Do the Whirlwind

This past week started off with a one-two punch of musical goodness. First up: my second favorite artist/band Dosh played a lightly-attended free show at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Joining Martin Dosh on this particular occasion was his regular touring partner, Mike Lewis of Happy Apple, as well as frequent collaborators Jeremy Ylvisaker and JT Bates. The quartet turned in some beautiful renditions of tracks like "Airlift" and "Call the Kettle", all of which sounded pretty great reverberating in the pavilion's cavernous stage. I can't say it was as great of an experience as seeing him for my first time in Cleveland earlier this year, but it was certainly a treat to see him again so soon with a larger group of performers.

Later that day, it was back to Millennium for a performance by collage-rock duo The Books. It was very interesting to hear how some of the newer tracks had evolved since my last time seeing the group early last year. Judging by their sizable draw and the crowd's reaction, I really think their next record is going to find its way into the hands of a lot more people. You can read my review of the show and see a few more of my photos over on the TOC blog.

Wednesday night was almost a wash-out, with some pretty huge storms hitting the city. Luckily, things died down enough for me to make my first journey to the Hideout, one of the venues I've been itching to visit since arriving in town. While there, I took in an evening of bass duo, trio, and quartet performances featuring Devin Hoff of the Nels Cline Singers. I enjoyed it so much that I plan on coming back next Wednesday for a show featuring, among others, the illustrious Fred Lomberg-Holm. For a few more shots and details on the evening, click over here.

On Thursday I headed back to the Double Door to see Sleepy Sun and Mondo Drag. I was pleasantly surprised by the latter; I'd never heard of the group before, but their performance was the night's best. As usual, you can find more photos and thoughts right over here.

Friday found me attending the giant smorgasbord known as Taste of Chicago, where I got try my hand at both food photography and criticism (I like food too much to speak badly of it). Later that evening I took a short walk down the street to the Whistler to catch former Wilco-member Leroy Bach on solo acoustic guitar. These days he's doing finger-picked material very remincent of John Fahey and Jim O'Rourke circa Bad Timing. I got a chance to chat with him after the show, and he suggested an upcoming Cairo Gang concert that I hadn't even heard of; what a nice guy!

Last night I got the full 'press-experience' as myself and another intern were let loose on an event presented by Heineken that featured performances from Matt & Kim and Cold War Kids. It was interesting to say the least; we had to be accompanied by a Heineken rep whenever we were shooting photos and we were given time restrictions when photographing the bands. The event itself was in a refurbished warehouse, decked out with all manner of lights, screens, and projectors. I certainly felt like a real reporter (blogger?) being shuttled around from spot to spot, conducting interviews, and taking tons of pictures. It also didn't hurt that the event included free Chicago-themed food and all the Heineken you could drink. You can take a look at our coverage over here.

Right now I'm eagerly anticipating the On Fillmore's appearance with Nels Cline tomorrow at Millennium Park. Should be a great show; I'm interested to see how they incorporate Cline into the group. More dispatches from Chicagoland as time allows, thanks for reading!

Live Review: The Books @ Wexner Center

As I've mentioned before, I'm tickled pink by the live music line-up at the Wexner Center this fall. On Thursday night, the season got started with a performance by The Books and Lymbyc Systym in the Wexner Center's performance space.

I arrived slightly late, but I caught the majority of Lymbyc Systym's set, and was impressed to say the least. I hadn't really heard of this group prior to learning that they would be opening for The Books, but upon hearing them I was immediately a fan of their Rhodes-heavy post-rock sound. In addition to the usual keyboard and drummer duo, the group added a violin player who really helped to flesh out some of their sparser arrangements. My favorite songs of their set were their slightly modified versions of "Astrology Days" and "Lotan Baba". The group also played a song or two off of their forthcoming record, which featured some very prominent looped string arrangements. I was a big fan of the full sound these three guys were able to produce, and I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for that new record of theirs'.

Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong started off their set by giving the audience an update on what they had they had been up to since their last visit to the Wexner Center. After some time off, they've been hard at work on the next Books album which, judging by some of the new tunes the duo played, is based around the theme of New Age therapy. Many of the new songs played were centered around audio culled from cheesy old self-help video cassettes, and touched on themes such as hypnotherapy and meditation. Undoubtedly the best (and most humorous) of their new material was a song called "A Cold Freezing Night" which takes its revealing vocal elements from the contents of Talkboy cassette tapes. There was a marked increase in production values apparent in the films accompanying the newer songs, some of which were so good that I think the group should consider offering a DVD version of their new record. The duo also played a nice selection of older songs, turning in great renditions of fan favorites such as "Take Time", "Be Good to them Always" and "Smells Like Content". A welcome surprise was their performance of Nick Drake's "Cello Song", which they covered for last year's Dark Was The Night compilation. The crowd ate up every moment of their set, and most even stuck around when the duo decided to play "Smells Like Content" for a second time, in an attempt to correct some mistakes which has been made in the first go-round. Even though it clocked in at only a little over an hour, The Books' performance was immensely satisfying and whet my appetite for the group's next record which, from the sound of it, is shaping up to be a big step forward for the band.

Photos by Maureen Sill, used under the Creative Commons license.

The Books, Rural Alberta Advantage, & Broadcast Head to Wex

I have to give it up to whoever is booking for the Wexner Center this fall, because the lineup for their Next@Wex series is one of the best they've ever put together. Not only is Wilco playing the Wexner's Mershon Auditorium in October, but there are three other bands coming to the arts center that I'm very excited about seeing.

First up is sound collage duo The Books, who will be playing in the performance space on September 17th. They will be supported by Lymbyc Systym, a duo with similar collage tendencies but with a decidedly post-rock tinge whom I've really taken a liking to since discovering them earlier this week. The Books are well known for live shows that implement video to compliment their audio, so I'm looking forward to a very unique experience. Here's hoping they preview a few tracks from their forthcoming, and long overdue, new album...

Next up is a group from Canada who I have only just started listening to, but have taken an instant liking to. They're called the Rural Alberta Advantage, and their debut record Hometowns was recently released here in the US on Saddle Creek records. I'm not even sure how to describe them without comparing them to a plethora of other bands, and likely still not giving any clear idea of their sound. They'll be playing a Black Box show at the Wex on September 27, so I highly recommend checking them out for yourself.

Finishing off the Wex's fine Fall line-up is a rare appearance from the British electronic duo Broadcast on October 25. The pair will be touring in support of a new EP, their first new recorded work in almost four years, which will be dropping on October 13 via Warp Records here in the US. To me, these guys kind of fit into the same category as Stereolab, although I do seem to remember discovering both groups at the same time, so my judgment might be slightly skewed. Regardless, they'll an interesting group to see live since I'm not really familiar with what their live shows are typically like. Hope to see some of you at the Wex at all of these great shows!