Surf Cassette are a garage pop trio from Milan, Italy whose self-titled album is both a good rock record and a healthy tonic for dreary days.
“Wasted,” the opener, deserves to be a rock anthem with its ear-catching riffs and catchy lyrics about how stupid people get when they’re drunk. “Lust for Life” isn’t a cover of the Iggy Pop classic (although I’m sure Surf Cassette could do a fine version of one), but rather a nice slice of garage rock played from a sunny Italian beach. The keyboard accompaniment on it keeps it bright. “Mess in My Head” is like an early Wavves track with its surf guitar, slightly echoed vocals, and light approach to the heavy subject of a relationship going wrong.
The beat on “Rebel” is infectious and will get your toes tapping no matter where you are or what you’re doing. “Wonder Woman” isn’t about the super heroine, but it is a slightly sad song about a woman who is so good that the singer knows he can’t do their relationship justice (“She’s a wonder woman. What am I supposed to be?”). “Maybe I’m Not Sober” gets back to the snotty, garage punk and is a nice companion piece to “Wasted” – as if it’s the same story told from the perspective of the drunk in the first song.
“Summer’s End” is the band’s plea for summer and good times to stick around for a while longer because what comes after might be a long bummer. The album ends with “Portami Via,” a good, loud, crunchy guitar-driven send-off that probably blows the back off clubs in Milan.
It’s always nice to discover bands from other countries, especially when they’re this fun. Catch their wave.
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I was happy to learn just a couple weeks ago that Canadian pop-punk band Partnerwere playing at Schuba’s. I wanted to see Partner at Chicago’s Riot Fest last year, but my plans (and theirs) to attend fell through and I couldn’t make the festival.
I was still able to catch them on only the third show they’ve played in the U.S., however, and shame on you if you weren’t there.
First up were local post-punks So Pretty, who were like a combination of X-Ray Spex, Witch Mountain, and Bikini Kill. Guitarist / co-lead vocalist Rachel Manter unleashed vocal fury at our new President on “Progress,” lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist Ashley Holman screamed about wanting to be “punk rock royalty” on “Blueberry Blues,” and they got funky on “Limbo” (with bassist James Seminara on vocals).
So Pretty
Next up was another local band – Faux Furrs. They played a neat mix of shoegaze, surf, Americana, and dream pop. There were songs about everything from robots falling in love to building a colony on the moon. They had a clean, crisp sound that’s hard to pull off live.
Faux Furrs
Partner closed the show, and told me before their set that they hoped everyone would like it. Kevin, their bassist for the tour, said they were very happy about the number of people there. The people there were happy they showed up because Partner knocked their first Chicago show out of the park. Seriously. You will be upset that you missed this show when Partner become the Next Big Thing out of Canada.
Partner
Opening with “Born to Rock,” and proceeding to blast Schuba’s harder than a New Brunswick blizzard, Partner ripped through soon-to-be big hits like “Personal Weekend” and “Hot Knives.” “The ‘Ellen’ Page” is better live than you can imagine. Other fun moments were “Gross Secret,” “Everybody Knows You’re High,” and “Sex Thing.”
A typical day at the office for Josee Caron and Lucy Niles.
One of the best parts of Partner’s set was their reaction when it was finished. They were humbled at the outpouring of praise from everyone afterwards and elated that their first foray into the States had been full of great audiences.
“That wasn’t even the full album (which, hopefully, is coming this fall),” Josee Caron told me after their set. “We’ve got about fifty songs.”
Let’s hope for more stuff soon. They’ve whet our appetites and left us craving more. Again, you’re going to regret missing this show.
There are enough power chords in this photo to jump start a Ford F250 pick-up.
Keep your mind open.
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Recorded over the course of four years, Oczy Mlody by the Flaming Lips is a great way to kick off 2017. It tells a tale of sadness and regrets that turns into a story of resilience, love, and hope by the end.
The title track is a keyboard and synth-driven instrumental that would be at home in the opening credits of a movie set in the not-too-distant future. “How??” has lead singer Wayne Coyne issuing a call to action. “Legalize it. Every drug right now. Are you with us or are you burnin’ out? Kill your rock n roll motherfuckin’ hip-hop sound.” The lyrics might be angry, but the birdsong and distant, warped vocals make one think the rally cries are actually riddles.
“There Should Be Unicorns,” with its heavy synth bass (and guest vocals by Reggie Watts), asks where the bright, enlightened future promised to us by various leaders is. The Flaming Lips demand we enact this future if possible. One suggestion? “…if the police show up, we’ll bribe them into helping us steal the light of love from the rainbow sluts that live next door.”
“Sunrise (Eyes of the Young)” has Coyne wishing he could go back in time to hear a message he ignored. It’s mostly his vocals and Steven Drozd’s slightly echoed piano until some sad, falling synths ooze into the song. “Nigdy Nie (Never No)” starts to turn the album away from painful memories. The lyrics are mostly the word “No” until the second half when they become “Yeah.” The poppy synths are also a bit happier than the last track, almost like the band has realized things are going to be okay.
“Galaxy I Sink” has Coyne questioning his mortality and wondering if we will return to the stardust of which we are made. The desert guitar in it (backed with the sound of frogs chirping, no less) is perfect for such a cosmic conundrum. “One Night While Hunting for Fairies and Witches and Wizards to Kill” is probably the closest you’ll get to being in one of Wayne Coyne’s dreams. He describes going into a tree, trying to kill a wizard, being mortally wounded, and then healed by magical beings. I don’t know what it all means, but it’s one of the best tracks on the record. It’s dark wave filtered through an opium vision. “Do Glowy” continues this trip with even trippier synths and lyrics about getting “glowy and drippy.”
The frogs return in “Listening to the Frogs with the Demon Eyes.” Strange industrial sounds mix with shaky synths and dream-pop guitars. The song is mostly about death, but it’s also about faith: “I can’t see the moon, but I know it’s there. I can’t see the end, but I know it’s there. I can’t see the sun, but I feel it’s there. I can’t see your love, but I know it’s there.”
It flows well into “The Castle,” a song about a woman who’s lost her mind after, I think, being heartbroken (or from suffering a massive head wound, I’m not sure which). “Almost Home (Blisko Domu)” is a reminder that actions have consequences, so wisely choose your path. Coyne sings (as some cool, almost hip-hop bass and grooves kick in), “The thought soon becomes the word, the word then becomes the deed. If the deed is evil, blame the thought it is the seed.”
“We A Family” (with guest vocals by Miley Cyrus) is a tale of Coyne missing his love as he drives “somewhere south of Wichita” and she’s somewhere else under the moon. They’re apart but still connected. Cyrus’ voice mixes well with Coyne’s. They’ve worked together in the past, so hearing them together again to finish the album is a nice touch.
This is already one of the best records of the year. The Flaming Lips can mix dark wave, psychedelia, and electro in ways few bands can. Oczy Mlody ends with laughter. It reminds us to remember joy and have faith. We need that advice in these times.
Hailing from Arizona, Stratus Nimbus play a furious type of stoner and psychedelic rock with heavy metal influences. “Equality,” the opening track on their self-titled six-song EP, is loaded with guitars that would be right at home on Nirvana’s Bleach album as much as they would on a Black Sabbath record. The vocals, by Doug Dowd, are so full of reverb that they almost sound like they were recorded underwater.
The guitars on “Can’t Break Free” by Tom Goddard and Dan Dowd roll over you like waves breaking on rocky shores and threatening to drag you under or smash you to pieces. “A Walk in the Dark” is a great, creepy track that is a cool mix of Alice in Chains, Dio, and I think something from an unpublished Lovecraft story. Linda Rydelius’ vocals on it are like a dire warning to travelers on a bleak mountain pass.
“Galaxy Girl” is fine spacey psych. I love the way the guitars roar and whisper at the same time throughout it. “You Take” clearly shows the band’s love of heavy metal, as it sounds like a late 70’s track you’d hear blasting from your brother’s van as he cruised Main Street. The EP ends with “Rain Jam,” which is crunchy-punchy stoner rock that probably knocks you back on your heels live.
These cats have good things ahead of them if this EP is any indication. It’s loud, distorted, and weird, as good rock from the desert should be.
Keep your mind open.
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I had to research what the title of True Widow’s album Avvolgere means. It’s an Italian term that means to wrap up or wind around something. It’s appropriate, because this album wraps around your mind with a lot of good, dark shoegaze that changes the feel of the air around you.
“Back Shredder” starts the album, and I wonder if the song is about self-flagellation or being under the whip of a demanding boss, Dom / Domme, or both. The guitar is as heavy as the steps of a high-heeled boot into a dungeon, and the vocals sound like they were recorded in such a place. It’s a solid start. “Theurgist” refers to someone who practices theurgy (ritualistic magic with the intent of invoking gods to improve oneself). The bass is something that would make Peter Hook proud, and the vocals seem to indicate that the singer is trying to bring back an ex-lover more than invoke a god (or are they one and the same?).
Next is the cryptically titled “F.W.T.S.: L.T.M.” It’s pure shoegaze, with slow cymbal-driven beats and distorted riffs that carry the vocals like a leaf on a river that might turn into raging rapids at any moment. I’ve read that True Widow refers to their music as “stonergaze,” and that description is apt for “The Trapper and the Trapped.” Male and female vocals bounce off each other as the bass hits like a blunt axe and the drums pound out a funeral dirge.
“O.O.T.P.V.” is another cryptic title, but don’t worry about it because good heavens is this song fantastic. The way the guitars chug along and then break open the chorus (“I try to run away, but I can’t seem to run. There’s something in the way, and I’m too scared to look.” – An anthem for all of us trying to escape reality at one time or another.) will make you stop and pay attention. “Entheogen” is a term for any plant-based chemical substance you ingest to induce an altered state of consciousness for religious purposes. The title explains the sweat lodge-like sound of the guitar (which isn’t much different from some spaghetti western scores) and the mysterious lyrics. The sweat lodge drums come out in “To All That He Elong,” which is nothing but drums, acoustic guitar, and sad vocals. “Sante” (French for “health”) is has more heavy guitar and bass that reminds me of Hum tracks if Hum had a female lead singer. “Grey Erasure” reminds me of early Jesus and Mary Chain, and the closer, “What Finds Me,” is six minutes of heavy shoegaze mixed with a bit of doom rock sludge.
“Stonergaze” might be my new favorite musical genre, and I have True Widow to thank for introducing me to it. If you’re in the right mood, this is the album for you. If you’re not in the right mood, this album might put you there.
Keep your mind open.
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Texas psych / prog-rockers Dayluta Means Kindness have returned with another album of mind-altering instrumental cosmic rock – When You’re Young You’re Invincible.
After a brief, feedback-looped “Intro,” the band bursts forward with “Warzawa.” It’s loud, bright, and shimmering with layers upon layers of guitars before it drifts into a bass solo that reminds me of light rain before the whole thing launches like an eagle launching itself off a mountain peak.
The title track starts off with dreamy guitars that are the sounds your brain thinks it’s hearing when you see the sun reflected off a rippling lake. It blooms at about the 4:00 mark into a song that evokes the bravery of a kid jumping off a tire swing into that rippling lake for the first time.
After a brief “Segue,” DMK treats us to over ten minutes of dreamscape music on “Fort Lebanon.” It grows into something like a rolling thunderstorm across a meadow on a summer day. “Young Savagery and General Debauchery” could be, thematically, a companion piece to the title track. It doesn’t have a savage or debauched opening. It’s almost idyllic. Perhaps DMK is trying to tell the generation coming up behind them that cockiness, base pleasures, and ego are all fleeting things that hold us back from tranquility. The song transforms into a stunning piece of heavy prog-rock that never loses its shoegaze influences.
There’s an “Outro” that leaves us with a bit of a somber note, like we’re waking up from a cryptic dream. The whole record brings dreams to mind – dreams of the future and the past, mainly. It’s a dream worth having and worth exploring.
I got an e-mail from a band called Bad Luck Gamblers who wanted to know if I’d like to hear and review their latest record – Casino Maldito. They’re a psychobilly band from Brazil. How could I resist?
It turned out to be a good decision, because these three cats are putting down some serious grooves. The title track (about a cursed casino) opens the record and travels by at approximately 80mph. “Like a Bat” has some jaw-dropping slap bass as they sing about the long-term effects of late night partying. “8%” has a fun country twang to it, but the rock guitars and auto factory assembly line precision drumming aren’t far behind.
I hope the horror film of the same name starring Jamie Lee Curtis inspired “Terror Train”. They mention that it’s loaded with zombies and surrounded by bats, and the number on the engine is 666. The guitar solo rips through it like a runaway locomotive, and is that a Theremin I hear in the background? That’s a win. You can’t have a psychobilly album without a song about a car, and “Rusty T-Bucket” certainly qualifies. I like the way it starts off slow, like an engine having a bit of trouble turning over, and then roars to life.
A sure sign of a good psychobilly record is an instrumental track in which the band cuts loose. “Thylacinus Attack” is that track on Casino Maldito. All three Gamblers shred for about two glorious minutes. “Somebody Stole My Pet Possum” is goofy fun, but the guitar solo on it is serious business.
Another must-have on any psychobilly record worth its salt is a song about Ole Scratch, and “Drinking with the Devil” has a cool swing vibe at the bridge that’s about as slick as Satan’s Brylcreem. “Shoulder Mount” blasts by as quickly as a Stinger missile. The closer, “No Chips No Chicks,” grows in velocity until its at mosh pit-level speed, even though I think it’s a song about a party being lame because there isn’t a girl or even a bag of chips there.
I don’t know how Bad Luck Gamblers found me, but I’m glad they did. There’s no gamble on Casino Maldito. It’s a sure thing.
Keep your mind open.
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Wayne “The Train” Hancock is a living legend and one of the best country crooners and guitarists working today. His seven-song album Songs from Slingin’ Rhythm is another fine entry in his catalogue and just what you need in these contentious times.
“Slingin’ Rhythm” is a song about life on the road and his love for even the rough parts of it (“I sing 15 hours a week just to pay my bills and rent. By the time I head back home, most of it is spent.”). Theguitar work is crisp and slick throughout the whole track, making you want to catch him live as soon as possible.
“Wear Out Your Welcome” has Hancock telling an ex-girlfriend to get lost. “You’re gonna wear out your welcome, treating me like you do. Why don’t you leave me alone? ‘Cause you and I are through.” The sentiment continues on the fun and swinging “Divorce Me C.O.D.” It has a great toe-tapping beat and a guitar solo that will make you grin. “Ride” has a bit of a rockabilly edge that is great for fast drives down country roads.
“Viper of Melody” is almost a blues track with its slow rhythm and lap steel wails, but you can hear Hancock grinning through a good portion of the vocals. “Man of the Road” is another salute to Hancock’s live on the road and how he won’t give it up until he’s dead. The steel guitar on this is fantastic. “Now matter where I’ve been, no matter where I roam, I’m a shootin’ star from Texas, but the highway is my home,” Hancock sings on “Shootin’ Star from Texas” as his backing band puts down sizzling guitar work and a Johnny Cash beat.
Few people are playing this type of country music anymore, so it’s always great to find it and especially so when it’s this good.
Keep your mind open.
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Earthless are the only band to be in my top 10 concerts of 2016 twice. This was the second time I’d seen them and the first time I’d been close to the stage. It was a stunning performance that nearly left me speechless. They were also cool cats who were happy to sign my concert poster after their performance.
Night Beats are the only band to be in the top 30 concerts of 2016 three times. Their Levitation Chicago performance was downright dangerous and established the swagger and tight chops I’d see from them all year. They, too, were also cool cats who signed my copy of their new album Who Sold My Generation for me after their set.
#3 – Deap Vallyat the Chicago House of Blues October 13th
They were first on a bill with Death from Above 1979 and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and they set the bar so high that the other two bands couldn’t match it. They came to kick ass and take names…and they were all out of names. They, too, were cool cats who chatted with me after their set. Everyone was still talking about their performance as we were walking out of the venue.
I didn’t know much about Gary Wilson before seeing him at Levitation Chicago. I walked out a devoted fan. His show was part-lounge act, part-psychedelic freak-out, and part-performance art piece. He creeped out a woman next to me, made others laugh, others cheers, and others stand there with a “What the hell am I seeing and hearing?” look on their face. I couldn’t stop talking about his performance for weeks and haven’t stopped recommending him to everyone since.
Only one concert had a moment that made me cry in 2016, and that was when Bebel Gilberto and her guitarist performed a cover of Radiohead‘s “Creep.” Seeing this member of bossa nova royalty in a great venue (The acoustics in Ann Arbor’s Powerhouse Theatre are sublime.) was a dream come true, as I’ve had a serious crush on her and her music for many years. It was also the first show I attended on a press pass thanks to this blog, so it will always hold a special place in my memory.
Thanks for reading. I hope to get to just as many shows in 2017. Wish me luck and let me know about bands I need to see this year.
We’re in the top ten of the my favorite live shows of 2016.
#10 – The Flaming Lipsat Middle Waves Fest in Ft. Wayne, Indiana September 17th
It was a triumphant return to Fort Wayne after nearly 30 years for them. The show was big, bright, and full of love. It was in the middle of the election season and just what we all needed at the time.
#9 – Earthlessat the Empty Bottle in Chicago December 2nd
Earthless is easily one of the best live acts out there right now, and this was my first time seeing them in a small venue. I don’t know how the Empty Bottle was still standing by the time they were done because it was among the loudest and heaviest sets I’ve seen there.
#8 – John Carpenterat the Masonic Temple Theatre in Detroit July 15th
“I got a movie and a concert,” my wife said after seeing a screening of Escape from New York and then John Carpenter, his son, his godson, and the rest of his band play a fantastic retrospective of his film score music. It was also in a huge gothic structure, so that made it all the better.
#7 – Screaming Femalesat the Brass Rail in Ft. Wayne, Indiana June 26th
I’d wanted to see them for a couple years, and seeing them an hour’s drive away with my best friend in a venue not much bigger than the bottom floor of my house was one of my favorite memories of 2016. They were even kind enough to let me interview in their tour van. They crushed it, leaving most of the crowd dumbstruck.
Another band I’d waited years, even decades, to see was L7 and their sold-out reunion tour show in Chicago was one of the best performances I’d seen from any band in years. They hadn’t lost a thing and showed pretenders how it’s done.
Good grief! If these shows were so good, who’s in the top five? Come back tomorrow and see!
Keep your mind open.
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