Our (fairly) regular roundup of Music & Arts related news from Chicago-based web media, featuring thoughts and insight from some of the city’s most dedicated writers.
- Contest: White Rabbits @ Lincoln Hall!
Throughout White Rabbits‘ career, their detractors have often said, “If I wanted to hear that sound, I’d just listen to Spoon.” On their latest album, Milk Famous, the Brooklyn band seems sick of the comparisons. They veer in a different direction. The punchy indie-rock that they’ve lived on is still present, but it’s not overwhelming. Songs like “Hold It to the Fire” and “Heavy Metal” dial things down a notch yet are still complex and satisfying. On the other side of the coin is “Temporary” that’s dominated by its quick pace and sudden changes. Where White Rabbits’ strength lies, though, is in their performances. The six-man band has a frenetic nature as each member moves from instrument to instrument, sometimes even mid-song. It’s almost like each person in the band is saying to themselves “I have one chance to play [instrument] tonight; I might as well make it good.” And more often than not, they certainly do. Gapers Block is giving a pair of tickets to see White Rabbits on Wednesday, the 17th. Write to contests@gapersblock.com with “Milk Famous” in the subject line for a chance to win.
White Rabbits headlines Lincoln Hall on Wednesday, the 17th. Chicago’s Save the Clocktower, whose new Through the Glass album is a really fun listen, opens the show. It’s $15, 21+ and starts at 9PM. Lincoln Hall’s at 2424 N Lincoln.
- Keith Rowe: The Six Strings That Draw Blood
Keith Rowe plays guitar. He plays it on its back, on a table, using piles of raw materials (springs, bows, coins, credit cards, steel wool, wood strips) to resonate the strings. In 2012, this is hardly uncommon, but in 1966, when Cronos-like Ur-free improv group AMM recorded their debut, it was like saying you eat your dinner with a windshield wiper. Rowe’s relentless push to the edges of abstract sound and telepathic improvisation (as well as that of his former AMM colleagues Eddie Prevost, Cornelius Cardew, and others) built a cottage industry of abstract improvisers who are serious, humorless, and often proprietary in their explorations. Not so Rowe…at a solo performance hosted by Lampo in 2001, he ended his set — 45 minutes of enveloping, genuinely alien atmospheres — he asked the crowed with a big grin whether anyone else wanted to “have a go” at playing his rig for a while. No one stepped up — attempting our own rendition would have been like taking Yo Yo Ma’s still-warm-from-use cello out of his hand and farting “Happy Birthday” into the resonators. (His selective use of shortwave radio during long, serious improvisations also helps to incorporate the outside world into an inherently isolationist art form.)
Following a second solo performance at Lampo in 2005, Rowe returns this Saturday with another Lampo performance, performing a composition titled “City Music,” written for him by Chicago composer Frank Abbinanti. The performance takes place at the Renaissance Society in Hyde Park (5811 S. Ellis Ave, Cobb Hall 418). Admission is FREE, no RSVP required, and the performance begins at 8:00.
Here is an excellent clip that not only allows Rowe to show of hiss techniques, but also lets him speak about the genesis of his style.
- EXCLUSIVE DEBUT: Mazes’ New Video For "Live Happy Die Heavy"
After a few delays, Mazes are finally releasing their new record. [ more › ]
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