Radio Free Chicago

RFC Interview - Coltrane Motion

Opening for Electrelane tonight at the Empty Bottle is a new local electronic pop band who call themselves Coltrane Motion. Described as "heartbreak you can dance to" the band is led by Michael Bond who recently brought his home-brewed project to life with the help of his friends Matt Dennewitz (synths) and Pete Ziegler (beats, laptop) . Their frantic live show has been described by the press as an "exuberant seizure" and "the cool kids in programming class" performing a dance-punk intensity that far exceeds your usual laptop performance. Radio Free Chicago: So you guys are new to Chicago...what brought you here and were are you all from originally?

Michael Bond: We're all Ohio expatriates from different spots over there...Matt moved here about three years ago to go to SAIC, Pete and I moved here around the same time in late 2003, after both graduating from UC/DAAP in Cincinnati.

RFC: How was the band formed?

MB: I've been doing home recordings since high school, and putting them out as 'Coltrane Motion' for about five years now. It's only in the last year or two that our live lineup has really come together, with me on keys, Matt on guitars, and Pete on laptop and MPC. I still write and record most of our tracks solo, but now a lot of the ideas have been bounced between us all in live shows first - a third to a fourth of our set is improvised, we have a tendency to just slap on a beat and see where it goes.. There's only so many pop songs you can play in a row.

RFC: Tell us more about "Datawaslost"...it appears to be collective, a label and also a band?

MB: It's an artist collective that acts as a label, with a lot of incestuous musical projects and a focus on DIY methods, from recording to promotion. Somewhere between Elephant 6 and Anticon, we put out a lot of noise pop, electronic, and indie folk, usually mixing up at least two of those three in some way or another. It's a close-knit group of home-recording obsessives with diverse tastes and the desire to make records for the sheer hell of it, rather than chasing some music-industry pipe dream. Obviously, we fit in just fine.

RFC: I was especially intrigued by this description from the band bio..."If it (Coltrane Motion) sounds like nothing you've ever heard before, chalk it up to the group's penchant for writing their own sound software and even constructing new instruments from scratch for live usage." Without giving away any trade secrets, what kind of instruments/gadgets/software have you guys come up with so far and how did you come up with them? What inspired you to do this?

MB: I'm going to toss this one off to Matt, our guitarist and resident programmer...

Matt Dennewitz: As far as writing our own sound software goes, We could only get so far with software synthesizers and the sound they're geared toward.. having a simulation of a minimoog or a plug-in that sounds like an organ is great and all, but not terribly innovative, right? The logical progression from that point was to start writing some software ourselves -- that's where things got interesting. Before this point, we had toyed around with building instruments (the light-sensitive theremin that fit in my palm will always be my favorite) but it sometimes proved unstable. Using homegrown software written mostly in the car in-between shows, I came up with a live sampler and effects unit with a routable signal path. The sampler gave us an interface to our performance, to the sound we were making and allowed for real-time stretching, looping, reversal (think "Everything in its Right Place" without the expensive gear, but same interactivity), all of which could be routed through this staggering number of almost haphazardly assembled effects.. things like distortion using triangle waves or a tremolo with 2 sine wave with frequencies thousands of hertz apart, as well as the more conventional effects like delays and sound envelopes. The best thing about this software, though, is that it could be used with a hardware controller with knobs -- taking it to a tactile level really gave a lot of new options for performance, integrated with this new sound that we were really excited about..

RFC: What are your aspirations for the Coltrane Motion project?

MB: Given that our particular brand of electro-dance-noise often attracts an audience that's not only lonely, attractive, but also far too drunk, we're hoping to inspire as many regrettable hook-ups among our fans as possible. We supply the kick, snare, and bass, you supply the bodies. We hope to leave a trail of awkward restroom makeout sessions across the country this summer, igniting the sexual tension that no doubt consumes the population of say, Wichita, Kansas. Other bands want to sell records? We've got a higher goal: propagation of the species. A few more generations of selective breeding, and kids will come out of the womb humming "Deceptacon", and with an asymmetrical haircut to boot.

RFC: Besides the upcoming show at the Bottle and a subsequent tour, what else can we expect from Coltrane Motion in the future?

MB: More touring, more bottles. Eventually, an LP grand and ass-shaking enough to inspire simultaneous weeping and grinding. I'm going to lock myself away, studying how Andre 3000 can make party-jams out of dying relationships and custody battles, then distill this power and cover it with feedback. The kids'll love it.

SPEED ROUND

Digital or Analog?

MB: Analog Instruments, digital performances. Robots playing banjo.

Favorite electronic and/or synth-pop bands:

MB: Caribou, The Go! Team, Prefuse 73, Hefner.. for being an 'electronic' band, we mainly just listen to hiphop and folk. If Missy Elliot ever releases a synth-pop album, i'll be all over it.

Best thing about living in Chicago so far:

MB: Bike lanes & Italian beef

Favorite character from the Dukes of Hazard:

MB: The General. Without him, it was just a bunch of rednecks in a swamp.

Once again, Coltrane Motion plays tonight (6/10) at The Empty Bottle, in support of UK popsters Electrelane. Show starts at 10pm, must be 21+ Click on the link below to check out an Mp3 sample from the band's excellent new ep, No Well OK Maybe Just A Little.

"Pi is Exactly Three" (Quicktime)

Concert Preview: The Futureheads@Metro 6/10/05

This Friday, UK post-punk darlings The Futureheads will be in town to bring their angular Anglo rock to the Metro stage. Riding in on the coattails of fellow young Brit punks like Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party, The Futureheads released their debut album domestically last fall and are now headlining their first North American tour. Besides comparisons to their modern peers, they've also been compared to such classic English bands as Wire, XTC and Gang of Four. The latter certainly attributable to the fact that The Futureheads were able to snag Gang of Four's Andy Gill to produce their debut full-length.

If you're still on the fence about whether to check out their show on Friday or just have simply never even heard their music before, click on the links below for video clips from their recent performance at the Henry Fonda Theatre in L.A. to get a sneak preview of what they'll sound like at Metro. The all ages show starts at 7pm, High Speed Scene opens.

"Le Garage"
Windows Lo
Windows Hi
Quicktime

"Hounds Of Love"
Windows Lo
Windows Hi
Quicktime

"A to B"
Windows Lo
Windows Hi
Quicktime

Trouble Brewing in Liquor Park (Part 2)

The next day after learning that the future of the Double Door was in jeopardy, word came in to the RFC offices that another performance venue just a few doors down the street would definitely be closing its doors. The crew at buddY gallery lost their lease, which will put an end to the exhibitions, experimental music, workshops, and late-night dance parties at 1542 N. Milwaukee. However, don't expect the space to go out quietly...a series of farewell events are already in the works. We'll keep you posted here at RFC...

Speaking of which, one event as part of the "last days of buddY" has been announced. Not really a music-related event, but certainly worthy of a quick mention:

12-hour Erotic Film Fest
Thursday June 9th
1pm-1am
1542 N. Milwaukee, 2nd Fl
$6 donation

Vintage, S&M, puppets, documentary, hardcore, art house, & more!
Curated by Ayaco,
Presented by Odd Obsession video
Penis cakes & tea will be served

New Releases Tuesday (6/7)

This June 7th marks a "Super Tuesday" for the record industry as too highly anticipated albums from two mega-star bands hit store shelves. Yes, unless you've completely ignored all media sources for the past two months, you know that new Coldplay and White Stripes records are out today, which is sure to cause long lines at your nearest Sam Goody location (at least that's what the record execs are hoping). If neither of these artists are your cup of tea, here's a couple of other releases that are trying to sneak in through all the major label hype.

Teenage Fanclub - Man-Made - Merge
New album from veteran Scottish-popsters...recorded in Chicago and produced by Tortoise's John McEntire, it's the band's very first album to be recorded in the States and their first for legendary American indie-label, Merge. Here's more from RollingStone.com:

Teenage Fanclub laid down tracks in February and July of last year at McEntire's studio. "We certainly experienced the extremes of Chicago weather-wise," Blake says. The band packed lightly, and had to call on a Windy City friend, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, for help.
"Being cheap Scots, we didn't bring much equipment because we were worried about being charged excess baggage," Blake says, laughing. "Our penny-pinching almost got the best of us because we realized we had a song that needed two acoustic guitars. I got in touch with Tweedy, and he very kindly donated another one for the sessions."

Turin Brakes - JackInaBox - Astralwerks
"Quiet" British folk duo return to the scene after their outstanding 2003 release, Ether Song. Here's what South Wales independent record shop Diverse Vinyl has to say:

After recording Ether Song in LA, the band went back to the self-produced ethos of their debut, writing and recording the entirety of JackInABox at their own studio in Brixton. Being stuck in “difficult third album” territory is never a pleasant place for a band to be, but the band are obviously very comfortable back in their own studio; the LP recalls the atmosphere of The Optimist LP, with a new-found confidence in both the songwriting and their delivery.The result is JackInABox, a sunny and direct album, full of characteristically robust pop melodies and spine-tingling harmonies.

Annie - Anniemal - Big Beat Record
Domestic release of the debut album from hipster-adopted Norwegian pop princess Annie. Amazon.com sez:

Not since the days of The Tom Tom Club, Bananarama, and "Lucky Star"-era Madonna, has dance-pop been this fun, this bouncy, this unabashedly optimistic (1999 single "Greatest Hit" even samples the latter's "Everybody"). So don't say you haven't been warned: Anniemal is a pretension-free zone. With its "Oh no, oh no / You've got it all wrong / You think you're chocolate / But you're chewing gum" refrain, 2004's insanely addictive single "Chewing Gum" is the jewel in this sparkling crown. The R2D2-like bloops and bleeps and Annie's sweet "ah-ah-ahs" and "la-la-las" just make it shine all the brighter. Hippie-disco extravaganza "Come Together," which tops the seven-minute mark, is another standout, while the sentimental "My Best Friend" is, arguably, the only clunker on one of 2005's most notable releases.

!!! - Take Ecstacy with Me - Touch & Go
New single from the Brooklyn dance punks who were responsible for one of 2003's hottest jamz, "Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)." Check out a full stream of the new single here

Photoblog review: Architecture in Helsinki@Schubas 6/4/05

Newly updated on the RFC Live Photo Archive are pictures from Saturday night's Architecture in Helsinki show at Schubas. Here's what RFC chief image coordinator Nicole Chavas had to say about the show on her blog, The Perfect Face For Radio:

Architecture in Helsinki could rival Mates of State for Cutest Band Ever. The Australian eight-piece flooded the small Schubas stage with their myriad of instruments, including two keyboards, two trombones, a tuba, a trumpet, a flute, clarinet, recorder, and various noisemakers/shakers (including a severed hand multi-instrumentalist Gus Franklin kept waving around) in addition to the traditional drums/bass/guitar, and every member played at least three of the aforementioned instruments. Their set consisted almost entirely of songs from their new album, In Case We Die, with the exception of the single "Owls Go" from their debut album Fingers Crossed. That was fine with me, since In Case We Die is a better album overall (and "Owls Go" is the best song on Fingers Crossed).

They all danced around and acted generally oddly for their hour on stage, and it was just so adorable I thought I was going to drown in their cuteness. I mean, one of them is named Gus, for goodness sake. In between songs they told silly jokes in their Australian accents- funny how everything is funnier in an accent. Show closer "Do the Whirlwind" was the highlight, as they sort of "jammed" it out, as much as indie-pop bands can jam, that is (i.e. a four minute song instead of two minutes!).

Check out the pictures of the show here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rfc/

Trouble Brewing in Liquor Park

Once deemed as an edgy and hip artists' neighborhood, Wicker Park has been the victim of mass gentrification over the past decade. For many, the arrival of the Starbucks at the corner of North and Milwaukee was the first proverbial nail in the coffin. Since then, the neighborhood has been invaded by MTV for a session of their Real World franchise, inundated with cheesy yuppy bars, mauraded by more chain joints like Potbelly and Chipotle, and accosted by expensive new condos and skyrocketing rents. Hell, corporate interests have even taken over the graffiti art in the area recently. (see this week's "Antisocial" column in the Reader)

Obnoxious as all this has been, the neighborhood still has a bit of its old charm left thanks to such venerable institutions as Myopic Books, Earwax, Reckless Records and Double Door. These gems still make a trip to "the crotch" worthwhile, even if you have to dodge a few loud drunken yuppies along the way. However, it appears that one of these staples of the old neighborhood could be in serious jeopardy, and if closed, just might lead to that final nail being put in the coffin of Wicker Park's former bohemian life.

Here's the story from Metroblogging (via Chicago Monkey):

On June 9, 2005 Double Door, Chicago's preeminent small music venue, will be fighting for its very existence before Cook County Chancery Judge Billik. The trial, whereby Double Door is seeking to enforce an extension to its lease, is set to begin at 2PM at the Cook County Courthouse, Room 2601 in the Daley Center. The trial hinges upon Double Door's position that it appropriately notified the owners of the building, Harry and Brian Strauss, of its intention to exercise its option in its lease. The Strauss' dispute this claim.

Double Door has become a fixture in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood and an integral part of the cultural and music scene in Chicago since its opening in 1994. The club has played host to some of the biggest bands in the world including The Rolling Stones, bringing national and international exposure to Chicago. Double Door served as the site for debut material from two albums of Chicago's own Smashing Pumpkins. Artists like Kid Rock, Macy Gray, The Strokes and The Killers have all graced the Double Door stage early in their careers. The club has nurtured the careers of many of Chicago's most successful local artists including Chevelle, Local H and Liquid Soul.

The Strauss family has no interest in preserving the cultural integrity of the neighborhood or the Double Door. It is their intention to force the closure of Double Door and to replace it with a national retail chain.

Double Door filed its suit against the Strauss family knowing that it has met its obligations under the lease. This trial will determine whether the institution that is Double Door will remain afixture in Wicker Park and a key part of the cultural and musical scene in Chicago.

Psychedelic freakout tonight at Delilah's

Looks like Delilah's is the place to be tonight as not only are they hosting a Flaming Lips Fearless Freaks DVD release party at 7pm, but they are also hosting the Mod Chicago Kinetic Underground opening night party. Here's the official line-up:

Check out the FAB sounds ofTHE CHERRY SPLITS from Atlanta, GA
Mod/Soul/Psych DJ's to entertain you:
DAVE MONROE (Milwaukee's Finest - Milwaukee, WI)
PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE (Galactic Zoo Dossier - Chicago, IL)
JENNIE WASSERMAN & JAIME KOZYRA (The Soul Sisters - NYC, NY)

DELILAH'S
2771 N Lincoln Ave
(773) 472-2771
9pm-2am
No Cover

Kinetic Underground is a 3 day festival of sights and sounds designed "to blow your mind." The event is put together by Mod Chicago, a local collective dedicated toward preserving and celebrating the culture and sounds of England's mod scene. Check out their website at www.modchicago.com for more info and a complete line-up of events for this weekend's festival. For directions to the nearest scooter dealership, click here

Funk the Mental presents Apparat at Sonotheque

Now, I know what you're probably thinking...who the hell is Apparat?? But trust me on this one, if you really dig electronic music, you need to get to know Apparat. I saw him open up for T.Raumschmiere a while back at the Empty Bottle and I immediately went to the record store the next day to buy his album. I NEVER do this...the show was that good.

Here's more from the Sonotheque website:

Apparat, aka Sascha Ring, is co-owner (with t.raumschmiere) of the Shitkatapult label. Since 1999, Shitkatapult has chronicled the DIY-sound of Berlin's techno renegades and refugees. Their self-described sound: "Every release is different. Digital high-speed attacks, groovy lownoise-loops, rocking shuffle-techno, funky micro-house tunes -- Shitkatapult has everything your electronically polluted heart wants and, if we have our way, everything your electronically polluted heart needs."

Apparat's partner, T.Raumschmiere, has whipped up a stateside hipster frenzy thanks to a stage show packed with punk rock antics ala destroying keyboards and stripping down to his underwear while diving head-first into the stage monitors. Apparat directs a similar intensity inward, chopping conventional techno, electro and experimental genres to bits andre-assembling them into a surprisingly warm and potent glitch-funk-headnod stew. with three LPs; multiple EPs, singles and remixes (on Shitkatapult and Ellen Allien's Berlin-based bpitchcontrol); and a prestigious BBC Peel Session to his name, it's no surprise that Apparat has been selected as a featured artist for both this year's Detroit and Mutek festivals.

Apparat is well known for live shows, utilizing a custom software package (programmed by Sascha himself) to rock the laptop with a maximum amount of sound and spontaneity. Don't miss this rare performance by one Berlin's most daring impresarios.

This headlining live PA performance is a part of the monthly "Funk the Mental" series at Sonotheque presented by WLUW's Abstract Science and (recently added to the series) WNUR's Clinically Inclined. Also featured on this night's "post-Detroit/pre-Mutek Shitkatapult strike!" will be a live PA from Chicago's Matt Mercer and DJ sets from M50, Dave Siska and Chris Widman.

Festivities begin at 9p, must be 21+...Sonotheque is located at 1444 W. Chicago.