The Bombpops keep the spirit of classic Fat Wreck Chords alive and kickingon March 13, 2020 at 9:51 pm

Update: This show has been canceled to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.

When I was in middle school in the mid-90s, I cut my teeth on the hyperslick skate-punk records churned out by California label Fat Wreck Chords. But when I got to high school and discovered “smarter,” more “highbrow” punk bands such as Fugazi and the Honor System, the scene that first captured my attention might as well have simply ceased to exist. Now here we are in 2020, and it turns out the classic Fat Wreck sound is not only still alive, but it’s fucking kicking. I’d argue that the best of the modern Fat Wreck bunch is Los Angeles four-piece the Bombpops. Their breakneck, melodic pop punk is the catchiest I’ve ever heard, and it speaks to my nostalgic side by paying homage to the all-time greats of 90s skate punk, piling on the palm-muted guitars, shimmering crash cymbals, and undeniable vocal harmonies of NOFX, Lagwagon, No Use for a Name, All, and other Epitaph and Fat Wreck stars. The Bombpops’ newest single, “Notre Dame,” off the upcoming LP Death in Venice Beach, perfectly sums up why this music continues to thrive: it’s fun, energetic, heartfelt, and all-around unstoppable. Front women Poli van Dam and Jen Razavi weave gigantic hooks while the rock-solid rhythm section of drummer Josh Lewis and bassist Neil Wayne keeps it simple and quick. This formula has been at the core of pop punk for decades, and the Bombpops make a strong case that it always will be. v

The Bombpops keep the spirit of classic Fat Wreck Chords alive and kickingon March 13, 2020 at 9:51 pm Read More »

Berlin producer Laurel Halo performs at this year’s Daphne festival and releases her first film scoreon March 13, 2020 at 9:58 pm

In January 2018, Berlin-based dance producer, vocalist, and composer Laurel Halo tweeted that she’d written a score for Possessed, a documentary by Rob Schroder and Metahaven, a Dutch design collective that’s branched out into film since forming in 2007. Metahaven’s work focuses on the dystopian aspects of our present lives, and those themes are central to Possessed, which navigates a wide range of technological horrors–some are obviously frightening (facial recognition software), and others are so quotidian we engage with them almost thoughtlessly (YouTube makeup tutorials). In her score, which Vinyl Factory will release next month, Halo uses minimal piano melodies and eerie electronics to evoke paranoia, terror, melancholy, and beauty. Violinist Galya Bisengalieva and cellist Oliver Coates help add detail to the atmosphere, whether they’re underscoring the awfulness of the neoliberal hellscape (the sawtoothed strings on the anxious “Zeljava”) or expressing a simple reverence for classical tradition (the cordial melodies of the three-part “Rome Theme”). Even in its darkest moments, though, Halo’s score has enough heart to give me hope we’ll find ways to survive. v

Berlin producer Laurel Halo performs at this year’s Daphne festival and releases her first film scoreon March 13, 2020 at 9:58 pm Read More »

On Black Friday, Palehound explore love in the face of anxietyon March 13, 2020 at 10:15 pm

On their third full-length, 2019’s Black Friday (Polyvinyl), Boston band Palehound offer candid meditations on love–its many forms and stages, and the vulnerability it brings–from the perspective of someone deep in the midst of it. The trio remain firmly planted in the 90s-flecked indie pop that roots their sound, but they add new folk-rock twists; they also find a balance between their instrumentals and the luminous, airy vocals of front woman and songwriter Ellen Kempner, which convey a wide range of emotional inflections. The record feels like a natural progression from 2017’s A Place I’ll Always Go and its inward musings on pain: each track on Black Friday feels like an entry from a personal journal wrapped in a sophisticated sonic package. On album opener “Company,” Kempner sings in a cautious reverie over striking chords reminiscent of a booming church organ, which reinforce a sense that the narrator’s current relationship has arrived at something akin to bliss. But on “Worthy,” her voice feels intentionally restrained as she whispers in the voice of someone whose negative self-image has invited insecurity into a romance. She considers these issues from the opposite perspective on “Bullshit,” empathetically addressing a troubled lover struggling with inner turmoil. Some of the album’s most affecting stories concern platonic friendships: on “Killer,” for instance, Kempner colors her voice with earnest anger and pain as she lays out her desire to enact revenge on the person who’s harmed a friend. Though Black Friday doesn’t provide a clear resolution to the anxieties at its center, closing track “In Town” suggests the hope of peace amidst the chaos. Kempner’s intimate lyrics and passionate onstage presence give her a keen ability to help listeners feel her anguish, and her stories gain extra power as they resonate among a live audience. v

On Black Friday, Palehound explore love in the face of anxietyon March 13, 2020 at 10:15 pm Read More »

City Morgue and Tokyo’s Revenge show the breadth of Soundcloud rapon March 13, 2020 at 10:38 pm

About three years ago, “Soundcloud rap” emerged as a catchall for a variety of aggressive, rock-influenced hip-hop made by digital natives operating outside the mainstream. It often felt unhelpful to group together rappers whose styles were tugging hip-hop in several different directions, and naming that incohesive group after a streaming service didn’t make the situation more clear. But the ambiguity of the Soundcloud rap category has also allowed it to include artists who move in several different directions all by themselves, producing saccharine ballads about heartache side by side with brash rippers that sound ready to blow your speakers no matter how quietly you play them. Misanthropic New York group City Morgue definitely lean toward the latter: their lurid, hostile tracks borrow from Memphis rap’s sinister sonics, nu-metal’s pop-friendly heaviness, and crunk’s delirious shouts. On December’s City Morgue Vol. 2: As Good as Dead (Republic), the dark, downcast instrumentals of producer Thraxx inflict both dread and desire, while the bellicose bars of rappers ZillaKami and SosMula seethe even when they switch from throaty screams to melodic quasi-singing (as they do on “The Give Up”). City Morgue’s current tourmate, TikTok phenom Tokyo’s Revenge, has taken off by mixing lovelorn R&B singing with the syllable-jammed aggro rapping popularized by fellow Floridian Ski Mask the Slump God. On the 2019 EP Mdnght (Side B), released by the Blac Noize! label, he veers between these two poles. He’s most magnetic on the anxious ballad “Drug Lullaby,” transplanting the morbid histrionics of third-wave emo into a tortuous performance tinged with vulnerability that’s hard to pin down. v

City Morgue and Tokyo’s Revenge show the breadth of Soundcloud rapon March 13, 2020 at 10:38 pm Read More »

Ensemble dal Niente braid together several Chicago-grown approaches to musical spontaneityon March 13, 2020 at 10:50 pm

Update: This show has been canceled to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.

Ensemble dal Niente commissions and selects new music that justifies the word “new” not just because it’s recently composed; it also challenges players and audience alike to experience performances in new ways. The ensemble’s latest program draws on the resources of its city by including compositions by current and former Chicagoans, as well as by recruiting as a guest performer one of its most renowned extant improvisers, saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark. Each piece incorporates spontaneity and improvisation, but not necessarily by simply inviting chamber players to improvise like jazz musicians. Vandermark and the ensemble will begin with “Echo Piece,” originally written by local cellist Katinka Kleijn for multidisciplinary Chicago/New Orleans group the Instigation Orchestra. It calls for the performers to move around the balcony and main floor, sending and responding to musical messages that crescendo into a dense mass of competing communications and require the listener to decide which to focus on. Vandermark, who sometimes uses composed structures as starting points for intense, free-ranging improvisations, will follow this with a solo that incorporates themes written by late saxophonist Fred Anderson. Then Ensemble dal Niente will reprise “Hexis,” from their CD of compositions by trombonist, electronic musician, composer, and historian George Lewis. Its structure, which alternates repetitive and nonrepetitive passages, asks the listener to make real-time decisions about which elements of the mercurial piece to follow. Finally, Vandermark and Ensemble dal Niente will play two more pieces together. Anthony Braxton’s “Ghost Trance Music–Composition Nos. 193 + 228” combines two entries from a series of works designed to facilitate such combinations. And the newly commissioned “Last Train to Clover 5,” by woodwind player Roscoe Mitchell, is one of a series of Mitchell’s works whose scores are derived by rearranging transcripts of improvisations he played with keyboardist Craig Taborn and drummer Kikanju Baku. This is the first concert of a brief tour by Ensemble dal Niente and Ken Vandermark, which was to conclude at the now-canceled Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. v

Ensemble dal Niente braid together several Chicago-grown approaches to musical spontaneityon March 13, 2020 at 10:50 pm Read More »

Black Pumas create the music of true soul mateson March 13, 2020 at 11:14 pm

Update: To help slow the spread of COVID-19, these shows have been postponed until August 27 and 28. Tickets already purchased will be honored at that time. Contact point of purchase for refund or exchange information.

Black Pumas are an electrifying six-piece neosoul band led by Adrian Quesada and Eric Burton–a musical partnership made in heaven. Born in Laredo, Texas, and based in Austin, Quesada is a guitarist, composer, and Renaissance man (Texas Music Magazine called him “Texas’ version of Quincy Jones”), and he’s been central to a wide variety of influential musical projects in his home state, including the salsa-infused rock fusion of Grupo Fantasma, a norteno rock opera called Pancho Villa at a Safe Distance, and Latinx funk band Brownout. Los Angeles-based Burton sang in gospel choirs as a kid, encouraged by his family, and spent a period busking on Santa Monica Pier before moving into contemporary singer-songwriter ballads. As Black Pumas, he and Quesada make music that recalls the feel and passion of 70s soul, with Burton adding just the right amount of grace to Quesada’s grit–a sound that recently earned them Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Each of the ten tracks on the band’s self-titled 2019 debut album maneuvers among soul, funk, blues, and psych rock, blurring the lines that separate them. When I caught Black Pumas at SXSW last year, it was an exhilarating, joyful ride. Their music doesn’t simply nostalgically re-create vintage grooves but rather confirms the vision Quesada shared in a January Rolling Stone interview: “I wanted the soul to be that it came from our souls.” v

Black Pumas create the music of true soul mateson March 13, 2020 at 11:14 pm Read More »