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This page is a Monthly Archive of entries from September 2008 listed from newest to oldest.
Local indie rock outfit Santa has evolved into a staple band of the C-U music scene, playing two shows during this year’s Pygmalion Music Festival and busy with multiple dates well into November. A five piece group with psychedelic tendencies, Santa has stabilized their lineup and is now focused on their unique and recognizable melodies and textures.
Where I am from (Rockford, Illinois) a band such as Santa would find themselves performing in nothing more spectacular than a humid church basement, plugged into an outdated soundboard, amidst a dwindling number of local musicians and supporters. The presence in C-U of a band like Santa reaffirms my faith in what a local music community could be and also what types of acts it takes to maintain the appeal.
By sitting down with some of Santa’s members (the only absentee being bassist Otto Stuparitz), I aimed to gather their insights regarding Champaign-Urbana’s musical community; the positives, the negatives and what could change. Not only that but also touch on what type of transitions they are soon to face when it comes time to expand their fan base beyond this populous collegiate territory.
Perhaps in name alone, New Weird America and Freak Folk may be my new favorite genres. When I came across the terms, I searched my iTunes and Rhapsody libraries to see if I had any songs that were categorized as such. I didn't. "Didn't," however, is past tense.
Devendra Banhart and Greg Rogove's (of Power Mineral) side-project, Megapuss, was the assailant of my iTunes' regular "alternative" and "rock" genre listings. The Stroke's drummer Fabrizio Moretti is a tentative member of Megapuss, but since he's always playing with them I personally would call Megapuss a three-member band. My first introduction to the band was the song, "Duck People, Duck Man:"
Megapuss- Duck People, Duck Man
Ashley Riley is a young, blonde lady whose instrument of choice is an acoustic guitar, so the comparisons to Jewel are ready-made and lazy, but she doesn't reject them. Just getting her feet wet in the regional music scene, Riley will be appearing on WEFT Sessions tonight at 10 p.m. on WEFT, 90.1 FM. Her debut CD, Last One Standing, was released last month and is available on her website and on iTunes.
Ashley was kind enough to answer some questions, and we'd like to call the results an "interview." This ground-breaking format is shared with you, the reader, after the jump.
Matt Friction and his band, the Pink Spiders, were on the fast track to success just a couple short years ago. They had a major-label deal, with Geffen, and an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live for their debut single, "Little Razorblade." Then things went off the tracks a bit. Like an episode of "Behind the Music" that cut short the meteoric rise part to skip ahead to the part where everybody wonders what went wrong, their debut album struggled, Geffen went cold on them and then dropped them altogether, their tour bus burned to the ground, and two of the three founding members quit the band. Read this article in Nashville Scene to get yourself up to speed.
Now, Friction has reassembled a new edition of the Pink Spiders, and they're touring to support their sophomore effort, Sweat It Out, released last week on Adrenaline. They've got their mojo back, and they're ready to turn audiences on to their brand of swaggering garage rock. The Pink Spiders are playing at the Independent Media Center in Urbana tonight at 6 p.m. JigGsaw, Trash City Rockers and The Signal open, and tickets are $10 for the all-ages show.
Click the jump to read an interview with Friction.
With work, family and "Rock Band 2", who has the time to find out about the best shows happening in Champaign-Urbana? No need to fear, because the editors here at Smile Politely have taken care of it. Here are the must-see shows of the week:
Monday Sept. 29: The Pink Spiders – Independent Media Center, 6 p.m., $10
Music doesn’t have to be serious to be taken seriously and the Nashville group, The Pink Spiders may be proof of that. Having garnered quite a bit of acclaim from every publication from Rolling Stone to Teen People, the band’s clean cut, power-pop style has been validated. Their song constructions scream Weezer their Moog lines suggest a more contained Motion City Soundtrack. The most accurate mainstream comparison could be Hot Hot Heat without being annoying. If you want to sing-a-long to songs you’ve never heard before, check out The Pink Spiders. JigGsaw, The Signal and Trash City Rockers are also playing.
San Francisco rock quartet LoveLikeFire have been building some momentum in recent months as they opened for bands like The Teenagers and Mates of State. Before heading out on a headlining tour a couple of weeks ago, they finished recording a new LP at Tiny Telephone studio, owned by John Vanderslice. They'll be playing at the Courtyard Cafe tomorrow (Saturday) night with Drew Danbury. The show starts at 8 p.m. and is $3 for students and $5 for everyone else.
Smile Politely caught up with LoveLikeFire vocalist/keyboardist Ann Yu a couple of weeks ago as the band was traveling between Salt Lake City and Albuquerque. The interview is after the jump.
The last time I was really taken with recorded music was in the fall of 2000. Kid A changed everything. My headphones were awash daily with Grand Theft Autumn's newest signing, The Lassie Foundation. And one late September evening, I accidentally stumbled upon perhaps the best band that I have ever seen live: Macha.
I went to check out Joan of Arc at The Highdive, mainly out of spite for my ex-girlfriend, who I knew would be there with her super-duper indie kid friends. When I arrived, I found myself in the club and just in time for their direct support, a band from Athens, GA whom I had never heard of before.
My ex never showed up, and that was the best thing that could have happened because I would have been distracted. By the end of their set, I was floored. Glockenspiel, marimba, vibraphone, hammered dulcimer and Rhodes piano were blended with whispered vocals and a rhythm section that could only be described as "on point." They only had their newest record with them, a collaboration with Austin "slowcore" act Bedhead, called, Macha Loved Bedhead.
It's rare when a song can honestly stir up your emotions to the point of actually seeing a glimpse of the way you felt the first time you heard it. When I hear this song, and I can actually feel the emotions I was having at the time. This synesthesic reaction, even to the day, makes it one of the greatest songs I have ever heard.
I must confess that I dismissed the Bang on a Can Marathon listing when I first perused the fall line-up at the University of Illinois’ Krannert Center. I instinctively associated the name Bang on a Can with the theatrical percussive hokeyness of Stomp or Blue Man Group. A little closer look into the Bang on a Can Marathon proved how wrong my assumptions were. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Bang on a Can Marathon performance this Saturday at Krannert’s Colwell Playhouse consists of a full 12 hours of modern composition, plus the Bang on a Can players will be joined by special guests Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth and Glenn Kotche of Wilco.
Bang on a Can is this Saturday, September 27 at the Krannert Center. The performance starts at noon and tickets are $16 for U of I students and $30 for the public.
Adbusters, a cultural watchdog magazine, has described hipsters as being the " dead end of Western Civilization. " Hipsters describe themselves as "everyone exactly like me, excluding me." Basically, this self-loathing group is not new to serious social criticism.
But I find that the newest criticism is coming from an unusual place; McDonald's. Yes, McDonald's has taken on the hipster-menace by airing some recent advertisements promoting their new gourmet coffee brand, Mc Cafe. A radio ad entitled "Confessions of an Ex-Hipster" is narrated by a man who admitted that he once wore "black turtlenecks," didn't shower, liked "French films" and listened to "indie-rock," but because of McDonald's Mc Cafe he no longer has to sulk in a dark, independently-owned coffee house and keep up with his sham of an identity . Now, as he tells the radio audience, he can watch football, high five and conform to society's view of the 18-34 year old male. Hurray for corporate America!
I have been to a few Sunset Stallion shows in the past few months since they formed, and although the first and second may have had a few little kinks in the set, they quickly formed into a band that promises a straightforward performance without blips that another band as young as Sunset Stallion may have. Granted, all have either past or current connections to other local performers, I still congratulate this indie-rock band on their rapid ascendance into the Champaign-Urbana music scene.
As I was going about the hustle and bustle of my day (surfing through music blogs) I came across an oldie: Leonard Cohen. I gave an affectionate sigh of, "aww" and pushed play. I can't say this for certain, but I want to trust my instincts that my favorite Cohen song, "Suzanne," is about my favorite musician, Joni Mitchell. I am aware of their love connection, to put it awkwardly, and because my obsession with Mitchell makes me feel like I know her, there's something about when he sings, "when she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from china," that makes me say that's Joni, that's Joni…
Though Joni's tyranny over my iTunes play count has been in place for the past four, maybe five years, Cohen is gradually creeping up to the top like a rebel with a cause.
Anyhow, in the bustle of your day, take a moment to breath a sigh of relief, and push play:
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
A pair of Smile Politely music critics were in attendance for the Dan Deacon, Dark Meat, Monotonix (pictured above) billing at the Canopy Club this past Thursday night. Here they share their thoughts on a concert that had plenty of people talking.
In the wasteland that is 21st-century commercial radio, blandness and conformity rule the roost. "Everything's the same now," says "Lonesome" Larry Williams, station manager of WWHP, or the Whip, which is at 98.3 on your FM dial and broadcasts from Williams' modest home/studio in Farmer City, Illinois (about 25 miles west of Champaign-Urbana). Williams has been fighting the good fight against corporate radio for the past dozen years with his station's eclectic mix of country, blues, bluegrass, comedy, rock, gospel, farm market coverage, and who knows what else. "We were doing Americana before they came up with a label for it, " Williams noted. "Pretty much anything with a twang to it, we play."
When I got to Exile on Main Street for the Pygmalion Music Festival showcase this past Saturday, there was pizza, pop and a few local music celebrities scattered across the store (wearing the same shirt in some cases) while Lucky Mulholland prepared to perform.
Local musician Matt Wagemann is pretty busy at this point in his life: holding down a day job while preparing to release his debut album, Matter of Time. His CD release party is scheduled for October 4th at the Canopy Club, but in the meantime, he's performing tonight at 10 p.m. on WEFT Sessions. Tune in to WEFT - 90.1 FM to check out his acoustic stylings. Click below to read an interview with him.
The Pygmalion Music Festival has ended and we are all faced with the sad reality that it'll be a whole year until it returns. For those of you who went, surely the memories will last you until next year. For those of you who couldn't make it, we went for you. Over the course of the four day festival Brian McGovern, Caitlin Cremer and Joel Gillespie spent their evenings enjoying amazing live music so you didn't have to. Here, the three writers talk about some of their favorite sets and show off some great, yet totally unprofessional pictures and video. Enjoy!
With work, family and On-Demand television, who has the time to find out about the best shows happening in Champaign-Urbana? No need to fear, because the editors here at Smile Politely have taken care of it. Here are the must see shows of the week:
Tuesday Sept. 23: Cameron McGill – Mike 'n' Molly's, 9:00pm, $3
Cameron McGill, a former Champaign-Urbana local who made his way to Chicago, will make his way to Mike N’ Molly’s this Tuesday. McGill’s style can be summarized by what is written on his acoustic guitar: “This Machine Kills Hipsters.” Not only does it give a solid indication of his influences, but it also tells what he is not influenced by; the trends and fads that dominate contemporary culture. McGill plays honest folk and country-inspired rock songs with sincerity and talent. His backing band, What Army, follows suit and puts natural but gripping arrangements around McGill’s songs. Come to Mike N’ Molly’s to see a great show free of any drum machines or ironic facial hair.
William: The swirling crowds in the lobby of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts separate into grayer C-U Symphony-goers and the Pygmalion Music Festival crowd. In this austere venue, these younger patrons of the arts have a gloss of elegance, as if their jeans and hoodies have been laundered for this special occasion.
Cristy: Openers Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter shyly take the stage. Her glossy chestnut mane--like a Pantene ad in the fall issue of Cosmo—swings over her angular face as the band sails through most of their latest effort, Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul. Sykes’ shaky, deliberate voice channels Marianne Faithfull (well, up two octaves). While the upbeat “You Might Walk Away” shows off her dusty voice, “The Air Is Thin” boasts a stellar country slide guitar. The band introduces “Spectral Beings,” with haunting, spacy harmonies and rocks through the highlight of the show, “Station Grey.” Although Sykes and her band come across as nervous and self-deprecating, they don’t need to be. They put on a solid performance.
Cristy: Props to WPGU for getting me into the Vertebrats. Coming from a hick town with limited radio-station selection, I grew up fattened on three airwave formats: Gary Puckett-style oldies fluff, classic rock that played the same three Doobie Brothers songs, and glitzy Wal-Mart country music helmed by cowboy superstars like Garth Brooks. If you hadn’t put off your chemistry homework, Sunday night you could tune into WQLZ’s indie show for your underground rock fix. So when I moved to Champaign-Urbana, I was thrilled to tune into WPGU—they played “Living in Another Cuba” by XTC and M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” back-to-back!
Recently I heard an unfamiliar band with the ultimate Son of Beatles pop sensibility. I mean, the song was so hooky and infectious I could anticipate each pleasing chord. I had to have heard it before. I combed my mental files of poppy “The” bands for possibilities: The Action? The Caesars? The Records? I let the dishwater overflow while I stood, frozen, waiting for the DJ to confirm my suspicions. He never did, but the song stayed with me all night: I dreamt it, I hummed it in the shower, I fought to remember the words as I walked into work. Desperate to hear the gem again, I fused the boombox to my body like a newly sprouted appendage (eerily reminiscent of the frantic three weeks I waited for WDBR to play “Eternal Flame” in 1990).
Then I found out it was “Diamonds in the Rough” by a now-defunct local band called the Vertebrats. A local band!
I made the mistake of labeling Oceans a “local” band. It’s a mistake you only make once. The charming boys of Oceans spent the afternoon explaining why the Champaign-Urbana scene is not what it seems, how they’ve grown as a band and why they adore Ohio.
“I think the term ‘local artist’ in C-U can be a damning label,” Ryan Martin, guitarist, explained. “People seem to just get stuck in a cycle of doing the same thing all the time.” The boys aren’t accustomed to getting stuck in a rut. Martin, along with Nick Wakim on drums, Keith Marek on guitar and Mike Parkinson on bass, have come a long way since high school days of beer swindling and lady chasing (not that those two options ever ceased). Word on the street is that Parkinson ditched their high school band, The Break In, for the biggest pop band in school, and he will never hear the end of it.
The 2008-2009 Krannert Center season opens tonight with an in-lobby party featuring the Austin-based latin-infusion band, Grupo Fantasma. As has become tradition with Krannert opening weekend parties, the center transforms their generally peaceful hardwood lobby into an all-out dance party. Recent years have featured bands like North Mississippi Allstars (in conjunction with their bi-annual Wall2Wall Guitar Festival), and the Grammy-nominated band, Tiempo Libre.
The upcoming season will mirror efforts in the past to continue to diversify the eclectic nature of the Krannert programming that the community has come to expect in years past. Some highlights include K.D. Lang on October 14; Juan de Marco and the Afro-Cuban All Stars on March 18; Chick Corea and John McLaughlin on April 7; and Joshua Redman on May 2.
Information can be found at www.krannertcenter.com..
The Brooklyn trio, Oxford Collapse, has made their way to Champaign-Urbana in conjunction with the Pygmalion Music Festival. Playing a free show tonight at the Krannert Art Museum, the group will be joined by Catfish Haven, Evangelicals, Murder by Death and our very own Oceans – a lineup that’s sure to knock over one or two priceless paintings.
Oxford Collapse plays a style of music that could be called “mature punk.” Now the term is relative, mind you; there’s youthful energy and exuberance bleeding through all of their material. They write and play the type of music that makes the listener not only want to party with the band, but maybe also herd some sheep. Their fourth studio album, Bits, was just released this past August by “indie” super label, Sup Pop.
Smile Politely was able to talk to Michael Pace, guitarist and vocalist, from Oxford Collapse by the powers of the internet. See what he has to say about Billy Joel, the Midwest and more after the jump.
I would like to first admit that I didn’t hate the tracks I heard from Scarlett Johansson’s all-Tom Waits cover album, Anywhere I Lay My Head. Maybe it was the pure novelty of it, or maybe the pretty decent arrangements done by TV on the Radio’s David Andrew Sitek or maybe even the fact that Scarlett doesn’t have very good of a voice. Whatever it was, I found it pretty enjoyable.
That being said, I have an interest in movie stars wanting to totally embarrass themselves by attempting to be serious musicians. From the classic "Extravaganza" by Jamie Foxx (jump to 0: 52 to hear one of the best choruses ever penned) to the even more classic "Weight of a Man" by Russell Crowe to the quintessentially classic "Party All the Time"by Eddie Murphy, I love them all.
Dan Deacon is to electronic music what Spencer Tunick is to nude portraits, which is to say a point of view that varies so drastically from the norm as to cause a stir. Thanks to an inherent feel for the absurd and a unique sense of humor, Deacon’s experimental music is way out there, orbiting the Earth on an asymmetrical bent. Featuring an explosion of semi-melodic, hyper-chaotic musical passages often anchored by a nonsensical spoken-sung chorus of gibberish, the music on Deacon’s 2007 full-length album Spiderman of the Rings is unlike anything you’ve heard of recent or vintage note. He is headlining The Canopy this Thursday evening.
If the live music at Pygmalion is trending too young and indie-rock for your tastes on Thursday night, there's a perfect antidote available at the Historic Rose Bowl Tavern: Bill Kirchen, the "King of Dieselbilly," will be playing an 8 p.m. show with special guests Dyke and Chrissie Corson. Kirchen is touring in support of his new album, Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods, and tickets are $15 in advance. Kirchen, a legendary guitarist who got his start with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen back in the '60s, has played with everyone from Ralph Stanley to Elvis Costello, Doug Sahm to Emmylou Harris.
Kirchen is performing as part of the Whip Music Series (tune in tomorrow for a profile of WWHP in Farmer City). I caught up with Kirchen earlier this week, between days one and two of a three-day gig at Oneida Casino in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The interview is after the jump.
Monotonix, the other band I’m really looking forward to seeing at Pygmalion Music Festival, are playing Thursday night. Monotonix are sharing the bill at the Canopy Club with Robots Counterfeiting Money, Dark Meat and Dan Deacon. If you’ve been hankering to get loose and rock out like I have, then this is the band for you. Hailing from Tel Aviv, Israel, Monotonix are some hairy, raunchy, rock’n’roll mugs. The band which consists of singer Ami Shalev, guitarist Yonatan Gat and drummer Ran Shimoni play riff-heavy rock with ‘70s FM radio hard rock leanings. Shalev’s vocals are not too dissimilar to Ted Nugent’s snotty snarl. Gat’s guitar sound is thick and heavy. It’s definitely not the cute, polite, Jersey State indie rock that’s quite popular around here.
On Wednesday night, Times New Viking, one of the two bands I’m most looking forward to at this year’s Pygmalion Festival, will bring their fuzzed out rock to the Canopy Club. Based out of Columbus, Ohio, Times New Viking are Beth Murphy on keyboards and vocals, Adam Elliot on drums and vocals and Jared Phillips on guitar. Their high energy sound is loud, raw and in the red with pop sensibilities bleeding through the fuzz. Aesthetically, Times New Viking’s songs hearken back to the lo-fidelity recording of the early 90s utilized in the early recordings of Guided by Voices, Pavement and a plethora of New Zealand bands. It’s no coincidence that the recently revitalized Siltbreeze label issued Times New Vikings’ first two releases. In the 90s, Siltbreeze put out records by lo-fi/no-fi noise rock artists such as Shadow Ring, Harry Pussy, The Dead C, The Yips (also from Columbus) and Tower Recordings.
I've never quite considered myself a Led Zeppelin fan. When I speak to people about my record collection the immediate question that follows is “Oh, what do you have?” I tell them mostly old, some new. I like my collection, I say. Then they ask, without fail, "Oh, so like Led Zeppelin and stuff?" If they're old, they'll say misty eyed, "Yeah, I listened to them in my day. I bet you wouldn't guess it now though, would you?" I say yes and figure they get the general gist of what's actually in my collection. I found myself, however, listening to this band named Kuroma, whose song, “Alexander Martin,” sounds like it could have come off of Led Zeppelin III.
Kuroma - Alexander Martin
And despite that noticeable similarity, I love this song. Sure, it's a little retro, but their EP, Paris, varies stylistically. At first I thought I wouldn’t have a chance to listen to the whole record because it’s only sold at shows, but recently the eight-track EP was put up to be streamed on the band’s website.
If you love classic heavy metal served up with a dash of irony, tune into WEFT-90.1 FM tonight at 10 p.m. and check out local trio For Great Justice, who will be playing a live set on WEFT Sessions, hosted by Todd Hunter. According to the band, "Part of what makes good, old school metal, we believe, is to find the divide between the extreme and the ridiculous," and they straddle that line effectively. As an example, you will find on their MySpace page a song titled "More Than Meets the Eye," which is a line-by-line metal cover of the theme song to the old "Transformers" TV show. If hearing that song isn't enough to get you to tune in, then I don't know what else to tell you.
For Great Justice consists of Matt (bass, vocals), Jess (guitar, vocals) and Keith (drums), and they've been playing together for almost two years. They participated in an email interview as a group, and the thoroughly enjoyable results are after the jump.
With work, family and Google image searches, who has the time to find out about the best shows happening in Champaign-Urbana? No need to fear, because the editors here at Smile Politely have taken care of it. Here are the must see shows of the week:
Wednesday Sept. 17: Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s – The Canopy, 6 p.m., $17
Mere hours before the start of The Pygmalion Music Festival, you can catch one of the best eight-member bands out of Indiana (there are a lot, for the record), Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s. Their explosive and epic “folk” songs are powered by two percussionists, strings, lap steel, piano and anything else they can get their hands on. Margot puts on such an amazing live performance that it’s worth the embarrassment of going to a show that has Motion City Soundtrack headlining. It’ll also be a good chance to hear new material from Animal and Not Animal; Margot’s newest albums simultaneously dropping on October 7. (Ed. note: Margot and the Nuclear So & So's have canceled their performance this Wednesday)
Most of the time, "bastard" is a word that's meant to convey shame and embarrassment, but Mark Stuart, lead singer and guitarist for Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, wears his bastard status on his sleeve. The band, which originated in Stuart's hometown of San Diego but is now based out of Austin, blends a lot of the Man in Black's rootsy, choogling rhythms with Stuart's more atmospheric lyrics. It's a potent, if illegitimate, blend, and one that you can experience for yourself firsthand Sunday night at the Rose Bowl Tavern in Urbana. The show starts at 8 p.m. with openers The Hillbilly Jones, and tickets are only $10 in advance. This is the first touring band to come through the Rose Bowl in recent memory, so don't miss out.
When I reached Stuart by phone, he was making last-minute preparations to set out on tour from his Austin, Texas, home. BSOJC had their first tour date in Oklahoma City last night, and Stuart was talking about "her," so the interview began thusly:
This new column is dedicated to a collection of songs that I simply can't get over, no matter how many times I have heard them. Some of them might be recognizable to those that listen to the fringe of popular music. Most, however, I would bet never made it to your iPod, Discman, Walkman or boombox.
Up this week — Models, with their song, "I Hear Motion." This Australian band was on the scene for roughly a decade, from 1978 to 1988. They did some pretty heavy touring with other Aussie luminaries like INXS and Jimmy Barnes, but went on extended hiatus around the same time Ronny Reagan was handing over the reins to H.W. Bushleague.
Rumor has it that Models will reunite this year for a few shows. My guess is that Champaign isn't on the routing.
I think, above all, the dynamics between the synthesizer, and EMS Synthi AKS, and the disjointed backbeat of the drums is what does it for me.
Or perhaps it's just that it was featured in one of the greatest film classics of all-time: Young Einstein.
Whatever the case, enjoy.
If your Saturday night is lacking some low-end punch, head on down to the Highdive and check out the two-bass, one-drummer assault of veteran Chicago rockers Dianogah. Doors open at 7 p.m., opening act Pinebender comes on at 8 p.m., and Dianogah takes the stage at 9 p.m. so they can finish up in time for DJ Tim Williams to spin at 10:30 p.m. The cover is just $7, so how can you lose?
After the jump, check out our interview with Dianogah bassist and singer Jay Ryan.
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