3/15 show Recap

Thanks to everyone who came out to see The Fortieth Day + Noise Crush last night at The Empty Bottle. We had a great time and hopefully this will not be our "annual" show. Preparing for shows with Lisa is always a pleasure, as we get to re-introduce the mesmerizing video element to our weekly sessions. It was also excellent to have James involved, for the first time. The fuller synth sound really clicked for us and definitely helped balance the rumbling bass and chiming guitar. I guess that it turned out to be sort of BLOODYMINDED in disguise. It was nice to have so many friends there, at what turned out to be a "technically" sold out show. The technicality was that there were a bunch of unclaimed pre-sold tickets. Weird. Neil Jendon was up after us, and while he seemed to offer the beat hungry audience some hope -- as Isidro's beats were about 20 BPM -- and people were bobbing their heads to Neil's throbbing modular synth -- it was only a matter of time before he switched to kill mode and unleashed some ear-gouging frequencies on the full house. You could literally see people recoil in horror. I have to say that it was a beautiful moment. Silk Flowers were up next and it was great to have them back in Chicago and back at The Empty Bottle. Compared to their previous show with Anatomy of Habit, their sound seemed clearer and more balanced and it felt like a totally accomplished and in-control set. Salem were up last and while some in the crowd were patiently waiting for a (Levi's/Fader Fort video-style) trainwreck, it never occurred. While the music was pretty basic dark dance music... sort of in the Q Lazzarus realm of synth-pop, with several songs having a strong female lead vocal presence, and their stage set had a handsome Dan Flavin influence, I could not personally get into the rap vocals, which were a visual disconnect, and simply not to my taste. It never got as syrupy-slow as I thought it might, either. The crowd remained pretty low key throughout the night, but polite and seemingly appreciative of the mixture and the progression of artists. Again, thanks to our friends, for their support. Thanks to Pete at The Empty Bottle for setting it up. Thanks to Patrick (Unur) at The Empty bottle for the great sound (all night) and the emergency guitar repair (phew!!!). Maybe again in the fall???