalogue most other artists would envy. More unfortunate is that the Purple One hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade. People still love the guy, even if they don’t particularly care for what he’s been doing more recently. In that respect he’s more like a David Bowie, whose last few albums were mere footnotes. Prince has gotten a bit smarter these last couple years, and instead of going around trying to record and push new material, he’s simply touring because that’s one area of his life that’s still very lucrative. People still flock to see Prince in concert, and they’ll pay high prices for it too. Over the last few months he’s been playing around with touring structures too, holding down residencies in several U.S. cities. His biggest residency so far has been in Los Angeles, where he played 21 dates over the course of a month. Now he likes to claim that every show is unique, but I find it hard to believe that you’re not going to run into some similarities when you play 21 shows in the same place. Anyways, it got me really excited when at the start of this month, Prince announced a Chicago residency. No specifics were given, except that there was one show scheduled for September 24th at the United Center. Second and third shows would later be added as well, for the two days immediately after that. Now that they’re finally here, it seems like tonight will be Prince’s last show in Chicago for the foreseeable future. So L.A. gets 21 shows, and Chicago only gets 3? Unless he’s going to announce more Chicago shows, I’m upset. Here I avoided buying tickets to those shows, figuring that with at least 5-10 shows that still might be scheduled, it’d be easier to get tickets later on. Now on this last night, I’m kicking myself. Then again, reviews for the Prince shows in Chicago haven’t exactly been stellar, with most saying his band does most of the hard work, that he barely picks up a guitar, and when he does it’s only for a minute and doesn’t include an extended solo. Also, at the first show there was a debacle involving a second encore. Fans were left waiting for 30 minutes, then the house lights came up and most left. About 15 minutes after those house lights went up, Prince came back out and played a couple more songs. Almost everybody was gone by that point. Waiting 5 minutes for an encore is excruciating, so I can only imagine what 45 minutes feels like. I haven’t checked to see if he pulled the same stunt on Night 2. We’ll see about Night 3 later. Anyways, if Prince announces any more Chicago shows, I’ll be sure to let you know, as I’ll probably be getting tickets myself. So let’s tackle today’s Pick Your Poison. Recommended tracks come from Cold Showers, Communist Daughter, Departures, One Finger Riot, Sons of the West and Triad God. In the Soundcloud section, stream Passion Pit’s remix of Crystal Fighters, The Knocks remixing Two Door Cinema Club, and a brand new Tegan and Sara single.
Have you heard Efterklang’s 2004 debut album Tripper? If not, now’s as good of a time as any to look it up. Spotify can help you out on that one if needed. Anyways, back then the Danish band had about 10 members and created atmospheric post-rock soundscapes that effectively brought to mind Sigur Ros with a little more electronic undercurrent. Fast forward to the present, and Efterklang is now a three-piece band that more or less creates beautiful and heartfelt pop songs. The difference is pretty huge, though it helps that they retain small pieces of their earlier selves. You can’t quite blame the band for wanting to find true success, but the way they’ve gone about it sometimes feels like too huge of a sacrifice. A lot of the elements that made them distinctively great have been washed away to make melodies easier to digest and remember. That’s largely what sabotaged their last album, 2010’s Magic Chairs. In preparation for the release of their new album Piramida, the band released a trailer that shows some of the lengths they went to in generating audio samples for it. In short, they traveled to Spitsbergen, Russia, located on the edge of the North Pole and home to Pyramiden, a town that was abandoned in the ’90s and remains as a decaying ruin today. They climbed inside huge, hollow tanks and recorded vocals and noises with the impressive echoes. They ran down boardwalks and plinked glass bottles with the microphones capturing it all – over 1,000 samples used across the album. Such effort is more than admirable, as not many artists would go to such lengths to add such unique charms to their records.
If you give a really close listen to the entire record, the little effects become that much more apparent and make what you’re hearing immensely more impressive. The only percussion on “Dreams Today” is the sound of footsteps across wooden planks. “Told to Be Fine” has a large hollow metal object being struck by something that sounds like but probably isn’t a basketball, while “The Living Layer” makes use of the many ways glass transforms sound when tapped at different angles and levels. Charming and well placed as all these elements might be, if you didn’t know to listen for them you probably wouldn’t notice or care where they came from. Efterklang might well be amateur foley artists, adding sound effects to movies after the fact because camera microphones didn’t pick them up properly. The point being, almost all of it could have been recreated in the studio without the need to go to an abandoned ghost town near the North Pole. That shouldn’t lessen or cheapen the experience of listening to Piramida because clearly the band was inspired by their trip in the right ways, but you are left wondering if they could have done something more or different with what they collected during their journey. For example, to make an atmospheric, post rock record like their earlier work using these sounds would be inventive and set them apart from their peers. Sadly, they didn’t do that. What they did do was create a smart and beautiful pop record that will impress you the more time you spend with it. The intricacies of opening track “Hollow Mountain” begin to reveal themselves once you realize it stacks upon itself by starting with a slow music box-like churn and not even launching into the first verse until two minutes have passed. From there, strings and horns all show up and eventually vanish amid icy synths, martial percussion and Casper Clausen’s relaxed vocal. The song makes for a decent single, but “Apples” which follows it is probably just a touch catchier and more upbeat.
There’s nothing on Piramida that’s intensely happy or toe-tappingly fun, but no matter what mood or shape the songs seem to take, they’re almost all compelling in one aspect or another. “The Ghost” starts innocently enough, but builds with unique percussion and harmonized vocals before entering a hornet’s nest of brass that eerily and enviously recalls Radiohead’s classic “The National Anthem” at its most frenetic point. Ballads like “Sedna” and closer “Monument” stand as particularly strong examples of how measured and carefully plotted arrangements can exude passion and elegance with lyrics that just as equally inspire. If this album has one unabashed highlight though, it comes from the 6.5 minute “Black Summer,” which transforms itself over its run time via intense build ups and releases aided along the way by stark piano work, the South Denmark Girls Choir and a jazzy little saxophone solo at the end. It’s exactly the sort of song you wish was the blueprint for the entire record, best blending the band’s earlier work with their more recent stuff. Alas, they don’t all operate at such a high level even if they’re all successful in one aspect or another.
It’s both a help and a hindrance to Piramida that despite their common elements each track could stand up well on its own. On the one hand, you want each individual track to be as strong as possible so you can drop in anywhere on the album and enjoy it. On the other hand, you also want that sense of wholeness in a record, where the entire thing goes down effortlessly in one 45 minute chunk. Efterklang aren’t quite able to strike the right balance here, which ultimately weakens the album’s overall impact just a touch. A bigger issue is the band’s indecisive nature when it comes to their sound. The atmospherics they’re creating are undoubtedly gorgeous, but they often feel taken down a notch when paired with more standard choruses. If they just surrendered to the melody instead of shoehorning differing structures in, the album would lose a lot of commercial viability but gain a greater sense of exploration and originality. Sometimes it’s more about the risks you don’t take than the ones you do, which is absolutely the case here. Still, what we do get from this record is largely quality, and a marked improvement over their last couple efforts. Let’s hope it’ll only get better from here, and that they won’t have to go to the other side of the world to make that happen.
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for me to run down the list of artists releasing new material this week. Be on the look out for fresh music from Ben Sollee, Bettye LaVette, Chris Cohen, deadmau5, Dragonette, Dum Dum Girls, Efterklang, Green Day, Hauschka, Jason Collett, John Zorn, Joseph Arthur, The Killers, Lavender Diamond, Levek, The M’s, Machine Birds, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Mumford & Sons, Murder By Death, No Doubt, Patrick Wolf, Ringo Deathstarr, The Soft Pack, Talib Kweli, Unnatural Helpers, and Yoko Ono with Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore. There’s some interesting stuff in there, just as there’s some interesting stuff below in today’s edition of Pick Your Poison. Don’t miss tracks from Crime and the City Solution, Eight Belles, Cadence Weapon’s remix of Liars, Maybeshewill, Sea of Bees, Tweak Bird and Your Youth. In the Soundcloud section, stream some good stuff like Lissvik’s remix of a great new Chad Valley track (ft. Glasser), along with something from Clubfeet.
With mere days until the release of their new album Uno!, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong entered rehab over the weekend to take care of his substance abuse problems. Did you know he had substance abuse problems? Apparently a lot of people weren’t aware until this past Friday, when the band played a show at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas and he freaked out on stage. As the story and video attest, Armstrong got extremely upset when festival organizers apparently told him the band had one minute to wrap up their set. This was after they started 30 minutes late because an artist or two before them played for too long. “You’re kidding me. I’m not fucking Justin Bieber, you motherfuckers,” he said. “Let me show you what one fucking minute means.” At that point, both he and bassist Mike Dirnt then smashed their guitars and walked off the stage. After the incident, the band released a statement saying they apologize if anyone was offended by what happened at the fest and that their set was not cut short. Anyways, that happened Friday and Armstrong entered rehab on Sunday. A number of their promotional appearances in support of the new album have been postponed for the time being while he gets the help he needs. Armstrong was also hospitalized earlier this month and the band had to cancel a show in Italy because he was reportedly suffering from “severe dehydration.” You’ve got to wonder whether or not that was true in light of what’s happened. As a Green Day fan since their early days, I’d like to wish Armstrong the best and a swift recovery. Hopefully the trio of records they’re putting out over the next few months turn out okay too, rather than sounding like some drug-addled mess. Okay, let’s get to this Monday edition of Pick Your Poison. Please enjoy downloads from AbdeCaf, Amen Dunes, Analog Players Society, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Mac DeMarco, One Finger Riot, A Shoreline Dream and Windsor Drive. Stars remixing Diamond Rings and vice versa are both pretty good as well. In the Soundcloud section, don’t miss streaming tracks from Bat for Lashes, Earlimart and The Sea and Cake.
Friday, September 21st was officially the last day of summer 2012. You wouldn’t know it had you gone outside in Chicago though, as temperatures were in the 50s for most of the day and the skies were gray and rainy. Sometimes you just want one more warm and sunny day though, before it’s too late. In spite of the weather, life goes on and good things continue to happen in other aspects of our lives. A show where the bill is Atlas Genius, School of Seven Bells and Silversun Pickups sounds pretty dynamite, right? Well, that tour made its way to Chicago on Friday night, stopping at the Aragon Ballroom for some end of summer fun. Here’s a quick look at how things went.
Have you heard of Atlas Genius yet? If not, now’s probably the time to start paying attention to them. Their debut EP Through the Glass has already yielded a budding hit with the song “Trojans,” and a debut album is in the works for early 2013. As a band on the rise, of course they have to pay their dues, though fortunately for them that means playing at the Aragon to a couple thousand people rather than at a small club with only a couple hundred. The peril of being on a big tour though is always that you go on first, and with this being an all ages show, that meant hitting the stage at about 7pm. The average start time for a concert in Chicago is probably about 9pm, and even then a venue typically isn’t full until an hour or two later. So the Aragon was close to half full when Atlas Genius started their set, which for all practical purposes was pretty decent. They started with “Back Seat” off their EP and powered through a few new songs before very naturally ending with “Trojans.” They were arguably the most energetic and entertaining band of the entire night, playing with the sort of carefree joy that young and hungry artists have if they’re doing it right. Sometimes you will show up early and encounter a band that’s not quite ready for primetime but still has a little spark that suggests great potential for the future. In the relatively short time they’ve been around, Atlas Genius have exceeded reasonable expectations. They worked the crowd at the Aragon with charm and enthusiasm, and they responded in kind. It’s just a shame there weren’t more people around to witness it.
One of the more fascinating dichotomies of this particular show was that while Atlas Genius has only one EP and a budding radio hit, School of Seven Bells have three full length albums and zero radio hits. In this increasingly digital and mp3 world, you’d think such stats wouldn’t mean much, but it turns out more young people are listening to terrestrial radio than you might think. There were large portions of the crowd that had at least heard of Atlas Genius but didn’t know School of Seven Bells. It created that much more of a challenge for SVIIB to win people over. The enthusiasm didn’t quite carry over into their set, and it didn’t help that they started a little shaky. “Windstorm” is actually a single of theirs and certainly isn’t one of their weaker tracks, but it trod a midtempo ground that left the audience at attention but not exactly inspired. That frontwoman Alejandra Deheza and guitarist Benjamin Curtis stayed pretty glued to one spot for the entire set certainly didn’t give you much to look at on stage either. I’ve seen SVIIB a couple times in the last few years, always at venues about a third the size of the Aragon, and those shows were far more visceral and inspired than what they were dishing out this particular Friday night. Perhaps it was the set list or the absence of Alejandra’s sister Claudia, or even the sheer size and poor sound of the venue that caused things to be off. Maybe they just needed some time to warm up, too. After the first few songs, things started to click in place by the time “Lafaye” hit. Their final few songs were more beat-heavy and pulsated with an intense energy that started to get a lot of heads bobbing in the crowd. They finished with the song “Half Asleep,” their only nod to their excellent debut album Alpinisms, and there was a certain irony to the title. After spending much of the set with a positively lethargic audience, they were finally able to bring many out of that comatose state and into semi-consciousness. So they had that going for them, which was nice.
When it comes to headliner status, the conditions are almost always just right. That is, the place is fully packed and there’s one act you know everybody is there to see. In this case it was Silversun Pickups, who like School of Seven Bells have three records to their name, but unlike School of Seven Bells have a handful of radio hits to back them up. If you haven’t heard songs like “Lazy Eye” or “Panic Switch” on your local radio station, then perhaps you heard them in a TV commercial or on a movie soundtrack, because they’ve kind of been everywhere. Back when they were first starting out, people compared them to the ’90s version of The Smashing Pumpkins, reasoning that if Billy Corgan hadn’t strayed from that path he was on to go more psychedelic it’s what the Pumpkins would sound like today. Considering how successful Silversun Pickups have been thus far, such a reference feels pretty apt. The size of the crowd on Friday night seemed to be a testament to that success too, because if the show wasn’t sold out it sure looked like a sell out. Frontman Brian Aubert marveled at how many people came out, particularly because the last time they played the Aragon it was only about 75% filled. That sort of humility and overall kindness towards the crowd actually went a long way as a counterbalance to the ferocity of their songs. With bassist Nikki Monninger sidelined for the moment while she’s pregnant with twins, Sarah Negahdari from The Happy Hollows filled in for what was her very first time in Chicago. That seemed strange to me because I thought The Happy Hollows have toured nationally at least a couple times in recent years, but whatever, she seemed genuinely excited to be there and the crowd made her feel more than welcome. After starting with the opening track “Skin Graph” off their new record Neck of the Woods, the band peppered much of their set with the hits people clearly wanted to hear. “The Royal We,” “Little Lover’s So Polite” and their latest single “Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)” all showed up early on, quickly driving the crowd into a frenzy. Aubert moved around the stage with his guitar whenever he wasn’t locked behind a microphone, which also lent the show some extra energy that a rather pretty array of rainbow colored lighting couldn’t otherwise do. Overall it was about what you’d expect from a Silversun Pickups live show, and that’s not a bad thing. Better to meet expectations rather than fall short of them. The band has definitely improved with time, and Aubert has grown as a performer and ringleader too. Of course there’s always room for improvement, but for where they are in their careers right now they’re doing just fine on stage. Nobody walked out of the Aragon at the end of the night disappointed. Even the rain had the good sense to go away.
There are about 5,245 jokes that can be made from the fact that Fiona Apple was arrested earlier this week in Texas after a border patrol stop complete with drug sniffing dogs discovered 0.1 pound of hash and 0.1 pound of marijuana stowed in a backpack on her tour bus. Apple admitted that the drugs were hers, and she was taken to Hudspeth County jail where she was later released after posting $10,000 bond. If you’re going to crack a joke using any aspect of her song “Criminal,” this is your cue to do so. They’re easy jokes to make, really. What she really needs is a good defense (see what I mean?). Anyways, I want to take a moment to wish Fiona nothing but the best, which she clearly wasn’t getting if she resorted to smoking hash. I woke up yesterday morning (when the news of her arrest broke) with her song “Anything We Want” inexplicably in my head. Sadly, it seems she was not able to live out the lyrics of the song, because she wouldn’t have been arrested otherwise. If I were a member of that police force, I would have let her go. It’s also probably why I’m not a police officer. But that’s another story for another day. Let’s get to this weekend-starting edition of Pick Your Poison. Highlights today include tracks from Ball of Flame Shoot Fire, The Bloody Angle, Delay Trees, Lucius, Silent Rider, Stillwater Giants and Vices. In the Soundcloud section, stream good songs from Candy Claws and Josephine Foster. Have a great weekend!
After detailing a pair of good shows hitting Chicago this Friday night on yesterday’s edition of Pick Your Poison, I realized I forgot to tell you about one more show that’s happening in town on Saturday night. You may have heard of Marco Benevento through a number of channels, though perhaps his most famous work has been a part of the Benevento-Russo Duo. There was also the time he became part of Trey Anastasio’s backing band during the mid-00s when Phish had temporarily broken up. But his solo work has been as equally interesting as his collaborations, highlighting his main instrument the piano with a host of other bells and whistles to move in sonic directions you might not otherwise imagine. His songs have ranged from free-form jazz infusions to post-rock soundscapes and beyond. Underneath it all there’s an overwhelming pop sensibility too, which makes a new song like “Limbs of a Pine” (ft. Kalmia Traver of Rubblebucket) that much more engaging. Anyways, Benevento is touring in support of his brand new album Tigerface that came out last week. He’ll be at Martyr’s on Saturday night at 9:30pm for a 21+ show with the Mike Dillon Band. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. You can buy them online here. If you’re free on Saturday, this isn’t to be missed. Among the mp3s below not to be missed as part of today’s Pick Your Poison, let me recommend tracks from Dialogue From A Silent Film, Jim James’ remix of Floating Action, Freeze-Tag, Holmes, Machine Birds, Ruarri Joseph, The Standstill and Vitalic. In the Soundcloud section, you’d best stream every song listed because they’re all good.
