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In what may be the biggest reunion coup yet of all the Chicago festivals this year, Touch & Go has announced that Big Black will be reuniting for the big T&G 25th/Hideout Block Party in September. There is one catch though, they'll just be playing "a couple of songs." Here's the official word from T&G central:
Check out the full scoop as well as future updates at:
On a tip, I was told to get there early to catch Skybox, and hot damn these kids are a great addition to the Chicago music scene. Recent transplants to Chicago from Arizona via Missouri, they must have traveled by electro-disco-folk-rock covered wagon. This kitschy 5-piece play an amalgamated sound, they don't want classified, though you can have fun picking out the influences on their songs. They opened their set with a knee-slapping, cotton-eyed inspired "Hoedown" definitely got the intimate crowd riled up and set the mood for the rest of the set. After the funky "Disco Duck", bassist Jeff Gonzales busted a string, a improvised disco break ensued whilst he tried to re-string, eventually borrowing a bass from the Figurines. The set list was packed a cabaret of song selections off their debut album Arco Iris, along with some non-LP tracks (I was compelled to buy their CD). Tim Ellis' lead vocals and active stage persona was thoroughly entertaining and engaging. He touched on vocal notes that call to mind Devendra Banhart and Julian Casablancas, especially on "Various Kitchen Utensils", a hodge podge of Tom Waits piano tickled to life by Christian Fields, and sprinkled with wooden box beats and other burlesque textures by Anthony Hornyak. The standout for me was "Cue Conversation", in which an argumentative sing-a-logue occurs between Christian and Tim, which may as well be the same person in context of the character's voice in the song. The instrumentation melds Muse-like soundscapes with the campy romp of the Black Rider, and a very Brechtian device of breaking the fourth wall inside of the lyric, "oh my god, look everyone is watching... I'm so embarrassed..." This hands down was the best performance I saw on Saturday. Hopefully, they will stay in Chicago long enough, so I can see them workshop their other material.
They are playing an Equip for Equality benefit show at Martyr's on July 20th. Definitely worth checking out.
Closing out the night, was the Figurines from Denmark, touting their newest album Skeleton (2005), which is a superb LP combining punk, folk, and pysch rock, into a genre-bending 45 minutes of aural brilliance even the snobbish indie guy will enjoy. Lead singer Christian Hjelm, who looks like he uses Jack White's barber, has an incredibly, impressive voice. He sounds a bit like Travis Morrison and John Darnielle at times, even though the Figurines are from Denmark, their sound is very stateside (they barely have accents). They plowed through their set with warm energy, their punk influences definitely shined through, especially with most of their songs clocking in at 3 minutes and under. They got the audience bopping with the quicker paced "The Wonder", as Christian belted it out with all its nasally charm. There's something about the more mild, yet infectious song, "I Remember" that made me feel all ready, steady, go; with the contagious bass riff making my head bob without thought. You could really hear the CCR influences on "Back in the Day", which has a slow, acoustic folk rock appeal. Though their stage presence was a bit on the mellow side, the sound these 4 Danish rockers evoked was enthralling, they moved effortless from the gentle, more folk driven tracks to the upbeat, punkier ones with great ease, the crowd was begging for an encore, but to no avail.
(Check out more pics, Here)
Hitting the road for the 4th? Here's a choice batch of links where you can get free, legal music downloads (look for the highlighted "download" in the MySpace player) to bolster your iPod playlist for the upcoming long weekend:
Doveman – Teacup
Masters of both “lamp rock” and “insomnia pop,” Doveman’s song Teacup is so good I call it a “flawless victory.”
Rademacher – Playing for Fun
These rockers from Fresno play for fun and give a lot of great songs away for free …
Jeniferever – You Only Move Twice
This Swedish band makes some of the best eight-minute guitar dirges outside of Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky.
Pink Mountaintops – New Drug Queens
One of the strongest tracks off the best stoner rock album since the last Queens of the Stone Age.
Click Click Decker – Wer Erklaert Mir Je…
I swear, I never thought I’d be saying this, but I really like this German indie rock band…
Great Northern - Into the Sun
Another Ship Collective band makes good. Music.
The Green and Yellow TV – Temporary Fix
An excellent track from one of LA’s premiere indie pop acts.
The Western States Motel – Southwest Planez
I can’t recall a song I’ve been more addicted to listening to this year than this lazy tune off TWSM's forth-coming album.
Division Day – Tigers
A great track off their new self-released album ... which someone like XL or Wichita really ought to pick up and start distributing.
Molecules - Get Out of The Car
Listen to this husband and wife duo play my favorite song off their debut album.
Balún - Something Comes Our Way (Brilliante)
Who doesn't love Puerto Rican acoustic electro pop? In all seriousness, this is actually pretty damn good. 3hive calls them "Puerto Rico's answer to Múm." Check it out for yourself live at Schubas on July 20.
Dirty On Purpose - Hallelujah Sirens (North Street)
Debut full-length from the Brooklyn indie-rockers. They'll be rocking out their new tunes July 21 at the Beat Kitchen.
Dr. Octagon - The Return of Dr. Octagon (OCD International)
It's been 10 years since Kool Keith dropped his legendary Dr. Octagonecologyst record, but now the good doctor is back and taking appointments. However, he doesn't appear to be making house calls at the moment.
Four Tet - DJ KiCKS (K7)
Kieren Hebden is the latest to mix it up for the always solid DJ KiCKS series. Includes tracks from Akufen, Animal Collective, Stereolab, Mad Villain and So Solid Crew, as well as Hebden himself.
Grant Lee Phillips - nineteeneightees (Rounder)
I don't know why, but I've been totally obsessed with Grant Lee Buffalo for the past couple of years, despite the fact that they disbanded over 7 years ago. One these days I'll catch up with some of Grant's solo work, but for now I'm totally digging his collection of choice '80s covers from the likes of Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Psychedelic Furs, REM and the Cure. I guess I see why I'm such a big fan of Grant...we have the same taste in music. Hopefully he'll be playing most of these covers (as well as some old Buffalo tunes????) on his upcoming two night stint at Schubas, on August 1+2.
For the first time during the festival, I closely watched the time and made a point to get to the corresponding stage a few minutes before Brion’s scheduled start. As luck would have it, this was one of the few Intonation performances that started noticeably later than scheduled. As a solo performer, seemingly without any roadies or techies, it took Brion a bit longer than most to get all of his instruments in tune and his gadgets in place. I’m sure a few people were a bit miffed about the wait, but as the set unfolded it became quite clear why all of the set-up was necessary. For much of the set Brion was a one-man band, jumping from instrument to instrument (guitars, drums and keys), looping each individual part and then jamming live with his freshly recorded backing tracks. During these sessions Brion looked like a kid in a candy store, rushing back and forth to sample everything he could get his hands on. Brion’s exuberant energy was infectious and the crowd went wild every time he returned to the front of the stage to rip into another multi-tracked guitar solo.
The rest of the set was a bit more traditional, with Brion performing some amazing covers solo on guitar. In true Largo-style, he was also joined by a couple of friends in the process. Straight out of left field came Benmont Tench, longtime keyboard player for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Not sure how or where Brion managed to find Tench, but on a few tracks he added some nice metallic accompaniment on the toy piano. Later Brion was joined by a more obvious guest, Glenn Kotche, drummer for hometown heroes Wilco. Just as it had engaged the crowd, Brion’s contagious bliss kept his guests smiling the whole time as they tore into an amazing rendition of The Beatles’ “Baby You’re A Rich Man,” and later closed out the night with The Kink’s “Waterloo Sunset” as dusk loomed in Chicago. Other cover highlights from the night included “This Will Be Our Year” by The Zombies, Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” and “Why Do You Do This To Yourself,” an obscure Evan Dando solo favorite of mine co-penned by Brion.
Bloc Party rocked the masses and Rhymefest lead the hip-hop pack, but in my book Brion’s set was by far the most memorable performance at Intonation 2006. Overall, I’d have to say this year’s Intonation was a success, despite the notorious falling out with nationwide cult trendsetter Pitchfork, which undoubtedly led to the slightly lower attendance figures. By far, the strength in this year’s fest was its diverse booking of artists that combined rock with hip-hop, pop with experimental and new with old. If Intonation can keep this up, it should be around for quite some time. Of course, it will be interesting to see if the market can sustain three major festivals every summer, but I think Chicago can do it. As Brion said at the close of his performance, “Appreciate your city. It’s one of the last few unique ones left.”
The Constantines
After some morning rain moved through and threatened to bring down the festival goers, the Constantines helped inject some much-needed life to the grounds by bringing some serious rock as the sun finally peeked through the clouds. Between lead singer Bryan Webb's gravelly, Bruce Springsteen-esque voice and the way guitarist Steve Lambke thrust his guitar over is head before a big riff, I had to hold myself back from putting my fist in the air (which Chromeo would have seriously disapproved of). This band is a ball of energy and power, a rock force to be reckoned with. My only complaint was that it was over in only 30 short minutes. (NC)
Universally known as "the guy who co-wrote 'Jesus Walks' with Kanye West," Chicago's very own Rhymefest put on a performance that proved he doesn't need anyone's coattails to ride on. After a rainy morning, and a cloudy start to the afternoon, suddenly the sun came out in force and shone right on Rhymefest and his crew for one of the best performances of the festival. Combining a raw talent for rapping and an irresistible stage presence, I was engaged from the moment he walked on stage right through the last beat. In addition to ripping through tracks from his forthcoming debut record out next month, Rhymefest also unleashed some sick freestyle during his set. During one such intense session, he even jumped down into the pit, mixed it up with the fans and leapt into the audience in what looked to be a crowd surf attempt. Of course, all the while he never skipped a beat...at least until realizing on the return trip to the stage that the wall was a bit too high scale on his own. No matter, after his posse helped him back up, Rhymefest just laughed it off and continued on another fierce freestyle routine.
Also, I didn't catch their name, but there was this quick opening set from another hip-hop group before Rhymefest went on. I don't really remember what the music was like, but their hypeman had a freakin' Segway...on stage! He did his entire routine while maneuvering on the Segway. It was completely asinine, but at the same time also fucking brilliant. (BK)
Blue Cheer
Continuing the aging rocker theme into Sunday, the Vice people offered up the acid trip that is Blue Cheer, dubbed one of the first bands of heavy metal more than 30 years ago. This 3 piece hippie rock band from San Francisco, pump out a rich sound that caused an orgy last time they played Chicago over 30 years ago. By today's standards of metal, the Blue Cheer sound more like heavier Edgar Winter Group with touches of Hendrix and Old Chicago Blues greats. Lead singer Dickie Peterson, clad in a matted embroidered vest (that was no doubt 40 years old) screamed with his hoarse rocker voice through their bluesy-hippie rock set, bringing a little Woodstock to Intonation. He advocated "Peace and Love" in true hippie style, saying we gotta love each other before getting coherently incoherent. They christened the audience as the fourth member of their band, with their set-closer, a heavy-psych cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues", in which they relied on the audience to shout out the refrain, "there ain't no cure for the summertime blues..." (CG)
Robert Pollard
Robert Pollard may have moved on from Guided By Voices, and his hair may be totally grey, but the man can still put back a bottle of tequila or Jack on stage like nobody's business. What a rock star. He sure isn't letting a few more wrinkles stop him from having his fun as he made sure to throw in a few of his trademark leg-kicks and microphone twirls as he ran through a brief survey of Robert Pollard history. In his brief 45-minute set he was able to cover early Mag Earwhig-era GBV material to a song from his forthcoming solo album with some Circus Devils in between to represent "side project" Bob songwriting. But who are we kidding, it's all different names for the same thing, right? The real treat for me was hearing, out of the thousands of songs he had to choose from, my all-time favorite Guided by Voices song, "Game of Pricks." Couldn't have asked for anything more! (NC)
Closing out the second night of Vice's Intonation Music Festival, was one of U.K.'s finest exports, Bloc Party. These four lads from London, have garnered much acclaim and quite a fan following and deservedly so. These fellas proved worthy of all the hype on Sunday, displaying their mad live performance skills, from Kele Okereke's soaring Cure-ish vocals to Matt Tong's infectious assault on the drums, to the clashing guitars of their booty shaking indie rock anthems, their full sound infiltrated the ground, echoed off the nearby buildings, and was a precursor rumble to the coming thunderstorms. They shuffled through the hits off of their debut album Silent Alarm without a glitch; "This Modern Love" and "Banquet" intoxicated the crowd into screaming fits and dance-offs. They even offered up a few tastes of their yet-to-be released sophomore album, like "Uniform" a tumbling track built on same foundation that made their debut such a hit; a slow meandering opening with XTC-colored vocals, then half way in Tong releases the drums and the Gang of Four references can begin again. Bloc Party's fun, danceable, unabashed set was a great way to end one of the most eclectic festival lineups I ever attended. (CG)
Rory's pictures took a little bit longer to get back from the Fotohut, but they were well worth the wait:
I'm not entirely convinced this was the best musical performance of the day, but it certainly was the biggest spectacle. Ghostface and his crew were arguably the best hypemen of the festival, inciting almost non-stop audience participation. Things started off predictably enough with chants of "Wu - TANG, Wu - TANG," complete with the 'W' hand gestures. (I have to admit, seeing hundreds white indie kids chant the name of one of the hardest hip-hop groups of all time was almost more entertaining than watching the performance itself)
This, along with numerous other "hands in the air" moments reigned throughout the set, but towards the end the audience participation was brought to a completely unexpected level. Suddenly, a dance party erupted on stage, with Ghostface being joined by a bevy of fine ladies who stormed in from the crowd. This is about the last scene I would have expected at a show with a Wu-Tang alumnus, but maybe this is a new, friendlier version of Ghostface? (more Casper, less Killah)
Check out more Ghostface dance party pics here.
90 Day Men
Math-y Chicago rock group 90 Day Men, fronted by the ubiquitous Rob Lowe (no, not that Rob Lowe), have been generally MIA for the last year or so as Mr. Lowe has been busy touring with TV on the Radio and working on his experimental side project, Lichens. So playing for the first time in how-long at Intonation should probably have been more exciting than it was. I'm not especially familiar with the band, having never seen them live and having only been exposed to a few of their post-rockish songs, but considering the critical acclaim their last album Panda Park received and my love of their instrumental epic "We Blame Chicago," I was expecting more. They just didn't have a whole lot of energy, and most of their songs were somewhat lackluster. And after getting my hopes up upon hearing the opening notes of the aforementioned "We Blame Chicago," they proceeded to take the song in an entirely different direction from the recorded version, one that sort of destroyed the melody and left me wanting more. (NC)
After the audience tried to drown out the voices of the awful Vice TV emcees standing on stage in their underwear with chants of "Jose! Jose!", the Swede-by-way-of-Argentina shyly made his way out with his guitar to a small chair at the front of the stage. Playing a large selection from his debut album, Veneer, Gonzalez's gorgeous voice and gentle guitar-playing kept the large crowd totally silent, allowing his soft indie-folk to work surprisingly well in an outdoor setting. The crowd cheered as Gonzalez launched into the opening of his cover of the Knife's "Heartbeats," one of the best covers I've ever heard. Two more were to following, including one of Kylie Minogue's "Hand on Your Heart," further showcasing his ability to draw out the melodies from great pop songs and turn them into equally great, lush folk masterpieces. (NC)
Upon first hearing Chromeo's almost over-the-top blend of funky 80s-inspired dance music, I had to wonder if the musicians were serious. Once the Chromeo duo Pee Thug and Dave 1 took the stage, it was obvious there wasn't a trace of irony in the music they were making- they just wanted people to dance. With Dave 1 on the guitar and Pee Thug rocking the synth and the talk box, the band alternated between tracks from their debut album She's In Control and brand new music from their forthcoming album. Dave 1's sense of humor played front and center throughout the show, emphasizing several times the fact that all their songs are about "girls and dancing," begging the audience to drop the tired rock 'n roll fist in the air routine and get their feet moving instead, even managing to keep the audience interested with his hilarious babble as Pee Thug took a couple minutes fixed a kit drum meltdown. He later rewarded the audience for their patience by thanking them for being so "gangsta" (insert robot-voiced sample here) as they wrapped up with the song of the same name.(NC)
The Stills
The Stills loss their singer/guitarist after their highly-acclaimed 2003 release Logic Will Break Your Heart, which harkened similarities to Strokes and Joy Division. They took this as an opportunity to redirect their sound, and break away from the new wave mold their debut was baked in. Adopting a tighter, more traditional pop-rock sound, The Stills displayed their latest effort with great skill on Saturday. Their 40-minute set was full of songs off their new album Without Feathers, some of the new songs felt a bit flat. For instance, "Helicopters" just didn't seem to go anywhere, technically it sounded great, the vocals were clean and simple. They played it well, like most of the songs they offered up, but the drive that I was accustomed to seemed mellowed out. They tried to summon a handclap chorus from the audience, on "Oh, Shoplifter", which fizzled out before it ever got going. Even when they pulled out their 2003 hit "Still in Love Song", that too seemed a bit different; the new wave nuances were shifted to a heavier, more grungier tone. I did enjoy the piano, giddy-up guitar, and lyricism on "In The Beginning", which is an example of the more piano-infused pop rock they have adopted. The clean lines and simplistic crooning on the new songs definitely showcase the writing, but I miss the energy the early songs had. I'm still in love, I just need some time to adjust. (CG)
It's a miracle he's still alive. It's been 25 years since Roky Erickson has played a show outside of Texas, the former frontman of the legendary 13th Floor Elevators has survived shock treatments, crooked record executives, poverty, and numerous bouts with schizophrenia, but he put those decades aside to play a historic show in Union Park. This hero of rock n' roll have influenced many along the way with his brand of psychedelic rock. Though his performance at Intonation might have been considered tame by his past standards, it was endearing to see him strum away and sing through some of his old songs, with his backing band (of equally matured musicians), The Explosives. His music has definitely picked up more of a Texas twang over the years, with some of the instrumentation and vocals lingering in Roy Orbison country. He definitely comes from the school of music over lyrics, especially in some of his post-Elevators material. For example, "I Walk with a Zombie", which happens to be the only lyric in the entire song (if you don't count the doo-wop style back up singing, 'He walk with a Zombie last night'). Yes, it makes his songs easy to sing-a-long to since you know all the lyrics after the first verse, but it can get a bit repetative to the casual listener. Aside from that, I enjoyed his set as did most of the responsive crowd. It didn't matter if we weren't around to witness Roky in his heyday, you couldn't help be feel supportive and apart of a historic moment.
On a side note, if you enjoyed Roky's performance you may want to consider donating to his Trust Fund, that was established to pay for his medical bills and other expenses he has accumulated over the years, You can donate Here. (CG)
This set was a bit short...er, sorry Sov...umm, I mean it didn't last very long. As expected, she busted out her big hits like "Ch-Ching" and "Random" as well as a couple of her newer UK singles. Performance seemed to suffer a bit from the slight staleness of her big hits and the lack of familiarity with her latest tracks. That Def Jam full-length debut that we've been hearing about forever is long overdue. (BK)
The Streets were the reason I bought tickets to Intonation this year, and they managed to more than live up to expectations by putting on one of the tightest performances I've seen in quite some time. From the not-so-impromptu verses from the Arctic Monkeys' "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor" and the Pussycat Dolls' "Don'tcha" thrown in during opener "Prangin' Out," to his effortless repartee with several audience members (even asking one woman if that was her boyfriend next to her and if they were happy...all without losing the beat), it was almost as if Mr. Skinner had scripted the entire show out beforehand. But I mean that in the best way- it meant for a great show. The energy from beginning to end was incredibly high, with even typical tear-jerkers like "Dry Your Eyes" and "Never Went to Church" sounding more upbeat than usual and failing to bring the show's momentum down. I also couldn't have chosen a better set list myself, with Skinner selecting the best tracks from each of his three albums. (NC)
Apparenty Skinner's new no-brooze mantra is working quite well for him, because this was indeed an unbelievably tight set. Almost hard to believe this was the same Mike Skinner who I saw about 4 years ago at Double Door who wouldn't stop throwing Budweiser on the crowd. I swear he didn't sang/rap much more than about 30 sec. of each song that night. This performance wrapping up day 1 of Intonation was the complete opposite, with Skinner living up to his Original Pirate Material promise of "excelling in both content and deivery." An excellent cap to a great first day, though I have to admit at this point I was "prangin out" a bit myself after having waaaay too many cans of Sparks. That shit seriously needs to be outlawed. (BK)
Carlo and Nicole just got back from the Fotohut and have posted their prints on Flickr:
It seemed funny at the time, but I'm actually feeling this guy now. We'll have tons more pictures and complete reviews soon, but while we sort out our notes and put on that third pot of coffee, enjoy these gratuitous crowd shots from day one.
Oh, and one quick thought to ponder...how amazing was Jon Brion yesterday?
If you're looking to pace yourself tonight in preparation for two straight days of festival madness, here's something a bit more low-key:
Perhaps more promising than either of these, however, is the decidedly unofficial "Rocket USA" party at Dark Room:
Then on Saturday, don't wash your hands after the festival because that stamp is going to come in handy:
But, of course, there's even more post-party action going on Saturday night...
The official Vice post-party will be at Sonotheque and will feature guest appearances from members of Chromeo, Panthers, Tyrades and others. And over at the Beat Kitchen, Chicago Innerview is hosting an Intonation post-party with Danish rockers The Figurines. I'm sure there are countless other smaller shindigs...so be sure to drop any hot tips in the comments section.
