Category: music

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R.I.P. Alex Chilton

Alex Chilton, the great singer and songwriter who made three of my all-time favorite albums in the 1970s with Memphis power-pop band Big Star, died today. I discovered Big Star via cassette copies of those records back around 1987, when I was in college. It was around the time the Replacements recorded their tribute song, “Alex Chilton,” and the Bangles recorded their version of Big Star’s classic track “September Gurls” (one of the most perfect rock songs ever).

Big Star was one of those bands you heard other music fans talking about: “You’ve got to hear this… The LPs are rare, but I’ve got a copy on cassette.” And this was one of those cases when the band lived up to the mystique. All those songs on No. 1 Record and Radio City should have been hits, and then there was that strange, fractured, haunting dream of an album, Third/Sister Lovers.

I was lucky enough to see a few solo shows by Alex Chilton. He didn’t seem very interested in reliving his days in Big Star. He was doing his own, distinctly different solo music by this point, though he would play a few Big Star songs in concert, like “Holocaust” or “In the Street.” And what about his even earlier musical incarnation, the Box Tops, when he had a No. 1 hit, “The Letter,” when he was just a teen? Forget it. Chilton wasn’t going to play that. (He did a few shows now and then under the Box Tops name, but I never caught any of those performances.) Chilton just did what he wanted to.

The clamor for a Big Star reunion grew loud enough that Chilton and original drummer Jody Stephens teamed up with Posies members Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer to form a new lineup of the band in 1993. I saw their show at Metro in Chicago, which was pretty cool. It didn’t feel completely authentic (more like half reunion, half tribute band), but it was wonderful to hear Chilton singing those songs again, with Stephens’ perfect drum beats behind him.

Big Star recorded a new album a couple of years ago, In Space, which was a colossal disappointment for me. It’s hard for me to consider it a true part of the band’s canon. But all of those 1970s Big Star songs still get me, every time. Few other bands have ever crystallized so well the power of a well-written rock song: A riff that grabs you, lyrics that seem simple at first but reveal odd idiosyncrasies the more you listen, and the honest emotion of those vocals. Those first two albums are also masterpieces of sequencing. The songs follow one another in an order that feels like a great mix tape. (As for Third, the proper sequence is a matter of some mystery and debate, but the album still works beautifully in its various versions, a weirdly baroque and deeply personal drama.)

Big Star was scheduled to play this Saturday at South By Southwest. I’m not attending SXSW this year, and I was feeling sorry that I was going to miss this chance at seeing Big Star again. Tonight came the sad news that Chilton had died, apparently of a heart attack. So I’m playing some Big Star songs tonight and mourning the death of yet another great musician (coming so soon after Vic Chesnutt, Lhasa De Sela, Jay Reatard and Mark Linkous).

(Photo: Alex Chilton poses outside his home in New Orleans on Aug. 20, 1993. AP Photo/Dave Steuber, posted on the Memphis Commercial-Appeal Web site.)

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Woods, Real Estate & Netherfriends

The New York band known as Woods was back in Chicago last night (Monday) for another fine jam session. After playing last year at the Empty Bottle, Woods and opening act Real Estate nearly filled a bigger venue this time, Lincoln Hall.

As in past Woods performances I’ve seen, vocalist/guitarist Jeremy Earl sang in a creaky falsetto reminiscent of Neil Young or maybe Canned Heat, while letting loose some wonderfully shambling electric guitar solos. Meanwhile, G. Lucas Crane is kneeling as he plays old cassette tapes, twiddling knobs, doing who knows what with the sounds coming out of the tapes, and singing into what looks like a set of headphones. When Woods stretched out its tunes, it rocked in a way that felt spontaneous and unpracticed. Despite sustained applause at the end of the concert, Woods did not come out for an encore.
www.myspace.com/woodsfamilyband

The middle band on Monday’s bill, Real Estate, has been getting some buzz with its recent self-titled debut. The music’s very unassuming: nicely constructed little guitar pop songs, with just a touch of 1960s chamber pop or psychedelia. It all came across well in concert, although the laid-back Real Estate guys could stand to show a little more energy and enthusiasm.
www.myspace.com/realestate

Chicago trio Netherfriends started out the evening, playing songs from its debut EP. At times, Netherfriends sounded like White Rabbits (when keyboards were the dominant instrument), but more often the band went for an Animal Collective sort of vibe, with heavy rhythms and overlapping musical motifs. If anything, the percussion was a bit too aggressive in this live performance, but this band has some potential.
www.myspace.com/netherfriends

Photos of Woods, Real Estate and Netherfriends.

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Vetiver at the Empty Bottle

Despite the fact that Vetiver’s been together for six years, I somehow missed seeing the band until last night (March 10) at the Empty Bottle. The group’s been called “freak folk,” not one of my favorite genre labels, but Vetiver certainly has a folk-rock feeling. I’m particularly fond of Vetiver’s second full-length record, the 2006 release To Find Me Gone, which has strong melodies as well as a somewhat spooky mood.

I was glad to hear some songs from that record Wednesday night. The songs from Vetiver’s 2009’s record Tight Knit sounded a bit more conventional, but still pretty enjoyable. I wonder if something rubbed off on Vetiver when the band played as ex-Jayhawks singer Gary Louris’ backing group? www.vetiverse.com

The show started off with an opening act all the way from the Czech Republic, Please the Trees, who played a cool, rocking set. Looking up the band on myspace, I see that it describes its influences as “sound, noise, silence, wood, river, sea, sky, light, love,” while the sound is described as “Something in between Abba and Helmet.” www.myspace.com/pleasethetrees

The second band was Chicago’s Robbie Hamilton & Soft Drugs, who played rock with an early ’70s country-rock tinge, including a shout-out to Gram Parsons. Some good songs, though the set got a little sloppy at the end. www.myspace.com/robbiehamiltonmusic

It was a frustrating night for taking photos, especially during the headlining set by Vetiver. The band’s singer and songwriter, Andy Cabic, was under dim red lighting for the entirety of the show, so if you don’t see many pictures of Cabic in my gallery, that’s why. Photos of Vetiver, Please the Trees and Robbie Hamilton & Soft Drugs.

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New concert photos

I’m catching up today on a backlog of concert photos from the past week. Here you go…


A couple of extra photos of A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW March 3 at Schubas are on flickr here and here

My photos of ATOMIC March 5 at the Green Mill are on the Chicago Reader’s Photo Pit page, both online and in print.

MUCCA PAZZA March 6 at St. Paul’s Cultural Center. (Some of the photos are also posted on flickr.

Also on flickr: Close-up shots of the pipe organ at St. Paul’s.


THE MAGNETIC FIELDS March 7 at the Harris Theater. (A couple of shots are on flickr, too.)

EFTERKLANG March 8 at Lincoln Hall. (Some photos are also posted on flickr.)

VETIVER with PLEASE THE TREES and ROBBIE HAMILTON & SOFT DRUGS March 10 at the Empty Bottle. (Some photos are posted on flickr, too.)

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Efterklang at Lincoln Hall

The Danish band Efterklang makes music that’s both alluring and somewhat elusive. I especially liked Efterklang’s 2007 record Parades, the sort of album that grows on you after repeated listens, revealing more layers. Efterklang’s new CD, Magic Chairs, sounds perhaps a little more straightforward, though it’s a far cry from boilerplate pop music.

Efterklang played a warmly glowing set of its new and old songs Monday (March 8) at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall (a venue that these touring Danes seemed to find a little strange, for some reason). Lead vocalists Casper Clausen spent most of the concert holding drumsticks, adding a second layer of percussion to the main drumming. The rest of the band was arrayed in a semi-circle behind Clausen and bassist Rasmus Stolberg, playing an ever-shifting mix of keyboards, flute, trumpet and guitar.

In addition to six songs from Magic Chairs, Efterklang played a few of the great tracks from Parades (“Mirador,” “Blowing Lungs Like Bubbles” and “Cutting Ice to Snow”) and two songs from Efterklang’s first album, Tripper (“Step Aside” and “Chapter 6”).

Photos of Efterklang.

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Magnetic Fields etc.

A wonderful performance by the Magnetic Fields on Sunday evening (Feb.7) capped off my musical weekend. Two years ago, when Stephin Merritt and his ensemble played at the Old Town School of Folk Music, they were touring in support of a record called Distortion, which did in fact feature a lot of distortion and guitar feedback. There was no distortion or noise during the concert, however, as the Magnetic Fields played everything in a quiet, staid, chamber-like folk style. I remember thinking that as much as I enjoy some of the Magnetic Fields’ more upbeat, pop sort of studio recordings, this unplugged format was really what I preferred to hear, at least in concert.

The Magnetic Fields are back in Chicago for two shows at the Harris Theater (booked in conjunction with the Old Town School), and this time, the group is touring in support of a record, Realism, which actually sounds like that live show from two years ago. Everything’s acoustic and folkie. And so it was in concert again, too. Given Merritt’s mercurial nature, I half-expected him to show up this time with electric guitars, but no, that didn’t happen.

As usual, Merritt sat on a stool at one end of the stage, playing ukulele on some songs, singing lead vocals in his croaky baritone on maybe half of the songs, surveying the rest of the band with a deadpan expression, occasionally offering sarcastic observations. At least, you think they’re sarcastic. He’s so deadpan, it’s hard to tell. Lined up across the stage in chairs, the rest of the band played acoustic guitar, cello (or was that A viola da gamba?), keyboard and autoharp. Claudia Gonson is his main foil, handling much of the song-intro duties and engaging Merritt in odd little dialogues that don’t always go anywhere … all of which is generally pretty amusing.

Merritt’s voice is not the most subtle of instruments, so he wisely divvies up the lead vocals, letting Gonson and Shirley Simms sing the tunes that require more range. And they sounded lovely Sunday, signing in a understated style well-suited to Merritt’s songs. Rather than play a lot of songs from the new record, the Magnetic Fields cherry-picked stuff from throughout their catalogue, going all the way back to early songs such as “100000 Firelies” and even playing a few songs from side project The 6ths. Of course, Merritt & Co. left out a lot of great songs, but that’s always going to be the case with someone who has so many.

The opening act was Laura Barrett, a Canadian folkie who played tinkly tunes on a thumb piano with cute lyrics about subjects such as robot ponies. This is the sort of thing some people will find unbearably precious. I found her charming enough in small doses.

Photos of the Magnetic Fields.

Other shows I saw this past weekend: The Scandinavian jazz group Atomic sounded terrific Friday night at the Green Mill. My photos of Atomic are on the Chicago Reader’s Photo Pit page.

And Mucca Pazza stormed Saturday night into St. Paul’s Cultural Center (an old church converted into a sort of hipster art venue) for a typically festive, raucous performance. I’ll post photos from these shows later in the week. Photos of Mucca Pazza.

Tonight: Efterklang at Lincoln Hall.

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A Sunny Day in Glasgow

There are a lot of bands recently with geographical names, but it seems like most of them are not actually from the places mentioned in their band names. Portugal the Man? They’re from Alaska. I’m From Barcelona? They’re from Sweden. Illinois? They’re from Pennsylvania. Continuing in this vein, there’s the band A Sunny Day in Glasgow. In all fairness, one of the band’s former members actually used to live in Glasgow, Scotland, but the group is based in Philadelphia, and that guy isn’t even in the band anymore (if wikipedia is to be believed). So the band name is more about the mood and style of the music than where the musicians are from.

I won’t go on at length about this band, because they’re new to me, even though they’ve been playing for a few years. They came to Schubas on Wednesday (March 3) and played a quite enjoyable set of indie pop music, with a big emphasis on tuneful vocals. The group’s gone through some lineup changes, and I don’t know how this version of Sunny Day compares with previous ones, but the pair of female singers, Jen Goma and Annie Fredrickson, were fun both to hear and watch. The group finished its show with a Fleetwood Mac cover, “Everywhere.” Like the band’s name, it all sounded pretty sunny.
asunnydayinglasgow.com
www.myspace.com/sunnydayinglasgow

Photos of A Sunny Day in Glasgow and opening act Acrylics.

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Ike Reilly at Schubas

When you see the enthusiasm of Ike Reilly’s fans — the way they recognize his catchiest songs, the way they sing along, the way they shout out, “I love you, Ike!” — it seems clear that this guy could be a star. The reality is, however, that he’s more of a hidden treasure. Reilly, who still lives in his hometown of Libertyville up in Lake County, has a pretty good following here in Chicago and some other places, but like most indie-label artists, he doesn’t get all the radio airplay that he deserves.

Reilly has a strong album out called Hard Luck Stories, and he wrapped up a string of four Monday-night concerts at Schubas this week. The room filled up pretty well for a Monday evening, and it was obvious that some of Reilly’s true believers were in attendance. Although one of Reilly’s musicians was absent for the night, his band (the Ike Reilly Assassination) delivered the songs in lean, tight performances. In his gruff voice, Reilly sang his story songs about characters that seem so real. And he hooked his audience with the catchy choruses of shoulda-been hits like “When Irish Eyes are Burning.”

My only complaint: I was hoping to hear a song from Reilly’s new record that’s been caught in my mind lately, “The Ballad of Jack and Haley.” Oh, well, I guess I should have requested it online beforehand, which is how some of the fans at Schubas got to hear their Reilly faves.

Photos of the Ike Reilly Assassination.

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Tinariwen at Old Town School

A concert experience doesn’t get much cooler than this: Taking a guitar workshop in the afternoon with a musician who’s visiting from his homeland in the Sahara Desert. And then seeing a mesmerizing concert in the evening by the same musician’s band. Now, where in Chicago can you get an experience like that? At the Old Town School of Folk Music, of course.

The band I’m talking about is Tinariwen, a group that has gained an international following in recent years despite coming from one of those unlikely places most people have never even heard of. They’re Touareg or Tamashek, a nomadic people with no real country to call their own, living in the sands of Mali. They play amplified guitars. Robert Plant’s a fan. They’ve released four great albums over the past decade, including one that made my top 10 list for 2009, Imidiwan: Companions. And they played three sold-out concerts this past weekend at the Old Town School.

On Sunday afternoon, members of the band took part in workshops with local students: one class for guitarists and one for percussionists. I signed up for the guitar class, which featured Tinariwen member Abdallah Ag Alhoussenyni, assisted by Old Town School instructor Nathaniel Braddock. Around 25 guitarists (all but a few of them male) sat in a big circle while Alhoussenyni demonstrated some of the basic musical elements that go into Tinariwen’s music. We were lucky to have a student who was fluent in French, who interpreted what Alhoussenyni was saying.

If you know anything about the pentatonic scales on the guitar, it wouldn’t be too hard to start playing along with Tinariwen. Alhoussenyni demonstrated a couple of ways he plays. One was a standard guitar tuning with an E minor pentatonic scale. The low E strong gets plucked by the thumb a lot as a drone note, while there’s a lot of hammering and pulling off notes on the second frets on the A, D and G strings. Braddock pointed out that Alhoussenyni was also playing a note you wouldn’t normally expect in this scale, a D sharp on the B string, a passing tone that added the feeling of a major seventh chord.

The other tuning Alhoussenyni demonstrated was similar to standard, except that the low E string was tuned up to a G. The same pentatonic scale was played on the other five strings, but now G was the bass drone, and we also played the two G strings in a tick-tock sort of octave rhythm. (Actually, I’m simplifying one thing about all of this. Alhoussenyni normally plays his guitar with all of the strings tuned a half-step lower than what I’m describing, but to make things easy for the students, he put a capo on the first fret.)

Although the full band arrangements of Tinariwen songs do include a guitar playing Barre chords, with occasional chord changes, when Alhoussenyni was playing by himself or leading the class, it became apparent that chords are not really the point of this music. The songs often stay on one “chord,” if you can call it that, for a long time, basically vamping on top of the same bass notes. Of course, when the whole band’s playing, there are also some really compelling bass lines that flesh out the sound and keep the music moving.

Alhoussenyni was serious and reserved as a teacher, but despite the language barrier he seemed to be intent on checking on each student’s playing, trying to impart a little bit of musical wisdom. As he explained to us, it’s less important to memorize a Tinariwen song than it is to learn the musical ideas behind the songs. At the end of the workshop, the percussion class joined together with the guitarists, and Alhoussenyni sang above the somewhat clamorus music.

Ninety minutes later, Alhoussenyni was on the stage at the Old Town School of Folk Music, his head now wrapped in desert garb. Unusual for a concert at the Old Town School, this Tinariwen concert had an open space on the floor for dancing, and a number of audience members took advantage of it. It was hard not to dance as Tinariwen played those infectious grooves.

Demonstrating that Tinariwen’s pentatonic music isn’t that far removed from American blues, local bluesman Billy Branch joined the band for one song, adding some soulful harmonica to the mix.

Tinariwen’s front man, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, hasn’t played with the band in Chicago during its shows of the last few years. Reportedly, he’s been in fragile health, suffering from malaria and exhaustion. But he was with the band this time, coming onto the stage a few songs into Sunday night’s concert. With a wild shock of hair and a weathered face, Alhabib looked more subdued than his bandmates, and his singing added a more bittersweet, world-weary edge to the music.

The members of Tinariwen spoke only a few words of English during the performance, including the apt exclamation: “Welcome to the desert!” Their music transcended the need for translation, although it does gain some depth of emotion if you read the English translations of their lyrics.

These Tamashek sing poetically about life in the desert and their struggle for freedom. Here is the translation of “Kel Tamashek,” from Tinariwen’s most recent album:

Tamashek people, open your eyes
Tamashek people, wake up
We’re in a world that’s moving fast
He who doesn’t pay heed will be lost
He who isn’t careful will be lost
Nothing will come back
Please, Tamashek people, rise up!
Please, listen to one another
Great ignorance
Is the sole cause of suffering and loss
An old woman who doesn’t command a turban to be worn,
The young woman understands everything
Here’s a hidden meaning that you must appreciate

Photos of Tinariwen.

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Laura Veirs at Schubas

How many women would go on tour and perform concerts if they were eight months pregnant? Laura Veirs did, showing up Saturday night (Feb. 28) at Schubas in Chicago, looking very “with child,” as they say. She didn’t act the least bit uncomfortable, however, seeming completely at ease as she performed songs from her excellent new record, July Flame, as well as a good number of older tunes. And despite the fact that she’s about to become a mother, Veirs vowed to be back soon, baby in tow.

It’s been a mystery to me why Veirs hasn’t gained more popularity over the years. She’s made several albums of wonderful folk-rock songs, writing smart lyrics and singing insinuating melodies in an appealingly open, honest voice. She deserves a spot in the top tier of today’s singer-songwriters, but she still doesn’t have a lot of name recognition. She used to be on the prestigious Nonesuch label, but now (like a good number of other artists abandoned by the majors) she is releasing her records on her own label, Raven Marching Band. More power to her.

Veirs’ songs rang out strong and clear Saturday night. And in case anyone wants to try playing those songs, she was selling a July Flame songbook with lyrics, chords and guitar tabs. That’s something I’d like to see more often at merch tables. (I bought one and got Veirs’ autograph. You can buy a copy at Veirs’ Web site.

Photos of Laura Veirs.

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Alec Ounsworth at Schubas

Five years ago, indie-rockers Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were all the rage, getting lots of hype and seemingly coming out of nowhere. And then, as happens so often whenever there’s hype, there was some backlash. In hindsight, the band’s self-titled debut holds up well. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah hasn’t lived up to expectations since then, however. With the group apparently on hiatus, lead singer Alec Ounsworth came to Chicago Thursday (Feb. 25) for a show at Schubas. It seemed as if a fair number of the fans in attendance showed up for opening act Ezra Furman and the Harpoons. By the end of the night, when Ounsworth finished his set, the attendance was less than you’d expect for a once-hyped indie star.

Ounsworth’s voice has always been a little wobbly, with a tendency to veer off-key. That sort of singing — emotionally searing but potentially grating — has been in vogue for several years now in indie rock. (Furman does it, too.) There’s a thin line between the good and bad when attempt this sort of barely controlled attack on the notes. On Thursday, Ounsworth landed on the good side of that line. With his hat, eyeglasses and mustache, he looked a bit like a character from sort sort of costume drama. And he had an unusual presence on the stage — barely moving around during the instrumental breaks other than tilting his head this way and that.

Ounsworth played songs from his recent solo debut, Mo Beauty, and another record, Skin and Bones, which he made under the moniker Flashy Python. He also played a bit of his repertoire from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, including “Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood.” His backing musicians were a lively bunch, bringing a quirky sense of energy to the tunes.

Photos of Alec Ounsworth and Ezra Furman.

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Masters of Persian Music

Within the vast realms of so-called “world music,” some foreign musical traditions get an additional label: “classical.” It’s often hard to define exactly which music is classical or folk or pop or something else altogether, but if a musical style has centuries of tradition, rigorous training and complex theoretical foundations, it probably deserves to be called “classical” just as much as the music of Bach or Mozart does. Such is the case with Persian classical music. Yet at the same time, Persian classical music involves elements of improvisation. So is it more like jazz? And when vocalists sing Persian poetry, it can sound not all that far-removed from folk music. And is easy to imagine this music channeled into something more like Western rock music. Ah, such is the futility of obsessing too much about labels.

In any case, Persian music received the sort of reverence and respect it deserves on Tuesday night (Feb. 23) with a concert at Chicago’s Symphony Center by the aptly named ensemble Masters of Persian Music. One of the stars of this year’s tour is Kayhan Kalhor, who plays a violin-like instrument called the kamancheh (and who recorded a terrific 2008 album called Silent City with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, who performed a local concert last week.)

The first half of Tuesday’s concert was a 45-minute improvised duet between Kalhor and Hossen Alizadeh, who was playing the shour angiz, an instrument similar to a lute or bouzouki. At times, Kalhor and Alizadeh were simultaneously playing distinct melodies, while staying in perfect harmony with one another. It seemed as if they were coming up with a sophisticated counterpoint right on the spot. At other times, their duet became a call and response, with the airy tone of the five-string kamancheh repeating the trilled notes of the shour angiz (or vice versa). The music rose and fell several times, moving from meditation to frenzy, from a feeling of stasis to a sensation of galloping.

After an intermission, Kalhor and Alizadeh were joined by singer Hamid Reza Nourbakhsh and four other musicians. Siamak Jahangiry played the ney, a kind of flute; Hamidreza Maleki played the santur, a percussive string instrument similar to the cimbalom or zither; Pezham Akhavass played the tombak drum; and Fariborz Azizi played the bass tar (a variation of guitar). Alizadeh switched to playing tar during this set.

The ensemble performed a series of songs based on old Persian Sufi poems. The songs ran together into one seamless set, about an hour long, sometimes delicate and tinkly, sometimes fierce and rhythmic. Some of the other musicians chanted in unison with Nourbakhsh at times. Nourbaksh’s singing sometimes brought to mind the Pakistani Sufi singer Nusrah Fateh Ali Khan. In quieter moment, he sang with a placid, peaceful sense, but then he would let loose with some strong, piercing notes. The overall effect conjured up images in my mind of musicians and singers sitting in a royal court in ancient Persia, performing for a king.

The CSO program for this concert included English translations of the beautiful poems being sung. I was especially struck by a poem by Shaf’i Kadkani, which includes this couplet:

Alas for this hypocrite people who in this two-faced city
Are, all of them, by day sheriff and by night wine-sellers.

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Retribution Gospel Choir

Alan Sparhawk is best known as the singer and guitarist for Low, a band that plays most of its songs at a slow tempo and hushed volume level, to strangely mesmerizing effect. Low turns up the sound once in a while, but Sparhawk plays just about everything loud with his other band, Retribution Gospel Choir. The “choir” has a new album out on the Sub Pop label, its second record, aptly if not so imaginatively titled 2. And Retribution Gospel Choir came to Chicago Friday night (Feb. 19) for a sold-out show at the Hideout.

This was quite different from a Low concert. Instead of that chilled-out meditative mood, the feeling was all-out rock show. Sparhawk grimaced and flung his hair around as he played one hard-rocking riff and guitar solo after another — and yet, that appealing voice of his still sounded familiar from those old Low records. Bassist Steve Garrington and drummer (plus backup singer) Eric Pollard kept the music moving forward all night.

Retribution Gospel Choir played a lot of the songs off its new album, which is a solid collection of catchy, dare we say, almost mainstream-sounding rock songs. There’s a bit of classic rock in the choir’s formula, but it’s played with such conviction that it never feels like cliché.
www.retributiongospelchoir.com
www.myspace.com/retributiongospelchoir

Photos of Retribution Gospel Choir.

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Brooklyn Rider at Dominican

Brooklyn Rider sounds more like the name of a rock band than a string quartet, and these four musicians also perform a bit like rock musicians. Sunday afternoon, they strode up the aisle in a chapel at Dominican University in River Forest and took up their positions in front of the attentive audience. Cellist Eric Jacobsen sat down, but the other three played standing up, sometimes swaying or exchanging smiles as they performed modern classical music with precision and power.

I first heard of Brooklyn Rider when the group backed up Persian kamancheh virtuso Kayhan Kalhor on the album called Silent City, a bracing and beautiful combination of Middle Eastern music with string quartet, which made my top 10 list for 2008. Brooklyn Rider has just released a CD titled Dominant Curve, and the quartet was in town this weekend to perform some of the compositions on that collection, as well as a few others.

The centerpiece of the CD is Claude Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor (Opus 10), and it was the climax of the concert, too. Brooklyn Rider captured the full range of the piece, from delicate pizzicato passages and soft, lyrical melodies to a vibrant section that almost made you feel like getting up to dance. Two of the other pieces in the concert (also on the CD) drew inspiration from Debussy: Uzbek composer Dimitri Yanov-Yanovskly’s “..al niente” and Brooklyn Rider violinist Colin Jacobsen’s own composition, “Achille’s Heel.”

The first half of Jacobsen’s suite was actually a trio, since the other violinist, Johnny Gandelsman, was just standing there watching as Jacobsen and violist Nicholas Cords played with bold, decisive strokes. But then Gandelsman joined in, helping the quartet to conclude “Achille’s Heel” on a lovely note, with a touch of Persian influence.

The concert also included Giovanni Sollima’s “Frederico II” from “Viaggio in Italia” and Philip Glass’ String Quartet #4 (“Buczak”). According to the concert program, Brooklyn Rider is learning all of Glass’ music for string quartets. The second movement of this piece was especially strong, with a swooning sense of motion — romantic, delirious and slightly ominous.
www.brooklynrider.com

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Oboe Overload

The oboe is one of those instruments rarely heard outside the context of orchestral music. But this expressive instrument got a moment in the spotlight Friday night (Feb. 12). The International Contemporary Ensemble held a concert called “Oboe Overload” at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Photography, featuring ICE’s two oboists, Nick Masterson and James Austin Smith.

ICE specializes in performing new and avant-garde music, and Friday’s concert was no exception. Masterson and Smith opened with Christian Wolff’s 1964 composition “for 1, 2, or 3 people,” which included foot stomping and scraping noises made with music stands in addition to frantic bursts of oboe melody. I was wondering what the sheet music looked like, and after the performance, Smith showed the audience a page — covered with a variety of graphic symbols, like some sort of coded puzzle.

The concert also included Luciano Berio’s “Sequenza VIIa,” Bradley Balliett’s “Slow-Burning Sarabande” (a world premiere, with the composer in attendance), Jonathan Harvey’s “Ricercare una melodia” and Michael Finnissy’s “Yso.” Named after a form of dance, Balliett’s “Slow-Burning Sarabande” was too abstract to provoke any actual dancing, but it colorfully captured the sense of two voices flirting with and seducing each other. Harvey’s composition, meanwhile, used electronic delay to play around with the idea of memory. The oboists seemed to be chasing after their own notes, trying to grasp melodies as they flitted away.

Throughout all of these challenging pieces, Masterson and Smith played with a sense of spontaneity and fierce intensity. www.iceorg.org

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Robbie Fulks at the Hideout

Robbie Fulks, one of Chicago’s most talented and most entertaining musicians, is playing at the Hideout every Monday night in February. After missing week one of Fulks’ residency, I caught his performance last night, an evening of lovely duets with another terrific Chicago singer, Nora O’Connor. The two sat on chairs and played acoustic guitars, with Fulks’ fingers plucking fast runs of bluegrass notes while O’Connor played rhythm chords. O’Connor’s no slouch on guitar, as evidenced by her playing in the Blacks, but she was modest about her abilities Monday. At one point, when Fulks said, “Take it, Nora!” she responded with a sarcastic, “Please!“

Fulks and O’Connor played some old-timey bluegrass and gospel tunes, such as “The Lost Indian” and Flatt and Scrugg’s “Take Me in Your Lifeboat.” Of course, they played some of their own songs as well — a couple of recent Fulks songs and a couple of oldies, plus some of the best tracks off O’Connor’s excellent (and thus far only) solo record, 2004’s Til the Dawn. And some cool covers: Fulks taking the lead on George Jones’ “The Flame In My Heart,” and O’Connor singing M. Ward’s “Helicopter,” Fleetwood Mac’s “That’s Alright” and Ketty Lester’s “Love Letters.” In between songs, Fulks was as funny as ever with his stage banter.

As Fulks remarked, how can you go wrong with two people playing acoustic guitars and singing? Well, actually, that sort of thing can go wrong, but that’s not likely to happen with these two. Each of them made the other’s songs feel more complete.

Fulks continues his Hideout residency on Feb. 15 with a string trio. On Feb. 22, he’ll have his full band playing with him. The shows start at 7 p.m., and the suggested donation for admission is $10. www.hideoutchicago.com www.robbiefulks.com

Photos of Robbie Fulks and Nora O’Connor.

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Explode Into Colors

I was looking for something new and different to see Friday night, and I found it — an exciting all-female trio from Portland, Ore., called Explode Into Colors. This group doesn’t even have a proper album out yet, just a cassette and some singles, but it’s already making very lively, percussion-heavy rock. When I heard that they were an all-girl trio from the Pacific Northwest, I immediately thought of Sleater-Kinney. Explode Into Color’s music is more out there, more experimental than S-K, though there’s a similar sense of energy.

The Explode ladies put on a really good show Friday (Feb. 5) at Subterranean. Although the songs sound like they’re anchored by bass lines, that’s actually lead singer Claudia Meza’s baritone guitar. And no wonder the recordings sound like they have a lot of drums — Lisa Schonberg drums while Heather Treadway is a triple threat on drums, keyboards and vocals. The three of them were lined up across the front of the Subt stage. When a band doesn’t hide the drum kit in back, that’s always a sign that you’re going to hear some music with interesting percussion, and that turned out to be the case Friday night. Explode Into Colors does not apparently have a lot of songs yet, and the trio played a fairly short set during this show, which was their first appearance in Chicago. Hope they’re back soon.
www.myspace.com/explodeintocolors

Alas, the bracing set by Explode Into Colors was a sharp contrast with the cheesy opening sets by two Chicago groups. I hate to tear down any aspiring local musical act with harsh criticism, and I’ll note that both of the opening bands did draw a decent number of fans. But it’s a shame Subterranean didn’t find more appropriate openers to go with Explode Into Colors.

Photos of Explode Into Colors.

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Chicago Underground Duo

Technically speaking, the Chicago Underground Duo isn’t exactly based in Chicago anymore. These two jazz musicians, Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor, spend most of their time now living elsewhere. But they’ve kept Chicago in their band name, and they still record for that fine Chicago label, Thrill Jockey. And they were back on their old home turf Wednesday night (Feb. 3) for a free show at the Chicago Cultural Center.

It was a superb set, filled with really nice moments from both players. Mazurek was a master at getting different tones out of his cornet, using various mutes and aiming his horn at various angles to the microphone. When Mazurek got quiet, it was like his cornet was whispering or crying out at a great distance away. Meanwhile, Taylor’s drumming was far more than mere time keeping. He squeezed expressive sounds out of those drums, playing quirky patterns and making the rhythms seem almost melodic. He also played the vibraphone (sometimes simultaneously with the drums), including some hypnotically repeating series of notes that laid the groundwork for Mazurek’s solos.

The fact that these guys call themselves “underground” might lead you to think they’re experimental or, well, “difficult.” And yes, there is an experimental spirit to their collaborations, including the excellent new record Boca Negra. But what was striking about Wednesday’s performance was just how accessible this music is to anyone listening with open ears. You’ll get another chance to see the Chicago Underground Duo soon, when they play a CD-release party Feb. 20 at the Hideout.

Photos of the Chicago Underground Duo.

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Nouvelle Vague at Lincoln Hall

The idea behind the band Nouvelle Vague is to play songs from the new wave and early punk era like bossa nova or Brazilian lounge music, with sexy French ladies handling the vocals. Nouvelle Vague (the brainchild of French producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux) has recorded some lovely, quirky covers on its three albums, although the whole concept is pretty gimmicky. The shtick wears thin after a while, but it’s enjoyable for a song or two or three.

The touring version of Nouvelle Vague came to Chicago Friday night for a show at Lincoln Hall. And how can you go wrong when you’ve got a couple of sexy French ladies singing cool old songs that we all like? (Well, a lot of like those songs, anyway.) It was fun hearing songs like XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel,” the Clash’s “Guns of Brixton” and Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love?” done up in this style.

The group records in the studio with a revolving cast of singers, but it had just two on tour. I don’t believe they ever got introduced during the show, which seems like a weird oversight. Or maybe they were supposed to be sort of anonymous? I’m told these two were Helena Noguerra and Karina Zeviani. Whoever they were, they did a fine job singing these songs, shaking their hair and striking poses, while the band played light versions of these tunes that used to rock hard. It was quite entertaining for a while, although it was still, in the end, a bit of a gimmick.

Nouvelle Vague was nicely paired with an opening act that sings some songs in French, Clare and the Reasons. As in previous Chicago gigs, this delightful trio delivered cool, jazzy pop music with some funny stage banter and a lot of personality in between the songs. It was too bad to hear that their vehicle was broken into during this visit to Chicago. Hope they don’t get scared off from visiting again soon.

Photos of Nouvelle Vauge and Clare and the Reasons.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: I’m informed that one of the two singers I referred to above as French ladies (Karina Zeviani) is actually Brazilian.

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Tape and Mountains

Thursday (Jan. 28) was a night of instrumental and mostly mellow music at the Empty Bottle. All three acts on the bill played slow-moving, ambient music, the sort of stuff that makes you meditate more than it makes you dance. It was a fairly cool evening of chilling out (with frigid temperatures outside).

The headliners were Sweden’s Tape — four musicians playing a laptop, guitar, drums and keyboards, with a bit of harmonica thrown in. Despite the electronic elements, the music sounded almost organic, with some bits that were almost like folk music mashed together with washes of electronic texture.

The show also featured the Brooklyn ambient duo Mountains. Playing without any pause during their set, Mountains played acoustic instruments like guitars, harmoniums and melodicas, processing them through a mound of electronic equipment until they were virtually unrecognizable, making waves of echoing, reverb-heavy chords.

Appropriately enough, the first act of the night was the Chicago duo David Daniell and Douglas McCombs, whom I’ve seen numerous times and written about here previously. This time, they played without any percussion, but they still created beautiful, glacial sounds with their two guitars.

Photos of Tape, Mountains and David Daniell & Douglas McCombs.

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Hideout helps out Haiti

You can always count on the Hideout to get behind a good cause. Within days after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, the Hideout put together a benefit show to raise money. Two of Chicago’s stalwart bands, Eleventh Dream Day and the Waco Brothers, played rousing sets Monday at the club, raising almost $8,000 for Partners in Health. Sally Timms of the Mekons was one of the key organizers of the event, which also featured a bake sale and a bake sale organized by My Vegetable Blog and a poster sale by Kathleen Judge of Judgeworks. If you didn’t make it to the sold-out show, you can still help out by buying one of the posters shown here. (Poster sale proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders and Partners and Health.)

Eleventh Dream Day played first, delivering the sort of hard-charging rock we’ve come to expect — including three songs that have not yet been released, “Satellite,” “More Than Luck” and a tune with the phrase “Fades Away” in the chorus. All sounded like they’ll be great additions to the EDD catalogue — whenever the band gets around to recording them. It was also cool to hear EDD playing music from its classic album Beet.

The Waco Brothers did their thing, and they did it very well. They’re easy to take for granted, since they play so often and since they make it all look so easy, but they’re about as much fun to watch as any group in Chicago. Hideout owner Tim Tuten was absent (working at his day job in Washington, D.C.), but Jon Langford read a few text messages from Tim aloud to simulate a classic Tuten introduction. And then the Wacos kicked their way through several of their best-known tunes and favorite covers, including Neil Young’s “Revolution Blues,” the Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought the Law,” T. Rex’s “20th Century Boy” and the Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks.” Bassist Alan Doughty accidentally knocked out the venue’s trademark Christmas lights, which adorn the ceiling, when the lights got tangled up in his bass. Near the end of the show, Langford asked the crowd, “How late do you want us to play? We’ve got to wake up early and overthrow the government.”

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Tomorrow Never Knows

The Tomorrow Never Knows festival got bigger this year. It used to be a series of mid-January concerts at Schubas. This year, it was five nights of shows simultaneously happening at both Schubas and its new sister venue, Lincoln Hall. January is generally not all that exciting of a month on the concert calendar, but the TNK fest brought a good selection of up-and-coming indie-rock bands to Chicago.

I attended two of the shows during the festival. Last Thursday (Jan. 14) at Schubas, the headliners were Surfer Blood, a young band from Florida that’s been getting some buzz lately. I like what I’ve heard of Surfer Blood’s studio recordings. It might be a little too polished and amped up, but the power-pop single “Swim” is pretty darn catchy. The band has inspired some wild comparisons to other groups. Time Out Chicago said they sound like a mix of Asia and Brian Eno. Friends I follow on Twitter mentioned the Fixx and Boston. I was thinking more along the lines of the Ponys and OK Go. As a live act, Surfer Blood needs some practice. The band wasn’t bad, but songs that would have been appealing as three-minute pop singles got stretched out twice as long as that, until the repetitive chord progressions just got boring. Then again, “Swim” sounded really strong without all that heavy compression and reverb on the studio record. Surfer Blood abruptly ended its set with drum-set-smashing antics… ensuring that there would be no encore.

Also on the bill Thursday, Freelance Whales played buoyant songs from its forthcoming debut LP, Weathervanes. The record’s not out until March 16, but this band is already building a solid following. Freelance Whales also opened recently for Fanfarlo at Schubas, and Thursday’s appearance was another energetic performance of the catchy songs on Weathervanes.

Thursday’s show started out with the annoyingly named Lasers and Fast and Shit. With dramatic back lighting and lots of fog, the group hammered its way through some hard-edged post-punk. A couple of the songs had good hooks, but others sounded like run-of-the-mill rock.

And sandwiched in between all those bands was Bear in Heaven. A couple of the musicians in this Brooklyn band played in avant-garde guitarist Rhys Chatham’s metal band, but Bear in Heaven doesn’t play that sort of drony music. Its songs were ominous and dramatic, however.

On Saturday night, I was at Lincoln Hall for the triple bill of Julie Doiron, the Rural Alberta Advantage and Bowerbirds. Although the show was sold out, the room did not feel quite as jam-packed as I would have expected. I get the feeling some fans were there just for one band or another — and maybe some folks with festival passes were shuttling back and forth between Lincoln Hall and Schubas.

I saw Doiron play twice last year, once with a band and once solo. Saturday’s show was like a hybrid of those, since she had just one musician accompanying her, William Kidman on guitar. She didn’t talk as much as she during her last solo show (it would be hard for anyone to talk that much again), delivering a tighter set of some great songs, including at least one new composition and one very nice cover, Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home to Me.”

The Rural Alberta Advantage were the middle band on the bill Saturday, but judging from the energy of their performance and the fan turnout, they should have been the headliners. This Canadian trio put out an excellent record in 2008 (when I discovered it on emusic), which then got wider release in 2009. Their music reminds me of Neutral Milk Hotel, probably because the band’s singer-songwriter Nils Edenloff sings in a strong tone similar to NHM’s Jeff Mangum. The songs sounded lively Saturday night, thanks to the powerful drumming of Paul Banwatt and the many touches provided by multi-instrumentalist Amy Cole. Edenloff was suffering from a cold, and his vocals were ragged on some of the songs, especially when he belted out notes. I winced a few times at hearing Edenloff’s voice crack, but he deserves a gold star for giving the music his full effort despite his illness. The RAA played a couple of new songs (which sounded like promising additions to the band’s repertoire), and two covers: Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” and the theme of the Canadian kids’ TV show, “The Littlest Hobo.”

Bowerbirds finished off the night with a pretty performance of the band’s folk-rock ballads. This Raleigh, N.C., band’s 2009 record, Upper Air, really grew on me over time, with a lot of compositions that stick in the mind. In concert, Phil Moore’s vocals and guitar blended beautifully with Beth Tacular’s accordion and harmonies (though I wish Tacular would sing even more). All that being said, it was a very mellow set for midnight, lulling the crowd rather than rousing it. Maybe the Bowerbirds’ set would have worked better earlier in the evening.

Photos from Tomorrow Never Knows. (I’m still waiting to get my camera from the repair shop, but I managed to get a few photos at these shows, thanks to the kind friends who let me use their cameras.)

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My Gold Mask at the Hideout

My Gold Mask makes a lot of sound without much gear. The Chicago duo is Gretta Rochelle (who sings while she plays the drums, standing up) and Jack Armondo (who plays a nylon-string guitar, cranking it up much louder than a classical guitarist ever would). The two of them headlined at the Hideout on Saturday night (Jan. 9), selling out the place and filling the room with some enthusiastic fans.

Rochelle and Armondo sounded vibrant as they played songs from a new EP, A Thousand Voices, as well as their self-titled debut from last year — and one cover, Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes.” The two of them are clearly having fun as they perform, and the fun is pretty catchy. One highlight was the new song, “Violet Eyes,” which features some cool effects on the guitar and call-and-response vocals.

At the end of the set, My Gold Mask returned to the stage for one more song, naïvely asking, “Can we play another?” (Of course you can, guys!) It was apparently the first time My Gold Mask has ever had the chance to do an encore. It won’t be the last.
www.mygoldmask.com
www.myspace.com/mygoldmask

The first act of the night was also quite impressive. Violetness is a female singer-songwriter from Chicago. Doesn’t even have a record out yet. She’s working on an EP, and she has a couple of songs posted at www.myspace.com/violetnessmusic. (Of the two posted tracks, the one I like is “Perfect Love Flow.”) In concert, she was accompanied by a drummer and a cellist, and she played keyboards on some of the songs. In enjoyed the minimal arrangements. Her first song was just singing and drumming, which reminded me a bit of what the Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums does. Violetness has a strong voice, and she sometimes sings with a throaty tone and a jazzy swagger, with maybe a touch of Nina Simone. I can’t wait to hear what she does in the studio.

Another Chicago act, the Bitter Tears, played in between Violetness and My Gold Mask. The Bitter Tears are rather hard to categorize, a bit alt-country and a bit … glam? Well, maybe I just think glam rock when I see how they dress. The Tears like to put on makeup and outrageous outfits. The main singer was in drag Saturday night, with white makeup smeared all over his face, horror-movie-style. Tasteless jokes and provocative remarks were part of the Bitter Tears’ stage shtick. This is a band that likes to push people’s buttons. The music wasn’t bad, but it was overwhelmed by the spectacle.
www.myspace.com/thebittertears

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Exploding Star Orchestra

Exploding Star Orchestra’s concerts aren’t quite as rare as a comet’s appearances, but they don’t happen all that often. Band leader and cornet player Rob Mazurek (who splits his time between Chicago and Brazil) was in town this weekend, though, conducting a nine-piece version of the orchestra Friday and Saturday (Jan. 8 and 9) at the Green Mill.

This is one jazz group that doesn’t rely too much on solos. Yes, it’s true that many of the fine musicians on the Green Mill stage did get a few minutes in the spotlight with a solo on Friday night, but more often than not, the whole ensemble was playing Mazurek’s compositions at full throttle. Drummer John Herndon (who also plays with instrumental rock band Tortoise) and bassist Matt Lux propelled the music forward, keeping up their rhythmic attack almost all night long.

Exploding Star occasionally used electronic effects, giving the music a tinge of space rock. And the combination of Nicole Mitchell’s amazing flute runs with Jason Adasiewicz’s chiming vibes was a beautiful thing to behold. The group sounded especially powerful when all of the horns and woodwinds joined together — Mazurek, Mitchell, Matt Bauder on reeds and Jeb Bishop on trombone. Damon Locks added Beatnik-style vocals, and last-minute lineup addition David Daniell sat in on guitar — adding some “spice,” as he told me.

I’m looking forward to hearing another album by Exploding Star Orchestra. The group’s debut, We Are All From Somewhere Else, was a sci-fi concept album, but without lyrics. You just have to listen to the music to imagine the story that the band is supposedly telling. According to a press release, it’s “a story involving an exploding star, cosmic transformation, a sting ray, the travels of the sting ray, intelligent conversations with electric eels, the destructive power of humans, the death and ascension of sting ray, the transformation of sting ray ghost to flying bird, and the transformation of bird to phoenix to rocket to flying burning matter to a new-born star.”

I’m not sure that’s exactly what I pictured on Friday night as I heard the orchestra playing pieces from that album and a few new compositions, but there was something transformative about the music.

www.myspace.com/explodingstarorchestra
www.thrilljockey.com/artists/?id=10140

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Starting off a new year of concerts

December and January tend to be fairly quiet months for concert-going in Chicago — but there’s always something good going on out there if you look hard enough. For the most part, I’ve been lying low lately, but I did see a few cool shows.

One of my final concerts of 2009 was the Dec. 28 performance at Schubas by Rock Falls, with opening acts Royal Osprey and Roommate. It was nice to hear Roommate paying tribute to the late Vic Chesnutt with a cover of his song “Sponge,” not to mention another fine cover, Guided By Voices’ “Smothered in Hugs.” Rock Falls delivered another fine performance of her folk rock, concluding the show with a lovely a cappella version of “On the Street Where You Live” from “My Fair Lady.” This was the last of four Monday night showcases in December for the local label Cardboard Sangria.
www.myspace.com/rockfalls
Photos of Rock Falls, Royal Osprey and Roommate.

And then I closed the year out on Dec. 30 with the Fiery Furnaces at Schubas. The band’s Matt Friedberger is playing guitar these days in concert rather than organ or electric piano, which is an improvement in my book. The band sounded as tight and as strange as ever, with Eleanor Friedberger reciting her usual river of surreal poetry. As much as I prefer hearing the band use guitar over keyboards, it would be even better if the Fiery Furnaces varied their sound within a show. The music is rich and multifaceted, but it can get monotonous when the Furnaces lock into one sound for the whole show. Opening act Cryptacize is known to drive some folks crazy, but I’ve liked their dadaist, disconnected songs. This time, they sounded a little less discombobulated than before (recombobulated?) Primary Cryptacize singer Nedelle Torrisi sounded strong and alluring. (Sorry, no photos — I gave my camera the night off.)
www.thefieryfurnaces.com
www.myspace.com/cryptacize

I did not see any live music on New Year’s Eve, but I did start off 2010 with a free afternoon gig by Philadelphia singer-songwriter Kurt Vile at Permanent Records. The shop was crammed full of people as Vile sang and played acoustic guitar behind the counter with his music enveloped in very heavy reverb. Vile has been writing some cool songs, and he’s also part of the excellent band the War on Drugs. The guy barely showed his face during the performance, letting his long hair hang down in front. Hence, the scarcity of photos. But I did post a couple of photos of Kurt Vile, including one shot of him talking after the performance.
www.myspace.com/kurtvileofphilly

Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman played three sold-out shows in a row at the Empty Bottle, starting on New Year’s Eve. I did not see any of those concerts, but I picked up a ticket when he announced a fourth gig — performing solo at the Viaduct Theater Sunday evening (Jan. 3). Lekman has a fairly enchanting stage presence, weaving humorous stories into his songs. The set started out with just vocals and guitar, but then Lekman began using backing tracks from a laptop. Eventually, he played a song or two karaoke-style, dancing around as he sang to the music on the laptop. A minute later, he apologized. “I’m sorry this show degenerated into some sort of vaudeville there for a second. I just feel it really deep.” At another point, Lekman got the audience to play the “feather game” — keeping a feather aloft by blowing at it — while Lekman played “A Handful of Feathers.” There was a strong feeling of connection and friendship between the audience and the artist.
www.jenslekman.com
www.myspace.com/jenslekmanmusic
Photos of Jens Lekman.

Alas, my camera stopped working halfway through the Lekman concert. Hoping to get it fixed soon.

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R.I.P. Lhasa De Sela

The music world has lost another one of its great artists, singer Lhasa De Sela. I felt like she never received the attention she deserved, perhaps because her music was hard to categorize. She released only three albums over the past 12 years, but all three of them were gems, and I highly recommend them all.

I had one chance to see her in concert, on Oct. 3, 2005, at the HotHouse in Chicago. Here’s what I wrote at the time: “Lhasa did not disappoint in concert, commanding the attention of a crowded room of quiet listeners as she sang with just two musicians backing her up, mostly on guitar and cello. She told a few lengthy stories as introductions to her songs … such a heartfelt and compelling speaker. I love the way she looks when she sings, raising her left hand next to her head, sometimes making a fist and scrunching up her eyes as if she were squeezing the notes out of her head. Simply amazing music.” One of my photos from the concert is above.

Lhasa released her most recent album, titled simply Lhasa, in 2009, and I ranked it at No. 4 on my list of the year’s best records. I was alarmed when I heard that she’d canceled most of her tour dates, citing a serious health issue.

Lhasa’s Web site confirmed her Jan. 1 death with a press release today: “The singer Lhasa de Sela passed away in her Montreal home on the night of January 1st 2010, just before midnight. She succumbed to breast cancer after a twenty-one month long struggle, which she faced with courage and determination. Throughout this difficult period, she continued to touch the lives of those around her with her characteristic grace, beauty and humor.” The press release ends with a poetic note that Lhasa herself probably would have appreciated: “It has snowed more than 40 hours in Montreal since Lhasa’s departure.”

My favorite record by Lhasa is 2004’s The Living Road, and with the news of her death, the haunting song that runs through my mind is the final track on that album, “Soon This Space Will Be Too Small.” Here are the lyrics.

SOON THIS SPACE WILL BE TOO SMALL

Soon this space will be too small
And I’ll go outside
To the huge hillside
Where the wild winds blow
And the cold stars shine

I’ll put my foot
On the living road
And be carried from here
To the heart of the world

I’ll be strong as a ship
And wise as a whale
And I’ll say the three words
That will save us all
And I’ll say the three words
That will save us all

Soon this space will be too small
And I’ll laugh so hard
That the walls cave in

Then I’ll die three times
And be born again
In a little box
With a golden key
And a flying fish
Will set me free

Soon this space will be too small
All my veins and bones
Will be burned to dust
You can throw me into
A black iron pot
And my dust will tell
What my flesh would not

Soon this space will be too small
And I’ll go outside
And I’ll go outside
And I’ll go outside

(You can hear the song here.)

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Favorite albums of the decade

I’ll keep this simple. Here are a dozen records from the past decade I’ve listened to and enjoyed more than anything else. I considered posting a longer list, but I found myself agonizing over which albums deserved to be in, say, a top 50 or top 100. There’s so much listening still to do, so much more to discover. I had much less trouble deciding on my top 12. Quite simply put, these are collections of great songs that have stood the test of time for me.

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Favorite concerts of 2009

1. BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY, March 14 at the Vic. … Beginning in a hush, one song built to a dramatic crescendo, and Oldham looked as if he was being transported by the magic. … it become clear that this was one show where the performer was pouring everything he had into his songs. He did not let up, either. A little while later, as he let the band play an instrumental break in “Even If Love,” Oldham raised his eyes toward the ceiling. He seemed to be shaking all over. READ THE FULL REVIEW.

2. THE FEELIES, June 29 at the Pritzker Pavilion. … a young man danced his way into the empty area between the front row and the stage, twitching with the sort of spastic moves that looked perfect for the jerky sounds of songs from the first Feelies album, Crazy Rhythms. A park security guard led this fellow away, but he came back a minute later and continued dancing. That seemed to open the flood gates, as people jumped to the front area of the pavilion and started twitching along. Feelies lead singer and guitarist Glenn Mercer seemed to revel in the moment, coming out to the edge of the stage for guitar solos inches away from the upraised hands of fans. READ THE FULL REVIEW.

3. VIC CHESNUTT, Nov. 5 at Lincoln Hall. … At moments, Chesnutt was singing and playing all by himself as the audience quietly listened to each and every creak of the guitar strings and bend in his voice, almost like sitting in Chesnutt’s living room and attending an unplugged performance. And then the songs would erupt as the guitars, keyboards and bowed bass came in, making mountainous, majestic chords. And Chesnutt would rear back his head from the microphone and shout his words up to the mountaintop. (And now alas, Chesnutt is no longer with us. The emotional impact of his Dec. 25 death makes the two concerts I saw by Chesnutt in 2009 feel all the more special.) READ THE FULL REVIEW.

4. PJ HARVEY & JOHN PARISH, June 12 at the Riviera. … Even in minimal moments, she seemed like a lively presence on the stage. And then, the contemplative music gave way to outbursts of ferocity — as on the new record’s lacerating title track. Harvey dropped her voice to dramatic depths or let it soar to lovely highs, as the characters from her lyrics seemed to possess her.READ THE FULL REVIEW.

5. ECCENTRIC SOUL REVUE, Nov. 7 at Lincoln Hall. … The evening was a real blast. A younger soul group, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, served as the house band, keeping the music going almost nonstop for more than two hours as various singers stepped up to the mike. There was barely a pause as the horns kept blowing and the funky guitar chords kept twitching. READ THE FULL REVIEW.

6. ANDREW BIRD, Dec. 14 at Fourth Presbyterian Church. … The most extraordinary moments of this show were the very quiet ones — Bird making a little clicking noise with his music to build a rhythm track, or plucking at his violin strings. READ THE FULL REVIEW.

7. FANFARLO, Nov. 9 at Schubas. … They play with a sense of communal spirit, switching instruments frequently, adding extra drum beats, raising all their voices high in chorus. READ THE FULL REVIEW.

8. FAIZ ALI FAIZ, June 18 at Pritzker Pavilion. … More often than not, Faiz Ali Faiz sang with such full-on force that his face contorted and turned red with exertion. As he sang, his hands were in constant motion, making gestures that seemed almost like a game of pantomime. READ THE FULL REVIEW.

9. MÚM with Sin Fang Bous and Hildur Gudnadottir, Oct. 28 at Logan Square Auditorium. … Múm’s records have sublime hymn-like harmonies, when it sounds like this is a bunch of Icelanders getting together in a little room somewhere and singing to their heart’s content… And so it was at the concert. There was a lot of joyous singing. READ THE FULL REVIEW.

10. DEAD MAN’S BONES, Oct. 21 at Schubas. … The celebratory show had some of the zany sense of humor and the “let’s try something weird” attitude that animated the Flaming Lips at their best. It was certainly a very memorable night. READ THE FULL REVIEW.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

The Jesus Lizard, July 17 at the Pitchfork Music Festival
Sonic Youth, June 27 at the Riviera
The Vaselines and the 1900s, May 16 at Metro
The Flat Five, Dec. 11 at the Hideout
The Poster Children, Lonely Trailer, the Outnumbered and Cowboy X, May 24 at the Highdive, Champaign
St. Vincent, April 9 at the Hideout and June 8 at Pritzker Pavilion
Jeff Tweedy, Feb. 14 at the Vic
The Dirty Projectors, June 22 at Pritzker Pavilion
Os Mutantes, Sept. 27 at Subterranean
The Sadies, Nov. 28 at the Hideout
Mount Eerie, Nov. 8 at Lakeshore Theater
The Vertebrats, Oct. 3 at the Highdive, Champaign
Choir of Young Believers, Oct. 26 at Schubas
Rural Alberta Advantage and The Love Language, Sept. 26 at Schubas
The Fiery Furnaces, July 11 at Millennium Park
Oumou Sangaré, July 2 at the Pritzker Pavilion
Jonathan Richman and Vic Chesnutt, June 11 at the Empty Bottle

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So long, Vic

The Constellation Records Web site reported the tragic news this afternoon:

“Surrounded by family and friends, Vic Chesnutt died in Athens Georgia this afternoon, Friday 25 December at 14:59. In the few short years that we knew him personally, Vic transformed our sense of what true character, grace and determination are all about. Our grief is inexpressible and Vic’s absence unfathomable. We will make more information available according to the wishes of Vic’s family and friends. Don and Ian”

I “knew” Vic Chesnutt only a short time myself — and I only knew him musically. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I did not pay much attention to his music for years, belatedly discovering only this year how great he was. The two concerts I saw by him in 2009 — a solo set opening for Jonathan Richman at the Empty Bottle, and a set with a full band at Lincoln Hall last month — were two of the strongest performances I saw by anyone in the past year. (And a friend tells me Chesnutt put on yet another top-notch performance in 2009 when he came through town with Elf Power as his backup band.)

My memories of those two shows are still so vivid that it feels as if they just happened — as if I were still standing there in Lincoln Hall, a few feet away from Vic, snapping some photos of him as he sat there in his wheelchair. I loved the quirky wisecracks he made in between songs, and how he gave full voice to his vulnerable, heartfelt lyrics during the songs. When Chesnutt and his band were playing the song “Coward” at Lincoln Hall, the naked emotional power and musical drama of the song literally gave me goosebumps, and I remember thinking at that moment, that it was surely one of the best performances of a single song I had seen in a long while.

I’m only beginning to discover everything Chesnutt accomplished — relearning to play the guitar after becoming quadriplegic in a car accident at the age of 18, releasing 15 albums, collaborating with many varied musicians — but I have no doubt that his death is a great loss.

The exact circumstances of Chesnutt’s death haven’t been officially confirmed, but I fear that his mounting debt for medical bills played some role in it. He discussed this during the recent interview with Terry Gross. The guy owed tens of thousands of dollars, and he was putting off an operation. How sickening that he was in this situation … and ended up dying just as the U.S. Senate was voting on health-care reform.

Chesnutt’s friend, singer Kristin Hersh, set up a fund on her Web page to “accept donations on behalf of his family to defray the expenses associated with his recent hospitalizations and death.”

Hersh also says: “What this man was capable of was superhuman. Vic was brilliant, hilarious and necessary; his songs messages from the ether, uncensored. … I don’t think I like this planet without Vic; I swore I would never live here without him. But what he left here is the sound of a life that pushed against its constraints, as all lives should. It’s the sound of someone on fire. It makes this planet better…” (Read more of her tribute here.)

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Flirted With You All My Life

“Flirted With You All My Life” by Vic Chesnutt (from To the Cut)

I am a man.
I am self-aware.
And everywhere I go
You’re always right there with me.
I flirted with you all my life,
Even kissed you once or twice
And to this day I swear it was nice
But clearly I was not ready.

When you touched a friend of mine,
I thought I would lose my mind.
But I found out with time
That really, I was not ready, no, no.
Oh, death. Oh, death.
Oh, death. Really, I’m not ready.

Oh, death, you hector me,
Decimate those dear to me.
You tease me with your sweet relief.
You are cruel and you are constant.
When my mom was cancer-sick,
She fought but then succumbed to it.
But you made her beg for it.
“Lord Jesus, please I’m ready.”
Oh, death. Oh, death.
Oh, death. Really, I’m not ready, no, no.
Oh, death. Oh, death.
Oh, death. Clearly, I’m not ready, no, no.

(Free download of the song.)

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Vic Chesnutt


Terrible news: Singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt is in a coma. Only two days ago, I listed his album At the Cut at No. 2 on my best records of 2009… And the two shows I saw by him in 2009 rank among the year’s best performances. He’s an amazing musician, and I really, really hope we all have the chance to see him perform again.

Update (12/25/09, 2 a.m.): According to sources including Spinner, Vic Chesnutt is dead. What a loss.

Update (12/25/09, 9:37 a.m.): I’m wondering now what the actual situation is with Chesnutt. It appears that Billboard reported he had died, and then changed it story back to saying he is in a coma. Here’s a rundown of what various sites reported: http://trueslant.com/leorgalil/2009/12/24/vic-chesnutt-reported-dead/

In any case, the situation looks grim for Chesnutt fans. I highly recommend listening to the “Fresh Air” interview with Chesnutt from last month, in which he talks about previous suicide attempts and his struggles to pay medical bills. In spite of it all, Chesnutt sounds optimistic in many ways in this interview, talking about how he wasn’t ready for death.

Update (12/25/09, 12:51 p.m. CST): Spinner changed its Vic Chesnutt story. (I’m not sure exactly when.) “his label … confirms [he] is still in a coma.”

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Best CDs of 2009

1. NEKO CASE: MIDDLE CYCLONE (Anti) — Neko Case has been the one of the decade’s best artists, with a string of sublime records that blur the lines between country, folk, rock and Girl Group pop. Her career peak so far is 2006’s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Coming after that subtle masterpiece, just about anything might seem disappointing, but Middle Cyclone turns out to be another excellent collection of Case’s artfully written, arranged and performed songs. Case’s songs never overstay their welcome, ending after just the right number of verses and choruses. Case deservedly gets a lot of attention for her voice, but don’t overlook her interesting choice of words — or the unusual structures she employs in some songs. For example, in “People Got a Lotta Nerve,” a guitar solos with a rising melody after the first chorus. After the second chorus, Case sings the same melody, hitting a breathtaking high note (while Kelly Hogan, Rachel Flotard and Nora O’Connor are singing lovely backup vocals). That sort of creative touch draws you back into these songs again and again. And yes, her voice is as impressive as ever, whether she’s softly cooing or belting out a note with almost fearsome strength.
www.nekocase.com
www.myspace.com/nekocase

2. VIC CHESNUTT: AT THE CUT (Constellation) — The long-revered singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt released two records this fall. The other, Skitter at Take-Off, is a fine collection of unplugged songs, but At the Cut lifts Chesnutt’s vulnerable songs to another level. Working for the second time with a backup band that includes Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and members of the Montréal band Silver Mt. Zion, Chesnutt transforms some of his quiet little songs into sweeping epics. Opening track “Coward,” one of the year’s best songs, practically erupts with force and passion. And then on the next track, “When the Bottom Fell Out,” Chesnutt sings an indelible melody in a fragile falsetto over nothing about acoustic guitar. Throughout the record, Chesnutt sounds wise and wistful as he sings songs drawn from his life experiences.
www.vicchesnutt.com
www.myspace.com/vicchesnutt

3. ST. VINCENT: ACTOR (4AD) — On the year’s most colorful album, St. Vincent (a.k.a. Annie Clark) sounds like a choir, an orchestra and an electric-guitar goddess, all rolled into one. The musical landscape constantly shifts behind her, with a startling variety of sounds coming and going. Clark also proves herself to be an expert storyteller and poet with these evocative songs, which often seems like glimpses of some strange film.
www.ilovestvincent.com
www.myspace.com/stvincent

4. LHASA DE SELA: LHASA (Nettwerk) — Lhasa de Sela (or simply Lhasa, if you prefer) is a terrifically talented singer-songwriter who puts out records far too seldom. She’s had three albums so far, with six-year gaps in between. Of Mexican descent, she lives in Montréal, and she has some experience as a traveling circus performer. Her previous album, 2003’s The Living Road, is one of my favorites of the decade. On her new CD, Lhasa sings all of her lyrics in English for the first time. (Previously, she alternated between English, Spanish and French.) Mixed by Thierry Amar of Silver Mt. Zion, Lhasa is an intimate solo performance, often featuring little more than piano or guitar as Lhasa sings honest songs of delicate beauty tinged with sorrow but also a sense of wonder at the world. Her music is indefinable, existing somewhere in a hinterland beyond world music, indie rock, folk and cabaret. It’s a shame that her record received barely any attention this year. (And let’s hope Lhasa is recovering from the unspecified “serious health issue” she cited as the reason for canceling some 2009 tour dates.)
http://lhasadesela.com
www.myspace.com/lhasadeselamusic

5. SONIC YOUTH: THE ETERNAL (Matador) — As the members of Sonic Youth grow older, they aren’t losing any of their creative spark. The venerable New York noise-rock band has released some top-notch records in recent years, including Murray Street and Rather Ripped, and the winning streak continues with this strong set of energized rockers. Sonic Youth’s unconventional guitar tunings and peculiar song structures are still evident, but the band channels those quirks into concise and even catchy songs. After many repeat listens, it becomes clear that Sonic Youth is still going at full strength.
www.sonicyouth.com
www.myspace.com/sonicyouth

6. FANFARLO: RESERVOIR (Atlantic/WEA) — In some ways, this group from London seems like a typical indie-rock ensemble of the moment. It’s one of those big, sprawling groups with musicians who switch around their instruments, join their voices together in big choruses, and drum along with the drummer. Yes, we’ve seen that done before, but Fanfarlo brings its own distinct personality to this template, beautifully arranging each song with the perfect number of elements. As folk-rock strumming artfully blends with circling synthesizer lines and lead singer Simon Balthazar’s dulcet vocals, you’ll find yourself joyfully singing along to the smart lyrics.
www.fanfarlo.com
www.myspace.com/fanfarlo

7. THE ANTLERS: HOSPICE (Frenchkiss) — The year’s most emotional album, a song cycle about a girl dying in a hospice. Listeners may either find it unbearably sad (especially if they follow along with the lyrics booklet) or powerfully cathartic. It’s rare to hear any pop music take such an unblinking look at the subject of death and how to deal with it. The Antlers’ lush art-rock arrangements are an appropriate setting for this musical novel, and Antlers front man Peter Silberman’s falsetto tells the story with compassion.
www.antlersmusic.com
www.myspace.com/theantlers

8. CHOIR OF YOUNG BELIEVERS: THIS IS FOR THE WHITE IN YOUR EYES (Ghostly International) — Scandinavia just keeps putting out more and more good music in recent years. The region’s latest delightful export is Danish singer-songwriter Jannis Noya Makrigiannis (yes, he has a Greek name), who performs orchestral pop under the moniker Choir of Young Believers. His/their debut album is filled with tuneful songs that deserve to be popular. The arrangements are dramatic, maybe even melodramatic, as the melodies swoop or brood, depending on the mood of the moment. And Makrigiannis carries it all with his charismatic voice.
http://ghostly.com/artists/choir-of-young-believers
www.myspace.com/choirofyoungbelievers

9. DIRTY PROJECTORS: BITTE ORCA (Domino) — Believe the hype. This band created some of the smartest and most unusual music of 2009 — and somehow managed to make all of those weird, artsy chord progressions actually catchy and accessible. The serpentine guitar lines show the influence of African music, but Dirty Projectors actually do something interesting with those influences, unlike other world-music imitators such as Vampire Weekend. And the vocal harmonies are downright startling. (Even more amazing was the way Dirty Projectors duplicated those intricate vocal patterns at a concert this summer at the Pritzker Pavilion. This is no mere studio trickery.) No wonder David Byrne and Björk are hanging out with Dirty Projectors.
www.myspace.com/dirtyprojectors
http://dominorecordco.us/artists/dirty-projectors

10. TINARIWEN: IMIDIWAN: COMPANIONS (World Village) — These guitar-playing Touareg nomads from the Sahara Desert have released four excellent albums now, all of them filled with trance-inducing grooves. It will take more listening to determine whether this is their best record yet, but it certainly ranks up there. Thankfully, as Tinariwen has attracted a larger following around the world, it hasn’t changed much about the way it makes music. These recordings are clean and uncluttered, and the vocals have never been stronger or more compelling. There’s even a chant that sounds something like low-tech nomad hip-hop on the track “Tenhert.” Take some time to read the English translations of the lyrics. Like beautiful poetry, the simple words describe desert life and call for a revolution to make the world a better place.
www.tinariwen.com
www.myspace.com/tinariwen

11. VARIOUS ARTISTS: DARK WAS THE NIGHT (4AD) — A who’s who of indie-rock stars contributed a slew of new songs for this two-CD Red Hot Compilation, which raises money for the fight against AIDS. Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National did a superb job putting together one of the best various-artists records of recent years. It’s a strong testament to the versatility and creativity of today’s musicians.
www.darkwasthenight.com
www.myspace.com/darkwasthenight

12. DEATH: …FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE (Drag City) — Recorded in 1974, this powerful proto-punk album by an African-American band from Detroit did not see the light of day until 2009, when it finally escaped the attic thanks to the Drag City label. The jagged riffs are punctuated by expertly placed pieces of silence, and the passionate singing still rings true after 25 years. “Politicians in My Eye” emerges here as a long-overlooked classic of punk rock with a political conscience.
www.myspace.com/deathprotopunk
www.dragcity.com/products/for-the-whole-world-to-see

THE REST OF MY TOP 50
13. PJ Harvey & John Parish: A Woman A Man Walked By
14. Mount Eerie: Wind’s Poem
15. Múm: Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know
16. Bonnie “Prince” Billy: Beware
17. Oneida: Rated O
18. Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career
19. Girls: Album
20. Brakes (a.k.a. BrakesBrakesBrakes): Touchdown
21. David Daniell and Douglas McCombs: Sycamore
22. Woods: Songs of Shame
23. Jarvis Cocker: Further Complications
24. I Was a King: I Was a King
25. Megafaun: Gather, Form & Fly
26. Jay Reatard: Watch Me Fall
27. Marianne Faithfull: Easy Come Easy Go
28. The Low Anthem: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
29. A.A. Bondy: When the Devil’s Loose
30. Magnolia Electric Co.: Josephine
31. Andrew Bird: Noble Beast
32. Loney Dear: Dear John
33. Amadou & Mariam: Welcome to Mali
34. M. Ward: Hold Time
35. MV & EE: Barn Nova
36. The Love Language: The Love Language
37. Handsome Furs: Face Control
38. Phosphorescent: To Willie
39. DRMWPN: Bright Blue Galilee
40. Yo La Tengo: Popular Music
41. Dead Man’s Bones: Dead Man’s Bones
42. Smith Westerns: Smith Westerns
43. Alela Diane: To Be Still
44. Sin Fang Bous: Clangour
45. Flaming Lips: Embryonic
46. Human Highway: Moody Motorcycle
47. The xx: xx
48. Cotton Jones: Paranoid Cocoon
49. Bowerbirds: Upper Air
50. Warsaw Village Band: Infinity

AND EVEN MORE MUSIC I LIKED IN 2009
Some runners-up in alphabetical order. (If you don’t see a record listed here somewhere, that doesn’t necessarily mean I hated it. I didn’t hear everything, and there are plenty of records I might have listed here if I’d had more time to listen.)

Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion / Art Brut: Art Brut vs. Satan / Dan Auerbach: Keep It Hid / Bat for Lashes: Two Suns / The Bats: Guilty Office / Capsula: Rising Mountains / Vic Chesnutt: Skitter at Take-Off / Chicago Underground Duo: Boca Negra / Dan Deacon: Bromst / The Dead Weather: Horehound / Espers: III / The Fiery Furnaces: I’m Going Away / Great Lake Swimmers: Lost Channels / Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest / The Handsome Family: Honey Moon / A Hawk and a Hacksaw: Délivrance / Heavenly States: Delayer / Here We Go Magic: Here We Go Magic / Lokai: Transition / Malajube: Labyrinthine / Cass McCombs: Catacombs / Marissa Nadler: Little Hells / A.C. Newman: Get Guilty / Oniric: Sin Técnica / The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart / The Pink Mountaintops: Outside Love / The Reigning Sound: Love & Curses / Scotland Yard Gospel Choir: …And the Horse You Rode In On / Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros: s/t / Telekinesis: s/t / Tiny Vipers: Life on Earth / John Vanderslice: Romanian Names / Kurt Vile: Childish Prodigy / The Warlocks: The Mirror Explodes / Patrick Watson: Wooden Arms / Wilco: Wilco (the Album) / Wildbirds & Peacedrums: The Snake / Woodpigeon: Treasury Library Canada c/w Houndstooth Europa / Wye Oak: The Knot

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Andrew Bird in Church

A beautiful setting can make a concert feel extra special — and that was the case on Monday night (Dec. 14), when Andrew Bird played the first of four shows this week at Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church. I’ve seen Bird play four times in the past year and a half, and each venue was pretty cool — the intimate, comfy room at the back of the Hideout, the sweeping skyline views of the Pritzker Pavilion, the opulence of the Civic Opera House. And now, the towering cathedral backdrop of Fourth Presbyterian.

Bird played all by himself, although as usual, he used looping pedals to build what sounded like an orchestra or at least a string quartet with his violin. As promised, Bird played a fair amount of instrumental music at this show. He said it was sort of like the sessions where he plays at his barn in rural Illinois. “I don’t have the crickets here tonight, but I’ll do my best,” he added. Bird played a few works in progress, introducing one piece by saying, “This isn’t a song. It’s just an idea.” Bird played a couple of songs from Useless Creatures, the companion EP to his most recent album, Noble Beast, “Carrion Suite” and “You Woke Me Up.”

Bird, who was limping because he twisted one of his legs in a concert the other night, sat down throughout the performance. He didn’t use any P.A.s, piping all of the music through his trademark horn-shaped speakers. Unfortunately, some of Bird’s equipment picked up bits of radio from the John Hancock Tower across the street, and a few snippets of WNUA’s New Age jazz broadcast surfaced at times during the concert, most noticeably in between songs. “Let’s just pretend it’s a transmission from another world,” Bird suggested.

The most extraordinary moments of this show were the very quiet ones — Bird making a little clicking noise with his music to build a rhythm track, or plucking at his violin strings. In addition to the instrumental performances, which demonstrated Bird’s chops as a classical musician as well his folkier and rock sides, Bird did sing. The songs included “Natural Disaster,” Self-Torture,” “Nomenclature,” “Scythian Empires” and the Handsome Family cover “Giant of Illinois.” Bird also played one really cool cover, the original Sesame Street song “Capital I.” Bird revealed that he wanted to record that tune for his “Weather Systems” album, but the people at Sesame Street wouldn’t give him permission, so he ended up writing his own song about the capital I.

For the encore, Bird turned off some of his equipment to play the songs “old-school” — and he did a lovely version of the Bob Dylan-Jacques Levy song “Oh, Sister,” making it sound almost like an Andrew Bird song, with one perfectly sung a cappella verse. For his very last song of the night, Bird played one of his older tunes, “Some of These Days.” Those fans who are lucky enough to have tickets for one of the other Bird concerts this week are in for a treat.

Photos of Andrew Bird.

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Flat Five at the Hideout

The words “cover band” are usually a sort of insult in the world of rock critics. You wanna be a respected band? You’d better have some original songs. But that attitude overlooks a great tradition of musicians and singers interpreting songs written by other folks. That’s the lifeblood of classic jazz and the “American Songbook” sort of pop music.

So let’s call the Flat Five a fabulous bunch of song interpreters instead of labeling them a cover band. The Flat Five play only once a year (at least, that’s been the case during the last few years), and Friday was the night. Kelly Hogan, Nora O’Connor, Scott Ligon, KC McDonough and Gerald Dowd reconvened this wonderful music outfit and performed their annual show at the Hideout.

The first songs of the night had a strong country and folk flavor, including tunes by Dolly Parton, Tom Paxton and the Louvin Brothers — and the Monkees’ “What Am I Doing Hanging Around.” This part of the concert featured just Ligon and Hogan on the stage, just the sound of their voices and Ligon’s acoustic guitar (which he was playing into a mike instead of using a cable into an amp). The other members of the Flat Five gradually joined them on stage. When Nora O’Connor came up, she and Hogan sang some of the tunes they used to do in a gospel duo called the Lamentations, such as the Staple Singers’ “Somebody Saved Me.” (Hogan mentioned that the two of them had just been recording some music with Mavis Staples — can’t wait to hear that!)

Ligon and McDonough did their best Roy Orbisons on a duet of “In Dreams.” And then, with the full band playing, the Flat Five ran through an amazing selection of wonderful songs from all sorts of genres, including the goofy “Kites Are Fun” by the Free Design, “Sundays Will Never Be the Same” by Spanky and Our Gang, “This Will Be Our Year” by the Zombies and “Vanishing Girl” by the Dukes of Stratosphear. Plus three Beach Boys songs, Randy Newman’s “Caroline” and a few original songs by McDonough, Ligon (and Ligon’s brother, Chris).

The song selection showed superb taste — and a great ear for what makes a classic pop song. And what voices! There’s nothing like hearing the natural sound of lovely voices harmonizing right in front of you. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait a whole year for the next appearance of the Flat Five.

Photos of the Flat Five.

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Sloan at Lincoln Hall

More Canadian rockers were in Chicago last night. This time, it was Sloan, the great and long-running power pop band from Nova Scotia. Sloan’s been making bright, highly tuneful records since 1992, which is when they released their best-known song, “Underwhelmed,” the one that you might have heard a few times on at least a few American radio stations. But Sloan really hasn’t gotten its due in the U.S. in the 17 years since then. Whatever. They still keep making cool music.

Sloan played Monday night (Dec. 7) at Lincoln Hall, performing songs from a new EP called Hit & Run as well as a good cross-section of songs from previous albums. But, hey, why’d they skip playing “A Sides Win,” which was written out on the set list? I guess they didn’t feel like playing that one. One of the best things about seeing Sloan in concert is enjoying the variety of vocals. All four of these guys take turns on lead vocals, so even though Chris Murphy seems to be the front man more than anyone else (Andrew Scott, Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson), it also feels like a very democratic band with lots of talent to go around.

The band was in fairly high spirits Monday, especially during the last part of the show, when Murphy struck some slightly ridiculous rock-star poses and got down close to some audience members. Things got really festive when Sloan kicked off its encore with “Underwhelmed.” Like most of the songs Sloan played Monday night, it sounded catchy, almost shiny, but it had some crunchy electric-guitar kick as well.
www.sloanmusic.com

Photos of Sloan and opening act Magneta Lane.

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Hidden Cameras at the Empty Bottle

You need a chart to keep track of who’s who in Canadian rock collectives. It seems like every musician in Toronto and Montréal plays in about 12 bands, and each and every one of them has performed at some point in Broken Social Scene. Two bands from the intertwined Canadian indie-rock scene, the Hidden Cameras and Gentleman Reg, wrapped up their U.S. tour with a show Thursday (Dec. 3) at the Empty Bottle.

The two bands seemed to morph into one another Thursday. The Gentleman Reg set featured several of the musicians who showed up later as Hidden Cameras members. The two ladies in Gentleman Reg’s band donned long blonde wigs and waved red flags while the Hidden Cameras were playing. You get the feeling there’s a never-ending jam session going on somewhere up in Canada where musicians come and go from the stage, some of them occasionally paying us a visit south of the border.

The Hidden Cameras put out an excellent record in 2004 called Mississisauga Goddam and they’ve kept up the quality on their records since then, including a new album on the Arts & Crafts label, Origin:Orphan. Wearing antiquated-looking hoods, the band took the stage with the dramatic, quasi-symphonic prelude that opens the new record. Front man Joel Gibb and his band seemed to be going for a bit of a Spinal Tap vibe, but that lasted for only a few minutes. The hoods quickly came off, and the Hidden Cameras reveled in their upbeat, catchy tunes — which the group has described as “gay church folk music.” It’s celebratory and occasionally goofy music, with some of that Arcade Fire let’s-switch-instruments-every-three-minutes aesthetic and an infectious sense of fun.
http://thehiddencameras.com

Gentleman Reg is also on the Arts & Crafts label, with a new album called Jet Black, and his/their music was a good match with the Hidden Cameras. I don’t know how many the crowd was with Reg’s songs (I wasn’t familiar at all), but by the end, people were dancing and clapping along and even calling out for the opening act to do an encore. (That didn’t happen, but of course, Reg came back onto the stage later on to join in with the Hidden Cameras’ festivities.)
http://gentlemanreg.com

Awkward moment of the night: One of the Hidden Cameras tried to start a conversation with the crowd, asking if anyone was “engaged” in local politics. The response was an uncomfortable silence, and the musicians seemed to interpret this as meaning that everyone in attendance was apathetic about politics. Some more miscommunication ensued before the band wisely went back to playing music. If the Hidden Cameras had spoken individually with people in the crowd, I’m certain they would have found some folks with plenty to say about Chicago politics, but that sort of dialogue rarely works in the middle of a concert. It was too of a complicated question to answer with a shout from the dance floor.

Photos of the Hidden Cameras and Gentleman Reg.

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Helen Money, rock cellist

Helen Money (a.k.a. Alison Chesley of Chicago) gets some amazing sounds out of her cello. Performing Monday night (Nov. 30) at the Empty Bottle, she sometimes played her instrument in the traditional way, bowing the strings and playing fluid series of notes that would fit right into a classical concerto. But at other times, she ran her cello’s sounds through guitar pedals and other effects, creating feedback-heavy tones of the sort normally associated with the electric guitar. She plucked her strings or tapped them with her bow for percussive effects. She used looping pedals and backing tracks to build layers of harmony, creating a ruckus worthy of a heavy metal band on some songs. There were even a few touches of Jimi Hendrix in her performance.

Money has played cello with bands including Verbow, Bob Mould, Mono, Russian Circles and Disturbed, so it’s no surprise that she rocks more than your typical cellist when she performs solo. Her free gig at the Empty Bottle was a CD release party celebrating her new recording, In Tune. I like the CD but I enjoyed hearing Money’s compositions live even more — they sounded so strong and powerful. There’s been a fair amount of music lately that bridges the world of classical and indie-rock, and Helen Money is a fine example of an experimental hybrid.

The only downside of this performance, which received hearty applause, was the usual chatter from the Empty Bottle’s bar, which disrupted the quieter passages of Money’s music. Classical music concertgoers would be absolutely appalled to hear anything remotely as loud in a concert hall. I know you can’t expect the same sort of quiet reverence at the Empty Bottle, but it’s too bad the room wasn’t as quiet as the Velvet Lounge got recently when Claire Chase gave an avant-garde flute concert. Certain rooms are better suited for this sort of performance and unfortunately, the Bottle (despite its excellent and imaginative booking) doesn’t always provide the best ambience.
www.helenmoney.com

The first act of the night was Fielded (a.k.a. Lindsay Powell) who sang by herself on the stage, running her voice through lots of echoing loops and adding some keyboards here and there for an atmospheric wall of sound.
www.myspace.com/fielded

Next up was Anatomy of Law, a Chicago band including former members of Animal Law. Barely pausing in between songs (or maybe playing very long tunes), Anatomy sounded at first like Joy Division, with dark, pulsing mood music. The second half of the set got noisier and more aggressive, climaxing with the two percussionists pounding a primitive beat with a clatter of sheet metal. (Sorry, no photos of Anatomy of Law — the lighting was simply too dark to get any decent images.)
www.myspace.com/anatomyofhabit

Photos of Helen Money and Fielded.

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Evangelicals and Holiday Shores

A little before 9 p.m. Sunday (Nov. 22), it was looking unlikely that Holiday Shores would play its scheduled gig at Schubas, opening for Evangelicals. The band was still on the road, but it showed up in the nick of time, unloading amps and instruments cases into Schubas’ music room. Good thing they made it, since it turned out to be a sparkling set of music.

This band from Florida’s Panhandle has a debut album out called Columbus’d the Whim. In concert, Holiday Shores sounded at first like a pretty typical indie-rock band of the moment (a little Arcade Fire, a little Modest Mouse, a little Dirty Projectors), but the music took on a more distinctive sound as the show went on. The songs had an upbeat, cheerful quality, and some impressive guitar duets featuring serpentine melodies. It was a spirited performance that showed Holiday Shores stands out a bit from the crowd.
www.myspace.com/holidayshores
http://twosyllablerecords.com

Evangelicals were also well worth hearing, although you wouldn’t have known it from the sparse attendance at Sunday’s show. Twenty people or so were in the music room as this surreal, melodramatically emotional psychedelic rock band from Oklahoma played. The band deserved a bigger crowd, as it played some of the terrific tunes from its most recent album, 2008’s The Evening Descends. The band’s light display included a couple of mannequin-like figures pulsing with pink lights, an apt image for a band that sings: “Strange things keep happening! Strange things keep happening!”
www.myspace.com/evangelicals

Photos of Evangelicals and Holiday Shores.

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Jay Bennett Tribute at the Hideout

Sunday (Nov. 15) was the birthday of Jay Bennett, the talented musician who died earlier this year. His friends celebrated his life and music with a show Sunday night at the Hideout. It’s been months since Jay died, but the sorrow still feels fresh. Hearing folks like Edward Burch, LeRoy Bach, Steve Frisbie, the Dolly Varden band, Brad Elvis, John Peacock and Quartet Parapluie playing songs written by Bennett — or in some cases, songs by other people that he loved — it was hard for me not to get choked up.

I regret missing the first part of the show (I was at the opening night of House Theatre’s delightfully surreal Mark Guarino play with Jon Langford songs, All the Fame of Lofty Deeds), but I showed up in time to hear Quartet Parapluie’s exquisite string arrangements of “Songs That Weren’t Finished” and “Venus Stopped the Train.”

Burch was half of the Bennett and Burch duo that recorded The Palace at 4am (Part I), my favorite post-Wilco Bennett record, so it seemed appropriate that Burch was the focal point of this show, organizing it and functioning as emcee. Many of the performers shared stories about their experiences with Bennett, which added an element of humor to an evening that might otherwise have been unbearably sad.

A bunch of the musicians came together onstage at the end of the night, playing really nice, spirited versions of some of the best songs off Palace, including “Puzzle Heart,” “Talk to Me,” “Whispers or Screams,” “Shakin’ Sugar,” “Drinking on Your Dime” and “My Darlin’,” which slid into a cover of George Harrison’s “Isn’t It a Pity,” with everyone singing along. The last song of the night was one of the best-known tunes Bennett co-wrote with Jeff Tweedy, using lyrics by Woody Guthrie, the classic “California Stars.” Hearing this string of great songs, it became painfully clear what a great talent we’ve lost.

Photos from the Jay Bennett tribute.

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Shrinebuilder at the Empty Bottle

I don’t see a lot of heavy-metal concerts … probably because I don’t like heavy metal all that much. But stoner rock — now, that’s something I can get behind once in a while. What’s the difference? Stoner rock is just about as heavy as heavy metal, though at least some of the singers tend to sing, rather than growl or scream.

I’m not sure if Shrinebuilder is heavy metal or stoner rock or some other variety of underground metal, but the group’s self-titled debut album is the sort of hard rock that I actually like — thunderously loud at times, but not continuously screechy. This is a super group of sorts, featuring guitarist Scott “Wino” Weinrich (from Saint Vitus and the Obsessed), drummer Dale Crover (from the Melvins), bassist Al Cisneros (from Sleep and Om) and guitarist Scott Kelly (from Neurosis).

They played their dramatic songs Saturday night (Nov. 14) at the Empty Bottle, but with little of the onstage dramatic flourishes of classic metal bands. They curled their lips in the occasional snarl, but mostly they just pounded away on their instruments. Weinrich, Cisneros and Kelly took turns signing, and Shrinebuilder benefited from the variety of voices.
www.myspace.com/shrinebuildergroup

The opening band at the late show was a good match with Shrinebuilder — the local metal band Yakuza, which stands out from other headbangers by featuring saxophone alongside the typical shredding guitar riffs. Lead singer Bruce Lamont (whom you may recognize from his work as an Empty Bottle bartender) sang with vocal-cord-shredding intensity whenever he wasn’t wailing on his horns. Yakuza’s music included some touches of prog-rock grandeur. And it was loud.
www.yakuzadojo.com

Photos of Shrinebuilder and Yakuza.

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Meat Puppets at Schubas

I enjoyed listening to records by the Meat Puppets back in the ’80s — and I regretted the fact that I never saw them in concert. A few years ago, it seemed like I might never have that chance, since the band had gone on hiatus and bassist Cris Kirkwood was reportedly suffering from some pretty serious drug problems. In 2007, Cris emerged from limbo, however, reforming the Meat Puppets with his brother, Kurt. They were back in Chicago last week, playing three nights in a row at Schubas. I caught their set on Friday night.

I haven’t listened to the Meat Puppets all that much in recent years, but their old music instantly flashed back into my mind as I heard the Kirkwood brothers doing their unique combination of loopy guitar riffs, loping country rhythms and psychedelia. The music sounded heavier in concert than it does on record. In fact, this was one of the rare Schubas shows where I eventually felt compelled to move to the back of the room because of the overpowering volume. The bass and drum sounds were thumping a bit too loud in my eardrums up there by the stage.

Cris Kirkwood’s face was only intermittently visible, peaking out from a tangle of hair as he pounded away on the bass. His voice still blended together with Kurt’s in shaggy sibling harmony, and Kurt curled his lips as he played his guitar solos. He really seemed to relish the moment. Drummer Ted Marcus tied together the band’s somewhat spacious sound with off-kilter beats. And the Meat Puppets played many of their best songs, including “Up on the Sun,” “Plateau” (made famous by Nirvana) and “Backwater.”

The first opening band was Atlanta’s Winston Audio, which played hard rock with Southern flair and lots of hair being tossed around. The second band, Dynasty Electric, seemed like a mismatch with the rest of the bill, playing electronic pop — dance music accented with electric guitar and Theremin. They weren’t really playing my kind of music, but they made for some pretty pictures.

Photos of the Meat Puppets, Winston Audio and Dynasty Electric.

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Mount Eerie at Lakeshore

The recent record Wind’s Poem by Mount Eerie is a weird, atmospheric sort of dream. It does indeed feel like a poem about wind. Phil Elverum (the singer-songwriter who for all intents and purposes is Mount Eerie) sings in a soft, almost whispered tone on many of the songs, while electric guitar buzzes much of the time with a droning quality somewhat like heavy metal. That combination of soft singing and occasional keyboard textures with the reverberating guitar strings is what makes Wind’s Poem so unusual — and so compelling. It’s simultaneously airy and subterranean. At moments, it reminds me of something you’d hear on the soundtrack to a David Lynch film.

Mount Eerie — Elverum backed by two keyboard players and two drummers — played the songs from Wind’s Poem Sunday (Nov. 8) shrouded in fog inside Chicago’s Lakeshore Theater. It was just as spooky and riveting as the record. Some technical difficulties with the venue’s sound system even added to the strange mood. For some reason, the speakers were picking up a radio frequency with someone’s conversation, and these disconnected snippets of dialogue punctuated the silences in between the songs. Elverum seemed a little disturbed by that, but he didn’t let it interfere with his performance of his serenely loud music.

Here’s how Elverum explained his new record in an interview with The Believer magazine: “I’ve been writing lately about wind as this force for change and destruction, focusing on the destruction half of the destruction-and-rebirth cycle. But also win as an example of the personality that exists in dark nature. And specifically like when wind blows through trees and sounds vaguely like whispering, pretending that it actually is words. Like ‘What’s it saying? It’s saying something really intense.’ So that’s the idea of Wind’s Poem, thematically at least. There are a couple of different perspectives I sing from on the album. Sometimes I’m doing the voice of the actual wind, what it would say, and sometimes I’m speaking from my own perspective, the human observer, and sometimes there’s a duet between the two.”

Elverum sounds like the sort of artist who isn’t afraid of pursuing unusual ideas. On Sunday, it sounded like his destructive winds were blowing through Lakeshore Theater.
www.pwelverumandsun.com

The opening band was No Kids — a Vancouver group including the two keyboard players who performed in Mount Eerie, with Elverum on drums. While I give these musicians credit for their fine work during the Mount Eerie set, the ballads they played with No Kids didn’t excite me nearly as much.

Photos of Mount Eerie.

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Eccentric Soul Revue

I’m a firm believer in the idea that a lot of good music gets forgotten. For every classic-rock band you hear on the radio a zillion times, there are a zillion bands barely anyone’s ever heard of… and at least a few of those zillions are worth hearing. Chicago’s Numero Group record label has done an exemplary job of bringing new attention to some of the forgotten greats. The label has reissued folk and psychedelic music, but its best-known speciality is soul music. Numero has an ongoing series of albums called “Eccentric Soul,” featuring long-lost tracks by record labels that folded years ago. The albums (available on both CD and vinyl) are lovingly packaged, and the Numero folks have a great ear for picking out some noteworthy tunes you’ve probably never heard before.

Now, a few of the soul musicians championed by Numero are back on the concert stage. Some of them played this spring at Park West (a show that I missed, alas). On Saturday night (Nov. 7), the Eccentric Soul Revue was back — this time at Lincoln Hall, with a revamped lineup. The evening was a real blast. A younger soul group, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, served as the house band, keeping the music going almost nonstop for more than two hours as various singers stepped up to the mike. There was barely a pause as the horns kept blowing and the funky guitar chords kept twitching.

Things got started with some gospel harmonies, courtesy of Pastor T.L. Barrett & Choir. Their music is featured on the Numero CD Good God! Born Again Funk. After a couple of songs from JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, Renaldo Domino took center stage. Domino hadn’t performed onstage since the early ’70s, but he certainly didn’t sound as if he’d been away that long. Like everyone else in Saturday’s variety show, Domino seemed completely at ease strolling the stage, wearing the sort of leisure suit he probably wore in concerts more than three decades ago. And his voice sounded great. His music, including the cool tune “Not Too Cool to Cry,” is on the compilation Twinight’s Lunar Rotation.

Saturday’s show added a couple of female singers who weren’t at the Park West show: Sharon Clark and Linda Balentine. They both had strong voices and strong personalities that came through during their brief appearances. I wish they’d had a bit more time to play more songs. Balentine played the A side and B side of the only single she ever recorded, an ultra-rare 45 with “Glad About That” and “You’re a Hard Habit to Break,” which Numero reissued on a collection called The Bandit Label. Clark’s music is available on The Young Disciples.

In between the sets by Clark and Balentine, the Notations harmonized on a string of soulful oldies, one of the highlights of the evening. Three of the singers took turns on lead vocals, each showing his own distinct style and personality.

The final act of the night was Syl Johnson, who used to be on the Twinight record label together with the Notations and Domino. (Numero plans to put out a collection next year of Johnson’s complete recordings from 1959 to 1972.) Johnson’s standout songs on Saturday included “Thank You Baby,” and he closed his segment of the concert with a spot-on cover of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River.”

Lincoln Hall was fairly crowded for the Eccentric Soul Revue, and the audience included both old and young fans. A fair amount of people danced and clapped along to the music, and the musicians seemed to be delighted at the response. It all came to a rousing conclusion when the choir returned, standing on the floor in front of the stage, and all of the evening’s performers joined their voices in a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Photos from the Eccentric Soul Revue.

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Vic Chesnutt at Lincoln Hall

In the days before Vic Chesnutt played Thursday (Nov. 5) at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall, it became clear that ticket sales must have been slow. The venue started offering a two-for-one ticket deal. And sure enough, when Chesnutt showed up on Thursday, attendance was pretty sparse. That’s a shame for all those who missed the show, since it was one of the year’s best.

I’m a latecomer to the Vic Chesnutt fan club, having largely ignored him for years. I’m starting to make up for that, but I still need to fill in the many gaps in my collection of his recordings. I saw him do an acoustic solo set opening for Jonathan Richman earlier this year at the Empty Bottle, which really wowed me. And now I’ve seen Chesnutt perform a different kind of concert, with a six-piece band playing epic, swelling arrangements behind him.

Chesnutt mostly played songs from his new album At the Cut and 2007’s North Star Deserter, both of which he recorded for Constellation Records with a backing band that included members of the great Montreal collective Silver Mt. Zion (and its predecessor, Godspeed! You Black Emperor) as well as Fugazi guitarist Guy Picciotto. Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band made my favorite record of 2008, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moon, so I was thrilled at the prospect of seeing these musicians playing with Chesnutt. Not all of that group’s members were in the touring band that came to Chicago, but nevertheless the music had a similar feeling to the orchestral sweep of Silver Mt. Zion at its best.

In the center of it all was Mr. Chesnutt, sitting in his wheelchair, with a small, somewhat worn-looking acoustic guitar hanging over his neck with a tiny white string instead of a guitar strap. The way Chesnutt plucks at his guitar strings, he seems a little uncertain at first, as if he’s afraid he’ll forget the notes. He does hit the right notes, with a somewhat idiosyncratic sense of timing. Like the Empty Bottle show, this concert felt very spontaneous. The other musicians all trained their eyes on Chesnutt as he began most of the songs, plucking his guitar and singing in a seemingly fragile voice. They looked like they were waiting for their cues to start playing, feeling their way into the songs to match Chesnutt’s spirit.

The dynamic range of this concert was startling. At moments, Chesnutt was singing and playing all by himself as the audience quietly listened to each and every creak of the guitar strings and bend in his voice, almost like sitting in Chesnutt’s living room and attending an unplugged performance. And then the songs would erupt as the guitars, keyboards and bowed bass came in, making mountainous, majestic chords. And Chesnutt would rear back his head from the microphone and shout his words up to the mountaintop.

A highlight was the song “Coward,” which is the first track on the At the Cut album, one of the best showcases of what Chesnutt is capable of doing with these musicians. After the band left the stage at the end of the show, Chesnutt stayed and did one acoustic song. Then the group returned and played “Sponge,” from Chesnutt’s 1991 album West of Rome. The crowd was smaller than it should have been, but the fans who were there showed their appreciation with a strong round of applause as Chesnutt wheeled himself backstage.

It’s worth noting here that Chesnutt has not one, but two new albums out this fall. Although it isn’t even mentioned on his own Web site, Vapor Records recently released Chesnutt’s Skitter at the Take-Off, a spare, acoustic studio record he made in collaboration with Jonathan Richman, featuring some of the memorable songs he played at that Empty Bottle show in May. It’s a much different record from At the Cut, but both are recommended. A free six-song sample from At the Cut and North Star Deserter is available at http://vicchesnutt.com/home/audio/.
www.myspace.com/vicchesnutt

The opening act Thursday was Clare and the Reasons, who were quite a contrast from Chesnutt. A strange pairing? I suppose, although both of them seem like acts pursuing their singular visions for the music they want to play. Clare and the Reasons, whom I saw opening for My Brightest Diamond last year, played a delightful show of quaintly old-fashioned pop cabaret music from the new album Arrow, complete with violin, clarinet, trombone, kazoo and cool vocal harmonies. No musical saw, however — Clare reported that a zombie stole the band’s saw on Halloween. Gotta watch out for those kleptomatic zombies.
www.myspace.com/clareandthereasons
www.claremuldaur.com

Photos of Vic Chesnutt and Clare and the Reasons.

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A scary song: ‘The Exiled Men’

Listening this morning to Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis playing scary songs on Sound Opinions inspired me to offer my own choice for a Halloween tune. The song is “The Exiled Men” or “Dei Frealause Mein,” from the CD The Sweet Sunny North: Henry Kaiser & David Lindley in Norway. The only thing that might keep this song from scaring you is the fact that the lyrics are sung in Norwegian. But the liner notes in the CD illuminate the story being told. (Does anyone out there have the actual lyrics in Norwegian and/or English? I’d love to get the actual text.) Here’s how the liner notes tell the tale:

“The words tell the grim story of some exiled outlaws who set sail on Christmas eve — a time when nobody went out on the ocean due to the many strange spirits out and about at such times. They were shipwrecked near the Shetland Islands. Their boat froze in the ice and they stayed there for nine years. Finally they decided to resort to cannibalism in order to survive. They drew lots to decide who would be eaten first. Unfortunately the sailor among them lost and after the others ate him they realized that now there was no one to captain the boat. So they prayed to God and suddenly a big bird came from heaven and stood on top of the boat’s mast and a wind came and took the boat and the men away.”

This is a West Nordic ballad that may come from the Faroe Islands or Iceland, and on the CD, it is performed with chilling beauty by the Norwegian singer Kirsten Bråten Berg, accompanied by David Lindley on the Turkish saz.

Download “The Exiled Men” (mp3)

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Herman Dune, Julie Doiron and Wye Oak

The new Lincoln Hall music venue has sold out some shows in its first couple of weeks, but on Thursday (Oct. 29) it was one of those rather chilled-out evenings with a small crowd of music fans standing around the main floor while three performers delivered their songs unadorned and intimate.

First up was the Baltimore duo Wye Oak, who have released two records on the Merge label, including this year’s The Knot. Jenn Wasner sang and played guitar, belting out some strong notes and shaking her hair with abandon whenever it was time for a solo. Andy Stack isn’t singing as much as he did on the first Wye Oak record, but he pulled off the impressive feat of playing the drums and keyboards at the same time. As much as I liked the Wye Oak performance, I wonder if they could accomplish more with a couple of other musicians to provide more variety and color to their arrangements. Still, it was fairly catchy rock music.

The middle act in the lineup was Julie Doiron, who was in an extremely chatty mood as she played her music solo, taking lots of requests from the audience, basically playing whatever her fans wanted to hear. Doiron’s stage banter was pretty funny, and she seemed to be in a “don’t know when to stop talking” mood. Her songs sounded more fragile than they did when she played with a full band at the Empty Bottle earlier this year, but Doiron still knew how to rock even when she was just playing by herself. What a charming, honest performer.

The headliners were Herman Dune (or Düne), a duo from France whose music is sometimes labeled “anti-folk” … another one of those genre labels I can’t really figure out. The members of this duo call themselves David-Ivar Herman Düne (guitars and vocals) and Néman Herman Düne (drums). I had not heard much of Herman Dune’s music before seeing this show, and I was initially a bit put off by David-Ivar’s vocals, especially at the moments when he does funny, falsetto things with it. But over the course of this concert, I warmed up to their music. There was a plainspoken quality to the music, and at times, the chords had that classic Velvet Underground sound. Reminded me a bit of Smog (Bill Callahan).

Photos of Herman Dune, Julie Doiron and Wye Oak.

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Invasion From Iceland

It’s a rare pleasure to hear Icelandic musicians performing in Chicago. On Wednesday (Oct. 28), the Logan Square Auditorium hosted not just one, not just two, but three Icelandic acts. The headliners were one of the island nation’s better-known bands, Múm (pronounced “moom”), who are touring in support of their new album, the delightfully titled Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know. Actually, most of the songs they played were ones that I did know — including a lot from that new CD, which is one of the best that Mum has ever made.

When Múm began in 1997, the group was known for making electronic music with subtle textures. I enjoyed that music, and I’m sure there are fans out there who prefer it to Múm’s more recent recordings, but some of that early stuff was so chilled-out and low-key that it barely ever stuck in my mind afterward. Seeing Múm in concert, however, was a revelation, with more emphasis on the singing. Everything felt more organic and natural. There’s more of that feeling on recent records, including Sing Along…. There are some precious moments when Múm gets a little too cute for its own good, but then there are sublime hymn-like harmonies, when it sounds like this is a bunch of Icelanders getting together in a little room somewhere and singing to their heart’s content. Actually, that is exactly what it is.

And that’s what we were treated to on Wednesday, too. The mix of instruments included Melodica, cello, violin plus the usual keyboards, guitar, bass and drums. There wasn’t too much of the tinkly techno textures from the early Múm records, but there was a lot of joyous singing. In the final song of the main set, one of the band’s friends (a roadie? I’m not sure) came onstage and held up signs with the lyrics to the title song about singing along. It was a perfect way of summing up Múm’s communal spirit. http://mum.is

Singer, cellist and violinist Hildur Guðnadóttir was perhaps the liveliest presence on the stage during the Múm set, making sweeping gestures and opening her mouth as wide as she could to deliver the choruses. Guðnadóttir was also the first act of the night, playing an impressive set of her compositions on cello. She asked for quiet from the audience, and got it. Check out her music at www.hildurness.com. A free mp3 of her song “Erupting Light” is here.

The middle act on the bill was another noteworthy Icelandic group. It was the first Chicago appearance by Sin Fang Bous, the stage name for Sindri Mar Sigfusson, who’s also lead singer of the Icelandic band Seabear. Both of these bands play tuneful folk-pop, though the new album by Sin Fang Bous, Clamour, gives the songs more of a psychedelic or experimental sheen, with an eclectic variety of twinkly sounds livening up the songs. The live show featured less of that nuanced sound, with more emphasis on Sigfusson’s voice and acoustic guitar chords. Although the concert lacked all the glittering surfaces you hear on the record, it was still a good, heartfelt performance, and I look forward to seeing Sigfusson with Seabear if they show up in Chicago someday. (Maybe after they released their next planned album in 2010?) www.myspace.com/sinfangbous

Photos of Múm, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Sin Fang Bous.

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Claire Chase at Velvet Lounge

Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge on Cermak is a jazz club, but on Tuesday (Oct. 27), it hosted a contemporary classical music performance. Claire Chase, one of the founders of the International Contemporary Ensemble, stood alone on the stage with her flutes and made some otherworldly noises with those innocent-looking pipes. This was not your grandmother’s flute music. Chase was playing some of the pieces she performs on her new record, Aliento, as well as a few others. Although she was solo for most of the show, she was almost always accompanied by electronic sounds and textures. In some of the pieces, her notes and even the sounds of the keys clicking on her flutes echoed and reverbed back at her, creating alien soundscapes. Fellow ICE member Eric Lamb joined her onstage for Brazilian composer Marcos Balter’s piece “Edgewater,” and the two of them slowly moved in tandem from one side of the stage to the other as their notes danced around one another. Chase closed the show with Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 for violin, using effects to transform it into a duet between “flute and gear.”

www.newfocusrecordings.com/Aliento.html
International Contemporary Ensemble and composer Kaija Saariaho will perform at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Museum of
Contemporary Art. www.mcachicago.org

Photos of Claire Chase.

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Choir of Young Believers

A band from Denmark called Choir of Young Believers made one of my favorite records this year, This Is for the White in Your Eyes, and the group’s music sounded just as sublime in concert the other night (Oct. 26) at Schubas. The leader of this Choir, Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, sang beautiful melodies that put most rock tunesmiths to shame. Markigiannis knows how to write (and sing) a melody that makes dramatic leaps rather than sticking with less imaginative notes.

For all intents and purposes, Markigiannis is Choir of Young Believers, but he had a solid backup group (bass, drums and cello) that did an excellent job of playing live arrangements similar to the studio recordings. I’ve had trouble putting my finger on exactly what Choir reminds me of. The Ghostly International label’s Web site compares Choir’s music with classic pop music such as Roy Orbison. I can see that — the music Markigiannis is making with Choir feels like a Scandinavian take on the epic, quasi-orchestral pop music of Phil Spector — but there’s also something about it that reminds me of indie artists from the 1980s, and I hear similarities to other Scandinavian artists such as Loney Dear.

Performing the final show of Choir’s U.S. tour Monday night at Schubas, Markigiannis hit all the high notes. At the end of the main set, he even let loose on guitar, flailing around with charged energy. He returned without his backup band for one solo song during the encore — a cover of the Swedish band First Floor Power’s song “Goddamn Your Finger.” (Choir’s cover of the song appears on the various artists collection Saluting the Crunchy-Frog-a-logue.

Alas, Schubas was not nearly as crowded as it should have been for this show, although the folks who did show up clearly liked what they heard. Monday nights are always a tough night to draw a crowd, and on this Monday, these Danes were competing with a few other high-profile indie-rock shows in Chicago. The Schubas show also featured opening acts Chris Bathgate (doing some nice roots-rock with trumpet and trombone accents) and Brazil’s MoMo (whom I recently saw at the Chicago World Music Festival). It was a motley but interesting mix of musical styles.

http://ghostly.com/artists/choir-of-young-believers
www.myspace.com/choirofyoungbelievers

Photos of Choir of Young Believers.