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SKaiser writesOverlooked Albums of 2014: Drowners
Drowners | Drowners | Frenchkiss Records
Chirp Radio presents our volunteers' choices of the most overlooked albums in 2014. At the top of our list is the post-punk band Drowners self-titled debut album released January 2014. Welsh (guitar + lead vocals + model) Matt Hitt coolly tosses lyrics like "a school boy grin that only goes to show / that I could never have such control" that bounce playfully along their fast-paced sound that's charmingly reminiscent of their ancestors, The Strokes. Bandmates Jack Ridley (guitar), Joe Brodie (drums) and Erik Snyder (bass) make four for the group who released their first EP in February 2013 and started working on Drowners in May of 2013. While no song lasts more than three minutes on the album, the opening track Ways to Phrase a Rejection carries you through with all the right surges and lulls present. It may seem their elements are those we've heard before, but give a listen.
It seems worth mentioning that while Style.com contributor Peter Voelker photographed the band through their fall 2014 tour he must have picked up on their fashion as well. The Band on the Run photo essay describes them as "fashion's favorite new group." Well, what more can we expect with a model for a frontman.
Matt Garman writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2014: Matt Garman
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Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2014. Our next list is from DJ, Assistant Music Director and Merchandise Manager Matt Garman.
As much as we want to think we're looking for the newest trend, I've come to accept that for the most part I respond to nostalgia on a regular basis: I like new music that sounds a little bit like old music I love. Indeed, I'm working to fully embrace this fact. In spite of the fact that my favorite albums of 2014 (and 2013, 2012, etc) include new albums by artists I have loved for years, I still tried harder this time around to listen to as much new music as possible than perhaps ever before... I literally made a spreadsheet, attempted (and failed) to create a formula for my personal like-value per album, scanned music criticism sites, dug through all my playlists from 2014, and simply paid attention when anyone anywhere near me was talking about new music. As a result, I considered approximately 100 albums in order to come up with this list of stuff that sounds like stuff I love. Forgive/indulge me. |
Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop 25 Christmas Songs of the Last 25 Years: #17 - Vermont, “Santa Claws”
It's the holiday season, which means Christmas music. Lots and lots or Christmas music, most of which was written before the people listening to it were even alive. While "Jingle Bells" and "We Three Kings" are great, and resilient, we're devoting this year to finding the best Christmas song written since 1989. We continue today with #17, and a one-item Christmas list from Promise Ring side project Vermont.
#17: Vermont, "Santa Claws" (1999)
It's a hard truth to swallow: even Santa, as both a supernatural figure and living allegory about the power of giving, has his limits, and some kinds of happiness just can't be gifted. As universal lessons often do, this truism has taken lots of forms. Maybe you've seen this one, a sappy meme that's made its way around the Sentimental Aunt wing of Facebook for the past few Christmases:
Middle-aged ladies sniffling into their third glass of chardonnay aren't alone here, though. Even jaded emo dudes get these blues. Consider the plight of Davey Von Bohlen, frontman of Vermont/The Promise Ring/Maritime and grade-A mope. On "Santa Claws," his side project's entry for Kindercore Record's tragically overlooked Christmas Two, DVB bemoans the end of his relationship by doing what sad folks do best: imagining all of the activities that he and his ex-girlfriend could be experiencing together if they weren't broken up. With weary resignation, he musters the will to ask Santa for a little holiday intercession.
Will Davey's Christmas wish come true? Probably not. Is the song's bruise-poking wallowing healthy? No. Is it necessary? It might be. DVB has the kind of sadness that's felt even more acutely during the holidays, when the people-shaped holes in our lives present themselves in sharper-than-usual contrast. It's what makes Christmas such a fraught time of year, and how numbing the pain with a little retail therapy became so downright appealing. Santa might bring you that 80" TV. It's the least, and most, he can do.
DJ Dead Alive - Slumber Party Massacre writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2014: DJ Dead Alive
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Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2014. Our next list is from DJ and Assistant Music Director DJ Dead Alive (Dave Toropov).
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SKaiser writesTake Part in Live Lit
You have 8 minutes to tell a nonfiction story. You’ll have a mic, a stool if you prefer to sit, a music stand for your pages, and a timer. Oh and an audience. Because what’s better than sharing something personal than to do it in front of strangers.
It’s called live lit and it’s sweeping America. Well maybe just Chicago. Even just a few years ago, storytelling venues were scarce in the city, but today there are over 50 storytelling events each month.
One consistent event in the city is Story Club, which boasts the 8-minute rule. Story Club is also in Minneapolis and Boston. It's a nonfiction storytelling show whose goal is to “mix up the spontaneity of an open mic with the experience of live theater”. Last Thursday, a group of readers shared their stories at the Holiday Club.
A gentleman opened the evening with a story about his Russian lover. He met her while working overseas. Repeatedly he told her that when returning to the US he’d be going alone. As he repeated this throughout the story it became obvious he cared for her. When the time came for him to return, he lost his wallet with all his money. She ended paying for his cab and checked baggage. Enough money to last her a few months he said. It made him feel even more worthless and he cried the whole way home.
If you talk over your 8 minutes the whole thing shuts down. Not like a giant claw scoops you off stage, but you’re done. Mid-sentence, exit stage left. Thankfully that didn’t happen to anyone last Thursday.
The next man to step up apparently worked on a documentary featuring a guy making his way down the Mississippi. He joined the guy on his journey for some time. In the beginning they got along fine. As time passed, the storyteller said he could see the journey wearing away at his companion who’d begun to shout and treat him poorly. The storyteller said he felt sadness for the guy because what he loved most about the river had beaten him. There was no longer joy in his passion.
Not all stories are as deep, you know. We heard about a man’s childhood dream of getting a GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip on Christmas, and the disappointment he still suffers when it didn’t arrive.
You may share from any point in your life – like the woman who gave in-depth details on what she’s willing to do to hang on to her youth. Or like another woman who gave a glimpse of her life after ending a six-year relationship.
The point of this story is whether it’s silly shit or deep shit, people relate to each other via our stories. We connect and it’s a beautiful thing. Check it out first in the audience, just for fun, and see what you think. Click here for live lit storytelling events in the city.
