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The CHIRP Blog
Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop Five: Albums About Bummer Futures
This year marks the 40th anniversary of David Bowie's Diamond Dogs, the finest dystopian record ever recorded. Featuring mutants and marvelous men cavorting around the ruins of a 1984-inspired New York, it set the pop-music standards for talking about the perils of tomorrow. In honor of its birthday, we tracked down five more albums that operate with the same thesis: sometimes, the future sucks.
1) Grandaddy, The Sophtware Slump (2000)
"How's it going, 2000 Man?" asks Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle on "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot," the opening track to The Sophtware Slump. 2000 Man never answers, but we can assume the answer is "not so hot, Jason." Released at the height of the dot-com bubble, the album presents a Silicon Valley utopia gone wrong: the trees are plastic, the dogs are suicidal, and the people are rendered disconnected and isolated by the technology designed to help them. Sadly, that technology doesn't fare much better. On "Jed The Humanoid," Lytle tells the tale of Jeddy 3, a robot so despondent about his abandonment by his creators that he actually drinks himself into a fiery malfunction.
Amanda Roszkowski writesSee You at the Bucktown Arts Festival This Saturday and Sunday!
(Image design by Bucktown Arts Fest Poster contest winner Sherry Scharschmidt)
Have any plans this weekend? Why not get a little more art in your life, AND give back to the community as well! This Saturday and Sunday, August 23-24, is the Bucktown Arts Fest. This non-profit, all volunteer-run, neighborhood celebration of the arts is void of corporate sponsorship and admission is free. However, all proceeds from the Fest go towards the funding and development of the arts and education programming at Holstein Park and within the local Bucktown/Wicker Park classrooms.
The fest showcases close to 200 artists, an eclectic mix of musicians, dancers, poets and performers and even offers a pub crawl. This year will mark its 29th year, and attracts more than 40,000 visitors annually. The fest is located at the Senior Citizen’s Park between Oakley and Lyndale Aves. in Bucktown.
For more information about the fest and how to get there, check out their main site.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesRediscovering Our Record Collections: “TNT” by Tortoise
I had been living in Chicago for a few months after relocating from Boston (where I lived for 8 years) with a short stint in Omaha, where I grew up. Not knowing anything about Chicago’s city’s neighborhoods, I had landed in the community of Edgewater, on the North Side right by the lake. It turned out to be a great place to get started as it was starting to feel the effects of the surge in commerce and urban renewal renovation resulting from the Dot-Com Era.
My apartment was a block away from Dominick’s grocery store (a local chain) and the CTA Red Line. Downtown was a straight shot south on Lake Shore Drive, and there were plenty of places to explore close to home. I had recently discovered the Village North movie theater, which showed a lot of excellent classic films, and The Atomic Café coffee shop right next door. I had never been a regular coffee drinker until that time, but after a few trips there as well as Café Boost, a wonderful independent shop a few blocks west on Clark Street, I started a romance with caffeine that continues to this day.
SKaiser writesMoniker Records & Trouble In Mind * Triple Release Party at The Empty Bottle: Friday, August 22!
Moniker Records and Trouble In Mind are bringing you a triple release party this Friday, August 22, at The Empty Bottle!
The Pen Test is celebrating the release of Biology, a Moniker Records 7” described as “creation of a place where rigidness and chance dictate the event through the forcing of the accidental.” The creators? Brian Hitchcock and Patrick Scott-Walsh of Athens, GA, then Minneapolis, MN. Biology offers psychedelic, electronic krautrock with solid minimalistic arrangements. You don’t want to miss.
Stacian / Gel Set will open the night with combined aggressive, yet heavenly force. "Voorhees" is their first Moniker Records 12” together. It’s all the reason you need to float off in space, and then straight back down to the dance floor. Laura Callier and Dania Luck, from Chicago and Milwaukee respectively, take synth, pop and electronic sound to a new fantastical level. Stacian sets the tone with urgency and Gel Set strips the layers to core beats. Did we mention you’ll want to dance?
The solo project of Whitney Johnson from Verma is everything you want called Matchess. On August 26, Matchess releases Seraphastra, a digital LP with Trouble In Mind Records. This album makes a welcome vinyl appearance after a limited cassette release in 2013. In it, Johnson takes her own approach to modern spiritual synth music. Prepare to be unprepared for subtle melodies to suddenly find their way in the path of a squealing guitar. It happens, and it’s good.
The show starts at 9:00 PM. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased by clicking here.
SKaiser writesCHIRP Welcomes Boris * The Atlas Moth * SubRosa to The Bottom Lounge!
Dip into sludge and psychedelic rock this Sunday, August 10 at 8:00 PM, with Boris + The Atlas Moth + SubRosa at The Bottom Lounge!
Taking their name from a Melvins song, the international cult legend -- otherwise known as Boris, released their latest album, Noise, last month. The new album brings full circle the earliest dark, heavy elements of the trio's 20 album collection to their current inspiration of Japanese pop melodies. If you asked Boris bandmates which album reflects them best, they'd say, "For those unfamiliar with our music, we would pick (Noise) for sure."
Chicago-based The Atlas Moth formed in 2007. The cover of their latest album, The Old Believer, shows a pale woman with long blonde hair sitting in a white chair, surrounded by white walls. If you hold the cover underwater, her calm staring eyes turn black and horns grow from her head. Pretty sweet way to reflect the band's balance between light and dark in their post-rock splendor.
And last but not least, with lyrics like "For you I would give up mountains of gold. And possessions untold" you get the picture SubRosa paints of their dark doom metal. The 5-member (two on electric violins, yes) group is from Salt Lake City, UT and recently released an album, More Constant Than the Gods.
Doors are open at 7:00 PM for this 17+ show. See you there!