Radio Free Chicago

Das gut techno

RFC favorite Apparat returns to Chicago this week for a blitzkrieg of Berlin techno on SmartBar Tuesday night. A co-owner of the uber-hip Shitkatapult label with T. Raumschmiere, Apparat’s music sensibilities fall somewhere in-between the smoothness of his Orchestra of Bubbles collaborator Ellen Allien and the monster truck stomp of Raumschmiere. On record, Apparat can even be a bit atmospheric and moody, but as his MySpace bio states, "his live performances are known for kicking some ass!" And that's not just some hyperbolic publicist BS either...You know when a show is so good that you immediately go out and buy the record the next day? Apparat’s opening set a couple years ago at the Empty Bottle actually inspired this cynical author to do just that.

Festivities begin Tuesday at 10pm, with openers Chris Widman, Yard, Miles Tilman and M50. Price at the door is a stupidly cheap 5 bucks. Orchestra of Bubbles will be out next month on Allien's BpitchControl imprint.

RFC TV

Ah, a rainy Friday...a perfect time to catch up on some new music clips via the RFC video vault. (all clips in QuickTime)

David Bowie - Serious Moonlight
(new live DVD of 1983 tour)

"Heroes" (check out that powder blue suit!?!)

"Young Americans"

"China Girl"

Richard Ashcroft - Keys to the World

"Break the Night with Colour"

Metric - Live it Out

"Poster of a Girl"

"Monster Hospital"

Check out Metric live next Thursday(4/14) at Metro

Touch and Go to Celebrate 25th at Hideout

Venerable local record label Touch and Go will be celebrating their 25th anniversary this fall with a massive block party bash at The Hideout. A few of the artists already schedued include:

The Black Heart Procession
Calexico
CocoRosie
Didjits (all original members)
Enon
Ted Leo + Pharmacists
Pinback
Scratch Acid (all original members)
Shellac

In all, the block party will feature "25 bands in 2.5 days," the weekend of September 8-10. Ticket information and sales are forthcoming...keep your eyes peeled to TouchandGoRecords.com for more info and updates.

Mini Review - Art Brut@Metro 3/30/06

After the wacky antics of Gil Mantera's Party Dream, seeing Art Brut live was almost anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, they didn't suck...it just didn't seem like their live act brought anything more to their the material. The genius of Art Brut lies almost solely Eddie Argos' cheeky lyrics, which he pretty much just speaks, rather than actually sings. On record it cracks my shit up, but live this formula never really translates well for me (see LCD Soundsystem).

Finally, in a strange way, watching Art Brut live almost reminded me of a more mentally stable version of the Wesley Willis Fiasco. Not exactly, of course...but the combination of a backing band that ironically rocks out really hard with a frontman that talk-sings humorous songs that essentially all sound the same did bring back some memories.

As always, more pics available at www.flickr.com/photos/rfc...

New Releases Tuesday (4/4)

Irving - Death in the Garden Blood on the Flowers (Eenie Meenie Records) A huge favorite over at Radio Free Silver Lake, Irving are an L.A.-based 5-piece that have been described as the "Beach Boys scoring a Hitchcock movie." In support of this sophomore release, the Irving boys will be playing The Empty Bottle a week from Saturday with headliners Vox Trot. Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors (Sanctuary) That California sun seems to be reinvigorating Morrissey as he's back with yet another new album of Mozzy mope anthems. Recorded by Tony Visconti, this one's supposed to "rock" more than previous releases and the press for the album even claims that it's "the most musically disturbing record Morrissey has made since Meat is Murder."

The Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics (Warner Bros.)
Another much-heralded "return to the rock" from a veteran act, At War...is the Lips' 12th record and first in four years. I heard this record in its entirety in February when I was in L.A., but it was like at 5am at a friend of a friend's house after a long night of drinking. It seemed like it sounded pretty cool?? But let's be honest, at this point Wayne Coyne could cut of record of himself belching the alphabet and I'd still probably buy it, so I'm probably not the best judge of this record.

Also this week...

American Princes - Less and Less (Yep Roc)
Rahim - Ideal Lives (French Kiss)
Rainer Maria - Catastrophe Keeps Us Together (Grunion)
Soul Position - Things Go Better with RJ and Al (Rhymesayers)
Subtle - Wishingbone (Lex)
Various Artists - The DFA Remixes: Chapter One (DFA/Astralwerks)

Live Review: Gil Mantera's Party Dream@Metro 3/30/06

Supposedly two brothers from Youngstown, OH, Gil Mantera and his bandmate “Ultimate Donny” are two very strange dudes. If they are actually brothers, they must have been dropped on the head a lot as babies, or mom let them eat a few too many paint chips. Watching them open up for Art Brut last Thursday at Metro, I was completely dumbfounded by their look, their music and their stage persona. The best description that I can come up with is that they’re like combination of bad late 70’s arena rock, cheesy 80’s soundtrack pop and maybe a dash of 90’s Euro-dance schlock. Despite all of these painfully awful influences from which they obviously draw from, nothing about their performance seemed ironic or overly tongue-in-cheek. Seemingly oblivious to any sort of kitsch factor, Ultimate Donny sang his heart out and Gil danced his ass off as if he was, in fact, rocking out in his very own party dream.

I don’t think that their music really stands up on its own (in fact, some of it is downright awful), but I have to admit, their live show is pretty damn amusing…mostly in a baffling WTF?? kind of way, but still amusing nonetheless. Case in point, toward the end of their set, Gil sings a solo drum machine-backed version of “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac using a vocoder and proceeds to strip to his underwear in the process. Later in the song, he’s joined by Donny, who also strips to his skimpies. The whole thing was completely asinine, but instead of rolling my eyes and leaving for the bar, I’m captivated by the musical train wreck and can’t look away.

I don't know...maybe they're just on a lot of drugs, or maybe they are really a little "special," but whatever the case, Gil Mantera's Party Dream are a trip and (for better or worse)this was easily one of the most entertaining shows I've seen in quite some time.
Lots more pics of the Party Dream in the Live Photo Archive
(click on "view as as slide show" for best results)