Andrew Bird’s Gezelligheid

Knit caps and excited faces covered Michigan Avenue on Thursday evening for Andrew Bird’s second annual Gezelligheid event at the Fourth Presbyterian Church downtown. The 20-degree weather did little to deter fans from lining up on the street as early as an hour before the doors opened at 7.

Inside the church the usual reverent silence was absent, filled instead with discussions of ‘wild parsnips’ and violin looping. Although big for a church, the pews were packed quickly; indeed, this was Bird’s second sellout evening of a three-night set.

Though the lone musician on stage, Andrew Bird created his own band aided with his looping pedal. Beginning most songs with layers of picking on the violin, he would then add lush harmonies drawn from the bow, which somehow fit perfectly, ending many songs in a purposeful and slow retreat back to a simple bowed melody. Coupled with the sound his horn speakers made when they began to spin, all of this lent a dreamlike whirlwind effect to the music.

Bird began the evening walking on stage and starting a song within moments. After an elaborate display of classically trained excellence, he attempted to transition immediately to another song when his sound went out. He held up a finger as if to say, “hold on.” After looking down, Bird realized the moment was gone.

“Hey everybody,” he said to applause and laughter.

“I had this whole elaborate intro planned but-” trailing off, shrugging with a smile.

The stained glass window on the altar above him remained illuminated for the evening, reminding viewers of the pious setting while providing a surreal quality to the show itself. His striking string melodies floated through the old stone building and settled brilliantly into the crowd.

The Gezelligheid set of shows is a chance for Andrew Bird to work alone and play whatever he wants. This includes covers, classical tunes, a lot of older songs and new songs to try out. As he describes it, “this show is a chance to stretch out my instrument in this beautiful room.”

Yet he didn’t disappoint avid album listeners. His famous live song, simply titled “Why,” made an appearance early in the evening. “It [Why] helps me get out my nervous energy,” he remarked. While playing the dramatic opening riff on violin, Bird shakes his head with movements more reminiscent of a stubborn child than a rock star. During the long pause between opening riffs, Bird had a bit of trouble. “Find the backbeat,” he told himself in the microphone. “This should be interesting,” he remarked upon realizing his inability to follow his loop. The audience laughed. Despite his nerves, Andrew Bird delivered a stellar performance showcasing his mastery of the instrument even in the face of a mistake.

He then played a new song titled “Desperation Breeds.” “It has something to do with bees and accidental pollination,” Bird said with a laugh, which the audience reciprocated. “I’m not sure if I want to get into it,” he mumbled to himself with a smile. For this song, Bird fell into his pattern of staccato violin picking set to a 2/4 rhythm that has uniquely become his own. After adding a few xylophone-whistles and picking up a guitar, he was ready to sing. When the looping was finished the stage sounded like a mini-orchestra, though Bird had created it all himself and the audience witnessed the process from the beginning.

“Every time I do a new song for you, I learn something…about myself,” he said upon finishing. Whether it’s a song about why we remember some things and not others or how you cannot see your own eye but you can break your own heart, Andrew Bird certainly wrestles with original subject matter.

Bird, heartened by the crowd, even attempted playing his song “Tables and Chairs” without a band for the first time live. He began the song on violin and, while switching to guitar during a dramatic pause in the song, he grabbed for it but the strap got in the way, delaying the moment. Any other artist might have lost his audience but, whether it is his talent or his loveably awkward persona, Andrew Bird still had everyone silent in anticipation.

The set finished to thunderous applause and cheering, the loudest noise the church has likely ever seen. A standing ovation brought Bird out for a three song encore. He brought out his “old-timey mic” which connected solely to the horn speakers with no looping or amp backup. Bird played a fiddle now, truthfully, his violin emanating pure bluegrass,  while stomping along and singing. This is Andrew Bird with no added effects, how he would have sounded singing on a Chicago street without aid from adept sound engineers or a supportive crowd.

Bird went even further and put down his violin playing his only violin-free song of the evening, “Effigy” from Armchair Apocrypha. Armed only with an acoustic guitar, at first he was almost like any other folk singer…until you hear the whistling and lyrics that would make a thesaurus envious.

And so the walls of the Fourth Presbyterian Church echoed with wild roars of approval from Bird’s adoring fans, a testament to their belief in the power of music and their adherence to the church of beautiful sounds.

Darker My Love began the night – the name a cruel misnomer – with the sun that shone on fellow left coasters the Grateful Dead at their backs. Opening with “Backseat” off of their latest album Alive As You Are, Darker My Love essayed bright country-rock, their voices twangy, adenoidal, with the coy harmonies of early Kinks. The band, who successfully captured stone cold psychedelic fuzz – with a charming pop twist – on their self-titled debut and follow-up Two, masterfully incorporate Phish’s penchant for deft instrumental noodling, impeccable power pop and the jubilant, sometimes blistering soul of CCR’s John Fogerty. They careened through their new tunes and played a handful of the old, including “Even in Your Lightest Day,” a mirage of blissfully disjointed trips and changing meter woven into gauzy sparseness and dense thickets of noise. With a keen ear for the  blues rock loan words pioneered earlier by the Who and the Stones but none of the bravado, Darker My Love were a charming bunch. Moments of tasteful showmanship punctuated a confident set that culminated, in one song, in the gorgeous strains of slide guitar. Darker My Love is attracting a lot of buzz lately, and for good reason. Catapulted by the success of single “Two Ways Out” last year, 2011 shows a great deal of promise for Darker My Love.

Delta Spirit brought to the stage a different energy, perhaps less calculated, and all the more urgent. Delta Spirit are playfully rebellious, keepers of shouted folk-blues numbers as well as moments of heartfelt vulnerability. They tore through “Parade,” Matt Vasquez’s voice earnest, ragged. “Children” clipped along with bright, tremolo guitars, insistent, but not vehement. The band populated the Metro with its eminently hopeful soul, searing and vivid. Their crowd, energized in turn, shouted and danced in unadulterated celebration, proof that there may be no more dedicated fan than a Delta Spirit fan. “Strange Vine’s” ambling, saloon piano and leaping tambourine bespeak the effusive feel of the song, a sonic trapping of everything that can elicit a smile. Scintillating, bold, and never duplicitous, Delta Spirit occasionally show in their lineage the textured country rock of the National or the flair for the Walkmen’s lo-fi, slap echo roots, but bypass the melancholy of both and cut straight to the heart.

And it’s the band’s boundless energy that infected the Metro, communicable in the uninhibited movements of its patrons, keeping perfect time with the expansive rhythm section. They possess a unique ability to turn from plaintive indie pop to guitar histrionics, from muscular riffs to trundling Americana, all inflected with their impassioned grace. Perhaps at their finest moment, the band played “Streetwalker,” a high point on debut album Ode to Sunshine and an ecstatic one live. Vasquez intoned, throaty, with abandon, “Whoa, set me free,” emboldened by the spirit of Sam Cooke, and two hundred fans lit up, mouths open in solidarity. It’s this wholly unsurprising penchant for delivering chills that allow Delta Spirit to penetrate even a guarded exterior. If new material is but a fraction as original and effusive, it will be a success. For Delta Spirit are bearers of the standard of the all too uncommon: an art with no pretense, a feeling that betrays description, a moment of joy proclaimed without uncertainty or disbelief.

  Darker My Love – Pale Sun by Big Shoulder Beat

Delta Spirit – Streetwalker by Big Shoulder Beat

Up this week…

Thursday, December 2nd:

9 PM At Lincoln Hall- which I’ve recently discovered, thanks in large part to Fang Island and a fog machine, is a great venue – jubilant indie folksters Freelance Whales will be delivering their uniquely sunny music to the masses. Debut album in March of this year to almost instant acclaim, its use of subtle instrumental textures (banjo, harmonium) and soaring harmonies the subject of much praise. Listen to “Generator: Second Floor” below and hear for yourself. Tickets are $15.

Freelance Whales – Generator ^ Second Floor by adamtaj

Saturday, December 4th:

9 PM In what promises to be a forceful one-two punch, Darker My Love, the devil-may-care attitude of 60′s psychedelia underpinning their excursions into fuzzed out rock and jazz-inflected imaginings, will open for the consistently impressive Delta Spirit. Darker My Love comes off the heels of their third full-length (released from ever-cool Dangerbird Records) Alive as You Are, while the bluesmen of Delta Spirit are previewing their latest EP, Waits Time. Delta Spirit consummately weave earthy folk into front porch blues, their tunes simmering with delightfully volatile cajun energy, at any moment apt to boil over under the ragged, soulful voice of Matt Vazquez. Check out “People C’mon” below. Show is $16 and takes place at the wonderful Metro.

Delta Spirit by mr-mecenas

ANNNND, providing stiff competition for best show on this fine Saturday evening, check out local faves MachineGun Mojo at the Wrigleyville Goose Island brewpub. Tickets are $8, show starts at 8. Support some fine local tunes!

Gavin Wilkinson, clad in a trim-fitting, double-breasted jacket in a soft camel color, holds his vintage electric guitar – perhaps an early Gibson or Gretsch – coaxing from it pleasant, inviting tones as a smile gently creases his face, casting a glance towards bandmates Benjamin Janz and Justin Allen Spring, intuiting the signal’s meaning and setting in motion countermelodies that dip and dive, approach and recede. They’re envoys of the magical place from which the Bears of Blue River hail; a place where ambling folk-pop courts jangly country-rock in a playful dance, sweet and demure.

Patrons of the Subterranean that night (last Thursday, November 4th) were treated to a dose of “bop folk,” as the band calls it, dusted with confectioner’s sugar. The Bears of Blue River number six in all – Wilkinson, Janz, Spring, Brian Swoveland, Joseph Patrick-Sholes, and chanteuse Maggie Gard – and have at their disposal a lap steel guitar, a banjo, and a lively, spirited energy that culminate in their tuneful compositions. They began their set wordlessly, lustrous, cavernous “oohs” echoing out into the Subterranean. Maggie Gard’s breathy alto was a perfect complement to Gavin Wilkinson’s gentle tenor, as the two voices traded lilting hooks from song to song, and gorgeous, articulate guitar settled the band’s sound somewhere between the soulful pop-rock of Dr. Dog or Annuals and the alternately fluid and shuffling cadence of 50s country. Piano followed voice, bass drove the rhythm along with ever-present tambourine clicks, and the six-piece frequently utilized their many moving parts to great effect, a band that truly understands polyphony.

Wilkinson settled right in with the crowd, speaking to us like familiar friends as he prefaced one song by explaining that it was about “that time I got beat up…well, I’ve been beat up many times, but this was one time.” Brought in by humor and harmony, it didn’t take long to find comfort in their warm spring reverb and pretty arrangements. Weary from their 150 show tour (including stints at CMJ Music Festival and South by Southwest), they still played with earnest charm. “Tickled Pink” rested on the interplay of shuffled jazz chords and dulcet piano, its message of “doing what you like” not lost on anyone watching the musicians, while “Betty Homemaker,” perhaps the band’s most incessantly catchy tune, played with tempo and shared vocal duty, rising to the song’s climax, a chorus sung with abandon by the whole band. “Crybaby” showed Gard and Wilkinson’s remarkable ability to blend, their voices bound perfectly in unison, with the texture shifting from guitar with a bit more bite than usual to a beautiful banjo breakdown. “Boy Toy” featured lap steel – always an appropriate choice, in my mind – further testimony of the unique voice of the Bears of Blue River. The 40 minute set was sadly their last of the year, but the band has an EP out that you can check out now and is currently writing material for and working on their full-length debut. I can only hope that it contains a fraction of the treasures heard that night. As the band says themselves, “Share the Bear!” It may just be that perfect, exceedingly rare accompaniment for the uncommonly cold days ahead.

04 Betty Homemaker MP3 by thebearsofblueriver

(written by guest contributor Chaz)

Thursday, November 4^th, Anais Mitchell took the Schubas stage to open for Horse Feathers. Cradling a guitar that the petite songwriter seemed barely big enough to hold, Mitchell nevertheless played with a cool confidence that was evident from her line dancing leg movements mid-song. She began her set covering Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” bringing with her small, girlish voice a fresh energy to the classic tune.

Despite Schubas’ low attendance for the 10PM show, Anais Mitchell delivered a performance rife with enthusiasm. Her songs were a quiet showcase of sad and heartfelt melodies and stories. Indeed, her newest album (which made up most of her set) entitled Hadestown, is based on the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The basic story involves Orpheus, a talented musician whose voice could make even the gods weep. He falls in love with Eurydice who dies soon after. Orpheus sings to Hades, lord of the dead, to plead for Eurydice’s release from the underworld. Hades agrees to release if Eurydice on the condition that Orpheus promises not to look back as she follows him to earth. Orpheus, of course, looks back, only to see Eurydice being sent back to the underworld, parting the lovers once more. And there was none better than Mitchell – who at times would wince away from the microphone, as if the note was too painful to sing straight on – to illustrate this tragic story.

Early in the show Mitchell invited her friend Rachel Ries (a Chicago native) to the stage to play organ and sing. While Rachel’s organ playing may not have added much, her voice intertwined with Mitchell’s to create a powerhouse of beautiful harmonies. During the show, Anais plugged the EP that the two of them recorded entitled country e.p.

In between songs, Mitchell’s unbridled eyes-closed passion was suddenly absent. Shyly averting eye contact, she would crack jokes to the audience in a quiet voice. Her humor was still well received by her adoring fans. She credited the sound engineer, whose name she had forgotten but “his name is exotic and beautiful so just think of something exotic and beautiful,” she told the audience while laughing. One song, which she introduced as “brand brand brand new,” was what she called a “post modern secular hymn for…you guys.”

Anais then announced the next segment would be songs from Hadestown, at which point the audience started cheering and got visibly more involved, bobbing heads and tapping feet. Songs from the new album were darker and reflected a more mature style of songwriting for Mitchell. During the intense “Why We Build The Wall,” the line dancing from earlier turned into a seductive sway of the hips.

Upon finishing her set, Mitchell thanked us for “loaning [our] ears” and promised that we would love Horse Feathers, saying “they will break your heart you guys. Seriously, they will break your heart.”

Horse Feathers did break my heart, an easy task when carried on their elegiac strings. Yet the first thing that comes to mind with this band is their impressive command of rhythm. The strummed guitar and banjo would sync up to provide the backbone for each song while the strings* focused on sustaining notes with harmonies rich enough to make the most cynical listener weep. Song “A Burden,” from 2008′s House with No Home, illustrates this perfectly.

*A quick nod to Chicago – the violinist and cellist were both enjoying the local Goose Island Winter Ale, sipping between songs, which I also highly recommend.

Horse Feathers – A Burden by Big Shoulder Beat

Justin Ringle played guitar while tapping a tambourine with his foot, even breaking out a banjo at one point. Nathan Crockett teamed up his violin with Catherine Odell on cello to form lush, drawn-out harmonies. Sam Cooper, the newest member of the band, has added much to the mix since joining in early 2009. Cooper mainly stayed on banjo, yet he also played a mandolin, organ, xylophone, violin and even a modest drum set consisting of a bass drum, a cymbal and two toms with no snare – clearly the band’s jack-of-all-trades.

The use of banjo, mandolin and violin may have one jumping to the conclusion this is a bluegrass band, but they more closely approximate classically informed folk music. There is enough going on in one Horse Feathers song to make any simple guitar strummer want to up and quit. Justin writes rhythmically complex folk songs, Sam adds a banjo to the mix and the strings imbue it with something of a classical element that truly makes this band unique, incomparable, even. While Ringle’s vocals are nice to sing with, his voice can (and does) sometimes take a backseat to the beautiful string arrangements.

If that wasn’t enough, Horse Feathers can build you up and take you down in three minutes and twenty seconds in a way that it would take any other artist an entire concert to do. A song may begin with acoustic guitar and vocals from Justin, who will swiftly be joined by Sam with a banjo riff to keep things interesting. He will then grab a drum stick and smash a cymbal and the strings will embark on their own journey. The song will then calm down to just vocals (all four of them harmonize) and build back up for the end.

As a band on the heels of their third album (entitled Thistled Spring) they have kept things interesting with songwriting and performing. Ringle’s usually raspy voice displays a surprising range of power on the newer songs, including “The Drought.”

Despite their immense talent performing their songs live, this band is surprisingly awkward with stage banter. Little to nothing is said between songs other than the occasional “thank you” to acknowledge the cheering. After the opening song, while Sam is adjusting his banjo, the rest of the band quietly waited avoiding eye contact until the problem was fixed. Throughout the show when one was tuning, the other three simply waited. Not that a band this talented needs to talk to keep an audience focused, but the lack of interaction took away a bit from the intimacy usually shared with audience and performer.

Having said that, Horse Feathers played a wonderful, albeit short, set; including a dynamite cover of Nirvana’s “Drain You.” My only criticism: an hour was simply not long enough.

Wednesday, October 27th:

8 PM Over at Lincoln Hall, the pale, undernourished, utterly un-rockstar-like men to the right will rock your evening. Two Door Cinema Club,  perhaps the coolest thing to come out of Northern Ireland since Stiff Little Fingers, are touring in support of their debut LP Tourist History. And boy is it a doozy. There’s not a single misstep on the album, each track a lush, electropop marvel. Listen below and be astounded that the little redheaded man can write such a fine dance tune. Tickets are $15, but also sold out.

What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club

12 Midnight Oh yeah. Nobody is ballsy enough to start shows at midnight, except…who’s that? Yes, the “we-don’t-give-a-f&*%” indie darlings Sleigh Bells will be at the Metro, further enshrining their chaotic mix of noise and swagger (maybe there’s more to it than that). Sleigh Bells have been tremendously hyped for…well, months now, maybe even since their appearance at CMJ last fall. If you dig the song below, you’ll like ‘em, but Sleigh Bells tends to divide opinion. That’s the sign of a band who knows what they want and plays, quite unapologetically, for themselves and the music. So kudos there! Tix are $12.

Crown On The Ground by Sleigh Bells

Thursday, October 28th:

9 PM I absolutely love Jagjaguwar. Largely for providing a loving home for Okkervil River and Bon Iver, but they just seem to have a killer lineup of very diverse bands. Among them is Black Mountain, stomping over to the Metro on Thursday. For those nostalgic of the 70s, even if you haven’t lived them, Black Mountain can offer up perhaps the finest fix of earthy, black light psychedelia you’re likely to find. So break out your Atom Heart Mother DVD and get pumped for these guys. Tickets are $19.

Friday, October 29th:

Midnight! At the Bottom Lounge you can catch The Rocky Horror Picture Show in all its androgynous glory. And best costumes get a prize! Ticket information is…not especially apparent. Maybe give them a call.

Saturday, October 30th:

9 PM Garage/folk/country rock-informed Deer Tick, led by the uniquely flexible and emotive John McCauley, are sometimes as woodsy and minimalist as their name suggests, others urbane and thoroughly hedonistic. They’ll be at the Bottom Lounge for $13 and, having seen these guys live, I can attest that their live performances are equal in stature to their songwriting.

Deer Tick – Twenty Miles by Partisan Records

9 PM Swirling dream pop served with hooks alternately crooned and sloughed off with apathy, the Morning Benders very much take on the timbre of gifted lead vocalist Chris Chu. Sophomore album Big Echo, released earlier this year, has been received warmly…and that’s putting it mildly. Another band attracting exaggerated praise, the album is actually quite good, dusted with pop at turns gentle and lively. Tickets are $15, show’s at Lincoln Hall, and there is, sadly, no prize for best costume. Listen to the lulling, fluid guitars becoming steadily more entropic and menacing in “Mason Jar.”

The Morning Benders – Mason Jar by The Drift Record Shop

Have a great Halloween weekend!

The band in front of our hosts for the afternoon, Dynasty Buffet

There I was, on a Saturday afternoon, stuffed with pot stickers and tempura, sitting in a barn in Northern Indiana. I suppose you could say it wasn’t a typical Saturday for me.

But that very barn is much more than that to the men of Silhavey; it’s been their musical home for as long as they can remember. Though not always in this current lineup, the musicians that comprise this band – Stephen Dranger, Mike Regan, Lucas Sgouros and Matt Sigler – have known each other for what might be in the music industry an unfathomably long time. They discovered the Flaming Lips together, entered puberty together, spent much of their adult lives together, and now we find them here, on the heels of their first EP Maru, baked fresh full of pop gems. Silhavey has truly been a lifetime in the making. And it began in the barn of Stephen’s parents, where the band graciously took me after our bountiful meal at the Dynasty Buffet.

Regan tells me that they daily imbibed the outlet to alternative music offered in the mid-90s by Q101. It was Q that opened up their worldview to Pablo Honey, to Vs., to Surfer Rosa. Says Regan, “…it gave us that exposure that, ya know, as a kid, you might not get in rural Indiana. You’re not gonna hear it.” Thrilled by the new sounds that shattered the monotony of Top 40 radio, picking up instruments became the next logical step. Dranger points out, only half in jest, that Mike “had an electric guitar, and he was the only one with that and an amp, so we kinda traded that back and forth.” Dranger, whose first attempts at percussion proved abortive, soon had a revelatory moment:

…it was him [Mike Regan] and Lucas and another kid, and they were all playing guitar, and they all had this “song” and played whatever they wanted, and I thought, “OK…I’m gonna learn the guitar now.” My mom had this old classical guitar from Spain that she thought would be worth a lot of money and turned out to be worthless, so I learned on that. And they were smart, they said they’d buy me another if I learned 10 songs. And so I did and they saw that I was serious, and bought me the same guitar that I have today.

At a certain point, the burgeoning musicians headquartered themselves in the barn, and 14 years – and numerous soundproofings, renovations, and expansions – later, they find something comforting about its hallowed, pale blue walls. Through high school and college, three of the members – Dranger, Regan and Sgouros – toyed with various lineups and interests, forming band Fetl and joining musician Travis Wiggins for his project Essex Chanel. They had long tried to involved Sigler, who frequently rebuked them (“I kinda just said, ‘Well, no.’ And then I finally gave in.”) but now finds himself a primary point on which the band pivots, one half of the impeccable rhythm section rounded out by bassist Sgouros.

Inspired by the huge gamut of music that the members digest, they’re equally tempered by their extensive experience recording and playing out. The band laments the lack of a cohesive scene around their town, and Dranger points to a similarly scattershot identity in the city of Chicago, but they appreciate the truly invested fans. And they exist, Regan says; “each set of kids growing up” try to find something new, to carve their own path.

Part of the band's recording space

Silhavey, for all of their many fascinations, are not a set to wear influences on their sleeve. Silhavey’s sound is precise, motivated by the likelihood that their music will stay with you. Not a band for self-indulgent, masturbatory arcs or overblown improvisation, they are masterful pop-rock craftsmen. But nor are they cynical, utilitarian musical chemists. Their hooks are genuine and their enthusiasm heartfelt, and, truly, it shines through on every song. Says guitarist and vocalist Regan about the production on the album, “I think it’s more about giving it a sort of vibe or energy. We’d rather build things from the ground up…We kind of captured these songs.” Hoping to dedicate more time to tone while the band works at songwriting, Regan acknowledges that “for me, it’s 90% feel” and Dranger echoes that “a really good song, to my mind, is a catchy one.” But it’s the band’s blend of irrepressible verve and interesting narrative that really helps them stand out. Regan expresses his adoration for the way music just seems to fit together. Dranger is a believer, as well, saying:

Lyrics…are almost like a spell; words feel right in the right places. And that’s a great thing about rock ‘n roll. I had a friend that said the best thing about rock n roll is that it makes the mundane seem interesting.

But neither want to lose the forest for the trees. Dranger, keyboardist and lead vocalist, especially, is a lover of sagas, characters, catharses…a good denouement. Enraptured by the unusual song structures of Deerhoof and their ability to construct songs with pop immediacy but technical density, Dranger “want[s] to put all [his] hooks in one place.” It’s the atypical moments of songs, where an artist refused to conform to the verse-chorus-verse template or an intro seems to percolate just a little too long that he enjoys. But, recognizing that patience is not always a virtue one can expect of rock music fans, Dranger shoots for the none-too-easy middle ground of encapsulating his ideas into compact packages and does a more than admirable job of it. Song “Parables,” peppered with infectious horns, initially was conceived of as part of “this grand album that would be exploring the idea of a quarter life crisis. It would take place at a party where everybody had to sit down and re-examine themselves.” “Waiting for Sunshine,” on the other hand, came from Dranger’s observations living away from bustling cities, and the tale of drunk driving was ultimately born of “these people, they don’t think they cause scenes…They’re sort of drama-filled people and they’re confused and looking for redemption and I know a lot of people like that.”

Meanwhile, “Jungle,” a Regan tune, touches on the “visceral emotions” that people experience when absorbed in music. It’s the kind of song that puts a smile on your face, and at the end of the day, isn’t that why rock music exists?

Though they shine in the studio, the band is equally impressive live. Constantly sounding bigger than their personnel, the four-piece finds no greater joy than playing to fans. Sgouros, long a performer (originally a saxophonist), articulates perfectly the intangible feeling that seems to bind musicians everywhere. It is its ability to take one out of a situation, out of the details of one’s life, that he finds truly arresting.

I have “Serenity” written on my bass for a reason. The first show we played my mother was in the ICU, like really sick, we didn’t think she was gonna come out of it. And it was like…Mike was telling me we should cancel the show, and I thought she wouldn’t want me to cancel it, but once you get on the stage, for that 45 minutes…that’s it. You’re just in that moment, and nothing else really fazes you, and that’s the beauty of playing live, I think.

And when they play live, this boundless energy seems to have a similar effect on listeners, quelling the nagging problems, the listlessness, the hostility that crowds might have brought in.

The band is beginning to whip up a batch of songs for a full-length LP, which they hope to have well under way by early next year. They’re optimistic and show no signs of running short of steam, and every new topic of conversation – from the Beatles to Gustav Holst to scenesters to mishaps in the Dallas airport – shows the band’s lust for life, which translates (with nary a dropped moment) into their music. I’m a firm believer that nothing can give you a better idea of what this band is about than picking up their record, but Regan and Dranger go a long way towards distilling their guiding principle:

Mike Regan: I think in the general sort of scope of production, we always think…the lo-fi thing is really cool, and I love the idea that you can forget about expensive gear and get raw emotions, but some part of me always wants it to still sound – even if it’s low fidelity- interesting in a way that’s big and…

Stephen Dranger: Impactful?

Regan: Impactful and expansive, even if it’s not huge. We want it to sound big and for people to say, “this is a rock record.”

Maru, definitively, unequivocally, is.

First up was Silhavey, hailing from northern Indiana. These dapper gents – pictured to the left – play power pop just the way I like it: quick and quirky. Lead singer Stephen Dranger takes center stage with his 88-key symphony orchestra. Yes, indeed, in Silhavey, the almighty, shapeshifting keyboard forms the center of their musical universe. For those doubters that seem to want to bury the keyboard (perhaps a digital piano, actually) in the 80s or in the sparse hipster electro-pop that rages on across the sea, Silhavey might ask…did it ever leave? But they’re by no means a one trick pony. The sunny, tight hooks of their music – reminiscent of anything from They Might Be Giants to the Apples in Stereo, depending on the song – are buoyed by the rhythm section of Lucas Sgouros on bass and Matt Sigler on drums, and the big, chunky melodies of Mike Regan’s guitar. The band opened with “Brother Man,” track one off of their EP Maru, launching the show with great gusto. As it turns a corner with mathematical precision into its breakdown, subtle “do-do’s”, that standby of 60s pop, appear, floating behind Dranger’s vocals. The crowd loves it, and so do I.

The rest of the set refused to let the energy abate, with joyous sampled horns in “Parables,” close vocal harmonies in many of the songs and even that most special of moments in rock music, elevating it to an art: harmonized guitar. Song “Breathing Fire,” sadly not available online (outside this Youtube clip) has the sort of immediacy that won’t be ignored, performing a slick “find and replace” on any other song that might be floating around in your head. Falsetto hooks bounced along in “Jungle,” as the band posed playfully, strumming with big, exaggerated motions. Completely un-self-conscious, they played through their set of 140 BPM gems with poise and genuine abandon. And have I mentioned the songwriting? Clever, but not in the way that makes you roll your eyes. Any band that can incorporate the line “you’re like a cancerous cyst” with a wry smile is OK by me. The crowd danced and shouted, the organ swells, coy piano and tongue clicks of the hi-hat responded in turn. On their track “Welcome,” Silhavey call out that “anything could happen tonight” – and I truly believed it. See the article below to hear a track from them, or listen to the full EP on their website.

Up next was Bear with Hawk Fist, a surprisingly visceral name for the subtle, restrained music of this two-man band. Soft and vulnerable, they played through songs like “Oh Hell Yeah,” with gorgeous strummed acoustic guitars. The lead singer’s musical partner played the very curious Dean V-Coustic, looking, of course, like the classic Gibson Flying V. Dreamy and shy, often self-effacing, the guitar was dreamy while the vocals were flat and unadorned. Along came a somber tune about a car crash, and the crowd began to recede. Something gave me the impression that nerves held these guys back a bit more than they normally would be, but the few little missteps were admirably shrugged off. A theremin was brought on stage to accompany an unusual romp, looking like a bizarre puppet show as Bear’s partner played call-and-response with his vocals. To close out the set, Bear whipped out a darkly humorous tune with instructions on “the best way to die” in “Lights Out in Berwyn.” A little emotionally volatile, it still provided for an interesting set, and a definite contrast to Silhavey.

Chatty Cathy then took the stage for the first time in a year, from what I gathered. With an album release up soon, they were eager and energetic and sounded remarkably polished. A 3-piece band led by Kortland Chase on guitar and vocals, their artful use of echo and their intricate song structures make them sound much larger. Falling somewhere on the spectrum between the Silversun Pickups and the jazz-informed prog inclinations of a Coheed and Cambria, they can go from a whisper to a shout at a moment’s notice, big power chords broken up by dense, liquid arpeggios. Though reliant on effects, they are all three excellent musicians with very involved songs, building tension (and a subsequent release) with ease. After a brief guitar problem and its replacement (helped by Dranger of Silhavey), the songs lost some of their distorted bite – for technical reasons – and took on the shimmering echo, further entrenching their set in complex, Radiohead-like numbers. Chase is capable of hard rock wails and of a distinct, clear falsetto, and he used both to great effect as the front rows engaged in some light moshing. Bombastic but undoubtedly interesting, look for more from this outfit soon.

Around 10:30, headliners MachineGun Mojo strutted onto the stage, eager to entertain. Lead guitarist Shawn Haybic began by creating a chaotic wall of echo. This soon devolved and launched into the jailhouse blues of “Palmer,” gritty and foot-stomping, with a rumbling bassline from Matt DiMare. Rooster Kanuch’s fiddle cut through the air, electric and unpredictable. And intermittent howls of harmonica punctuated the grim story intoned by Haybic. Onward they went, playing to a sizable crowd, they tackled early country romps to psychedelic walls of sound, high-flying blues to slow burning rockers. Excellent showmen to the core, highlights included Rooster strumming his guitar on the stage like a cello and most songs in which Haybic cut loose into a solo. The bar blues of “1923″ demonstrated one of the many narrators that these songwriters take on, in this case an early 20th-century immigrant. A cover of John Denver’s “Country Roads,” a bit unrehearsed but fun nevertheless, reinvigorated a crowd, and we continued on their tour of Americana from Louisiana to a carnival and back to the Midwest. Track “Apples and Clowns,” fleshed out with expansive choirs in the studio version (available soon), still got airborne live thanks to the dueling guitars of Haybic and Kanuch. All told, these men delivered on their promise of whirling through the good, the bad and the unusual of “life, strife, God, sex and money.”

Upcoming Shows…

Tonight, October 15th:

7 PM At the Chicago Theater in the Loop, Sufjan Stevens will be playing, wielding his big arrangements and a wealth of new material. The Age of Adz - his first “new” studio LP since 2006′s Illinois (discounting symphonic concept album The BQE and his holiday music) – has been available on NPR streaming in its entirety for some time now. Sadly, that went down on its release date, October 12th, but you can hear a track below and more can be found on his website. Noted for its rather extreme departure from previous work, this new album relies more heavily on sampled drum loops, vocals dosed heavily in reverb, and a decidedly less organic take than the sweeping horns and strings of Tickets are $35, but it’s sadly sold out. If you go…tell me how it was?

“Too Much” | Sufjan Stevens | The Age of Adz by thatdamndeer

8:30 PM At Lincoln Hall, Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack-mates DeVotchKa will be playing. With ever-fascinating infusions of Eastern European folk, classical song structure, glimmers of old-time folk and Nick Urata’s Roy Orbisonesque vocals, their music is something that must be experienced to be understood. Many listeners will be familiar with their tunes through the soundtrack of Little Miss Sunshine – see below – but 2008′s A Mad and Faithful Telling demands a listen from anyone with an interest in classical instrumentation (all four are consummate string and brass players). Tickets are $25, and they’re playing tomorrow night at the same place, same time.

You Love Me by lilacbeer

10 PM The Felice Brothers will take their loud, brash folk-punk to the Empty Bottle up on Western Ave. Tickets are $15 and it should be a great time!

Saturday, October 16th:

7 PM At Schubas, Julian Velard brings his hip, radio-friendly (but not uninteresting or unoriginal) pop-rock to town. Tickets are only $8 – catch him before he gets big. From piano pop to more lush arrangements, he’s drawn comparisons to a present-day Joel or John and has penned tunes for stars like Goldfrapp, Ben Kweller, Kate Nash and Marc Broussard.

10 PM Former singer and guitarist from the Drive-By Truckers Jason Isbell brings his new band (the 400 Unit) to the Double Door up on near the corner of Milwaukee and Damen. The lineup is stacked with great songwriters, it seems, as young, sly maverick Langhorne Slim is in tow. Tickets are $15; check out Slim’s earnest, refreshing take on the often vague “alt-country” genre below.

Rebel Side Of Heaven by Langhorne Slim

[MachineGun Mojo is playing tonight at the Subterranean on North Avenue in Wicker Park at 8:30 PM. Tickets are $8]

Josh Kanuch’s eyes light up as we sit at the bar at Jake’s Pub, waxing rhapsodic about music: “All of a sudden it became what I wanted to do. In the way a priest is summoned to preach, you know? I mean that’s a bad analogy, but that’s how it feels. Regardless of what happens, I know I’ll be doing this, I just want to create music.” Josh – better known as Rooster – is the lead singer for Chicago-based psychedelic folk-rock outfit MachineGun Mojo, and he and bassist Matt Dimare were kind enough to sit down and chat about their music, their experiences in Chicago, and their upcoming show tonight at the Subterranean Lounge.

Equal parts rock, early country, late-60′s psychedelia and folk storytelling, MachineGun Mojo is comprised of Josh and Matt,  Shawn Haybic on lead guitar, and Mike Hauser on drums, at its core, though their many regular guests keep the lineup interesting. Matt tells me that they officially formed on January 1st, 2009 – a little tired from the festivities of the previous night, “we weren’t writing any gems that day.” But the combination of old buddies and college friends stuck, and the thick-as-thieves foursome immediately took to learning songs from each of its versatile songwriters. And it’s clear that they all have that ineffable passion for creating that propels Josh Kanuch. Key to MachineGun Mojo’s diverse songwriting is the diverse background of their musical tastes. Shawn tunes in to classic punk, Josh to acid jazz and avant-garde classical, Matt to more traditional folk, and, universally, the band adore the Beatles – certainly great places to start.

“It’s like a distillation of us,” says Josh, but, as Matt points out, “these don’t always color the way we write music. I think it’s great, though, coming at music from all these different angles.” On their Myspace and Facebook pages, to this point, listeners have been able to get a taste of two tracks. The first, “Woman,” reads like an oral history of men getting spurned by the women they pine for, a theme that one suspects might be found in the depths of civilization all the way up to the present. With its booming, hypnotic percussion and emotive strings, it’s part spiritual and part folk tune. According to Dimare, it stems from “that universal feeling you have when something good suddenly becomes bad.” Lovely and rustic, it also prominently features the rich addition of Katelyn Cohen on cello.  A fortuitous encounter at a party brought her into the fold. Says Dimare, “we met her at a Korean karaoke place – literally like a room of dentists’ chairs with some screens and a microphone – and thought, ‘wow, she can really sing.’ And we loved the idea of having cello on “Woman,” we thought it could really add something, so, some beer and six pizzas later, we had it laid down.”

And the band functions as exactly this kind of musical family. “We’re very open,” says Matt. “If you got songs and we dig ‘em, bring them in.” Josh talks further about a vision for the band to be less of a static, guitar/vocals/rhythm section equation and more of a musical community, “where members come in and out but feel comfortable bringing songs in.” It’s this sprawling notion of using any and all resources – personal, emotional, nutritional, and ethanol – that help fuel this band’s unflagging energy. This factors very closely into the production of their debut album, Souvenirs from the Other Side of Here, due out around year’s end. Matt tells me that the band has taken a little longer than they’d have liked working on the album, but that that time has been pivotal in making this exactly the record that they want.

Matt Dimare: There’s a couple ways to go when a band is making an album…they can limit themselves to a budget and time constraints or they can make exactly the record they want without that in mind. For us, it was all about the ideas; we thought, ‘let’s not skimp on anything.’ We even bought a chord organ from a guy in Humboldt Park. We wanted to do this without thinking about the expense and we think it’ll be well worth it. I think listeners will be surprised that it’s our first.

This bottom-up approach, taking the runaway creativity of Mojo’s members and refusing to channel it too narrowly, have let it take them where they felt it was needed. “It’s a really good album, honestly,” says Josh, “and I’m not just saying that.” They credit producer and engineer Mike Namoff of the Hatch Studio with being a strong force in the album’s creation, critical but forward-thinking. And, like any member of Mojo’s social network, he quickly fell in with the gang, and, at the time of the interview was “back at my [Matt's] place with some Carlo Rossi.”

And truly, it’s their spirited and fun approach to the music that makes Mojo stand out. Track “Hannah,” also available on their Myspace (and below), starts out driven by the whole country-rock ensemble – strummed acoustic guitars, some handclaps here and there – and spins out into its gritty second half, complete with Haybic’s distortion and wah-drenched guitar stylings. At this point it really takes off and it could as easily be envisioned on an LP in the late 60s as on a Black Crowes’ record not a decade a go. These guys have a tremendous ear for incorporating those iconic sounds of Southern rock, of 70s blues-rock and a whole lot in between while giving it a distinctly modern twists. Other tracks on the record are fleshed out with choruses of mandolins, with mournful lap steel – played by producer Mike Namoff – and the impassioned strains of Kanuch’s Spanish guitar. “The songs audibly don’t relate, sometimes – there’s bluegrass, there are rock ballads, there’s folk,” says Matt, “but what connects them are the running themes.” The title – Souvenirs from the Other Side of Here - is a reference to the way that, conceptually, music can very much take you on a trip.

Josh Kanuch: We wanted to take all these events or stories and create a mood, in a way. I’m big into film, so that’s the way I see things sometimes. And when you go on a trip, you take memories with you, these become souvenirs…that’s how the songs relate to each other. It could be through the characters, or through themes; for example, “1923” is about U.S. history told through the eyes of an immigrant. It’s a concept album without being a concept album.

Ultimately, the band wants to transpose these memories and stories, these characters and feelings, into an aural journey, that, in Dimare’s words, “take you to where we want you to be.” Opening track “Apples and Clowns” touches on ideas surreal and familiar, set in a carnival, and tumbles “down into the rabbit hole,” according to Josh, where guest singer Anna Bensch’s handiwork takes off. Matt tells me that it launches into a “‘Gimme Shelter’-type choir” that really sets the tone for the album.

The band credits the Chicago music scene for being an open and welcoming place, as well; that even for all its cliques and divisive circles, it’s sometimes hard to peg down who will be at a certain show. You often simply get fans of live music. Appreciating this, the guys praise places like the Double Door in Wicker Park for helping to hype local musicians, their home for this evening, the Subterranean Lounge, and the Elbo Room for its spectacle of a light show.  And, at the end of the day, these guys are there for the fans. “We’re not really into booking big shows, necessarily, just ones that people will really enjoy,” says Matt. “We don’t do it for the money, I mean whatever we make we’ll spend with the people we like. We’re fun guys, have fun with us.”

And they take their music with them wherever they go, including their pad in Logan Square, which both seem to love because they can make noise well into the AM hours and “no one seems to care.” Josh tells me that a mariachi band was playing until 4 AM on a weeknight and no one raised a stink or called the cops – a perfect haven for a working band.

What does the future hold for MachineGun Mojo? A lot of promise, that’s for sure. The debut album is forthcoming – and you can bet you’ll hear about it here – and their commitment to playing live and playing for the fans sets MachineGun Mojo apart from the acts angling at a spot on FM radio or the iTunes featured song of the week. Matt and Josh, fully cognizant of the “big pond with many small fish” in which they swim, here in Chicago, don’t let this trouble them. Matt says, sagely, that “If people look harder, they can find cool, outside-of-the-box independent bands.” Here’s to hoping that people won’t have to look too hard to find these guys.

(here begin some extras)

The Lightning Round with MachineGun Mojo:

Beatles or Stones? Beatles
Skynyrd or Allman Brothers? Matt: Allman Josh: Skynyrd
Zeppelin or the Who? Zeppelin
Katy Perry or Justin Bieber? Katy Perry, definitely. Matt: Oh J Beebs… Josh: I know he’s a pretty boy and all but…
Old Style or PBR? PBR
Gino’s East or Giordano’s? Neither – Lou Malrati’s
Boxers or briefs? Boxer briefs

And…

Whiskey or beer? Josh: They kind of go together, like PB&J Matt: Tequila.
Jersey Shore or a hole in the head? Hole in the head. But Shawn would give you a different answer, he’s totally into it.

What they’ve been listening to:

Matt: Sleepy Sun, kind of psychedelic folk. I’ve been digging Blitzen Trapper…Beatles a lot, Portugal. The Man, Future Birds, the Guess Who.

Josh: Omar Rodriguez, Portugal. The Man, the Temptations, John Zorn (“He made this acid jazz record where he blends klezmer and jazz, it’s great.”) Trampled by Turtles (“You’ll be trampled by their turtleness. They’re a great bluegrass group.”) Stravinsky, David Byrne.

Did You Know…?

Matt plays a Lakland bass, a Chicago-based company famous for their quality and innovative production techniques. His bass combines a P-bass (Fender Precision bass) body with a jazz neck.

Josh plays, along with his Raimundo classical guitar, an instrument he’s dubbed the “Bluebird of Happiness,” on which he wrote “Apples and Clowns.” It was bought by Matt and Josh’s girlfriend to replace his previous guitar, Maura, that was basically trashed when Matt pulled Josh – and the innocent Maura – into a friend’s pool.

Silhavey, also indigenous to the Chicagoland area, plays the sort of smart, hooky power pop that you might expect from OK Go or the Long Winters. They build clean, propulsive tunes around crisp guitar lines, artfully incorporated harmonies and even employ horns to great effect. Check out their song “Jungle” below and their Myspace here.

So what do these acts have in common? Well, they’re playing a show this Wednesday, October 13th at the Subterranean Lounge on North Ave in Wicker Park. Mojo headlines, with Silhavey and acts Chatty Cathy and Bear with Hawk Fist supporting. You can catch an interview with MachineGun Mojo right here tomorrow night (or Tuesday morning, if I’m lazy) and a post-show chat with Silhavey on Wednesday. Be sure to check it out! I’m told that money spent at the Subterranean is money well spent, so…yeah. Be there.

03 Silhavey Maru Jungle by illuminatedwax