He was one of The Dead Boys, an underrated slab of brute force American punk from Ohio. The band’s first album was Young, Loud and Snotty, and a picture of Stiv from those days would conjure up all three of those words. An expressive front man, he was never a star, but always someone who everyone noticed. After leaving the band, he showed promise as a power pop artist, but never caught on. He then fronted another cool band, the gothy Lords Of The New Church. Sadly, he passed away after being hit by a car. In Stiv’s honor, please grab your iPod or MP3 player, hit shuffle, and share the first ten tunes.
- Joy Division — Heart And Soul (Permanent): One of the leading lights of the post-punk era, under the guidance of producer Martin Hannett, Joy Division mastered the use of sonic space on their moody, rhythmic songs that throbbed with tension and menace. On this track, skittish snare fills and Peter Hook’s flowing bass lines keep things grounded, with a measured vocal from Ian Curtis and swirling psychedelic guitars that come in after a couple of minutes.
- Rank And File — I Don’t Go Out Much (Sundown): The loping rhythms and twanging guitar signify country music, but there was something different about Rank And File’s take on this classic American style. They did a great job of tipping a hat to tradition while not sounding imitative or slavish. This is a fun little bopper.
- Electric Light Orchestra —- Ticket To The Moon (Time): The first line of this song is “Remember the 1980s” which is in keeping with this futuristic sort of concept album from ELO. On this track, Jeff Lynne sings like John Lennon on a Paul McCartney solo track, before the bombastic chorus comes in…bombastically?
- Prince — Ronnie, Talk To Russia (Controversy): This is a simplistic new wavey nursery rhyme directed at President Reagan, complete with the sound of rifles in the background. Perhaps this level of political discourse influenced M.I.A. Despite the inanity, this brief ditty fits in well on the second side of Prince’s fourth album.
- My Dad Is Dead — Deja Vu (For Richer, For Poorer): There should be a special rock hall of fame for artists who manage to make the most of a limited voice. Mark Edwards would belong on the first ballot. His midwestern sincerity oozes out of every syllable, as he sing-talks his way through his Velvet Underground/Joy Division inspired rockers. Given his limitations, Edwards has found a way to inject a lot of melody into his songs over the years, and this is a very thoughtful tune with typically stellar guitar work.
- The Morells — Waitin’ In School (Morells Anthology Live): A basic rockabilly shuffle with D. Clinton Thompson on lead vocals. More importantly, Thompson is also playing guitar and he corks off some really nice solos on this one.
- Cliff Hillis — So Much to Tell You (Better Living Through Compression): During the late ’90s, the relative success of Matthew Sweet, The Posies and The Gin Blossoms fueled the dreams of thousands of aspiring power pop acts. A surprisingly substantial percentage of those hopefuls were very good. Hillis, who was in the Baltimore band Starbelly, is a good example of this. This is a very well constructed song, well played and topped off with Hillis’ friendly vocals. This would sound great on the radio, which, without megabucks for promotion, doesn’t mean much.
- Eddy Current Suppression Ring — Isn’t It Nice (Rush to Relax): This Australian band flows from a great tradition of in-your-face rock from The Saints and Radio Birdman, to The Scientists and The New Christs and many others. It’s raw guitar rock that sometimes shows off a bit of a blues rock vibe. This short burst of rock could also appeal to fans of Art Brut and The Len Price 3.
- The Fall — Why Are People Grudgeful? (The Infotainment Scan): A Fall rarity: a playful ska cover of a Lee Perry tune. The bass playing seems out of place with the rest of the band, who seem to throw themselves fully into the more traditional elements. There are some creative dub touches in the production too. It’s a shame The Fall hasn’t turned to ska or dub more often. The latter would fit well with the band’s Krautrock leanings.
- Tommy Keene — You Can’t Wait For Time (Ten Years After): Before there were artists like Cliff Hillis, there were folks like Tommy Keene, keeping power pop viable in the ’80s. This is from his first full length for Matador, which showed that after a bit of a lay off, he still had the chops. This has a 1964 Merseybeat gloss on it.
Monday is CHIRP night at the Whistler, and you won’t want to miss any of the bands on this bill, so get there early. Getting there late will only get you turned away — CHIRP night always packs in music fans for some great listening, socializing and drinking (CHIRP gets a percentage of the bar sales). Our DJs will spin before and after the bands, but the main attraction will be three local acts that specialize in pushing the musical limits.
Not sure if The Eternals want to make their music eternal or the disparate musical elements are eternal, but either way their “everything AND the kitchen sink” approach works. It’s bands like this that make you think you should listen to more difficult music — the lead off track to 2007’s Heavy International (Aesthetics), summarizes it nicely: “The Mix is So Bizarre.” From The Eternals you’ll hear jazz, ska, reggae, industrial electronica, all over a propulsive backbeat and conveyed via vocal harmonies that are half helium, half Curtis Mayfield. Add the occasional drill solo and cans and jars and tire irons and you can imagine that a kitchen sink would not be out of place here.
On their new EP (Plustapes) recorded live in their practice space, Verma come out of the gate on “Dust Commander” like the evil bastard child of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd performing the soundtrack to a haunted house, and they maintain that vibe throughout the five psychedelic excursions selected. This is not music played from blown speakers, but clearly they’ve been possessed by demons of distortion, for this is a fuzzed-up eardrum buzz of potential tinnitus. While they rein it back a bit by embracing some keyboard underpinnings on the quieter cuts, it’s clear that Verma vow their eternal souls to the garage rock gods.
Great Society Mind Destroyers funnel a maelstrom of fuzz-soaked garage rock through a blender of their antecedent forebears including the Yardbirds, Count Five, Nirvana, Pink Floyd — you’ll even hear some blaxploitation soundtracks and Black Moth Super Rainbow if you listen closely enough. Although it’s unclear from their name if they are pro or against LBJ, and the music is more mind expanding than destroying, there is clearly a darker element at work — a Howling, bluesy Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal focused on providing a rain of frogs on this sock-hop and turning that mutha out.
—Craig Bechtel
11:15pm – The Eternals
10:30pm – Verma
9:45pm – Great Society Mind Destroyers
The Whistler
2421 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL
No cover
Percentage of bar sales benefits CHIRP
CHIRP DJs spin before and after bands!
Raffle tickets sold throughout the night — win awesome prizes!
Blue Sky Bakery in Chicago reaches out to homeless and at-risk youth, offering them training, employment, a work history and references, and incentives to pursue educational goals.
CHIRP is honored to be a partner and music-provider for Blue Sky Bakery’s upcoming fundraiser. We hope you’ll join us!
Cupcakes & Cocktails
Thursday, October 21st, 6-9pm
The Fine Arts Building
410 South Michigan, 10th Floor
Tickets will be $45 in advance, $55 at the door. You can purchase them online.
To learn more about Blue Sky Bakery’s employment program, visit http://blueskyinn.org/employment.html
CHIRP benefits so greatly from the generosity of others. Now is our chance to help out another awesome local organization. See you there!
Today, we honor someone who recently passed a way, a giant in the world of comix, Harvey Pekar. Pekar’s personal stories, illustrated by some of the greats of underground comics, such as R. Crumb, showed the capability for depth in a medium that was originally targeted for kids. Of course, Pekar was also one of the all-time great David Letterman guests and the movie based on his life, American Splendor, is a classic. To celebrate Harvey’s birthday, why don’t you grab your iPod or MP3 player, hit shuffle and share the first 10 tunes, and if some vintage jazz comes up, all the better.
- Adam Franklin & Bolts of Melody — She’s Closer Than I’ve Ever Been (I Could Sleep For A Thousand Years): This is a mellow track from the latest from the frontman of Swervedriver. This is his best solo project yet, as some songs conjure up the hard shoegazing rock of his former band, while other songs are simply lovely pop, such as this one. This has a nice swirling guitar bed that makes this song feel like it’s floating.
- The Syn — 14 Hour Technicolour Dream (Nuggets II): A piece of psych-pop from a band that featured some future members of Yes. The Syn actually got back together a few years ago and toured. This is alright, nothing exceptional. It’s really more notable for who is in the band rather than the quality of the song.
- Bob Seger — Rock And Roll Never Forgets (Night Moves): Bob Seger seems pretty reviled by a lot of people with self-proclaimed good taste. There certainly are songs that deserve utter contempt (such as “Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll”). But Seger, who has a great weathered voice, is unfairly maligned, in my opinion. For years, his music mixed a love for rock and R & B basics with some more singer-songwriter elements. This is why he was sometimes lumped with Springsteen. He was not nearly as ambitious as Bruce. But on Night Moves, everything crystallized, and he had a batch of great songs. This is the album opener, a passionate call to arms. The Hold Steady should cover this.
- Sparks — Pulling Rabbits Out a Hat (Plagiarism): Leave it to Sparks to take over their own tribute album. The band redoes a bunch of their old songs, sometimes with guests (such as Faith No More, Erasure and Jimmy Sommerville), but most of this album has them recontextualizing old songs either as dance music or with orchestration. The latter songs are much more interesting. Producer Tony Visconti arranged these numbers to great effect. This song, which was a somewhat sterile synth-pop number in its original release (on the 1984 album of the same name) becomes baroque drama with an aggressive orchestra backing Russell Mael.
- The Boo Radleys — I’ve Lost the Reason (Giant Steps): A powerful tune from another band that dipped a toe into the shoegazer movement, though they blended that with some great ’60s baroque influences (everything from Love to The Beach Boys). This is a true ’90s song, in that it leans heavy on dynamics, with pretty orchestrated verses that ramp up into fuzz guitar percussive choruses.
- The Housemartins — Think For A Minute (London 4 Hull 0): This British band mixed the jangly indie rock that was typical of that portion of the ’80s with a genuine soulfulness, which is manifested in the aching voice of Paul Heaton. Moreover, their lyrics were often thoughtful political commentary that was somehow not at odds with the poppy music. That really holds true on this intent ballad which could be compared favorably to a Curtis Mayfield protest song, though with less of an R & B base.
- Gil Scott-Heron — I’m New Here (I’m New Here): My only beef with Scott-Heron’s new album is how short it is. Some of these songs pair his still authoritative voice with electronic backing, which works extremely world. Other songs are on the other end of the spectrum, pairing Scott-Heron with minimal backing. This is a simple rhythmic folk-guitar backing, as Scott-Heron half narrates, half sings this tune. At times his voice is surprisingly gruff, yet when he hits the refrain it smooths out. It’s different than his usual declamatory style (which comes through on other tunes), but it’s just as effective. He is now a voice of experience and there’s no doubt how much he’s feeling the words he is singing.
- The Gaslight Anthem — The ’59 Sound (The ’59 Sound): If there’s one song this band should be known for, this is it. In the tradition of everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Social Distortion, the Anthem romanticizes working class life and rock and roll. I think there’s is little that’s really original about their sound. But they invest their songs with scads of passion and plenty of personality. There is always a need for this music that is empathetic and kick ass at the same time. Their latest album is more mature and an acceptable refinement, but I think they should take a step back on the next one and make a bid to play arenas, which they deserve.
- Foghat — Take It Or Leave It (The Best of Foghat): Maybe putting this mellow mid-tempo Foghat tune on my iPod was not such a good idea. This plays to none of their (limited) strengths. This actually has more in common with Steely Dan than one might expect from these bluesy rockers.
- Crowded House — She Goes On (Woodface): Woodface is a beloved album amongst Crowded House fans, chock full of some of the band’s best known songs. This is not one of those songs. Yet it is one of the dozens upon dozens of superbly constructed songs from the pen of Neil Finn. It has a light Latin inflection and a neat horn and string instrumental break. But the heart of the tune is the simple melody and the indelible chorus. This is why Finn can be mentioned in the same breath as writers like Paul McCartney and Andy Partridge.