TVOTR

TV on the Radio: Rock's Barack Obama.

Hot Chip @ Metro, 9/28/08

In these dire financial times, what better way to get your mind off our flailing economy and cringe-inducing politics by moving to Brazil dancing your troubles away to the sweet sounds of Hot Chip (also see: Cut Copy). After battling a cold that kept me away from a couple days of work and My Bloody Valentine at the Aragon (probably the best choice for my ears in any case), I felt well enough for an early Sunday evening show from the electro-rock Brits, who did not fail to deliver the grooves.

This year Hot Chip put out their third album, Made in the Dark, though by the set list you'd hardly know they had any other albums to speak of. Other than Coming on Strong's "Shiny Escalade", The Warning's "Over and Over" and "Boy From School," an "old" song not on any album, and an unexpected but welcome cover of "Nothing Compares to U", the entire setlist was spawned from their latest good-but-not-great album. Still, the new album is chock full of highly enjoyable dance tracks, and the vocal duo of adorable boy-nugget Alexis Taylor and the big teddy bear of a man Joe Goddard kept the energy high.

To add to the atmosphere, Hot Chip must have brought their own lighting guy because this proved to be one of the best coordinated light shows I've seen. The fun was further enhanced when a group of white balloons of various sizes were released over the audience (from where, I don't know; I must have blinked at just the wrong moment). Nothing like hot beats, flashing lights and shiny balloons to distract from what ails me.

Day of Music

If you aren't going to the sold out My Bloody Valentine show this Saturday, you can head over to the Symphony Center for a free show by the Sea and Cake as part of Macy's Day of Music, where the CSO opens its doors to 8 hours of free music and events, starting at 2pm. The complete schedule can be found here.

Indie Split

I can always count on People.com to give me the latest indie rock/celebrity love news, like Natalie Portman and Devendra Banhart breaking up. Now he can go back to being a dirty hippie again.

Hideout Block Party

Sadly, I was unable to make it to the Hideout Block Party this year, missing the double dose of Neko and the best fall weather ever. I will console myself in Kirstiecat's pictures here.

Dogfighting?

Well, I had no idea dogfighting was an issue requiring a benefit concert. Apparently I stand corrected. Head to the Metro tomorrow and be . . . a part of the solution, I guess.

Per the release:
In 2006, The HSUS launched End Dogfighting in Chicago, a city-wide program to
combat street dogfighting. The End Dogfighting in Chicago campaign tackles
dogfighting on several fronts: Anti-Dogfighting Advocates, Pit Bull Training
Team, Community Outreach and Law Enforcement Partnership.

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection
organization. For more than a half-century, the HSUS has been fighting for the
protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs.

Colbert

By now I'm sure many of you heard about the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special, featuring lots of musical legends and what appears to be hilarity ensuing. All proceeds for the sale of the Special's DVD go to Feeding America, which will ostensibly be using the proceeds to feed starving former Lehman employees.

Upon mentioning the Christmas Special at a get together last night, one partygoer said, "who's Stephen Colbert?"

Really. Seriously. I kid you not.

I guess it's just another reminder that I'm part of the liberal elite that is out of touch with real Americans. Or something.

If only she knew what she was missing out on though:

Auto Week

My color week friends are at it again with another round of themed pictures this week, this time based on camera settings: Monday- Landscape, Tuesday- Macro, Wednesday- Portrait, Thursday- Action and Friday- Nighttime. Since these apply less to concert photos I'll sit this round out, but I wanted to throw up the link to see what others in the crew are posting this week.

Califone

After a rainy, rainy weekend, the downpour stopped just in time for me to head over to the Renegade Craft Fair and see Califone. Califone seems to be the go-to band for Chicago's outdoor festivals; I think I've seen them outside every summer since I've moved here, and almost always in late summer/early fall. I think there's something about their music that feels right when you're standing outside as it starts to get chilly and you can tell fall (and then winter!) is on the way. Unless they are playing Rolling Stone covers, which they did about 4 years ago at the Hideout Block Party (back when it was just one stage outside of the Hideout building, pre- parking lot days!). I've never seen a crowd get so angry at a show, but Califone seemed to be having the time of their lives. I guess playing gritty, morose experimental folk can get old even for the best of them.

Also, Thax introduced the band with "Califone #15". Man those guys have been around a long time. Yet they age so well.

Renegade

Hey, the Renegade Craft Fair snuck up on me this weekend. Hopefully the weather holds up! And this year, live music:

Saturday:
6pm Hey Willpower
7pm Mahjongg
8:30pm Northern State

Sunday:
6pm The Living Blue
7pm Pit Er Pat
8:30pm Califone

Andrew Bird @ Pritzker Pavilion, 9/3/08

This show marks the 6th (or 7th? I'm losing count) time I've seen Andrew Bird, with each show becoming successively grander than the last. I first caught him solo at the Empty Bottle after Weather Systems was released several years ago, marking my first introduction to the Bird. My love for him was sealed when he opened for the Magnetic Fields at the Old Town School of Folk Music in 2004, a better venue to showcase his style and personality since everyone is seated and all eyes are on the stage. I saw him solo for the last time at a show in Madison, WI during summer 05 before he started bringing drummer Martin Dosh around. Now Andrew travels with a full band and some crazy spinning horn speakers, which certainly fills out his sound and makes for a bigger stage show, but loses a little of Andrew's personality along the way.

Fans who'd never seen him alone before got a special treat, as Andrew came out on stage solo to perform one of his live staples, "Why'd You Do That" (not sure if that's the official title, but it's my title). No song better encapsulates Bird's wit and quirkiness, and his trademark looping is at the front and center. This is the sort of performance that makes you never want to listen to Bird on album again, because it just can't live up to him in person.

Soon after the band joined him, running through tracks from across his catalog, including "Imitosis", "Fiery Crash", "Weather Systems", and my personal favorite of the night, "Fake Palindromes", a song that really does sound better with a full band behind it. Another great thing about an Andrew Bird show is hearing him reinvent the same songs, over and over again; he never plays a song the same way twice. This was made especially clear with a completely rearranged version of "Lull", which was virtually unrecognizable to me until the chorus kicked in. We were also treated to a couple of new songs from his forthcoming album, the recording of which is currently being chronicled on the New York Times Measure for Measure blog, which, frankly, sounded fantastic.

Seeing Andrew Bird play will never get old (especially when it's at a Chicago gem like the Pritzker Pavillion), even as he has grown from the Empty Bottle to the Riviera Theatre. Still, I'm hoping that he continues to mix some solo performances in with his full-band shows, because that's truly where the magic of a Bird performance lies.

See pics from the night courtesy of Radio Free Chicago here.

Radio Show

I realize I haven't posted a new radio show in awhile- this hasn't been because I haven't been doing them, I swear! Unfortunately, I've been coming across numerous technical difficulties in trying to record them the past couple weeks (needing to change the settings on my online recorder to work with Vista, problems with the CD-recorder at the station, yadda yadda yadda). However, I believe I've finally figured out the issue and should be back online for next Monday, September 15th's show.

And my thoughts on last week's Andrew Bird show coming soon!

The National

Whoa, Barack Obama just sent me a video with the National's "Fake Empire" as the soundtrack.

https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/bochangevid1?source=20080904_BO_D1

Where politics and indie rock meet!

Joanna Newsom w/ the CSO, Fri August 22

I've been meaning to write a few words on the Joanna Newsom show with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra two weeks ago, but between color week and the holiday weekend it slipped through the cracks. Since it was such an amazing show, though, I wanted to be sure to show it some attention.

I walked in to the Symphony Center last Friday to learn I was actually attending the indie rock prom. May I just say, indie kids trying to dress up is just awkward. Still, it's adorable that they tried, recognizing this was not a typical venue. Meanwhile, I've never been to the CSO before, and it's much different than whatI was expecting (i.e., a large theater)- it's relatively small and there is no real lighting, so it's house lights at all times.

A smaller, strings-only portion of the CSO came out to tune before the lovely Joanna (cue: "we love you Joanna" choruses here, which carried on throughout the night) and her 3 bandmates made their way on stage. Unexpectedly, we learned that multi-instrumentalist Ryan Francesconi not only arranged the original orchestration for the CSO, but conducted them, while violinist Lila Sklar and drummer Neal Morgan took their places on either side of Joanna for the occasional violin solo or bass drum action. That Joanna has some incredibly well-rounded friends.

As expected, Joanna took the orchestra straight through Ys, and as expected, it was absolutely lovely. Even with the backing of an orchestra, Joanna and her harp are still the heart and soul of the music; "Sawdust and Diamonds" is the only solo piece on the album, and even though the orchestra just sat and watched her, it was still my favorite song of the night. (Sitting and listening to the lyrics more carefully, I also realized it's a song about her harp.) Watching her hands on the harp is unreal. Her voice also seems like it's matured since the days of The Milk-Eyed Mender; the squeaks still appear here and there (though not at the beginning of "Only Skin"), but more and more the weirdness seems to fall away and it's just plain beautiful.

After wrapping up with the haunting "Cosmia", the band and orchestra left the stage for a 20 minute intermission before Joanna returned with her band to treat us to some old and new songs. It was interesting seeing how she adapted songs from the Milk-Eyed Mender, which were recorded solo, to a full band; some interpretations worked well and added new life to the songs (a country-fied version of "Inflammatory Wit" with Joanna at the piano, a bold rendition of "Peach, Plum, Pear"), while others felt like the additional instrumentation was a bit forced ("Bridges and Balloons"). Songs like "Colleen" and a reworked "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie," which were recorded with the band for the Ys Street Band EP, obviously worked well with the band.

Still, I can't help but feel that Joanna is at her best when she's on her own, because there's nothing to distract from her unbelievable harp playing. Eventually during the encore the band left Joanna alone to treat us to her ode to her dog, "Sadie", before wrapping up with a brand new tune that was, dare I say, absolutely stunning.

I've now seen Joanna solo (at the old Bottom Lounge, if you can believe it), playing through Ys with a band (Logan Square Auditorium), and now with a small orchestra. What could she possibly treat me to next?

Cinematic Titanic

Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans such as myself, take note: the original cast has a new project called Cinematic Titanic (still making fun of bad movies) and will be hitting up the Lakeshore Theater in December for a series of live performances skewering TBD movies. This is the best news since finding out about Manos: Rock Opera of Fate.

Blue Friday

It's the last day of color week, wrapping things up with Blue. Thanks for letting me participate!


More Radiohead at the Auditorium Theatre, with a crazed fan in the foreground.




Royksopp at the Metro.



Ok, there's not that much blue in this picture outside of his shirt and the brim of his hat, so this is sort of a stretch, but I figured I should have a picture of my arch-nemesis, Thax Douglas, up. Here he's reading his poetry, probably called "Thunderbirds Are Now #2", at Pitchfork.



The adorable Annie in front of a blue backdrop at Intonation 2006. (She also opened for Royksopp at the Metro show above). I think she's supposed to be coming out with a new album soon . . .

Green

Now it's time for Green Thursday. (Holy crap, is it Thursday already?)



Radiohead @ the Auditorium Theatre, one of the few times I was able to beat the crowd and get tickets to a show that sold out in minutes. That luck would later fail me with Bjork and Flight of the Conchords. Damn you, ticketmaster!




Cat Power rockin' the army green shirt at the Vic Theatre.



Sexy-voiced Jeremy Greenspan of the Junior Boys at one of their many Empty Bottle shows I attended.



And what set of green photos would be complete without an ode to Dan Deacon's trippy green skull? (Actually a shot of the video screen from the Ultimate Reality Tour).


The trippy green skull in the darkness.


Some fan's apparent nod to the trippy green skull.

Yellow

Color Week continues today with the color Yellow.



Dan Deacon rockin' the tie-dye at the 2007 Hideout Block Party. No Deacon show is complete without the Gauntlet.



Prefuse 73 brought some live yellow drumming with him to the Empty Bottle back in May 2005.



The utterly ridiculous Brazilian trio Bonde de Role at the Empty Bottle last September. I'm glad I got to catch this show, because singer Marina Ribatski left the band not long after.

And continue to check out the other Color Week blogs here and here, both sites containing links to the other participants.

Color Week

Some design-minded, artsy blogger friends of mine are participating in a "color week", where each day is a different color theme and each blog posts photos relating to that color. I was asked to join in, and since this is a music blog, I figured I'd just pull pics from my concert photo inventory to post for each color theme day throughout the week. You can check out links to the other blogs participating here and here.

I missed out on Red Monday yesterday, so today's Orange Tuesday will have some red in it as well (partly because I couldn't find that much orange . . . but just wait until we get to Blue Friday).


Good ol' Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords rockin' his orange sweatshirt at the Sasquatch Music Festival in May 2008.



Dan Deacon's Ultimate Reality at the Lakeshore Theater 1/25/08. I'm realizing that Dan Deacon will provide me with a vast majority of these pictures. He is nothing if not neon.



Stars at the Metro, February 2006. This was one of the better light shows I've seen at the Metro.



Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal on a ladder during their Metro show in March 2007.



Totally forgot about going to this show, Sufjan Stevens and his Illinois cheerleaders at the Metro in 2005. This project is bringing back memories.


Color Week themes:
Monday - Red/Pink
Tuesday - Orange
Wednesday - Yellow
Thursday - Green
Friday - Blue

Hideout Block Party

The Hideout has finalized its lineup for this year's Hideout Block Party. Looks like it's all about Neko. Here's the full press release:

Hideout Block Party Expands Line-up
Just Added: Rhymefest, Giant Sand, Hercules and Love Affair DJ Set.

We are happy to announce the line-up for the highly anticipated 12th Annual Hideout Block Party. This year will be our most eclectic and international festival yet.

One-time Hideout bartender, Neko Case will headline both nights of our festival with two very different bands. On Saturday, September 20, Ms. Case will lead her own band, performing her critically acclaimed material spanning her career. She will also break out some new un-released material from her upcoming album, scheduled for spring 2009. This will be the only performance that Neko and her band will play in Chicago this year. On Sunday night, Ms. Case will make an increasingly rare live performance with her increasingly popular “other” band, The New Pornographers. This will be the only time this year that she has performed with them in Chicago as well. This is the first and only time that Neko Case has performed with both of her bands, back-to-back in the United States.

We will also highlight band members, and collaborators of Neko Case through out the festival. Kelly Hogan, Neko’s singing partner, and Tom Ray will open Saturday with their kid friendly band, Wee Hairy Beasties, followed by Neko collaborators and tour mates, Giant Sand, from Tucson AZ who will celebrate this summer’s release of their new album.

On Sunday, Jon Rauhouse, Neko’s banjo and pedal steel player, will perform with his Jon Rauhouse Sestet. This will be followed by Tom Ray, Neko’s bass player and his band Devil in a Woodpile, who will perform with recent Grammy winner Honey Boy Edwards, the oldest living original delta bluesman.

Saturday morning will begin precisely at 12 Noon with Plastic Crimewave’s Vision Celestial Guitarkestra, creating a circle of over 100 musicians, and assorted characters, creating a dramatic harmonious drone.

Other Saturday performers will represent four continents of the world. From Europe we will have The KatJon Band, featuring Kat Ex from Amsterdam, and Welsh ex-pat Jon Langford. Next up Hungary’s amazing Little Cow, U.K., rappers dan le sac VS. Scroobius Pip, legendary Plastic People of the Universe from Czech Republic, the incendiary (literally) Monotonix from Israel who will perform amongst the audience, followed by Vieux Farka Toure’ from Mali. Just for some psychedelic fun, we will throw in Canada’s Black Mountain. Meanwhile Drag City’s Neil Hamburger will host his Drunken Spelling Bee inside the bar.

Sunday will celebrate weird, raucous psychedelic pop with Oklahoma’s The Uglysuit, Georgia’s Dark Meat, and NYC’s Tim Fite. Of course there will be a parade by Chicago’s Mucca Pazza.

From this hilarious psychedelic circus we will then pay homage to the 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. Robbie Fulks will present for the first time his complete tribute to the King of Pop. Then Michael’s second biggest fan, Rhymefest, will perform material from his “Man in the Mirror” tribute CD. Be sure to dress like a scary night creature, for the culmination of this milestone in dance-pop the Hideout staff will lead the entire audience in the “Zombie Dance”

Now come the 21st century Kings of Pop, New Pornographers.

Enough? We will culminate this year’s Block Party with two on New York’s finest outfits. Ratatat will perform their full show, lights, smoke, projections, the works. This will be followed by a DJ set from uber-hot Hercules and Love Affair. What better way to celebrate the last day of summer, and welcome the first day of fall than by joyously dancing in the streets!

About the Hideout Block Party

From its humble beginnings in 1996, the Hideout’s Block party has grown into an, influential international music festival. In 2007 Chicago Magazine called the Hideout Block Party, “Perennially the Best Music Festival in Chicago.” Over the last 11 years the Hideout’s Block Parties have raised over $200,000 for various local charities. Organizations participating this year will include: Chalk for Peace, Rock for Kids, Future of Music, and Voter Registration. Charities to benefit are Tuesdays Child, Thomas Drummond Elementary School, www.Oscarmeyergardenproject.weebly.com. And Literacy Works

For more info check: www.hideoutblockparty.com or www.hideoutchicago.com