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08/22/2006
08/21/2006
Putting the "Radio" back in Radio Free Chicago
Free Form Set 9/1/03
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A college radio time warp to almost exactly 3 years ago, this is a set from September 2003 and features what were mostly (if not entirely) new releases at the time. In true free-form radio fashion the set varies from avant-rock ala David Byrne, Frank Blank and BRMC to more experimental/electronic sounds ala Eric Truffaz, Lonesome Organist and Kraftwerk. Set ends with an achingly beautiful track from the seriously underrated band, Firewater.
Halcyon Nights 6/24/03
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I'm still debating exactly how and what I want to program on the new RFC podcast channel, but there's a very good chance I'll be resurrecting this show. This set features some prime IDM beats courtesy of King of Woolworths, Four Tet and Beneath the Autumn Sky.
Look for brand new material and other sonic goodies in RFC's podcast section when RFC v2.0 launches next month, but in the meantime you can subscribe now and enjoy some summer re-run classics from the vaults.
More with Matthew Herbert
I know y’all out there are avid Newcity readers, but just you case you didn’t pick one up this week, I’ve got a great interview in there with Matthew Herbert who’s in town this week promoting his latest sonic masterpiece, Scale. Don't get me wrong, it’s not that I think I’ve achieved journalistic greatness with this article, it’s just that Herbert was a really interesting interview. It was one of those rare occasions where the personality not only lived up to the mystique, but it actually lead me to appreciate the artistic output even more. Even if you’re not a fan of dance or electronic music, you’ve got to appreciate the amount of thought and effort this man puts into his craft. (and if you are a fan of this type of music, you've got to appreciate how he's able to make these amazingly complex sounds and politcal statements into a record that you can enjoy just as much while shitfaced on Sparks late night at Sonotheque)
I probably ended up with enough material for two Newcity features, but as usual, their loss is RFC’s gain. Here’s some additional excerpts from my conversation with Matthew Herbert:
The new album is a statement against the oil companies and our relentless pursuit of fossil fuels. It’s a timely subject, but then at the same time it’s one the world has been struggling with for a quite a while. What made you decide to pursue this topic at this particular moment? (continued)
The problem is that our consumption of oil is going dramatically upwards, it’s not going down. And our discovery of new oil has fallen rapidly for years. And it’s whether that adjustment is going to be extremely dramatic, bumpy and terrifying or it’s going to be smooth…but I don’t seem to see much preparation for it politically unless it’s going on backstage or something. So consequently it’s quite a strange time to live through with that knowledge that we’re living through one of the most glorious moments of human civilization in terms of access to resources…and also it’s great failure as well.
Tell us about your "Personal Contract for the Composition of Music" and why you decided to bend the rules a bit for Scale.
The main part of the rules is basically to take as much responsibility for every sound and every decision on the record, not just rely on the technology. Basically one thing that we have a real problem with (well, another thing that we have a real problem with) is we are not taking responsibility for our actions. Music is the one place where I have that possibility...to organize my world according to my own rules. So rather than sample other people’s music, I do it myself. But because with this record I wanted to make a point about distance and scale…a distance between the things we consume and where they come from (and the consequences of that), I wanted a record to be made by somebody else. So basically every sound on the record was recorded by my assistant, Alexis Smith. At the same time, there was an answering machine that we set up and we had maybe 200 messages from people around the world leaving a sound, which I used on the record. The end result is that I can’t take full responsibility for every noise on this record. And that’s kind of a deliberately political action. But the spirit of it roughly remains the same in that I’m not sampling any other people’s music.
(from the press release) "Scale also features live drums recorded in bizarrely diverse conditions: under the sea, in a hot air balloon, in a labyrinth of subterranean caves, and in a car travelling at 100 miles per hour. "I wanted to record them on fire as well," he says, "but we never got around to doing that..."
So, how do you record drums in a hot air baloon??
There’s video of it at MatthewHerbert.com… We waited three months for the right weather. (it’s not often you wait for good weather when recording an album) We jumped in the balloon with as many drums as we could fit in (which was a very small number because it’s a small basket), just go up, record real quickly, and come back down again.
Finally, tell us a bit about your "Country X."
It’s a virtual country where you can immigrate to…anybody can join. You can immigrate because you believe what it stands for. Not because you were born somewhere, not because you were born into privilege… It’s a place where we have the opportunity to describe a new way of organizing ourselves. And a place where we can do so without risk of violence against us or physical danger or something. Consequently it ends up being two things…it’s a way to resist the way power is used by our governments and corporations and things like that. At the same time, it’s a place to kind of invent a new space, you know? A place to imagine the world differently.
Matthew Herbert will be performing a live DJ set tonight at Metro as a part of Summerdance 2006. Admission is FREE...so no excuses for missing this one. Also, for you downtown cubicle dwellers, Herbert will be stopping by for a chat at the Borders on State today at 12:30.
Download: Matthew Herbert - "Something Isn't Right" (MP3)
08/18/2006
More Festival Hijinks This Weekend
Check it out this weekend at South Union Arts...Joe at Radio Free Silver Lake recommends Fred Thomas (Saturday Looks Good To Me) on Sunday night.
TV on the Radio: The Lost Interview
Like a sundial, the New York City subway system found purpose with the sun. The heat fell through sidewalks, collected in the rails and kindled the metropolitan train grid to an electric coil, simmering everything ground level to a walking fever.
I flew in from Chicago for a wedding. This time, the airplane losing my bag was very helpful; in that week the summer of 2003, happily dislodged from my effects, I wore my friend’s coveted Nugent shirt all week and propelled wherever I could—a very merry almost-24-hours of it with TV On The Radio.
With my recording device safe in my still unproduced luggage, I asked them over lunch to write mission statements on napkins and tried my memory with the adventures that ensued: more lunch, opening for Café Tacuba at the Bowery ballroom that night and the magic of Brooklyn for the lovely rest of it.
The folks over at Under the Radar for whom I was writing the piece for, wanted more quotations. TV On The Radio was releasing their first EP, Young Liars on Touch and Go Records. Some of this interview appeared in the article, most did not. So here you go, fall in love.
Subject: urgent: my editor wants more 'exact quotations' from you
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 21:14:46 -0700 (PDT)
thank you thank you thank you for your mission statements. (damn kids, you done handed me poetry.) & i read your lyrics to a friend on the phone. she hadn't realized they weren't poems until i told her. she then says she wants to be friends with you. it's beautiful stuff, that. what's your writing process?
that's incredibly nice of your friend to say, and she can prove her friendship by picking us up at the Port Authority if ever we are "in trouble". Most of EP, lyrically, was scribbled in notebooks and muttered into four-tracks and answering machines before they were real songs.
I think it's a pretty typical process. It starts by getting incredibly frustrated by a situation, any situation, coming to an impasse with the real world and what you can do about it, and realizing that laying that frustration out in words and then setting it to music is ultimately more productive than taking a crowbar to someone's headlight or drinking or watching tv.
It's not always frustration, though. It can be elation. Writing and playing, creating, its just a good outlet to be outofyourmind depressed, or inspired or happy or lecherous without bugging the hell out of your friends or courting a prison stay.
any author/s you were thinking of while writing it?
Rumi. Mystic poetry was really appealling to me when we were writing last time. Most of the poetry that I've read of his is about a longing for a connection with ...the infinite, or that nameless faceless thing, this oh of course oh eternal yess bliss, but yearning for that as you'd yearn for a lover, and getting it.
Everyone should read some Rumi. I swear I'm NOT a hippie. He predates the hippies by a few centuries. It's great. Other authors? Raymond Pettibone, James Baldwin, Charles Schulz, E.E. Cummings and Banana Yoshimoto figure in there somehow, but most of the lyrics were scraped together from journals.
I don't know. Sorry to talk about yearning like that, but these poems are REALLY good. I'm not a hippie.
we talked about david's poetry compilation at lunch. how much are you influenced by words in your music, and in general?
I love words. They've ruined everything.
there's some speak mixed in your songs. it reminded me of walking down metropolitan ave. listening to the hispanic women in the street. what was the impetus?
That was a recording of some people I used to know telling a joke that to this day I haven't been motivated enough to translate. I'm pretty sure that someone, possibly me ,was being ridiculed. It's something about a stunning dress and a cow that no one wants, and for some reason it goes with the song. creepy.
come to think of it, all songs on the ep remind me of walking around brooklyn at night, like that night after your show when we were trying to decide where to go. did you have this in mind?
We made a lot of it in Brooklyn at night, so that might be it. My friend Marc, who used to live in the loft we recorded in wrote me and said that the ep reminded him of the place in the dead of winter, streetlights shining in through taped up windows, unpainted dry walls, exposed wires, rough floorboards and lonliness.
Then he said it was strangely uplifting at the same time, just like us not getting evicted the month after was strangely uplifting.
I agree with both you. There's some brooklyn on it. adding to this, fact #4 is brooklyn, ny. would you care to explain? (or have you explained this enough already?)
No, I don't think we've explained it at all, yet. Fact # 3 was that the night we finished the ep, our upstairs neighbor called the landlord and requested that Dave be kicked out of the building for being too loud, and the landlord went for it, so fact #3 was basically that David Andrew Sitek and TV on the Radio are too loud for the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, because as everyone knows, you move to Williamsburg for the wine shops, the tree lined streets and, of course, the eerie artless silence that pervades every overpriced air conditioned rentmare from sassy Bedford Ave to New Bushwick Lane.
It's petty, but it's our petty and we're proud of it.
i noticed TVOTR played a live soundtrack to a film showing in Brooklyn. what was the film, and how did you like it? has TVOTR done this before? will you do more?
No, we played before a film festival at Rooftop Films, here in Brooklyn. However, we'd be down to play soundtracks during silent film screenings. So, yes we've never done it before, but we'd like to do more.
any comments, questions?
We will be touring all over this America in November. Our website will have the info soon. Also, "Magsaysay" is a name that everyone should learn at least twice. So cool.
so, can i write about you needing a nutritionist?
Please. A full page ad. "Wanted: Someone to monitor TV On The Radio's blood sugar/ fried food intake. " It needs to stop. The bad nutrition NEEDS TO STOP.
Written by J.R. Magsaysay, who says, "thank you tunde adibimpe, you are god's green..."
08/17/2006
Live Review: The Birmingham Sound @ The Hideout 8/12/06
My friend John Ciba is amazing. In addition to giving me countless recommendations for different albums these past couple of years, he’s also done something that is more important than what most people do in their entire lifetimes. Traveling between Chicago and Birmingham, he’s been working to release the songs created through Neil Hemphill’s music studio. Hemphill has unfortunately passed away but the music is still a living testament to not only his work but the vitality of these amazing musicians and the music of Birmingham in and of itself. Bringing together such amazing soul singers such as Ralph ‘Soul’ Jackson and Roscoe Robinson made The Birmingham Sound an awe inspiring occasion that Chicagoans were lucky to experience.
The evening began with Todd Hembrook and the Hemispheres who played classic soul songs discussing the topic of love complete with sax and keyboard to compliment the bass, guitar, drums and soulful singing. They prepared the audience with their covers of instantly recognizeable soul songs.
Adam Fitz (above) took the stage and sang a couple of songs before bringing up Ralph ‘Soul’ Jackson (pictured at top) who then took over. The saxaphones stayed with him throughout his powerful delivery and you felt like you were witnessing something vital because, even if the songs weren’t as immediately recognizeable as classic soul songs, they should be. After hearing them, it was incredibly persuasive that these songs should be learned by heart and be made a part of your life. Ralph ‘Soul’ Jackson was a tour de force singing his heart out at a youthful intensity you might expect of someone in their 20s or 30s. He worked the audience and brought up women to sing with him as well, exhibiting quite a charisma.
Roscoe Robinson (right) was also exciting to see and hear. He was joined by a couple of other great musicians at different times on stage including Otis Clay and Howard Scott. Between seeing so many of these great soul singers, you really felt like you were witnessing something special but it wasn’t just the music you were hearing. You were also experiencing a sense of community.
If you weren’t able to pick up the newly released material at the show, you can find them at Dusty Groove. If you are in the Chicago area, you can also hear John Ciba and James Porter spin some amazing soul at The Hideout (which is a perfect place to have this in my opinion) through East of Edens Soul Express.
Click here for the complete photoset from the night.
Live Review - Silversun Pickups @ Schubas 8/13/06
After the release of their unbelievably strong EP from last year titled Pikul, it seemed that Silversun Pickups were poised to become the next big indie rock hype. It maybe didn't happen quite as quickly as I thought it would, but now with their debut full-length under their belt and out in stores, I think it's a just a matter of time before this L.A.-based band truly hits the big time. This impression was only furthered by their live performance I witnessed at Schubas this past Sunday. Their songs are just too good and their live presentation is just too damn infectious for them not to become more popular. In fact, I would put good money on them returning to Chicago to play a much bigger venue next time around. At the very least, I know they wouldn't have any trouble filling a bigger space in terms of sound.
One of the main reasons that I like championing the Silversun Pickups is because I like the fact that they're more from the punchy "alternative" school of rock ala Smashing Pumpkins and Pixies rather than the fey and whiny "indie" school of rock that has dominated the scene the past few years. Thus, I don’t really think Schubas was the best venue match for this band, as I think their sound was literally too “big” for the room. The quaint confines of Schubas pretty much just washed out leader Brian Aubert’s crunchy guitars and screamy vocals into a blur of noise. (although this problem was significantly corrected by wearing ear plugs) On the other hand, I think Silversun Pickups and Metro would be a match made in heaven. If it hasn’t been done yet, I would seriously recommend someone from the band’s label or management crew send over a press kit to Joe Shanahan ASAP. (guys…let me know how it goes, we’ll make it a “Radio Free Chicago presents…” show).
In addition to the band’s big sound overall, I was also really impressed by Aubert’s stage presence. While his supporting cast seemed more than content to quietly rock out in the shadows, Aubert was the quintessential front man, charming the audience with funny quips in between songs and then stirring the masses into a frenzy with his passoined vocals and boundless energy on stage. He almost seemed to have a bit of a Jeff Buckley-thing going on…certainly in terms of charisma, and maybe even with a slight physical resemblance.
SET LIST:
Check out the full photo set from the night here
Download: Silversun Pickups -"Well Thought Out Twinkles" (MP3)
08/16/2006
RFC Interview: Helio Sequence
Portland’s Helio Sequence is a pop music army of two made up of Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel, a duo are well known for both their bombastic live performances and super sonic EP and albums (the last on Sub Pop).
In the middle of work on their third CD, Brandon somehow found time to answer a volley of questions -- both enthusiastically and extensively. (Which is in a word? Rad.)
Hey, Brandon. How’s Portland treating you? I love that town. The people are so damn nice.
Yeah, Portland's great... Everyone knows everyone...
So, correct me if I’m wrong in my facts here: You two began playing together in a makeshift recording studio at a music store you both worked at back in tenth grade.
Benjamin and I both worked at a small independent music store in Beaverton, a suburb of Portland, called Beaverton Music. It's actually a musical instrument store, not a record store. Mostly band instruments and some guitars, basses, and drums. Our boss was a really cool guy and would let us have run of the shop after hours. It was a small store with two rooms.
We'd clear the floor of one of the rooms and use it as our practice/studio space. We'd stay up literally all night and work on music...writing, practicing, recording, hanging out. A lot of times we'd work until seven or eight in the morning and just sleep at the store for a couple of hours before opening again at nine... or maybe go get coffee and just skip the whole sleep thing. It was always kind of a coffee-fueled marathon.
Did you know each other before then? What made you start up the band?
I actually met Benjamin through his younger brother Paul. Paul and I were good friends in middle school and still are to this day. He's a drummer as well and we played in bands together. Depending on how you look at it, it's kind of an endearing or embarrassing story about how the Helio Sequence came together... I was sixteen, this was in 96... I was asked to play at a family picnic and at that time the band that Paul and I were working on kind of fell apart.
Benjamin had a keyboard project that he had been working on and really wanted to try some of the songs out in a live setting so we all sat down and worked out a couple of long "pieces" and wrote another for the show... I don't know if I'd even call them "songs" ... They were about 8 or nine minutes long and all instrumental... Paul and I played guitar, Benjy drums, and the keys were sequenced.
Benjamin came up with the idea of live sequencing, which to us at that time seemed really novel and has really been the backbone of Helio Sequence since the beginning. It was really cool and inspiring and the Helio Sequence grew from there. (Actually we weren't even called "Helio Sequence" then...the original name was "Grendel".) Paul left the band to pursue drum corps and Benjamin and I carried on. He did play guitar on a song on Love and Distance ("So Stop") though. The amazing thing is that we have a video of our first performance! Someday we'll post it on our website!! The whole thing went down at a sort of ghetto amusement park/carnival called Oaks Park outside of Portland to give you an idea of the strangeness of the event.
What music would you play there?
Well, like I was saying, Beaverton Music wasn't a record store but we did have free reign to put whatever we wanted on the big PA that served as our stereo. If you walked into the store in those times you'd be bound to hear all of the stuff we were listening to and being influenced by then blasting through the PA: My Bloody Valentine, Mouse on Mars, Talking Heads, Miles Davis, The Beatles, The Who, Aphex Twin, Stereolab, Holst, Coltrane, Bowery Electric...too many to mention all of them.
We're both music junkies and there's always something new we're listening to.
Then, after you quit the store to tour, you moved your operations to various family basements and garages. Where do you work on your music now?
It was pretty rough when we quit our jobs to start touring. In effect we lost our practice space, recording studio, and overall place of inspiration. Beaverton Music was really such an incubator for our band. When it came time to really sit down and begin working on what would be Love and Distance we were in a hard position.
We'd been touring A LOT to make ends meet and support Young Effectuals and realized that here in Portland we had literally nowhere to practice or record. We were still able to write at home but tying it all together and getting it recorded was a different matter. And we actually do a lot of writing in the studio and playing live and fleshing ideas out and there was nowhere to do this.
But events really fell together and Isaac Brock was very kind and lent us his practice space at the time. In about three weeks we recorded the basic tracks for most of the songs in Isaac's garage... most of the guitars, keys, drums. I took some of the songs home and worked out and recorded guitar ideas and vocals in my apartment. And Benjamin and I got together and finished the vocals and overdubs and all of the mixing in his parents basement in rural Washington. The album really came together in a lot of different settings and environments over a long period of time.
Going into the recording of this new record we realized that we needed a place to call our own, a home base... something more stable and conducive to our meandering sense of creativity. In March, we set up our studio in the basement of an old dance studio we've leased and have been working on the new record there since.
How do you feel like your sound evolved over the years?
In the beginning of Helio Sequence, we were very focused on texture, sonic effect and "the sound" of music. Songs were basically written over and around sonic conceptions. As time goes on I've become more focused on writing songs from a more elemental place... something where if you played it on an acoustic guitar it would have the same power as a fully arranged song... a song where the power lies not only in the arrangement and sonic quality but at the root.
I think as Helio Sequence has progressed we've become more song oriented. I've had a real awakening over the past few years listening to Bob Dylan. Music means something different to me now than before. There's just a new depth I feel. I think that both Benjamin and I are really set on bridging the idea of a big sonic sound with elemental songwriting... and although this sounds kind of paradoxical, Helio Sequence has always been about creating something from disparate sources... melding things... combining things.... skewing things... to create something kind of off kilter and hopefully new.
I imagine you guys spend a lot of afternoons and nights hiding out in the studio, experimenting with new sounds and compositions. Is that an accurate assumption? Whats your recording process like?
I know it sounds crazy, but we work every day of the week from 10-6 in the studio. And we both have home studio set-ups at home where we can work on things during the weekends, nights, and evenings. We'll take chunks of time off to work at home on songs and stuff like that during the week too. This is a new thing... We used to work more evenings and nights. This record has been a bit different than the others in the writing process so far as well.
In the past Benjamin would have a pretty well-structured keyboard song and we'd work from there.... arranging and writing the "song" live and in the studio. For this record it's been more based on loops as far as keyboards go... a more simple repeating chord pattern/part that Benjamin will bring to the table. We'll jam on the loop in the studio until we both have an idea of what we're doing... a verse/chorus or structure idea or a couple of parts. Then, we'll make a rough recording of that loop.
I'll take that file home and put it on my computer and essentially write a song from the loop. Lay down guitars, overdubs, and vocals and arrange the song and what not. Then we'll meet up at the studio together and discuss what's working and finish the song together. This way of writing seems to lend itself more to song writing becasue if the vocals and the structure are down first you can think about how to complement and offset them with the arrangement rather than competing with what is already in the mix when adding vocals as the last thing.
Of course, this isn't the only way, but seems to be what's going on so far. There are songs that I've brought to the table fully written that we'll then work out together and the same for Benjamin. In the end, I'm sure there will be a bunch of different processes that we use to get this record done, just like in previous records.
Which do you like more: playing live or in the studio?
I don't like one more than the other. I just love music. I love listening, playing, writing, eating, breathing, living music... everything.
What’s next for you?
We're deep in the thick of recording a new record which will be coming out on Sub Pop in early 2007. Like all of our records, this one is shaping up to be different than the one before it...
Any touring plans?
Nothing definite right now, but we may go out do a few shows in fall? We're really concentrated on getting this record done first and foremost. I do know we're playing a show in Portland this September though for the MusicFest NW Festival. I'm really excited to share the stage with two people who I have A LOT of respect for and both of whose music I LOVE: Jeremy Enigk and Britt Daniel.
Last question: What current bands are you listening to these days?
Current bands... Do you mean "new" bands? Well, I'm always listening to new stuff and old stuff all at once really. I just went through a big Van Morrison kick and have been listening to Moondance, Astral Weeks, Veedon Fleece and Saint Dominic's Preview a lot. And Neko Case's new record Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is absolutely amazing. Benjamin and I went to see her when she came through Portland and she is the real deal.
Also, a friend just gave me Johnny Cash's last record American Recordings V as a gift. I love his cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" and his cool version of "God's Gonna Cut You Down." And I picked up a copy of Lou Reed, John Cale, and Nico Le Bataclan '72, a live acoustic recording from Paris...really cool. Oh and Daniel Johnston, Rufus Wainwright, Os Mutantes and Talk Talk's Laughing Stock.
And of course a lot of Helio Sequence as we sit in front of the monitor speakers and record the new record!
That's it! Thanks for your time, Brandon.
Live Review: Califone @ The Hideout 8/13/06
Califone played to a sold-out Hideout crowd Sunday night. The set featured some new tracks from the upcoming album Roots & Crowns, but focused on the tried-and-true blues-folk experimentalism that has made them one of the Chicago underground’s greatest darlings.
Tim Rutili, Califone’s mastermind, was an unassuming presence on the stage, unafraid of sharing the spotlight. Onstage he possessed a quiet charm and a concentrated but not overwhelming passion. He switched between his guitar and his keyboard and sang in his raspy, strong but subtle drawl, which is perhaps the greatest living rock voice in the city.
Midway into the set two members of The Bitter Tears lent their brass wizardry to the performance, turning an already solid sound into a wall of thick, chaotic ramblings, harnessed and shaped by the musicians into powerful folk tunes.
Thankfully, a violin for Califone does not mean what a violin in a folk band usually means. Jim Becker spent most of his time strumming and pounding and tapping his various guitars and banjo, but he picked up a violin for certain tracks, such as “Michigan Girls” and plucked away, leaving the fiddling in the barn.
The highlight of the show came at the midway point with the song “Horoscopic. Amputation. Honey.” The performance began innocently enough with Rutili singing softly at the keys and Becker, along with percussionists Joe Adamik and Ben Massarella, backing him modestly. Eventually the song built and The Bitter Tears joined in; each member of the group worked independently to make his own sound. Becker struck his guitar strings, producing hollow, resonant feedback. The trombonist and trumpeter blared random ringing brass notes. Rutili did various sounds on his keyboard and shouted into a pick-up. Adamik and Massarella played diverse, intricate rhythms on various percussion instruments, a sound which culminated in them coming together on a single, solid, pattern pounded simultaneously on two drum kits.
What brings many people to Califone is its blend of traditional folk and modern experimentation. Perhaps the Hideout set could have been made more interesting and lively with a performance that favored the band’s more innovative side; however, concentrating on its blues roots did not make for a less successful show. It highlighted the simple and pure musicianship Califone owns, proving that to be a successful artist all you really need is a guitar and some talent, and perhaps a little honesty.
Download: Califone - "Qtr Horses (live '04)" (MP3)
08/15/2006
KEXP coming to Chicago
After sponsoring local shows here for the last couple of years, the KEXP crew is finally making the flight to O'Hare themselves next month when they'll be hosting a three day stint of live broadcasts at Engine Music Studios in Bucktown. Here's the official lowdown from KEXP.org:
Live Review: Dirty Pretty Things @ Schubas 8/11/06
After The Libertines fell apart in 2004 amidst the torrid relationship between Carl Barat and Pete Doherty (Baby Shambles), both went on to cultivate their respective projects. From the ashes of the Libertines, Barat enlisted former band member Gary Powell as drummer, Doherty's replacement Anthony Rossomando on second guitar as well as Cooper Temple Clause bassist Didz Hammond, to create the Dirty Pretty Things.
After a thoroughly enjoyable set by the quirky indie pop outfit Scissors For Lefty, who flirt with a fun mix of 80's new wave, Brit pop, and hints of Bowie, the Dirty Pretty Things rushed the stage. Due to a recent injury that Barat sustained to his collar bone, he was unable to play guitar for much of this US Tour, so with the help of The Paddingtons Josh Hubbard on guitar, they were complete to unleash a heavy dose of Clash-inspired rock-n-roll on the sold-out crowd at Schuba's. Thrashing through a setlist that consisted of songs off their new album Waterloo to Anywhere, they made my list of loudest live experiences, coming in a close second to The Dirtbombs. They started off the set with "Deadwood", a head bob inducing track that riffs on the classic Libertines' sound, which set the bar pretty high for the rest of the night. I must reiterate that the Dirty Pretty Things were really loud in a good way. I am trying to distinguish whether the few moments of aural discomfort were due to this damn wisdom tooth rupturing in my mouth or whether the impressive sound they projected was too large for Schuba's intimate space. Either way, this is as close as most people will come to seeing The Libertines again and the fact that it was such an intimate venue sweetened the deal.
From the amusing rugby-like rock huddle before most of the songs to get everyone started on the right page (most likely for Josh's benefit), to the engaging stage presence and camaraderie they all shared, to Barat decked out in a make-shift sling fashioned from a Union Jack flag, they definitely came to put on one hell of a show. They were armed with an arsenal of great tracks, "Bang Bang You're Dead", "You Fucking Love It" and "Deadwood" were among the stand-outs. Other highlights of the night include the surprise treat of not one, but two Libertines' songs ("Death on the Stairs" and the closer "I Get Along"), and a very special performance of "France", where Barat removed his arm sling to play guitar for the only time during the set.
A special thanks to the bartender for supplying me with cups of ice to numb the pain and allowed me to enjoy the show!
Setlist:
Deadwood
Doctors & Dealers
If You Love A Woman
Wondering
Gentry Cove
Bloodthirsty Bastards
You Fucking Love It
Gin & Milk
Death On The Stairs - (The Libertines)
The Enemy
Last Of The Small Town Playboys
Bang Bang You're Dead
Encore:
France
I Get Along - (The Libertines)
New Releases Tuesday - 8/15
The new releases summer drought continues...this week nothing but Pete Yorn, Christine Aguilera and (muthafuckin) Snakes on a Plane: The Album. "If you think the movie looks awful, wait 'till you hear the soundtrack!!"
In other new releases news, while desperately skimming Web sites for something of interest out today I found out that the Reckless on Milwaukee recently installed new carpeting for your shopping pleasure! I always go back and forth as far as which Reckless I think is better, but this totally puts the Milwaukee store over the top. Now instead of smelling like musty carpet and dirty hipster B.O., this location will now just smell like B.O.
08/14/2006
Live Review: West Fest 8/12/06
RFC's Senior Street Festival Correspondent Kirstiecat reviews local favs Bobby Conn and Califone at this weekend's West Fest:
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