Radio Free Chicago

Grass Widow Fry Their Eggs Responsibly

Another San Francisco-based female rock trio, although they won't stand to be type-cast as the prototypical angry girl group furious at the world and the men who wronged them. It is not a revolt rather it is a celebration of their collective passion for playing music.

"We acknowledge that movements of the past created by or affecting women in the art and music worlds are hugely influential, but there is potential for the original sentiments to lose potency if the meaning is misinterpreted or not redesigned for a modern context. Even the riot grrl movement is kind of antiquated. You never really hear people talk about that 'new riot grrl' band. We owe a great deal to that lineage but it's time for something new. We want to be portrayed as the responsible, thoughtful people that we are."

Impulsivity, intuition and heavily influenced by some greats, namely Black Sabbath, Hannah Lew and Raven Mahon, former members of Shitstorm, joined Lillian Maring and became Grass Widow. Their second album was recently released on Kill Rock Stars.

Grass Widow - Fried Egg from Kill Rock Stars on Vimeo.

 Grass Widow - Tattoo

Love for the Ladies: Imogen Heap

I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to vocalists, the ladies just really don’t do much for me. It’s not that I really have anything against female singers, I just feel like most of them either sound like  Hayley Williams of Paramore, or simply do not bring anything new to the table. However, there are a few lady singers that I absolutely love and Imogen Heap is definitely one of them.

Although I just recently began listening to Imogen Heap, she has very quickly become one of my favorite artists. Her album Speak for Yourself has easily made its way to the top of my most frequently played list. This album features what are likely Heap’s best known songs, “Goodnight and Go” and “Hide and Seek”. However, while “Goodnight and Go” does do its job in making me want to rip my hair out by making me think of that certain someone, it along with “Hide and Seek” are not the only tracks on the album that are worth listening to by any means. Hint: "Headlock" and "Clear the Area" are awesome.

 

Imogen Heap - Clear The Area

 

Very Truly Yours Tailor-Made For The Twee of Heart

The moment I opened my copy of Things You Used to Say by Very Truly Yours, I was taken back to childhood days at Grandma’s. The dusty rose and ivory color scheme of the CD case and disc (not to mention the floral pattern behind the tray) made me nostalgic for those days of rummaging through Grandma’s closet, dousing my skin in her Chanel No. 5 and wrapping myself in strings of pearls that hung from the vanity dresser. I can almost feel that rust-colored shag carpet between my toes. If I never even listened to the album, I’d still love it just for that.

Based out of Chicago, the indie-pop group recorded its debut LP on Portland, Oregon’s Skywriting Records. Kristine Capua leads on vocal and songwriting duties, backed up by keyboardist Katie Watkins, guitarist Lisle Mitnik, bassist Dan Hyatt and drummer Andy Rogers. Reaching all the way back to early girl groups like the Crystals and the Ronettes, to ’90s lady-fronted pop ensembles the Cardigans and Sixpence None the Richer, it’s easy to detect familiarity in the music of Very Truly Yours. The vintage pop style is heard often these days in songs by Camera Obscura, She & Him and Cults.

If any two words from the above paragraph registered with you, please let them be Camera Obscura, because there are few finer comparisons ever made. Capua does a magnificent impression of Tracyanne Campbell and at times I really feel like I’m listening to “My Maudlin Career.” That sort of grey-day doo-wop saturates “Things You Used to Say,” a darling collection of melancholy melodies rife with love-centric properties.

Very Truly Yours is best when they’re conjuring tight tunes with a solid sound, the kind you can grasp onto as opposed to those that drift wispily by (“Homesick,” “Dear”). The title track finds firm ground with Watkins’ keyboards, and “Puddles” has strength in its guitar parts. Their use of glockenspiel on the album is wholly endearing as a key element. In one of many feats of adorableness, Capua sings “Every heart I know has a different place to go” over the twinkly instrument for “Love is Hard.”

Love is Hard - Very Truly Yours

Sometimes the vocals are too elusive. You know what Capua conveys is worth hearing, but several of the band’s songs suffer from echo-chamber syndrome, which happens all too commonly in indie-pop music. It blurs the words’ edges, making them hard to hear, and Very Truly Yours is a little too fond of that quality. I’d like to hear these songs in a sharper setting, where the vocals are as present as everything else in the music. Tunes such as “Funeral” and  “To See You Here” could benefit from a little clarity, with potential to be some of the album’s best.

 

Love For The Ladies: Hesta Prynn

Although I have been under the wing of RFC for only short while, I feel there has been a slight bias toward the indie boy crushes that our fearless editor and her female cohorts unabashedly champion. Although I enjoy the artistry of these young men and find the commentary chuckle-worthy, I feel a bit of a need to represent the lovely ladies who make music we adore as they reduce male audience members to puddles on the beer soaked floor. Whereas the attributes of the boy crushes have been sensitive, scruffy and lyrically heartfelt, us male indie fans love our ladies with a steely confidence, a gale-wind musical force and all attitude. The boys can warble folk ballads while the girls flutter their eyelashes and faint, I will take my girls sweaty with an unattainability that I dream of overcoming, if only for a moment of direct eye contact.

Volume 1 of this theme is a lass by the name of Julie Potash who performs under the inspired moniker of Hesta Prynn. Obviously she would never settle wearing a scarlet "A" on her chest and would beat your ass for suggesting it. Nevertheless, Ms. Prynn has been on the scene for sometime now. On a whim with a couple of her Long Island mates, Prynn began the all-white girl rap trio Northern State back in 2000. Under the wing of famous fans such as Beastie Ad-Rock and Mr. Bungle/Faith No More Mike Patton, Northern State hit their high point with the 2007 album Can I Keep This Pen? Now as a solo artist, Hesta Prynn has come into the new decade with a new look and sound to match her 10 years of experience.

Hesta Prynn - Mind-Drips