Music Meridian

Lots of things happening. Especially Friday night. There are choices:

Guapo/Zombi/Del Ray @ Empty Bottle
Bands influenced by Zuehl, Goblin, Rush etc! Prog prog prog!!

Ozric Tentacles @ Park West
Still a great, trippy live act. Psychedlic Space-Rock ala Hawkwind.

Plague Bringer, Indian, Raise The Red Lantern @ The Note
Awesome death metal with a drum-machine, ominous doom rock and more metal. Should be a pretty heavy show. And it's a benefit for the Anti-Cruelity Society

He Who Corrupts Fest @ McGraw Hall (DePaul)
Tons of bands each playing short sets. If they play over their settime audience members can throw water baloons at them. Dylan Posa's excellent new band will be one of the bands as well as tons of Grindcore bands.

Where should I go?!?! Post to comments with your opinions....

Also this weekend is the Roots festival at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn. The BLASTERS(!!!) are headlining on Sunday night and it's most likely a must-see, even if Dave Alvin is not playing in the group....also oddly he's headlining the same fest Monday night with his new band The Guilty Men. Anyone going???

Friday night, 23 June 2006, my girlfriend and i were worn out. we'd just moved the weekend before and we'd spent the week unpacking and moving around furniture. we hadn't had a weekend off in a while, and we were staring at a july full of busy weekends. i looked at the calendar and realized we had the vice-curated 2006 edition of Intonation Festival to attend the next two days. that was not going to be easy.

The first thing we realized was that we weren't nearly as excited about this line up as we had been the year previous. we hadn't recognized too many band names at the 2005 Intonation, but many left us pleasantly surprised. We had the same problem this year, but the ones we knew weren't exciting us and the ones we didn't know a little research explained why. they just weren't that interesting. who needs another indie rock band?

The first day, the 24th, we showed up in time to catch Jose Gonzalez with his acoustic guitar. it's not a good venue for that, solo singer-songwriter performance, but he tried. my girlfriend thought at times he sounded like he was ripping off Nick Drake, and the rest of the time he was boring. I tried to like it--i like what i've heard elsewhere--but it wasn't working. we went to see what was for sale under the tents.

not much, it turned out. some clothes, some posters, some magazines, some records from hi-fi. not the vast trove of used cds i scoured last year. a real disappointment. eventually we found a place to sit for the next two acts, not being interested in anything until Rocky Erickson to the stage. it appeared not too many other people were. the audience wasn't nearly as full as in 2005, but the weather was better (cooler) and the grass in better shape. from afar we heard High On Fire's sludge metal and Chromeo's trashy, vocodered dance music. Chromeo was like low-rent Daft Punk. more daft than punk, though.

oh, the Stills snuck in there, after High On Fire, but they were more boring indie rock from Montreal. no Broken Social Scene they.

Roky can still play, despite being clearly acid damaged. His lead guitarist appeared to be in charge, telling Roky what the next song was and making sure he didn't space out during his solo, which as a little sad. the songs were good, though, and we enjoyed it. we moved before the encore to get a good spot for the next band at the other stage.

The Boredoms are amazing. we saw some of the soundcheck, while Roky finished his set, and had no idea what to expect. they'd set up three drum kits in a square, with the fourth side having a set of keyboards and microphones. we zoned out for a bit, but suddenly this japanese guy with long dreads was shouting into a microphone while two other japanese guys and a japanese girl (Yoshimi who battles pink robots) situated themselves at the kits. what followed was mind-blowing. the three kits together were tribal and hypnotic, while Eye (the shouter) played something on the keyboard and howled now and then. his keyboard sounds were more drones than melodies, which fit well with the circling drums. their timing was impeccable, and as songs flowed into each other (i could tell the difference from the keyboard part and slight shifts in drum patterns) i felt i was going to float away. now and then Eye would step into the middle of the square and shout, sometimes in a language, sometimes primal animal howls. it was stunning. toward the end of their set Yoshimi turned around to play another synth and sing a pretty melody while the band played disco-inflected rock beats. it was a brief interlude before Eye's screaming returned. then it was back into the drum maelstorm, which was thrilling. we agreed their set alone was worth the price of admission.

Ghostface was next, followed by Lady Sovereign and The Streets. we strolled over to the t-shirt booth and got me a Boredoms t-shirt then left. what i heard of Ghostface sounded like standard bass-heavy hip hop, though at least he was rapping instead of taking five minute breaks between songs with filler talking and hype. in retrospect it would have been nice at least to have seen Lady Sov, and i hear Mike Skinner puts on a good show, but we weren't up to it.

the next day we didn't roll into Intonation until a quarter of 4, just in time to see Annie. Euro-dance with guitars, from Norway. we'd been afraid of rain and cooler air, but standing in that field it was dry and warming up, sun coming out. i dropped my umbrella, pulled off my shirt, and danced. i danced the whole set. it was fun, probably the only set i saw that weekend that inspired me to move. Annie didn't have much of a stage show, but she was energised. i felt it.

after that we walked around, found the same disappointing things as the day before, except that, to make matters worse, they had fewer t-shirts for sale. the artists we liked, Annie, Blue Cheer, Jon Brion, didn't have anything for sale. eventually we settled in the sun while Lupe Fiasco talked about whatever (he's supposed to be a rapper, but he only did four or five songs in 40 minutes, one of them cut short even). after him was the Sword, a better metal band than High On Fire. toward the end of their set we positioned ourselves for Blue Cheer (yes, the original Blue Cheer) and enjoyed the sounds from the other stage.

while we sat in the sun we watched these girls in odd BBC America get-ups (british bathing wear, very strange) walk around with a dirty old man in a dirty old mac. he would stop in front of someone now and then--usually a seated girl--and expose himself while blowing his whistle. i'm not sure what he was revealing, but it didn't look any better than if he'd really been naked. it was weird, an odd way to promote British television in the United States. also, some woman walked by and said to me that she enjoyed my dancing. she was older, probably married, probably there for Blue Cheer. she said people really got a kick out of my dancing, that they were even filming it. i haven't found it on the web yet, but i'll keep looking. you look too.

Blue Cheer rocked, though i was having trouble getting into it. it wasn't quite as out there as Roky Erickson, and was mostly about sex and drugs. they were impressively heavy, though. i figured they'd sound kind of weak because a lot of older bands didn't emphasise the low end quite as much as they do today, but these guys had a modern sound. they probably played better than any of those indie rock bands i missed. i'm glad to have seen them, though it might have been nice to get a shirt or something. a Blue Cheer shirt might have been cool.

from there we skipped out on the encore to get a good spot for Jon Brion. that was a good idea, because he got crowded quickly, and he was worth seeing up close, if only because Benmont Tench and Glenn Kotche joined him for a few songs. Brion has a wide range of rock history behind him, and stands firmly in the pop guitar rock land with quirky arrangements and solos verging on wankiness. most of his songs were built on loops, which he recorded on the spot. he'd play 8 bars on the kit then his loop machine would take over. the kit was tight and dry, without much resonance, but when it looped it was booming. he'd layer piano and bass with that, then sing and play live guitar for the song. sometimes Tench would join him, which was a real treat because the guy can play. on a few songs Kotche showed up for live drums, but i wasn't noticing much of a difference. they did some of Brion's origionals, plus rousing renditions of "Baby You're a Rich Man" and "Waterloo Sunset" (which Brion called the best song ever). it was an exciting, invigorating set.

after that we got some sandwiches from the Robinson's booth and ate on the curb. Robert Pollard played but i've never been a fan of him or his former band (him and whoever was around). we left half-way through his set, and thus missed the last two acts, one of which was Bloc Party. i cannot remember who followed Robert Pollard, but i think it was hip hop. oh, Dead Prez. apparently they went major label, went more commercial. i'm not sure i'd want to see that. i probably would have liked to see Bloc Party, especially if i knew their music, but i was tired and couldn't be bothered to labor through the swarm that would be waiting for the train afterwards. the weekend was by no means sold out, but it would have been a pain going home at the end. besides, it looked like rain.

From the Web Of Mimicry Website (http://www.webofmimicry.com/):
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Secret Chiefs 3.
Yes, seemingly dormant for long periods, this dragon is about to begin to whip its tail like never before:
A slew of SC3 related 7" records slated for Fall.


A SC3 retrospective CD with bonus rare tracks etc. gears us up for "Book of Souls".

In all, around around eight SC3 related releases slated for Fall, and it's just the beginning!

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Read the full report on their website!!! 8 Releases!!! 8!!! Eight!!!! WTF!!!! Plus a few more slated for early 2007. Start pinching those pennies now....

In related news, Estradasphere's new album will be out in September. It's called "Palace Of Mirrors" and they claim there will be NO VOCALS on the album.....and they're calling the music "Prog Against Prog". Sounds awesome...can't wait! It'll be released on The End Records. Read all about it on their website.







Direct from their website:

"hella duo tour dates in june" HeLLa ACOUSTICS record set for release in september on 5rc records .............The Band HeLLa is now...ZACH HILL, JOSH HILL, AARON ROSS, CARSON MCWHIRTER, SPENCER SEIM..................................... The new HeLLa will be working for most of 2006 on their new full length record set for release in january 2007 on ipecac recordings.........................
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Update: It also appears that Zach Hill has finally hit the pages of Modern Drummer this month. I'll be running out ASAP to get my copy....also in the issue Stewart Copland and Damon Che! Sounds good....

They announced the Lollapalooza schedule today. Too many good bands are overlapping so I can't really see everything I want. There's so many dead spots during the days and that's what makes me mad. Why overlap the good bands when there's plenty of other times for them to play??

The main offenders:

1. Queens of the Stone Age plays at the same time Wilco plays
2. Gnarls Barkley plays when Sonic Youth is playing
3. Common plays when The Flaming Lips are playing
4. The Dresden Dolls play when The Smoking Popes and Blackalicious are playing!!
5. Coheed and Cambria plays when Built To Spill is playing


At least no one is overlapping with Ween or Cursive....

Last Saturday night, Lisa and I went to the Audiotorium Theater to see the Zappa Plays Zappa show that Dweezil Zappa and co. put on. Let me just say outright that it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. If not THE best.

Why is this? The band that Dweezil assembled for this project is unbelieveably good. Super-tight and precise renditions of some very complicated Zappa songs...some at pretty breakneck speeds. Now I've seen Zappa cover band Project/Object many many times, and I gotta say those guys are not even close to being in the same league with this band. This was easily 100 times better.

One of the band's secret weapons was Billy Hulting. He was the percussionist. His xylophone playing throughout the night was mindblowing.

They played for over 3 hours, with very little breaks. Very little chit-chat, no BS. Just song after song after song.

Some early highlights in the set was Pygmy Twylyte, Cheepnis and the entire Don't Eat The Yellow Snow suite. Zappa alumni Napolean Murphy Brock took care of most of the nights singing duties and especially on songs like these, from his era, he was in his element. Singing perfectly and hamming it up around the stage.

They also played an amazing version of King Kong (the 88 version with the pseudo-reggae feel) that morphed into some pretty crazy improv, complete with Dweezil "conducting" the band, just like FZ would.

All this was great, but the show REALLY took off once Terry Bozzio hit the stage. He came out and then they immediately blazed into "I'm So Cute". Bozzio was totally walloping the kit while singing. Very, very powerful drumming. The roof was pretty much blown off the place. They followed it up with more Bozzio sung songs like "Trying To Grow A Chin", "City Of Tiny Lights" and "Punky's Whips"!!!!

Then when I thought it couldn't get any better.....the "Black Page #1" drum solo. Not just Bozzio, mind you, but the other drummer Joe Travers as well as percussionist Billy Hulting all playing the solo together. Totally locked in. I was awestruck to say the least. Then Steve Vai comes out and they launch into the "melodic" version of the song, "Black Page #2"

Other songs followed without Bozzio (including a great version of "Echidna's Arf (of You)" which I couldn't believe they pulled off live. I would have liked them to segue into "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing" as I think they're inseperable. But that's a minor gripe.

One of the most touching moments of the show came soon after as a video screen came down and the band played "Chungas Revenge" while a pre-recorded audio/video of Frank Zappa himself played the guitar solo part. It was a nice tribute, and it brought Dweezil to tears. Very touching.

They came back for an encore which included an amazing dueling drumsolo between Travers and Bozzio. Bozzio is just red-hot. Never seen anyone play with such power and fenesse. Intense!!

They closed with "Sofa #1". A fine song to close out an unbelieveable evening of musical delights.

If you have a chance to see this show, by all means, DO IT!!

Yesterday two bigger name punk crazys put out covers albums. Dillinger Escape Plan put out "Plagerism" and Between The Buried And Me released "...The Anatomy Of".

DEP's album is available only though iTunes which automatically knocks points off in my book. What, is it not good enough for stores? I actually would answer: yes.

6 Tracks. 2 of them useless live versions of their newer songs (oh, how I yearn for the days of Calculating Infinity or Under The Running Board). So 4 covers. Nine Inch Nails "Wish" fairs the best, and it's not saying much. It wasn't a really awesome song to begin with. They cover Justin Timberlake and it's surprisingly straight and uncrazy. Even "Jesus Christ Pose" by Soundgarden which they should totally wallop comes off stiff, lifeless and boring. Is this the last nail in the Dillinger Escape Plan coffin? Let's hope not.....

As for BTBAM's covers album, it blows Plagerism out of the water! They start things off with a full-on death-metal version of Metallica's "Blackened" and it only gets more interesting and varied from there. Other highlights include the awesome vocal harmonies of Queen's "Bicycle Race", a stunning rendition of Pink Floyd's "Us And Them" and just the mere fact that they cover "Three Of A Perfect Pair" by King Crimson. They also cover songs by Pantera, Counting Crows(!!), Faith No More ("Malpractice"!), Smashing Pumpkins (a ripping version of "Geek USA") and more. For an entertaining fun summer party album, your money is well spent here.

You get the feeling that they truely love these songs and these artists and really are paying homage to the songs as opposed to just cheaply and quickly cashing in like what Dillinger seems to be doing.

Speaking of bad covers and cashing in....just in case you didn't see David Lee Roth play a horrible bluegrass cover of "Jump" on Leno, here's the YouTube:

Roth's "Jump" massacre

He looks horrible...like he totally forgot how to be an engaging frontman. Just bad lounge-singer hoops and hollers and a super fake smile. The rendition downright blows and is quite possibly the most horrifying video I've seen all year. Dave, please go away so I can listen to "Fair Warning" in peace. Thanks.

My awesome boyfriend Greg's band Sour Deluxe is participating in a contest to be a part of Lollapalooza this August in Chicago.

The first round consists of a voting process by the fans, and the top 100 bands from around the world move on to the next round. It would be totally awesome and truly outrageous if you could help them out! You can vote once every 24 hours, and voting ends on June 30. They are currently in 18th place, and really need our help to stay there and move even higher on the list. This would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the band, and if you could devote 10 seconds of every day from now to the end of the month it would be a HUGE help. Do you have multiple email accounts? Even better!!

Follow this link to:

http://www.freshtracksmusic.com/lolla2006/showartist.aspx?aid=50069&sgn=Indie+Rock
and click on "vote", then check your email to confirm your vote.

If you know anyone who would be willing to support local Chicago rock, then pass this on to them as well.

Weird Al has a new parody. "You're Pitiful"....making fun of that horrible James Blunt song.

Your mission today is to download the song. That is all.

I went out to a show that included tons of technical metal bands last nite at Logan Square Auditorium. Here's a recap.

First off, I'm a little peeved at the way Logan Square Aud. runs their showtimes. The show was suppose to start at 6pm, I get there around 6:30 to discover that they still haven't opened the doors yet and there's a line around the block. I wait for about 1/2 hour more to get in, meeting my friend Doug along the way.

I also met some weirdo dudes from Kentucky who drove all the way up here just to see Job For A Cowboy, who I never heard before. I told them I hope the band would be good, because it seems like a long way to go.

Anyways, I finally get in and the first band is kicking things off. They were an Australian band I enjoy immensely called Alarum. They have many Cynic-like qualities and a good solid rhythm section. They played a short but sweet set including stuff I recognized from their great album called "Eventuality". I remember the songs Velocity and Remote Viewing being played to my enjoyment and satisfaction in particular.

Note I said they played a "short set". It was probably about 20-25 mins. All the bands (saving the last two) only played that long, and I wish most of the bands would have played a lot longer sets but that's a minor gripe.

Up next was the aformentioned Job For A Cowboy. I gotta say, I can see why you'd travel to see them. They ripped it up with a nice tech/grind/death mix. They have a VERY powerful drummer that I was keeping a focus on for most of the set, but the other guys were no slouches either. I was very impressed, but again only about 20 minutes of music and they were gone. I'll definately be on the lookout for their albums and if they play again because I was pleased and intrigued.

After that was crazy tech-death band Arsis! They absolutely ruled. The first song in particular floored Doug and I as we saw the singer/guitarist play these crazy-fast intricate 2-hand tapping parts....while singing super fast death growls over top of it! Woah!!! It helped the rest of the band were highly skilled and brutal as well.

The metal was technical and fast. And even though the sets were short, things were moving along great!! "What could possibly go wrong?" we thought.....well......2 things.....

Up next was a band called Animosity. They came out to a backdrop of cheezy hip hop beats and a singer in a basketball jersey telling us to "make some noize!"...WTF?????

They proceeded to suck for well over a half hour...I guess they didn't like the whole "short set" thing either and deciced to take a stand. They played a typical set of bad hardcore. Just about every horrible hardcore cliche you could think of was sandwiched into their set. And between every song they played that damn cheezy hip-hop loop! I just kept thinking "Well, Ion Dissonance is next, and they rule....then Necrophagist who also slay....just wait it out...."

Finally they left, and Nechrophagist started setting up!!!! Oh no!!! Where's Ion Dissonance??? They were a huge reason I came to the show. Apparantly they cancelled and I found no reason why. Even their MySpace page makes no mention of their disappearance.....hmmmmm....so now I'm disgruntled that I had to endure Animosity and discover there would be no Ion Dissonance. Necrophagist better bring the goods!!

And indeed, they did! Totally over-the-top death metal with amazing chops from everyone in the band. The drummer was a machine of the Gene Hoglan variety and even the bass player had a full deep sound that cut through and he played some great intricate parts, which is unusual in the genre. This says nothing of the main guitarist who kept our jaws to the floor throughout the entire set. Well worth it. Probably one of the best metal bands I've seen in quite some time.