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The CHIRP Blog
DJ Mick writesThe CHIRP Radio Interview: Asbestos Lead Asbestos
by CHIRP Radio DJ and Features Co-Director Mick R (Listen to his most recent shows / Read his blog)
It has been said, that, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you weirder.” Now the person who said that was an actor, portraying a madman, in a major motion picture, but I defy you to find the lie.
Chicago’s electro-pop duo Asbestos Lead Asbestos takes this sentiment to the opposite extreme: If you want to live, you better prepare to get weird.
Named for a Meat Beat Manifesto masterpiece, the group boasts the talents of best buds Joey and Cassidy, who together form a human sound lab, conducting experiments at the outer limits of good taste while pumping out poignant, absurdist insights and Ableton-enabled, hip-hop night-terrors.
It’s perfect for disassociating with a can of rosé in a jacuzzi jerried out of a Waste Management container - in other words, it’s the soundtrack to your best possible life.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesCHIRP Radio Weekly Voyages (March 7 - March 13)
Upcoming Events:
- Saturday March 12: CHIRP Radio welcomes DRAMA to Lincoln Hall
- Monday April 4: CHIRP Radio welcomes Sons of Kemet to Lincoln Hall
- Friday April 8: CHIRP Radio welcomes Adia Victoria to Evanston SPACE
On the Podcast:
- Mick R speaks with Chicago-based artist Megiapa
- Marjorie Alford talks with Alexia Roditis of Destroy Boys
On the Blog:
- Mick R interviews Dreamjacket
- Kevin Fullam and Dobby Evers discuss the 2006 film Idiocracy
Top of the CHIRP Charts for the week of 3/7/22:
Bloodhype – Pictures of Our Dead Intercom System (self-released)
DJ Mick writesThe CHIRP Radio Interview: Dreamjacket
by CHIRP Radio DJ and Features Co-Director Mick R (Listen to his most recent shows / Read his blog)
Variety and experience are the zest of life and novel pairings are the fleshy fruit from which they are squeezed. Would you turn your nose up at a peanut butter and sweet onion sandwich? Well, you’re only depriving yourself by tilting your proboscis northward, my friend.
And what about country music and space rock? Outrageous! Maybe… but a part of me thinks you’re curious to know how these disparate styles come together.
Thankfully, you don’t have to visit a saloon on a desert planet in a galaxy far far away to find out what this theoretical, dusty, and cosmic category of American might sound like in practice. Chicago’s own Dreamjacket is more than happy to bring the interstellar frontier as near as your neighborhood bar.
The five-piece band comprised of vocalist Jesse W. Johnson, violist Yoo Soo Kim, bassist Timothy Cap, guitarist Bradley Bergstrand, and drummer Dane Marcussen took a while to assemble, but it is hard to put a price on the sum of their talents now that their forces have aligned.
Their debut album Lost at Last dropped late last year, and they’re still hard at work spreading the good word about it. To help in their efforts I shot some questions their way about their origin story, their sound, and their new album and you can check out their very thorough and charming responses below:
Kevin Fullam writesThe Fourth Wall: Idiocracy
Welcome to The Fourth Wall, CHIRP's e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the 2006 Science Fiction comedy Idiocracy.
This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Bobby Evers.
Cult film: "A movie that has developed a small, but significant and thoroughly dedicated, fanbase that grows over time. This fanbase may form an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated viewings, dialogue-quoting, and audience participation."
Kevin Fullam:
I'm not sure I'd want to wander into any event that involved audience participation in Idiocracy (particularly where its "trash avalanches" are concerned), but from a popularity standpoint, it fits the bill.
With no advance screenings and a very small theatrical release, Idiocracy grossed just under a half-million dollars when it debuted in 2006. But much like Office Space, director Mike Judge's preceding film, Idiocracy picked up steam on the DVD circuit in both money and critical acclaim, and some today consider it a rather prescient, subversive comedy.
For the uninitiated, Idiocracy tells the story of Army peon Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson), who's selected to be the guinea pig in a hibernation device that's supposed to keep him in stasis for exactly one year.
A prostitute named Rita (Maya Rudolph) gets roped into the experiment as well (don't ask), but there's a malfunction, and the duo doesn't wake up until 500 years have passed.
CHIRP Radio writesCHIRP Radio Weekly Voyages (Feb 21 - Feb 27)
Upcoming Events:
- Saturday February 26: CHIRP Radio welcomes Claud to Lincoln Hall
- Saturday March 12: CHIRP Radio welcomes DRAMA to Lincoln Hall
Top of the CHIRP Charts for the week of 2/21/22:
Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (4AD)