review: mazzy star, psychic ills at the vic 11.13.13

For some reason I was expecting tonight to be a disaster—the past few days have been a mixed bag and I figured tonight would continue the trend. I should’ve taken the announcement that was made multiple times while I was waiting in line for the doors to open at the Vic tonight as a sign: no cell phone usage would be allowed during the concert. No pictures, no audio, no video recording. Anyone caught violating these rules would be thrown out of the show as per the band’s request. What should’ve clued me in further was how little of an impact this announcement made on anyone waiting in line around me. Once inside I walked up the stairs to check out the Vic’s balcony for the first time ever. I didn’t know there were seats up there or a wonderful unencumbered view of the stage from pretty much any seat. I had planned on getting there early to catch Psychic Ills, who aren’t one of my favourite bands, but I’ve seen them twice before (once was fantastic and the other was kind of a disaster). I don’t have their newest release, but I do have their other three (I like ‘Dins’ and ‘Hazed Dream’ well enough). They came out as a five piece and played a thoroughly decent set of more laid back psych. The emphasis was more on structured songs than before (the disastrous time that I saw them they did a completely improvised set of meandering experimental drone and it just didn’t quite land on its feet)—granted their songs are still very drone-based, but it was a nice change and I thought that it worked well. Their mix wasn’t the greatest, but it was better than some sets I’ve witnessed at the Vic. Plus they played 'Electric Life' from 'Dins' which was always a favourite of mine by them. They started 15 minutes late and when they were done at nine Mazzy Star’s crew set to work quickly on making the stage look nice for them—candles were lit and perched on every amp. Some sort of shower caddy/cupcake stand looking apparatus was set up next to Hope Sandoval’s microphone—it had four different surfaces that each had lit candles, a tambourine, a harmonica or three, what I assume were some kind of monitor controls and a sampler that Sandoval used to pipe ambient music out to the crowd between songs so as to maintain an atmosphere throughout the evening.

The houselights crept down lower and lower over the course of a half-hour and then the band came out and played a beautiful version of ‘Look on Down From the Bridge’ under soft blue and orange lights—a sunrise projected behind them. The projections, the candles, the dim lighting and the music made for a very immersive and ambient experience that was difficult not to get lost in. I was shocked at the clarity of the mix and the beauty of the entire thing. It’s one of my favourite songs of theirs for a start and I’ve always wanted to hear it performed live. Dave Roback’s guitar playing was careful and delicate—each note so deliberate and graceful, the perfect counterpoint to Sandoval’s soft vocals as well as the drums and the keyboards. The crowd was dead silent through the entire thing erupting into applause right after the song ended. I’ve seen Sandoval’s solo show twice—both occasions some of my most fondly remembered concert experiences—but Mazzy Star left both of those concerts in the dust. It was one of those concerts where you are aware that you’ve gotten your money’s worth three songs in (the last time this happened to me was when Neko Case played ‘Favorite’ at the Park West in 2007). The set ramped up slightly from the somber and elegant beginning when ‘In the Kingdom,’ the first song from their new album ‘Seasons of Your Day,’ made it’s appearance. I couldn’t believe how quiet everyone was, how great the mix sounded, how powerfully captivating the songs and ambience were or that I was actually there. Gem after gem after gem. The highlight of the show for me was when they played a dynamic version of ‘Does Someone Have Your Baby Now?’ with each band member entering the mix subtly as the song went on which went into ‘Ride it On’ and then into the long dormant ‘Into Dust’ which I wasn’t expecting to hear. After howling at the beginning of the song the audience snapped to attention—it was one of those times where you’re in a giant room full of people hanging on a performer’s every word. At one point I could hear the hand dryer in the women’s room out in the hallway it was so quiet. Talk about captivating.

There was a lot of yelling ‘I love you, Hope!’ ‘Hope you’re beautiful!’ going on, which normally isn’t received well by the band. It made me a bit worried as the night went on, but Sandoval thanked the crowd after nearly every song (which is atypical from what I’ve heard on bootlegs). The band played a perfect version of ‘Halah’ and ‘Fade Into You’ that sent me back to 1994 when I first heard both and then ended with ‘Blue Flower’ and ‘Disappear.’ They came back for two encores ('California,' 'So Tonight That I Might See' and 'I've Been Let Down')—which was incredibly and wonderfully unexpected bringing their playing time to a very generous hour-and-a-half.

Were there songs of theirs I wanted to hear and didn’t get to? Of course, but this is a band who I would want to hear every song in their discography played live, so expecting to hear all of my favourites in one evening seems kind of foolish. I’d rate this as the best show I’ve ever seen at the Vic—even better than Sigur Rós in 2001 and Godspeed You! Black Emporer in 2010. It was the polar opposite of the Black Rebel Motorcyle Club earlier in the year, which was marred by a douchey crowd and a rather muddy mix. This was one of those evenings that was absolutely blessed that I will always remember as one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.

shalloboi- 'deprivation'

So here's the new shalloboi album. I wanted to release it on vinyl, but since we're in the middle of releasing the 'field of flowers' singles it was apparent that releasing this album on vinyl wouldn't be possible for quite a long time. Everything about this record has been so spontaneous and effortless- probably the only time I've made a record that wasn't planned ahead of time at all- that putting it on a shelf for an indeterminate amount of time seemed impossible. It started out with '14.2.12' as a possible 7" release. '14.2.12' was the first song I'd written in quite a long time- from May of 2011 to January 2012. So much went down in 2011 that really knocked the wind out of our sails- so much drama in the band. So much that I not only thought about calling it quits completely, but briefly announced the last strings show as being the band's last show. Initially all we were going to do in 2011 was take a year off from releasing anything, but after all of the drama, the struggle, the heartache and the inevitable end of that phase of the band (which ended up being a bit messy) we were so drained and depleted that it took a really long time to get going again. We're still trying to get back into the habit of playing live regularly.

It might not sound like a long time, but seven months without writing a single song was a first for me in my songwriting life. While it's true that I've been working from a backlog of about 60 songs for the past three years it was still alarming to have gone that long without writing a single new song. What kickstarted the process was being able to play a few shows as a duo the way that we had back when we were playing in support of 'down to sleep.' Without three other people to consider we could play as loudly as we wanted to again. As a bonus we were able to explore our more spontaneous side more fully like we had in those days. I'd never thought it had that much value, being able to go off on a musical tangent without warning, but when we started practicing for those shows it became apparent very quickly what we'd been missing since. Since it'd been so difficult to get everyone together and keep them all focused towards the end and having so many things to consider when picking out the songs to play the release of all of that external stress was a nice reminder of how much we enjoy what we do. It's a shame that bands get so bogged down with so much external nonsense that seems so important and can't be overcome- I'd always thought that was kind of a cop-out, but now that I've lived through it it's not as easy to ignore.

By the time we had our third show booked for April of last year half of our set was made up of entirely new songs and as I worked on them more and more came. The recordings were done quickly and were incredibly enjoyable- there wasn't a moment of stress present in the creation of these songs. I was able to figure out new approaches to my recording style and I was able to pull things off that I'd never thought possible. Suddenly the record was done. Even the mixing was brief, which normally is the longest part of the process. The immediacy burned and I wanted to get these tracks mastered as soon as possible, but since we're working on paying down our back taxes there simply isn't extra money to spend on mastering, even at the low rate we've had at Magneto Mastering for years. I started messing around with the tracks in Adobe Audition and figured out something that achieved what I was after. I'd meant to sit on these mastered versions for a while longer, but one day I was out and about listening to it on my iPod and comparing it to records that had a similar sound that I was after and I realized that the record was done. Almost completely by accident. Since the overarching goal is to one day press it to vinyl and since I would have to pay for that to be done professionally it seemed natural to try it myself for the digital release, since it won't be coming out in any other digital form (except for some CDr promos). Plus the idea of playing these songs live for a year (possibly two) without being able to point people in their direction seemed so out-of-sync with the spirit of the whole thing. Plus there are other releases waiting in the wings and it's getting to the point where I need to start cranking this stuff out so I can move on from some of it (I have a double record that I've been working on since 2006- I'd like to get that monkey off my back). Plus, we'll have to figure out where we're going next, because for the first time ever I have no idea. Since this record came together without any planning it seems that not knowing where we're going is something to be excited about.

review: my bloody valentine at the aragon ballroom 11.3.13

Despite a few technical hiccups and the miserably awful sound at the Aragon Ballroom my bloody valentine turned in an absolutely blinding performance last night. How many bands get to kick off a magical evening with a song as beautiful and amazing as ‘Sometimes’ off of an album as unique as ‘Loveless’? I was at the band’s last appearance at the Aragon in 2008 and while that previous appearance had better sound (relatively speaking), last night featured a better mix and a more assured, solid performance. The band has been touring non-stop since before the release of their third album (and the crown jewel new release of the year as far as I’m concerned) ‘m b v’ and it definitely shows. During their previous stop I was delighted to hear ‘Come in Alone’ off of ‘Loveless’ as it had been a rarity live up until that tour, but it was bogged down and sluggish and rife with technical issues. Tonight when they played it the song flowed beautifully and bounced with an energy it lacks on record. ‘Sometimes’ was a song I’d been secretly hoping to hear, but wasn’t counting on so as not be disappointed. When they opened with it I took it as a sign that it was alright to expect the evening to be magical.

A few other key differences—the band have recruited a fifth member to flesh out their new songs live by filling in on an extra guitar, keyboards and some backing vocals. Also, the mix was much richer and more diverse. The emphasis was still on volume (I wore the earplugs and my ears are still ringing a bit) but Shields’ guitar was not the dominant ingredient in the mix like it was last time—for one I could hear Bilinda Butcher’s guitar playing without having to strain at all. Then there’s the obvious—the four new songs in the set, which sounded spectacular and were probably the strongest-sounding gems of the night. ‘New you’ sounded clear and taut and featured bassist Debbie Googe on backing vocals replicating Butcher’s overdubbed maze of cooing on the album version. ‘Only tomorrow’ could’ve gone on forever as far as I was concerned—the three-guitar attack that closed it out was breathtaking. Then there was ‘wonder 2’—which was dynamic, complex and impressive to watch anyone pull off successfully in a live environment. How all five of them played interlocked guitars along to its clipped rhythm and flanged jungle beat was beyond me. The song seems to have a billion chords that change almost at random. They also played a fierce version of ‘Tremolo’ EP highlight ‘Honey Power’ where the fullness of the mix really came to life—those three overlapped guitars during the intro and the breaks were perfect.

While there was a lot repeated from their previous outing none of the songs sounded tired or uninspired. Highlights from the older stuff for me were ‘Cigarette in Your Bed,’ ‘Only Shallow,’ ‘Soon,’ and ‘To Here Knows When’ all sounding more invigorated than they had in 2008. ‘I Only Said,’ ‘You Never Should’ and ‘Feed Me With Your Kiss’ were the only casualties of the impenetrable wading pool of bassy mush. Then, of course, there was ‘You Made me Realise’ and it’s ‘holocaust section.’ Somehow, no matter how obligatory or expected it is it never fails to deliver as the overwhelming sensory-deprivation experience it is always hyped to be—truly beautiful. During the show I kept pushing my earplugs all the way into my ears as I would get a brief glimpse of how truly loud it was in the room while they expanded back into place. Every atom of air surrounding me quaked like a million tuning forks during the impenetrable wall of noise. It was amazing. I closed my eyes and let the whole thing push me back and forth as it saw fit. Complete surrender. When they broke back into the song it sounded like a soft whisper in contrast. It was a bit truncated at only 12 minutes, which is as good a note as any to end on—how many bands do you hear any such sentence applied to them?

review: thee oh sees at the empty bottle 10.22.13

This would be my fifth review of an Oh Sees show. What new things could I possibly have to say about them at this point? I wasn’t expecting to have much myself, but was pleasantly surprised by the dynamic range the band displayed Tuesday night (the first of two shows) at the Empty Bottle. I’ve come to expect them to play a lengthy, sweat-drenched set containing a decent selection of their best songs at break-neck speed with a few stretched to expansive and varied lengths. Last night was very diverse and rich tonally and the emphasis was turned to the doomy vibes buried under the warm fuzz and skuzz of their newest (and best to date if you ask me) album ‘Floating Coffin.’ I figured they’d skip most of my favourites from it in favor of songs that would get the sold out crowd moving. Instead they played all of my favourites—‘No Spell,’ ‘Minotaur’ and the gloriously dirgey, sludgy drone fest ‘Strawberries 1 + 2’—in addition to the tracks I was expecting (i.e. ‘I Come From the Mountain,’ ‘Toe Cutter – Thumb Buster’ and ‘Tunnel Time).

The expanded versions of live standbys ‘Block of Ice’ and ‘Dead Energy’ were present as were standards ‘Tidal Wave’ and ‘Meat Step Lively.’ Even though their ability to speed through their already fast songs wasn’t the order of the night the audience remained engaged and responsive. They ended their main set with an understated version of ‘Minotaur.’ What was most fascinating about this was the fact that it represented a shift in main man John Dwyer’s current iteration of Thee Oh Sees—which has specialized in tightly-played, cracked-out, trippy, psychedelic garage punk—which has now successfully incorporated the restrained, eerie and haunted beauty of the earliest stages of Thee Oh Sees as a full band. I’m hoping this means when I talk about how much I love ‘Sucks Blood’ and ‘Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion’ with a fan newer to the band that they are less willing to dismiss the band’s quieter stuff so quickly. Since Dwyer and the band have figured out a way to get the beauty and dynamics they are capable of married with their unparalleled speed and controlled abandon it seems that they are now, somehow, capable of anything.

Their encore represented this more than anything—‘Putrifiers ii’ standout ‘Lupine Dominus’ followed by the heavy, loud/quiet ‘Moon Sick’ EP standout ‘Humans Be Swayed’ (which they also ended the late set with at Logan Square Auditorium last year). The way the band let the latter track wind down to nothing, Dwyer holding his plastic guitar cocked like a rifle before exploding back into a jittery, fuzzy drone delivered the goods in a way that the band only hinted at during the Logan Square Auditorium show. I remember them playing ‘No Spell’ and ‘Humans Be Swayed’ there and feeling that they were on the verge of some significant breakthrough. When ‘Floating Coffin’ arrived in the spring this breakthrough crystallized and the band’s set at the Empty Bottle proved to be the final piece of the puzzle. After 14 rock solid albums how they have managed to pull this off is beyond me but, as always with Thee Oh Sees, I find it difficult to worry too much about it.

diary 10.20.13- cover the windows and the walls

Diary 10.20.13- cover the windows and the walls by Shalloboi on Mixcloud

song- artist- album

1. spirit in front of me- crystal stilts- 'nature noir'
2. fragility- white fence- 'pink gorilla' 7"
3. glyphs- sic alps- s/t
4. girl- disappears- 'era'
5. i suck at life- bare mutants- 'the affliction'
6. the waiting- angel olsen- 'half way home'
7. i've gotta stop- mazzy star- 'seasons of your day'
8. hotel 2 tango- sharon van etten- 'we are fine' 7"
9. the keepers- ty segall- 'sleeper'
10. lux- death and vanilla- 'from above' 7"
11. millenium blues- clear horizon- s/t
12. cover the windows and the walls- grouper- 'cover the windows and the walls'
13. dungtitled (in a major)- stars of the lid- '...and their refinement of the decline'
14. suhr- loveliescrushing- 'glissceule'
15. bolt- loomer- 'ceiling'
16. wonder 2- my bloody valentine- 'm b v'
17. come down easy- spacemen 3- 'forged prescriptions'

review: crystal stilts, zachary cale at the empty bottle 10.10.13

I haven’t ventured out of the house to catch much live music lately—in fact, the last show I saw was Sharon van Etten and Speck Mountain in Millenium Park in June. It’s been even longer since I’ve been back to the Empty Bottle, which is my favourite local venue of its size. Crystal Stilts’ stop at the Bottle was something I heard about before hearing anything about the release of their new album ‘Nature Noir.’ I saw them twice there following the release of 2011’s excellent and energetic ‘In Love With Oblivion’ and found them to be more impressive live than I was expecting. They remain rare amongst their Brooklyn-based peers in that they seemed more concerned with songwriting and atmosphere than much of anything else—they haven’t cultivated much of an image to speak of and their music has always retained a quiet integrity and sense of purpose.

I have to admit that one of the reasons I opted to go in the first place was because it was on a weeknight and neither of the band’s previous two stops had reached sold out status. If I can’t go to a seated show with a considerate audience, a weeknight with a near-capacity crowd is the next best thing. There’s something alluring about catching a great band live in a room that isn’t packed to the rafters—it usually means that everyone who’s there really wants to be there. It was a bit of a shame to see the Stilts play a set that was plagued with sound problems and microphonic feedback to a half-empty room. I couldn’t figure out why this was the entire night and have concluded that it’s because of the more restrained and atmospheric arc of ‘Nature Noir.’ Where ‘In Love With Oblivion’ took their sound and shot it through with some urgency and speed the new album is more like a mix between the more fully orchestrated tracks on the ‘Radiant Door’ EP and the band’s debut self-titled EP. It probably didn’t help that Pitchfork wrote a really lackluster review of it, either. The energy of their set reflected this as well. They seemed to fall victim to the feeling this entire week has had of everything being in retrograde.

They started with a handful of ‘In Love With Oblivion’ tracks—‘Sycamore Tree,’ ‘Silver Sun’—before diving into the new album for the bulk of their set. They were able to recreate the textural richness of the new songs beautifully and effortlessly live, the juxtaposition of the two albums’ sound made for a nice contrast. ‘Star Crawl’ sounded particularly great—one of the areas where the band succeeds the most is what a compact and formidable whole they are able to make with their individual elements. It’s usually easy to see who’s doing the heavy lifting on stage and who’s just there to fill in the cracks here and there, but the five members of Crystal Stilts are a fully locked-in unit. Their restraint and sense of control are where they draw a lot of their live energy from. When they let loose they are extremely powerful—the main set ending one-two punch of the bluesy jitteriness of ‘Electrons Rising’ straight into the pounding velocity of ‘Prometheus at Large’ was strong enough that an onstage power outage that ground it to a halt just as the band was getting to a drawn-out sense of focus wasn’t able to dull the sense of excitement and urgency.

The band never dipped into any of the older material or anything from ‘Radiant Door.’ They did play both tracks from the ‘Love is a Wave’ single. The set seemed brief—possibly due to the disappointing turn out and the persistent sound issues. Of course, since the band’s output favors brief song lengths to stretched-out ones such a move could’ve been intentional. The small crowd was able to convince them to do a few more songs at the end of the night. There was also a weird, vaguely apathetic energy in the room the entire night—the crowd talked very loudly through much of Zachary Cale’s acoustic-based set. It was a struggle to hear much of what was going on throughout his set. There was a small halo of people gathered at the front of the stage to hear his open-tuned and blues-based songs. There was also a tall photographer snapping pictures and getting absorbed in the glow of his smartphone. Cale soldiered on as best he could—it is amazing how loud people who are gathered in the back by the bar can get. It was an impenetrable din. He played a decent Robert Johnson cover and almost skipped his last and best song due to the roar of talkers (his bandmates convinced him to play this last song). Cale joined Crystal Stilts onstage to make the interwoven guitar lines of ‘Nature Noir’ a beautiful reality towards the end of their main set. He managed to match JB Townsend’s tone nicely and it made for some really nice interplay during the spindly lines of 'Worlds Gone Weird.' It also made the closing set of songs benefit from a bigger sound. When a unit that tight is augmented by even one person it can make a huge difference. Hopefully Cale will be able to play a more appropriate setting during his next stop in town—while I love seeing shows at the Bottle, acoustic-based acts tend to rarely get a fair shot when they play there. The little that I could hear of his set sounded promising.

ruminations: mazzy star- 'seasons of your day'

After a long wait, it’s finally here—the first Mazzy Star album in 17 years. The ‘Common Burn’ single came out early last year, there was a lengthy string of promising live shows on the West Coast and in Europe, a brief silence followed by an announcement and now ‘Seasons of Your Day’ is here. How does it stack up to their other three albums? I’m not sure because I've always had trouble comparing ‘She Hangs Brightly,’ ‘So Tonight That I Might See’ and ‘Among My Swan.’ I’m having a similar problem with this one, which to me is as good of a sign as I could hope for.

Similar to the new my bloody valentine, ‘Seasons of Your Day’ fits seamlessly in with the previous three Mazzy Star albums—it sounds almost as though no time has passed. The band sound as vital as ever, the record has a comforting familiarity but manages to put a few new subtle spins on their well-established sound. It’s a lighter affair as well—there’s nothing to match the murky darkness of ‘Among My Swan’ tracks like ‘Umbilical,’ ‘Roseblood’ or ‘Look On Down From the Bridge.’ Based on the tracklisting that was released, the firmly acoustic-based sound of the ‘Common Burn’ single and ‘California’ I was expecting a really stripped-down affair. ‘In the Kingdom’ dashed my expectations immediately with it’s breathy organ swells under Dave Roback’s melodic leads that alternate between picked notes and elegant slide work. Hope Sandoval’s vocal has a clarity that is difficult to match in the rest of the band’s output or in her solo work—her lyrics are crystal clear and straightforward, the melody is bright and lightly adorned with reverb. It ties in nicely with the sparse nature of the track—instrumentally it’s very spare but each part gains a lot of weight and warmth with the space that it’s allowed to exist in. When Sandoval’s vibraphone enters during the closing stretch it’s the final ingredient that makes the track radiate a warmth that’s practically glowing. Roback dialed down the reverb for the most part on these tracks and has opted for more of a natural room type of sound—this can be heard in the miking techniques he uses on the guitar in tracks like ‘I’ve Gotta Stop.’ ‘Does Someone Have Your Baby Now?’ piles the reverb back onto Roback’s acoustic guitar, but the track is so minimal and built so slowly that the wet atmospherics enhance the sounds like they’re supposed to rather than make them more difficult to decipher. ‘I don’t wanna get it on with you,’ Sandoval croons in the way that only she can over and over again so hypnotically. ‘Common Burn’ and ‘Lay Myself Down’ are broken up with the title track, which sounds like a sunnier sibling to ‘Among My Swan’s ‘All Your Sisters.’

‘Does Someone Have Your Baby Now’ and ‘Sparrow’ can both be found on bootlegs from the band’s European tour in the summer of 2000 before their lengthy hiatus. On these bootlegs they are presented as just acoustic guitar and voice tracks. Having lived with them in that arrangement for so long I’d always had trouble figuring how they would’ve been fleshed out for the record that was planned for release at around that time—it’s refreshing to hear that Roback has opted to keep their minimalism intact while managing to add some more subtle colours to their finished form. ‘Spoon’ was presented in a similar way on the band’s tour last year. Here it features a guest performance from the late Bert Jansch. Roback and Jansch play off of each other with a locked-in beauty that is haunting and urgent—underscored by the fact that this is one of Jansch’s final recorded performances before his passing. The track consists of nothing more than the two acoustic guitars and Sandoval’s voice. It’s a shame that the song will never be performed live with him.

‘Flyin’ Low’ is another song that was performed on the band’s tour last year. In it’s recorded form it sounds raw and bluesy—like a more laid back ‘Sticky Fingers’-era Rolling Stones jam. Live it’s a powerhouse—I’m most familiar with the recording from their Coachella appearance last year (it’s absolutely ferocious). I’ve heard people say that Mazzy Star were never a great live band, but I’d offer that live version of this song as evidence to the contrary. On the album Sandoval maintains the cooing softness that she’s known for, but live she lets loose with a bit of grit in her voice that works perfectly for the song. It’s a shame that the power of the track isn’t more on display on the album version. I do like the bluesy sound treatment on the guitar, though, as well as the taut drum sound. It reminds me a bit of ‘Come Down Easy’ by Spacemen 3 in this form as well.

It’s such a relief to hear this record after such a long wait. There were rumors that there would be a new Mazzy Star album in 2010. Like the new my bloody valentine record it’s released on the band’s own label and retains the fire of all of the band’s past work while allowing it to evolve naturally. The flipside of such turbulent times in the current musical climate is that a few bands have managed to come out in a better position than they were in during their 90s heyday. Self-reliance at their level is always going to yield the best results. I’m very excited to finally get to see them live in November (yes, like my bloody valentine they’re playing in Chicago in November) and hear more from them in the future.