After a couple of really, really long posts, here's one for the members of Red Bull addled, short attention span generation. Plus I've been listening to lots of new stuff recently and thought I'd share my favorites in one column. And they're off.......
1. Donald Fagen - "Sunken Condos": The blogmaster general, much to his wife's deep chagrin, is a full on Steely Dan freak and the release of anything new (even solo stuff) is an event. Lead singer Fagen's latest release is laid back, loose, and more intimate sounding than the stuff he does on his day job.
2. Frosting - "Frosting II": The latest from my cousin Timmy's newest band. A very fresh mix of pop tunes and some slower paced rockers.
3. Balmorhea - "Stranger": A recommendation from a Facebook friend, Balmorhea is an Austin based instrumental band whose sound reminds me of everyone from minimalist composer Steve Reich to 80's era King Crimson to Sigur Ros. "Masollan" and "Fake Fealty" are among the standout tracks on this album.
4. The Joy Formidable - "This Ladder is Ours": My favorite new power-pop band is back less than two years after their most excellent debut "The Big Roar". While still adhering to the blast accelerated pop sound mastered last year, the band has shown some pretty serious growth and refinement as songwriters on this first single from their upcoming album
5. Neurosis - "We All Rage In Gold": The second track released in advance of their newest work "Honor Found In Decay", the founding fathers of doom metal or post metal or just metal show no sign of relenting even though they've been going at it for three decades. As with their first single "At The Well", "Rage" features all of the trademark heaviness that Neurosis is legendary but the sound features some nuances, particularly from keyboardist Noah Landis generally not heard before on prior releases. This is going to be an awesome record.
6. Enslaved - "Thoughts Like Hammers": I'm generally not the biggest fan of the whole Black Metal thing but something about the opening track from legendary Norwegian act Enslaved's new album that has a different feel than many of the other albums from this genre. While it does feature the obligatory blast beats and inaudible cookie monster style vocals that are trademarks of black metal, it also very seamlessly mixes in a very melodic, progressive element into the equation. A kind of yang to the loud, nasty yin that most Black Metal bands are better known for.
7. Animal Collective - "Centipede Hz" : Yes, Animal Collective managed to piss off many of their fans who were hoping for a repeat of their chill-out pop classic "Merriweather Post Pavillion"but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Moving in a different direction this time around, they still have lots of pop hooks to spare it's just backed by a more experimental sounding backdrop. "Today's Supernatural", "Applesauce", and "Amanita" are among my favorite tracks.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Green Day, Jack White, and Baroness play the maturity game - who won??
I get it - when you give up a conventional existence to join a band, spending the next several decades on the road occasionally knowing what city you're in, the likelihood developing a slightly distorted sense of reality is pretty much an even bet. Even with this completely altered sense of reality, you would hope that occasionally, some inkling of perspective would remain. Apparently, a couple of long established acts with some serious underground cred opted not to read that memo. Conversely, a young, very promising act, just starting a tour behind a powerful new record, is involved in a horrific accident that could easily detour many careers yet they come out of it grateful to be alive and legitimately thankful to be able to continue on.
Case # 1 - Green Day: You would think that a band even though many years removed from their punk upbringing in the legendary Gilman Street scene in Berkeley would still get it. Even after they became huge with "Dookie", Billy Joe, Tre, and Mike still seemed to have their s**t in order. However, something strange happened after the mega-success of "American Idiot". Even though they had been hugely successful for years, they suddenly became Rock Stars, playing giant shows with all the pomp and circumstance of a Kiss concert. This evolution (or de-evolution) came to a head a couple of weeks ago in Las Vegas when lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong, after being informed that they would have to cut their set short, had a meltdown for the ages. Armstrong proceeded to go off on other acts (including Justin Bieber who wasn't there), the fact the festival (which I'm guessing they were paid handsomely for) was a total joke, and that Green Day's stature as a long running act on the scene afforded them the extra time.
Case # 2 - Jack White: While not coming up from the same type of scene as Green Day, Jack White cut his teeth in the underground until hitting it big with the White Stripes' 2001 album "White Blood Cells". White, while being a somewhat quirky character, was always known for very intense concerts and generally not known as being much of a malcontent. After the White Stripes went their separate ways, White went on to form the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather creating some really compelling music with both bands. Hell, he even made a movie with the Edge and Jimmy Page neither of whom, despite being rock legends, have ever been known going rogue on stage. Suddenly while playing the first of two sold out shows at New York's Radio City Music Hall in support of solo debut, Mr. White goes diva. According to reports, White seemed to be consistently annoyed with something or possibly everything about the crowd. As the show progressed, he began to go off on the crowd either likening them to an NPR convention for being too quiet during some songs and then being too loud on others. After about 45 minutes, White simply walked off stage, no explanation, no nothing. His big mistake - the obvious notwithstanding - was pulling this stunt in NYC, nearly causing a riot .
Case # 3 - Baroness: Over the past decade, a legion of new heavy metal bands came from very untraditional places. These bands decided to not adhere to the traditional rules of metal and made names for themselves quickly. One of the prime scenes of this new wave of American Metal was Savannah, Georgia. - as in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". This scene sprouted a number of amazing new bands including Kylesa, Black Tusk, and Baroness. Embracing traditional metal but also infusing harmony, indie rock and even a bit of progressive rock into their music, Baroness released a stream of excellent records. In August, while just starting to tour behind their amazing new album, "Yellow and Green", the band was in a horrific tour bus crash in England. Eerily similar to the accident that killed Metallica's Cliff Burton over 25 years ago, no one was killed but two members of the band suffered broken vertebra and lead singer John Balzley suffered a broken leg and a crushed right arm that required massive surgery.
Surprisingly, not even 6 weeks removed form the accident and obviously in the early, early stages of recovery, Balzley posted a lengthy, very emotional open letter on Baroness' website. The first part of the letter recounts exactly what happened on that fateful day in England sparing no detail and giving the reader a pretty good idea of what hell is probably like. However, once the facts are covered, Balzley does not follow the predictable route of feeling sorry for himself and starting up a pity party. Instead it become motivational, not focusing on what happened but what can happen in the future. Pretty awe inspiring reading. To prevent this from becoming yet another dissertation length blog, I'll only post the link to the letter at the end.
It would be easy to sit here and rant about the childish antics of Messrs White and Armstrong and complain that they've lost touch with, shall we say, everything but I think their actions speak loud enough. Instead, I'm going to close with the final paragraph from Balzley's letter and how he found a sense of joy in a moment of pure chaos.
Till the wheels fall off . . .
John Baizley & Baroness"
http://baronessmusic.com/update-from-baroness/#more-501
Case # 1 - Green Day: You would think that a band even though many years removed from their punk upbringing in the legendary Gilman Street scene in Berkeley would still get it. Even after they became huge with "Dookie", Billy Joe, Tre, and Mike still seemed to have their s**t in order. However, something strange happened after the mega-success of "American Idiot". Even though they had been hugely successful for years, they suddenly became Rock Stars, playing giant shows with all the pomp and circumstance of a Kiss concert. This evolution (or de-evolution) came to a head a couple of weeks ago in Las Vegas when lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong, after being informed that they would have to cut their set short, had a meltdown for the ages. Armstrong proceeded to go off on other acts (including Justin Bieber who wasn't there), the fact the festival (which I'm guessing they were paid handsomely for) was a total joke, and that Green Day's stature as a long running act on the scene afforded them the extra time.
Case # 2 - Jack White: While not coming up from the same type of scene as Green Day, Jack White cut his teeth in the underground until hitting it big with the White Stripes' 2001 album "White Blood Cells". White, while being a somewhat quirky character, was always known for very intense concerts and generally not known as being much of a malcontent. After the White Stripes went their separate ways, White went on to form the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather creating some really compelling music with both bands. Hell, he even made a movie with the Edge and Jimmy Page neither of whom, despite being rock legends, have ever been known going rogue on stage. Suddenly while playing the first of two sold out shows at New York's Radio City Music Hall in support of solo debut, Mr. White goes diva. According to reports, White seemed to be consistently annoyed with something or possibly everything about the crowd. As the show progressed, he began to go off on the crowd either likening them to an NPR convention for being too quiet during some songs and then being too loud on others. After about 45 minutes, White simply walked off stage, no explanation, no nothing. His big mistake - the obvious notwithstanding - was pulling this stunt in NYC, nearly causing a riot .
Case # 3 - Baroness: Over the past decade, a legion of new heavy metal bands came from very untraditional places. These bands decided to not adhere to the traditional rules of metal and made names for themselves quickly. One of the prime scenes of this new wave of American Metal was Savannah, Georgia. - as in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". This scene sprouted a number of amazing new bands including Kylesa, Black Tusk, and Baroness. Embracing traditional metal but also infusing harmony, indie rock and even a bit of progressive rock into their music, Baroness released a stream of excellent records. In August, while just starting to tour behind their amazing new album, "Yellow and Green", the band was in a horrific tour bus crash in England. Eerily similar to the accident that killed Metallica's Cliff Burton over 25 years ago, no one was killed but two members of the band suffered broken vertebra and lead singer John Balzley suffered a broken leg and a crushed right arm that required massive surgery.
Surprisingly, not even 6 weeks removed form the accident and obviously in the early, early stages of recovery, Balzley posted a lengthy, very emotional open letter on Baroness' website. The first part of the letter recounts exactly what happened on that fateful day in England sparing no detail and giving the reader a pretty good idea of what hell is probably like. However, once the facts are covered, Balzley does not follow the predictable route of feeling sorry for himself and starting up a pity party. Instead it become motivational, not focusing on what happened but what can happen in the future. Pretty awe inspiring reading. To prevent this from becoming yet another dissertation length blog, I'll only post the link to the letter at the end.
It would be easy to sit here and rant about the childish antics of Messrs White and Armstrong and complain that they've lost touch with, shall we say, everything but I think their actions speak loud enough. Instead, I'm going to close with the final paragraph from Balzley's letter and how he found a sense of joy in a moment of pure chaos.
"There was one moment in the crash that cut me deeply. For one heartbeat and one tiny sliver of time, I became disconnected entirely. It was, specifically, the moment I impacted with the glass. In that barest heartbeat of a moment, I came face to face with the infinite. I didn’t see a light, or the tunnel or hear any music. Nor did I get a “best-of” montage of my life. Instead, I felt the tip of my nose brush up against the very same fate I had accepted moments before. I looked into a cold, unreflective mirror. It was the dark, silent, dispassionate logic of the end. I realized in that moment that life can be seen as a light switch: “on” or “off”. When the moment passed and I heard the screaming, felt the pain, and tasted my own blood, I was overcome with joy. I was ecstatic to be back amidst all that chaos and horror because it was alive and real. I finally glimpsed the relative importance of all things. The support of our fans, our friends and our families has real meaning to me now. I say that now honestly, without false humility. Thank you. Everyone.
http://baronessmusic.com/update-from-baroness/#more-501
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
A Tale of Two New York Cities - Swans and Grizzly Bear
As Will Hermes documented so vividly in his account of it's music scene in the mid 1970's, "Love Goes To Buildings On Fire", even in it's bleakest moments, New York City's musical community is arguably one of the most diverse and vibrant on Earth. While the city ailed from near financial collapse, blackouts, and the Son of Sam, Kool Herc was inventing hip-hop in the rec room of a South Bronx housing project, Jeffrey Hyman and John Cummings became Joey and Johnny Ramone and spent the next three decades extracting more value out of three chords than humanly possible, and a strange new form of dance music called disco wafted from old churches and warehouses in Chelsea.
As the 70's moved on, a group of artists and musicians moved into the lofts of the Lower East Side which was an urban wasteland. Many of these musicians abandoned the traditional verse - chorus - verse song structure and created an extreme type of underground music called "No Wave". No Wave probably had more in common with minimalist and underground composers than the blues with songs that were short, very loud and very unstructured and tended to veer on the edge of chaos with each chord. Among No Wave's most notable acts included Teenage Jesus and the Jerks featuring Lydia Lunch, Glenn Branca's Theoretical Girls, and DNA. While achieving any kind of commercial success, the scene attracted and embraced young musicians including Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo who went on to form Sonic Youth, Helmet's Page Hamilton, and Michael Gira who went on to form the over the top act Swans.
The explosion of hip - hop notwithstanding, the New York music scene went into a semi state of hibernation throughout the 80's and 90'. Punk had become new wave or morphed into a meaner, far more evil twin called hardcore, Saturday Night Fever and Dance Fever helped facilitate disco's early demise, and even the Ramones moved to California. At the end of the 90's, as the city was going through a renaissance of mammoth proportions, just across the Williamsburg bridge from the Lower East Side, a new generation of bands came unexpected from an unlikely place - Brooklyn. Bands such as the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, TV on the Radio, and Clap Your Say Yeah suddenly sprang up and made Brooklyn a hot bed for independent music. While other indie scenes such as Seattle or Minneapolis experienced a relatively rapid rise and fall, the Brooklyn scene - while occasionally suffering from being almost too hip - has continued to attract vital indie acts such as Yeasayer, Dirty Projectors, and lo-fi pop masters Grizzly Bear.
Over the past few weeks, both Swans and Grizzly Bear, representing the old and new guard of the New York indie music scene released extremely powerful new albums. Grizzly Bear's latest "Shields" continues it run of pop gems while the new Swans release "The Seer" is an over the top, two plus hour album of pure insanity.
During it's initial run from the early 80's through 1997, Swans built a reputation for being loud, abrasive, and being just a bit on intense side. Gira and crew's antics inspired bands such as Tool, Neurosis, and Godflesh. On it's newest release and second since reforming a few years back, Swans have created an epic 2 hour plus masterpiece. Nearly every song is a roller-coaster ride with slow moments building up to mammoth crescendos on a dime or vice versa. The centerpiece of the record is the 32 minute (not a typo) title track. Beginning with a barrage of electronically processed horns and percussion, "The Seer" becomes an intense evolving jam after an abrupt climax before finishing as a twisted Middle Eastern style jam. By then end of the 32 minute experience, you feel like you're in another world. A complete change of pace from the mammoth title track, Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs makes a cameo appearance on the folkish sounding "Song For A Warrior". Throughout the record, Gira allows the band to teeter on the edge of chaos without ever falling off - finishing with, of all things, a two minute, over the top percussion solo. Gira doesn't sing much on the record but when he does, it almost serves a means to pull the band from the brink.
Grizzly Bear has made reputation for itself for making smart, layered, powerful pop records with an low-fi feel to them. The hype behind Grizzly Bear was so huge that their 2009 release, Veckatimest, debuted in the top 10 - something unheard of for an Indie Band. The hype was well worth it with tracks such as the bouncy pop gem "Two Weeks" and the gorgeous, atmospheric finale "Foreground". "Shields" takes the formula from Veckatimest and takes it one step further. The opener "Sleeping Ute" is a jangly tune that starts with a very intense first half then fading to a subdued acoustic part driven by a great Spanish guitar piece. Throughout the album, songwriter Ed Droste creates a layered lo-fi sound to match the mammoth size hooks that dominate. "The Hunt" uses a sparse drum beat over a gently strummed acoustic part. gun-shy's multi-layered vocals bring back memories of XTC's finer moments while Sun in Your Eyes is a dramatic 7 minute finale starting with a simple piano section but peaking at the chorus with a horn section and clanging percussion. "Shields" takes the formula from the first few Grizzly Bear albums to new levels.
Regardless of the time frame, New York City has been the launching pad for many types of music no matter how obscure. Grizzly Bear and Swans reinforce the fact with two powerful releases that are among the best, if not the best of 2012.
As the 70's moved on, a group of artists and musicians moved into the lofts of the Lower East Side which was an urban wasteland. Many of these musicians abandoned the traditional verse - chorus - verse song structure and created an extreme type of underground music called "No Wave". No Wave probably had more in common with minimalist and underground composers than the blues with songs that were short, very loud and very unstructured and tended to veer on the edge of chaos with each chord. Among No Wave's most notable acts included Teenage Jesus and the Jerks featuring Lydia Lunch, Glenn Branca's Theoretical Girls, and DNA. While achieving any kind of commercial success, the scene attracted and embraced young musicians including Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo who went on to form Sonic Youth, Helmet's Page Hamilton, and Michael Gira who went on to form the over the top act Swans.
The explosion of hip - hop notwithstanding, the New York music scene went into a semi state of hibernation throughout the 80's and 90'. Punk had become new wave or morphed into a meaner, far more evil twin called hardcore, Saturday Night Fever and Dance Fever helped facilitate disco's early demise, and even the Ramones moved to California. At the end of the 90's, as the city was going through a renaissance of mammoth proportions, just across the Williamsburg bridge from the Lower East Side, a new generation of bands came unexpected from an unlikely place - Brooklyn. Bands such as the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, TV on the Radio, and Clap Your Say Yeah suddenly sprang up and made Brooklyn a hot bed for independent music. While other indie scenes such as Seattle or Minneapolis experienced a relatively rapid rise and fall, the Brooklyn scene - while occasionally suffering from being almost too hip - has continued to attract vital indie acts such as Yeasayer, Dirty Projectors, and lo-fi pop masters Grizzly Bear.
Over the past few weeks, both Swans and Grizzly Bear, representing the old and new guard of the New York indie music scene released extremely powerful new albums. Grizzly Bear's latest "Shields" continues it run of pop gems while the new Swans release "The Seer" is an over the top, two plus hour album of pure insanity.
During it's initial run from the early 80's through 1997, Swans built a reputation for being loud, abrasive, and being just a bit on intense side. Gira and crew's antics inspired bands such as Tool, Neurosis, and Godflesh. On it's newest release and second since reforming a few years back, Swans have created an epic 2 hour plus masterpiece. Nearly every song is a roller-coaster ride with slow moments building up to mammoth crescendos on a dime or vice versa. The centerpiece of the record is the 32 minute (not a typo) title track. Beginning with a barrage of electronically processed horns and percussion, "The Seer" becomes an intense evolving jam after an abrupt climax before finishing as a twisted Middle Eastern style jam. By then end of the 32 minute experience, you feel like you're in another world. A complete change of pace from the mammoth title track, Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs makes a cameo appearance on the folkish sounding "Song For A Warrior". Throughout the record, Gira allows the band to teeter on the edge of chaos without ever falling off - finishing with, of all things, a two minute, over the top percussion solo. Gira doesn't sing much on the record but when he does, it almost serves a means to pull the band from the brink.
Grizzly Bear has made reputation for itself for making smart, layered, powerful pop records with an low-fi feel to them. The hype behind Grizzly Bear was so huge that their 2009 release, Veckatimest, debuted in the top 10 - something unheard of for an Indie Band. The hype was well worth it with tracks such as the bouncy pop gem "Two Weeks" and the gorgeous, atmospheric finale "Foreground". "Shields" takes the formula from Veckatimest and takes it one step further. The opener "Sleeping Ute" is a jangly tune that starts with a very intense first half then fading to a subdued acoustic part driven by a great Spanish guitar piece. Throughout the album, songwriter Ed Droste creates a layered lo-fi sound to match the mammoth size hooks that dominate. "The Hunt" uses a sparse drum beat over a gently strummed acoustic part. gun-shy's multi-layered vocals bring back memories of XTC's finer moments while Sun in Your Eyes is a dramatic 7 minute finale starting with a simple piano section but peaking at the chorus with a horn section and clanging percussion. "Shields" takes the formula from the first few Grizzly Bear albums to new levels.
Regardless of the time frame, New York City has been the launching pad for many types of music no matter how obscure. Grizzly Bear and Swans reinforce the fact with two powerful releases that are among the best, if not the best of 2012.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Riot Fest Chicago - An slightly abbreviated review
"Loud Fast Rules"
As a punk fan - those three words are all that matters. Starting back in 2005, Riot Fest was a totally independent, grass roots weekend embracing punk music of all generations featuring local Chicago products such as Naked Raygun and The Effigies to punk stalwarts such as Bad Brains and the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones. Originally anchored at the Congress Theater in Chicago (a few short blocks from the Blogmaster general's house), the festival eventually grew into a multi-venue event culminating in 2011 with a 4 night residence with Weezer(??) headlining the final night.
Having outgrown it's initial locations, the organizers of Riot Fest (with assistance from a few corporate sponsors - a necessary evil) went all in and moved the event a mile southwest from the Congress to Humboldt Park. While generally thought of in a more dubious light because of the high crime rate and gang activity in the neighborhoods that surround it, Humboldt Park is breathtaking 200 plus acre piece of urban landscaping similar to Brooklyn's Prospect Park.
The move allowed the organizers to set up four stages, a carnival (yes - a tilt a whirl, ferris wheel and everything), and a food row with samplings from a number of local establishments. From a music perspective, the bands covered everything from the legends (Iggy and the Stooges, The Descendents, Elvis Costello) to the established (Dropkick Murphys, NOFX, Rise Against, to younger acts (Gogol Bordello, Gaslight Anthem). This was an extremely well organized, well executed two day festival that immediately put it in the same league as Pitchfork and Lollapalooza but keeping a local, independent vibe to it. We can only hope that spirit remains
Now to the bands - I was able to see a ton of bands over the course of the weekend and to prevent this from becoming a PhD dissertation length post, I'm keeping my review of each band to no more than three sentences max. Here we go:
Friday Night - Congress:
Neon Trees: Bad, worse, worst
The Offspring: More of a metal band than a punk band, they had a solid set that focused on the hits.
Saturday - Humboldt Park/Congress
GWAR: Their lead signer wore a codpiece that shot out fake blood. They sounded a bit like Slipknot but lacking one critical ingredient - good songs.
Andrew W.K. The great party set of the festival. Andrew W.K. specializes in brilliantly stupid music. "Party Hard" is a classic.
Gaslight Anthem: If Bruce Springsteen had given birth to a punk band, this would be it. A great, fast moving set from Jersey's finest - they will become huge soon. Bonus points for playing Fugazi's Waiting Room for their intro and covering Nirvana's "Silver"
Dropkick Murphys: They made the most of their short set time with a fast paced, blistering set that mixed the hits with a couple of new songs. It was great to hear "The Gauntlet" live for the first time plus adding AC/DC's "TNT" to the end of "I'm Shipping Out To Boston" was a great twist. Can't wait for the new album.
The Descendents: The inventors of pop punk - if they don't make Milo Goes To College, Green Day, Less Than Jake, etc do not exist. They were simply amazing playing all of their classics plus having punk kids read the All - o - gistics. Thou shalt not commit hygiene.
NOFX: After several opening bands at the Congress, Fat Mike and company rolled onto stage at 1:00 for the aftershow. I've developed a fondness for their un-orthodox live set. Despite Fat Mike's cold (and subsequent hot whiskey cure), they played a quick, great set.
Sunday - Humboldt Park/Cobra Lounge
Reverend Horton Heat: After making it to 9:45 mass (impressive after a very late show), made it to the Church o' Punk for a forty minute blast of psycho-billy with the Rev. An impressive set playing songs from each album his of 20 plus year catalog.
Less Than Jake: Full disclosure - they are one of my favorite live acts ever and have seen them 10 plus times. LTJ never fails to disappoint live with their intense mix of ska, punk, and occasional speed metal and smoked again today. Really liked their new songs.
Promise Ring: I was thrilled to see the godfathers of emo come back this year after a lengthy absence. Only saw their first couple of songs "Happiness is All the Rage" and "Very Emergency" but they were fantastic. Hope I get to catch them later this year.
NOFX (again): You know it's a good day when you get to see NOFX twice in 13 hours. Fat Mike's cold really hampered his vocals but still a great, fast set of the hits. Great cameo from Angelo from Fishbone.
Jesus and Mary Chain : They sounded great, played the hits, but had the stage presence of a box of rocks. Am now reminded of why I hated their performance at Lollapalooza 1994.
Elvis Costello and the Imposters: It was so cool to see Elvis play his classics with most of the Attractions. Turned into a bit of a jam version which showed off his chops as a guitarist but did get a little long winded (a 10 minute version of "Clubland" bordered on overkill). His closing versions of "Pump It Up" and "Peace, Love, and Understanding" atoned for his foray into Dead-land.
Gogol Bordello: Didn't see much of the set but it was like an Eastern European style version of P-Funk,
Iggy and The Stooges: Apparently someone forgot to tell Iggy that he's 65 years old, jumping into the audience, running all over the place. An monster set by the band who started it all 40 years ago. The one two punch of "I Got A Right" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" still gives me chills a week later
Fishbone (at Cobra Lounge): I got to see Fishbone in a small room no more than 20 feet away from the stage at any given moment. Took me three days to get my voice back. My life is complete.
That's it - my abbreviated (well, not really) review of Riot Fest. While there a couple of bands touring that would have been great to see on the bill such as Refused and OFF!, it was a great start on such a large stage. Can't wait to go back next year.
As a punk fan - those three words are all that matters. Starting back in 2005, Riot Fest was a totally independent, grass roots weekend embracing punk music of all generations featuring local Chicago products such as Naked Raygun and The Effigies to punk stalwarts such as Bad Brains and the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones. Originally anchored at the Congress Theater in Chicago (a few short blocks from the Blogmaster general's house), the festival eventually grew into a multi-venue event culminating in 2011 with a 4 night residence with Weezer(??) headlining the final night.
Having outgrown it's initial locations, the organizers of Riot Fest (with assistance from a few corporate sponsors - a necessary evil) went all in and moved the event a mile southwest from the Congress to Humboldt Park. While generally thought of in a more dubious light because of the high crime rate and gang activity in the neighborhoods that surround it, Humboldt Park is breathtaking 200 plus acre piece of urban landscaping similar to Brooklyn's Prospect Park.
The move allowed the organizers to set up four stages, a carnival (yes - a tilt a whirl, ferris wheel and everything), and a food row with samplings from a number of local establishments. From a music perspective, the bands covered everything from the legends (Iggy and the Stooges, The Descendents, Elvis Costello) to the established (Dropkick Murphys, NOFX, Rise Against, to younger acts (Gogol Bordello, Gaslight Anthem). This was an extremely well organized, well executed two day festival that immediately put it in the same league as Pitchfork and Lollapalooza but keeping a local, independent vibe to it. We can only hope that spirit remains
Now to the bands - I was able to see a ton of bands over the course of the weekend and to prevent this from becoming a PhD dissertation length post, I'm keeping my review of each band to no more than three sentences max. Here we go:
Friday Night - Congress:
Neon Trees: Bad, worse, worst
The Offspring: More of a metal band than a punk band, they had a solid set that focused on the hits.
Saturday - Humboldt Park/Congress
GWAR: Their lead signer wore a codpiece that shot out fake blood. They sounded a bit like Slipknot but lacking one critical ingredient - good songs.
Andrew W.K. The great party set of the festival. Andrew W.K. specializes in brilliantly stupid music. "Party Hard" is a classic.
Gaslight Anthem: If Bruce Springsteen had given birth to a punk band, this would be it. A great, fast moving set from Jersey's finest - they will become huge soon. Bonus points for playing Fugazi's Waiting Room for their intro and covering Nirvana's "Silver"
Dropkick Murphys: They made the most of their short set time with a fast paced, blistering set that mixed the hits with a couple of new songs. It was great to hear "The Gauntlet" live for the first time plus adding AC/DC's "TNT" to the end of "I'm Shipping Out To Boston" was a great twist. Can't wait for the new album.
The Descendents: The inventors of pop punk - if they don't make Milo Goes To College, Green Day, Less Than Jake, etc do not exist. They were simply amazing playing all of their classics plus having punk kids read the All - o - gistics. Thou shalt not commit hygiene.
NOFX: After several opening bands at the Congress, Fat Mike and company rolled onto stage at 1:00 for the aftershow. I've developed a fondness for their un-orthodox live set. Despite Fat Mike's cold (and subsequent hot whiskey cure), they played a quick, great set.
Sunday - Humboldt Park/Cobra Lounge
Reverend Horton Heat: After making it to 9:45 mass (impressive after a very late show), made it to the Church o' Punk for a forty minute blast of psycho-billy with the Rev. An impressive set playing songs from each album his of 20 plus year catalog.
Less Than Jake: Full disclosure - they are one of my favorite live acts ever and have seen them 10 plus times. LTJ never fails to disappoint live with their intense mix of ska, punk, and occasional speed metal and smoked again today. Really liked their new songs.
Promise Ring: I was thrilled to see the godfathers of emo come back this year after a lengthy absence. Only saw their first couple of songs "Happiness is All the Rage" and "Very Emergency" but they were fantastic. Hope I get to catch them later this year.
NOFX (again): You know it's a good day when you get to see NOFX twice in 13 hours. Fat Mike's cold really hampered his vocals but still a great, fast set of the hits. Great cameo from Angelo from Fishbone.
Jesus and Mary Chain : They sounded great, played the hits, but had the stage presence of a box of rocks. Am now reminded of why I hated their performance at Lollapalooza 1994.
Elvis Costello and the Imposters: It was so cool to see Elvis play his classics with most of the Attractions. Turned into a bit of a jam version which showed off his chops as a guitarist but did get a little long winded (a 10 minute version of "Clubland" bordered on overkill). His closing versions of "Pump It Up" and "Peace, Love, and Understanding" atoned for his foray into Dead-land.
Gogol Bordello: Didn't see much of the set but it was like an Eastern European style version of P-Funk,
Iggy and The Stooges: Apparently someone forgot to tell Iggy that he's 65 years old, jumping into the audience, running all over the place. An monster set by the band who started it all 40 years ago. The one two punch of "I Got A Right" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" still gives me chills a week later
Fishbone (at Cobra Lounge): I got to see Fishbone in a small room no more than 20 feet away from the stage at any given moment. Took me three days to get my voice back. My life is complete.
That's it - my abbreviated (well, not really) review of Riot Fest. While there a couple of bands touring that would have been great to see on the bill such as Refused and OFF!, it was a great start on such a large stage. Can't wait to go back next year.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Neurosis - "At The Well": Folksy Metal
In the 25 + years since their debut Pain of Mind, if anything can be said about uber, uber heavy metal kings Neurosis is that they are very much their own band and do things when they want. Five plus years removed from their last album, the skull crushing Given To The Rising, Neurosis returns next month with "Honor Found In Decay". In advance of the new album, the Bay Area legends have posted a track "At The Well" on NPR's website . Produced by longtime partner in crime Steve Albini, "At The Well" has all the elements of classic Neurosis but also finds them embracing the folky/Americana influences that frontmen Scott Kelly and Steve Van Till have become fond of during their break. It also reminds me quite a bit of the material on the awesome new album by Swans called the Seer.
So can't wait for this one to come out. In the meantime, here's the link to "At The Well". Enjoy
http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/09/20/161430939/song-premiere-neurosis-at-the-well
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
RIP: No Use For A Name's Tony Sly
Sad news from the punk world today when No Use for A Name's Tony Sly was found dead today at the age of 41. Part of the wave of pop punk bands that came up in the late 80's and early 90's that included Lagwagon and Face To Face, No Use For A Name featured a revolving line up that once included Foo Fighter and Me First and the Gimme Gimme guitarist Chris Shiflett. As the years progressed, the band's work became more melodic without giving up it's punk edge. 2001's "Live in a Dive" or the 2007 compilation "All the Best Songs" both serve as great introductions to the band.
RIP Tony - Gone too soon
RIP Tony - Gone too soon
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Old, Loud, and Still Snotty: Refused and OFF! at the Congress Theater 7/26/2012
"They told me that the classics never go out of style but, they do, they do. Somehow baby I never thought that we do too"
Here are a couple tracks from the participants for your listening pleasure
The legendary opening line to Refused's incendiary 1998 final album "Shape of Punk To Come" reinforces that punk music has always been music for the moment. However, the music and the musicians who emerge from these scenes, be it London in 1976 or DC in 1982 or Seattle in 1991, have far longer shelf lives than even their mainstream contemporaries. A perfect example of this took place Thursday night at the Congress Theater when legendary Swedish punks Refused made quite the return to Chicago 16 years after their last appearance. Joining the Swedes on this well deserved victory-lap was hardcore pioneer Keith Morris' latest project OFF!. It was fairly apparent that both bands had deep respect for each other (Refused drummer David Sandstrom had an OFF! sticker on his bass drum). The pairing of these two bands made for a powerful concert that, despite the sauna-like temps in the Congress, made for a show that none of the 3,500 fans there will forget anytime soon.
Despite being closer to Del Webb age than one who should be living the punk lifestyle in the van, former Black Flag and Circle Jerks lead singer Keith Morris is still very much the living embodiment of all things punk. A couple of years ago after a fruitless Circle Jerks recording session, Keith recruited a couple of his compadres from the SoCal punk including Redd Kross' Steven McDonald and formed a "super-group" called OFF! Their two releases so far 2010's "The First 4 EP's" and this year's "OFF!" are short blasts of classic hardcore that, while evoking memories of early 1980's Orange County hardcore, sound very fresh, vital and really pissed off. No song on either album goes longer than two minutes but you never feel like they left ideas on the table.
After some quick pleasantries and introductions from Keith, it was off to the races. Screaming out of the blocks with "Panic Attack" from "The First 4 EP's", it was apparent that OFF! was going to show no mercy playing 20 plus songs in their 30 minute set. Keith's voice is still as loud and angry as it was back on the first Black Flag singles back in 1977. Guitarist Dimitri Coats resembled a modern-day Johnny Ramone in both stage presence and playing style making the absolute most out of those three chords. The rhythm section of McDonald and drummer Mario Rubalcaba did the only thing they could, whip it into an old-school hardcore frenzy. The great thing about this set was that despite the bands formidable collective history, this was about this band at this moment, everything else didn't matter. When someone from the crowd asked them to play the Circle Jerks' version of "Wild in the Streets, Morris' simply replied that this band doesn't play that song. After 30 very intense minutes, OFF! walked off and left us asking how Refused was going to top this.
While OFF! and their hardcore predecessors were about following the loud, fast rules, Sweden's Refused took a far different approach to punk. While sharing similar ideologies to their brothers in arms, Refused took a more experimental, almost Bohemian approach towards punk. The energy and the anger was there but the music was far more nuanced, using techno, jazz, or even spoken word segments to raise to tension to unprecedented levels. Their legendary 1998 swan song album "Shape of Punk to Come" was culmination of this process ("New Noise" is one of the greatest songs ever - look it up on YouTube). The problem was, that what Refused doing was at least 5 years ahead of it's time and the band broke up soon afterwards with only a cult following. Case in point, their last performance in Chicago was for a very small crowd a few blocks away from the Congress at the Fireside Bowl. Fortunately post break-up, Refused served as the influence for hundreds of emo and screamo bands in the years ahead and that recognition that escaped them back in the 90's came ten-fold in the following decade plus. When the news came out earlier
After a very short break, the house lights went off, the opening drone music began playing and the tension among the crowd rose to fever pitch. After a couple of minutes, the black curtain in front of the stage, Refused exploded right into the opening track from "Shape of Punk to Come" "Worms of the Senses". Any concerns about being one-upped by their opening act were erased sheer power of the band. The start - stop breaks present throughout their songs helped whip the crowd into a bigger frenzy. Lead singer Dennis Lyzxen was bundle of energy throughout, jumping around, standing on the monitors, and at one point on the set, walking out over the audience. Unlike other reunions where the band the band members operate like separate operating entities, the boys in Refused were totally into the set not only enjoying playing these songs after many years but also playing with each other.
As mentioned before, it was apparent throughout both sets that the the two bands shared quite the admiration for the others. About 3/4 of the way through Refused's set, Lyznen remarked about how cool it was to have been covering old school Black Flag and Circle Jerk songs as a teenager and then to have the chance to tour with Keith Morris all these years later. Soon afterwards, Morris joined the band to cover two tracks from the very first Black Flag EP, "Police Story" and "Nervous Breakdows. While it was apparent that some of the younger folks in the crowd were not as familiar with these tracks the rest of of us were completely blown away.
After a 10 plus main set that focused primarily on "Shape of Punk to Come" with a couple of tracks from their second album "Songs to Fan the Flame of Discontent" (Rather Be Dead was another highlight), the band finished off the main set with a searing version of the title track. After a quick minute break, the band came back on stage with a short artsy jam and then after a brief pause, the single riff/ringing symbol intro to "New Noise". As with most Refused songs, the quick techno end to the intro brought the tension to fever pitch and then................CAN I SCREAM, YEAH!!!! The mosh pit that was 20 feet away from me was suddenly right in front of me. The crowd sang every verse with the band and people appeared to be flying across the crowd left and right. Refused's trademark song not only stood the test of time but took on new life in Logan Qquare. After Noise, the show came to a close with the far more subdued Tannhauser/Derrive.
Despite the fact that both bands played under 2 hours combined, Refused and OFF! were a perfect combination of punk past, present, and future. Don't think many of the 3,500 people in the crowd will forget this show anytime soon.
Here are a couple tracks from the participants for your listening pleasure
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)