I've been a music fan since my parents gave me a record player for Christmas when I was still in grade school. The first record I remember owning was "Sesame Street Disco." I've been a professional writer since 2004, but writing long before that. My first published work was in a middle school literary magazine and was a story about a zoo in which the animals could talk.
Chicago’s Diagonal have released their newest record, Tomorrow, and it’s such a good shoegaze record that my wife said it might make her like shoegaze music (which she just doesn’t understand).
Starting with “Find the Sun” (and Chris Detlaff‘s wicked beats), the album shimmers right away. Three different guitarists (Alex Brumley, Dan Jarvis, and Silas Mishler) merge together to form some sort of super-robot, and Dale Price‘s bass chugs along with the precision of a bricklayer. Andy Ryan‘s vocals on the big, spaced out “Wide Eyed” are appropriately drenched in reverb, and the whole band unloads with walls of sound. It’s one of my favorite tracks of the year so far. It’s been in my head for days.
“Control” ups the psychedelic touches but keeps the fuzz. “Jump Back” reminds me of Julian Cope tunes from the late 1980’s with its groovy bass licks and the crisp, yet distorted guitar riffs. The guitars on “True” are crispier, but the bass picks up the fuzz. It sounds like a Cosmonauts track. “Descend” could be a Black Angels tune, especially with that slight hint of Middle Eastern influences and the subtle reverb on the vocals.
“All We Need” breaks open with shining riffs and more sick beats from Detlaff. Jarvis add some cool keyboard flourishes that give it a space-rock feel. Price’s love of the Cure comes through on his bass line for “Shattered Glass,” and I like how Ryan’s vocals on it sound like they’re coming at you from the end of a long hallway. “Stay Awake” has a fun groove to it with more than a subtle hint of surf rock. The fuzz on “Feels” hits a bit harder after the mellowness of the previous track. It’s one of the loudest cuts on the record. The title track closes the record, and it’s a wild trip into the cosmos with dual vocals from Ryan and Misher that are barely discernible, bass so fuzzy it resembles an angry bumble bee, enough guitar distortion to power an eighteen-wheeler, and drums that go for broke and beyond.
Don’t wait until tomorrow to get Tomorrow. It’s one of the best shoegaze records I’ve heard in 2018.
The lineup for this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park didn’t thrill me. Plus, the forecast for the weekend called for rain nearly the entire time my wife and I would be there. Still, the tickets were free (Thanks, Nivas of WSND!) and there were some acts I definitely wanted to see, so we made the trip.
We got there just in time on day one for rain and Melkbelly. The Chicago punks were the second band to play and they unloaded a loud set of fierce shredding. The rain also stopped while they were playing, so I took it as a good omen.
Melkbelly
Up next was Lucy Dacus, who played a nice set as the humidity rose from the sun emerging from the clouds. She talked about her fear of being electrocuted and how she was rearranging some of the set list to avoid too much playing guitar near standing water, but she did fine and was lovely to hear.
Lucy Dacus
Natural Information Society‘s psychedelic jazz set was just two songs and it lasted nearly forty minutes. It was hypnotic, peaceful, and perfect for a warm and wet afternoon.
Natural Information Society
One of the weirdest parts of the day was Tierra Whack‘s twenty-minute set. She replaced Earl Sweatshirt who had cancelled. Whack’s DJ played parts of hip hop songs to warm up the crowd. It didn’t work all that well, mostly because he didn’t play whole tracks and he kept yelling variations of “Hey, Chicago!” over and over to the point where it became pandering. Whack came out and performed her entire debut EP, Whack World, which is only about fifteen minutes long, and then left. “That was weird,” my wife said. Yep.
Tierra Whack (left) and her DJ
Electro-pop outfit Mount Kimbie played a nice set on the far side of the park, and it was a nice warm-up to Tame Impala‘s closing set, which suffered from bad volume mixing. “It sounds like AM radio,” said one woman behind me. Her friend added, “Nothing like listening to Tame Impala through a tin can. Thanks, Pitchfork!” The crowd was yelling, “Turn it up!” at one point. We left before chaos reigned.
Mount KimbieAs close as we could get to Tame Impala
Day two brought less rain and we started the day with a great set from Zola Jesus. She came out in a red veil and looked like a witch from a Dario Argento movie. She seemed to have a great time. “She could sing anything with that voice,” my wife said. She’s right.
Zola Jesus
Our friend, Nivas, told me to check out Moses Sumney‘s set. Mr. Sumney wasn’t on our radar, but we’re glad we took Nivas up on the suggestion. His set was a good mix of soul, gospel, R&B, and jazz.
Moses Sumney
Another soulful highlight was Raphael Saddiq, who is a dead ringer for Lightnin’ Hopkins. Sadie played a fun set of bluesy R&B that had a lot of folks dancing.
Raphael Sadie
I got all hipster by dragging my wife to see prog-rock legends This Is Not This Heat. It was a loud, dark prog-rock show with songs about nuclear warfare, consumerism, and painful lessons of history. It was neat to see some legends. I even scored a couple autographs.
This Is Not This Heat
We left early again in order to get a decent meal and came back on day three just in time to see Kelly Lee Owens. Her self-titled debut was my favorite album of last year, so she was the main artist I wanted to see at the festival. She didn’t disappoint. She put on a great electro-dance set that had everyone bouncing. It was a crime that she only got to play for 40 minutes.
Kelly Lee Owens
Japanese Breakfast played after her, and they were quite popular with the crowd. Their stuff is a mix of shoegaze, dream pop, and straight-up rock. A big favorite among the crowd was their cover of the Cranberries’ “Dreams.”
Japanese Breakfast
We wandered over to the main stages to claim a spot for the two closing acts and ended up hearing all of DRAM‘s set. He had excited to be playing for such a large crowd and on such a beautiful day. He wasn’t bad, but after the fifth time he yelled, “If you love your momma, say ‘Yeah, dawg!” it became repetitive.
DRAM
People were fired up for Chaka Khan, who looks and sounds great. The line dance that broke out near us during “I Feel for You” was a treat, and the whole crowd, men and women alike, was jumping during “I’m Every Woman.”
Chaka Khan
Lauryn Hill closed the festival. There was talk that she wouldn’t show up, despite being there for a sound check at the beginning of the day. She came on stage twenty minutes late, which I’m sure drove the stage manager nuts, but she showed that her chops haven’t diminished in the last twenty years. She played the entire “Miseducation” album and had a sharp backing band. They had to be ever-vigilant because she was constantly stopping some of them or having them alter their volume and tempo on the fly. She also seemed to have endless problems with her microphone and monitor, judging by how often she tapped the mic and her earpiece. Still, she sounded great. “It wasn’t as epic as I thought it would be,” my wife said, “but I’m glad I got to see her live.”
Lauryn Hill
That pretty much sums up Pitchfork for me this year. It wasn’t as epic as last year, but I’m glad I went. Let’s hope the 2019 lineup is better.
I hadn’t seen Radioheadin concert since 2012. They’d put out a couple albums since then, and I had been looking forward to this show for months. It was a bonus show of sorts, as the original show the previous night sold out within minutes. They added the second show to make up for those of us who couldn’t get tickets to that one, and even this show sold out in rapid time. I had to refresh websites on my phone and laptop computer just to score tickets on the third level.
That being said, it was worth it.
They started with “Daydreaming” and “Desert Island Disk” to lull the crowd into a nice trance before breaking out tracks like “Myxomatosis” and “Lucky” to get everyone moving.
A real treat was their first performance of “Spectre,” the rejected theme from the Bond movie of the same name. It was great to hear “Idioteque” (which had the whole place jumping) and “My Iron Lung” (a personal favorite). “Bodysnatchers” almost blasted the back wall off the United Center.
Their first encore consisted of “You and Whose Army?”, “Airbag” (which had a friend of ours dancing in the aisle), “The National Anthem” (another personal favorite), “2 + 2 = 5,” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out).” Their second encore brought us “Everything in Its Right Place” (which was jaw-dropping), “Pyramid Song,” and “Karma Police” (which had the whole place singing).
It was great to see them again. I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing them until that night. They’re one of those must-see bands anytime they’re close.
Diana Krall‘s performance at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans had a “no cellphones / cameras” policy, which was refreshing. I resisted the urge to take any photos during the show, although others did and some even used the flash on their phone cameras to do so. Using your camera flash at a show is the new smoking at a show.
Ms. Krall and her slick backing band (upright bass, guitar, fiddle, drums) played a fun mix of love songs and jazz classics that included many cuts from her latest album Turn Up the Quiet. She had fun banter with the crowd, even admitting to screwing up a Fats Waller tune that was harder to play than she realized. She delighted the crowd with a soft instrumental version of “Walkin’ to New Orleans.” They played for close to ninety minutes and the crowd was buzzing afterwards as we stepped out into the warm night.
She’s a jazz powerhouse and still on tour throughout the U.S. Don’t miss her if you get the chance to see her.
If you’re like me and eager to hear Ladytron‘s upcoming album and catch them on tour for it, their 2009 release of Live at London Astoria 16.07.08 is a great morsel to tide you over until the new record’s release and subsequent tour. The show was a rescheduled gig for one that had to be cancelled a couple months earlier due to a power outage. The band’s urge to make amends with fans can be felt throughout the power of the entire set.
The live album starts off with a robotic version of “Black Cat” with lead vocals in Russian. “Runaway” follows, bringing dark wave-like bass and great echoed vocals. The guitars and droning synths on “High Rise” might induce vertigo if you’re not careful while listening to it. “Ghosts” has some of my favorite Ladytron lyrics, “There’s a ghost in me who wants to say, ‘I’m sorry doesn’t mean I’m sorry.'” It’s a spooky song about relationships, quite possibly involving at least one lover who is dead.
“Seventeen” is one of my favorite Ladytron cuts, and it’s one of the most damning songs about the fashion industry ever (“They only want you when you’re seventeen. When you’re twenty-one, you’re no fun.”). The live version is thumping with synth bass. “I’m Not Scared” hits hard with bright synths blending with rock drums. “True Mathematics,” with more great Russian vocals, hits even harder. I hope they play it on their next tour, because it’s outstanding. “Season of Illusions” is a bit lighthearted, but don’t worry because “Soft Power” drops you right back into the dark with synths that sound like they’re being played in a tomb. “Playgirl” was a big hit for the London crowd, judging from their reaction when Ladytron announces it’s the next track.
“International Dateline” is practically a goth love song, and “Predict the Day” surprises you by starting with whistling and then unloading sticky synth bass and sexy beats. “Fighting in Built Up Areas” is another Russian vocal treat, and “Discotraxx” would do Giorgio Moroder proud with its slick electro dance beats. They dedicate “The Last One Standing” to everyone who was at the show that was cancelled months earlier.
They chose “Kletva,” “Burning Up,” and “Destroy Everything You Touch” for their encore. It’s a nice end to a fun show. They originally just release 100 copies of it at the show, so I’m glad they put it out for wide release. You should be, too.
Keep your mind open.
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Thanks to all who listened to my first WSNDshow in a couple weeks. I was a bit late getting into the studio due to more problems with my ID card and pass code, but a kind janitor let me into the building. Here’s my set list from last night, which includes many artists I saw at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. I’ll have a full review of that on the blog soon.
FAT POSSUM RECORDS TO RELEASE REMASTERED X ALBUMS IN 2018
‘LOS ANGELES’
‘WILD GIFT’
‘UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN’
‘MORE FUN IN THE NEW WORLD’
Photo: Gary Leonard
Fat Possum Records and X are teaming up. Effective immediately, Fat Possum Records will begin distributing for the world four classic X albums; ‘Los Angeles’ (1980), ‘Wild Gift’ (1981), ‘Under The Big Black Sun’ (1982), and ‘More Fun In The New World’ (1983). There are plans to release remastered versions of all four albums by the end of 2018. More details to come.
Formed in 1977, Xquickly established themselves as one of the best bands in the first wave of LA’s flourishing punk scene; becoming legendary leaders of a punk generation. Featuring vocalist Exene Cervenka, vocalist/bassist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer DJ Bonebrake, their debut 45 was released on the seminal Dangerhouse label in 1978, followed by seven studio albums released from 1980-1993. Over the years, the band has released several critically acclaimed albums, topped the musical charts with regularity and performed their iconic hits on top television shows such as Letterman and American Bandstand. X’s first two studio albums, Los Angeles and Wild Gift are ranked by Rolling Stone among the top 500 greatest albums of all time. The band continues to tour with the original line-up fully intact. In 2017, the band celebrated their 40th year anniversary in music with a Grammy Museum exhibit opening, a Proclamation from the City of Los Angeles and being honored at a Los Angeles Dodgers game where Exene threw out the first pitch and John Doe sang the National Anthem. The band continues to tour with the original line-up and are currently on the road, including select dates with The Psychedelic Furs.
X Tour Itinerary:
July 25 SOMO Village Event Center – Rohnert Park, CA (w/The Psychedelic Furs)
July 27 Oregon Zoo Summer Concerts – Portland, OR (w/The Psychedelic Furs)
July 29 Woodland Park Zoo – Seattle, CA (w/The Psychedelic Furs)
July 31 The Rockwell/The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT (w/The Psychedelic Furs, The FIXX)
Aug 2 The Ogden – Denver, CO (w/The Psychedelic Furs)
Aug 17 The Cave – Big Bear, CA
Aug 18 Burton Chase Park – Marina Del Rey, CA
Aug 19 North Park – San Diego, CA
Aug 22 Marty’s -Tustin, CA
Aug 23 Marty’s – Tustin, CA
Aug 24 Weins Family Winery- Temecula, CA
Aug 31 Del Mar Hall – St. Louis, MO
Sept 2 Muddy Roots Music Festival – Cookeville, TN
“Having this identity—radical indigenous queer feminist—keeps me going. My music and my identity come from the same foundation of being a Native woman.”Katherine Paul (aka KP) is Black Belt Eagle Scout, and Mother of My Childrenis her debut album, outSeptember 14th on Saddle Creek. Recorded in the middle of winter near her hometown in Northwest Washington, Paul’s connection to the landscape’s eerie beauty are palpable throughout as the album traces the full spectrum of confronting buried feelings and the loss of what life was supposed to look like. Paul reflects, “I wrote this album in the fall of 2016 after two pretty big losses in my life. My mentor, Geneviève Castrée, had just died from pancreatic cancer and the relationship I had with the first woman I loved had drastically lessened and changed.” Heavy and heartbroken, Paul found respite from the weight of such loss in the creation of these songs that “are about grief and love for people, but also about being a native person in what is the United States today.”
On Mother of My Children, the songs weave together to capture both the enduring and fleeting experiences of loss, frustration, and dreaming. The structures are traditional, but the lyrics don’t adhere to any format other than what feels right in the moment. Mother of My Children begins with lead single “Soft Stud,” which Paul describes as her “queer anthem.” It’s “about the hardships of queer desire within an open relationship.” “It’s a sprawling six minutes that feels surprisingly compact, tight nerves and circuitous guitars and muddy drums building and breaking” (Stereogum). “Indians Never Die,” a call out to colonizers and those who don’t respect the Earth, follows. As Standing Rock was happening, many people in Paul’s life were coming together to fight for the most basic necessity to sustain human life: water. “Our treaty rights weren’t being honored. Imagine hearing on the news that the government doesn’t support you as a human being and never has. They don’t care about the water, they don’t care about how they are destroying what is around them. Indigenous people are the protectors of this land. Indians never die because this is our land that we will forever protect in the present and the afterlife.”
Paul grew up in a small Indian reservation, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, surrounded by family focused on native drumming, singing, and arts. From an early age, Paul was singing and dancing at powwows with one of her strongest memories at her family’s own powwow, called the All My Relations Powwow. Paul reminisces, “When I was younger, my only form of music was through the songs my ancestors taught the generations of my family. Singing in our language is a spiritual process and it carries on through me in how I create music today.” With the support of her family and a handful of bootleg Hole and Nirvana VHS tapes, Paul taught herself how to play guitar and drums as a teenager. In 2007, she moved to Portland, Oregon to attend college and get involved with the Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls eventually diving deep into the city’s music scene playing guitar and drums in bands while evolving her artistry into what would later become Black Belt Eagle Scout.
Mother of My Children is a life chapter gently preserved. The access listeners have to such vulnerability feels special and generous.
Mother of My Children Tracklist:
1. Soft Stud
2. Indians Never Die
3. Keyboard
4. Mother of My Children
5. Yard
6. I Don’t Have You In My Life
7. Just Lie Down
8. Sam, A Dream
“a project that has virtually perfected the art of writing about romance”
– Vulture, Summer Music Preview
“an intoxicating, pristine cut of melancholy pop”
– The A.V. Club, 2018’s Second Half Preview
“A retro sensibility is nothing new for Tatum, but the urge sounds more fleshed out on
[‘Letting Go’], more bright and ambitious. . . The effort to stay true to his digital
creations shines through in the tight, sparkly rendering.” — Stereogum
“[‘Letting Go’]s chiming guitar and Tatum’s sweet falsetto in the chorus bring you to a pastel-painted room where there’s a slow-motion pillow fight going on.” — Paste
“On ‘Letting Go,’ Jack Tatum’s Wild Nothing project is working in familiar dreamy and nostalgic territory, though this is a little more frenetic and muscular than usual. By the time the bridge hits, though, Wild Nothing shows a willingness to experiment and wade into uncomfortable waters. It’s enough to pique interest into what’s to come.” – Uproxx
Wild Nothing, the project of Los Angeles-based Jack Tatum, will release his fourth album, Indigo, on August 31st via Captured Tracks. He’ll tour North America for a month beginning mid-October with newly announced support, Men I Trust. After presenting the chiming guitar and sweeping synths of lead single, “Letting Go,” Wild Nothing now shares the ’80s-heavy “Partners In Motion” featuring saxophonist Taylor Plenn. As discussed withFADER, it’s a song he’s been inching towards for years.
Recorded at LA’s Sunset Sound and produced by Tatum and Jorge Elbrecht, Indigo is its own cyborg world, utilizing the artful mechanisms of human touch with the precision of technology to create the classic, pristine sound Tatum has been seeking his entire career. After a decade of making music as Wild Nothing, Indigo finds Tatum at his most efficient, calculated, and confident. It’s both a return to the fresh, transcendent sweep of his debut, 2010’s Gemini, and a culmination of heights reached, paths traveled, and lessons learned while creating the follow-ups, Nocturne and Life of Pause.
To make Indigo, Tatum confronted the Man vs. Machine dichotomy by seizing on the surrounding synergy. In his studio, he would write pieces of songs with whatever instruments and programs held his interest on any given day. He built a series of highly detailed demos, intending to record the final package swiftly with a live band in a studio and in a clear, bright, 1980’s-inspired fidelity. “I wanted it to sound like a classic studio record, as close as I could get it there. It just boils down to me wanting to fit into some larger narrative, musically, in terms of these artists I love,” says Tatum. “I think about how my music will age. Ideas of ‘timeless’ are going to be different—so if Indigo is not timeless then it’s at least ‘out of time.’”
Wild Nothing Tour Dates: (all shows with Men I Trust) Tue. Oct. 16 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Wed. Oct. 17 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West Thu. Oct. 18 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn Fri. Oct. 19 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa Sat. Oct. 20 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall Sun. Oct. 21 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk Tue. Oct. 23 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf Wed. Oct. 24 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Thu. Oct. 25 – Santa Ana, CA @ Observatory Fri. Oct. 26 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater Sat. Oct. 27 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent Tue. Oct. 30 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall Wed. Oct. 31 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial Vancouver Thu. Nov. 1 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos Fri. Nov. 2 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux Sat. Nov. 3 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge Sun. Nov. 4 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater Tue. Nov. 6 – Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown Wed. Nov. 7 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center Thu. Nov. 8 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre Fri. Nov. 9 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Sat. Nov. 10 – Detroit, MI @ El Club Mon. Nov. 12 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House Tue. Nov. 13 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre Wed. Nov. 14 – Boston, MA @ Royale Nightclub Fri. Nov. 16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel Sat. Nov. 17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts Sun. Nov. 18 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Chicago’s Diagonal have released their newest record, Tomorrow, and it’s such a good shoegaze record that my wife said it might make her like shoegaze music (which she just doesn’t understand).
