A-Frames
Headache City
BLOODYMINDED
21 August 2010
The Empty Bottle
Chicago, IL
BLOODYMINDED
Margaret Chardiet (Pharmakon) - Keyboard, Vocals
James Moy - Synth, Vocals, Live Mix
Isidro Reyes - Synth, Vocals
Pieter Schoolwerth - Synth
Mark Solotroff - Vocals, Synth
01. LAKE STREET
02. TROPHY
03. WITHIN THE WALLS
04. IN THE MOOD
05. ANGEL OF DARKNESS
06. PORN LORDS
07. A SONG FOR LISANNE, A YOUNG MODEL
08. MIND THE GAP
09. LEAK (CADAVER IN DRAG)
10. GENITAL PANIC
11. PRO-ANA
12. NOW IT IS A PRIVATE THING
13. TWO DROPS OF BLOOD
14. VISITING AN EX-GIRLFRIEND IN THE HOSPITAL – AIDS WARD
15. OUTSIDE THE GATE
16. CHINATOWN
Very rare, indeed. From a technical standpoint, the night was flawless --- and with everything on the line due to us using the new Korg Monotron synths - and running them through FX pedals --- and just for context, our last show with pedals was No Fun Fest 2005, which was a glorious clusterfuck --- let alone adding a new person (Margaret) into the mix with her keyboard. Of course, James handled the live mix in a masterful way, and everything came through loud and clear and Pieter managed not to get tangled up in the FX wires... just my mic cords and all of our synth cables. I actually forgot that I had a synth set-up on stage, and I only noticed/remembered at the end of the set, as I was too wrapped up in the performance. The not-exactly-unfamiliar set was designed to flow easily and quickly and to keep the crowd participation at a high, which it did. We tore through the 16 songs in under half an hour and the recordings of the show sound pretty fucking great. Aside from all of the people who were there to see A-Frames and Headache City, we had a really nice group of friends who came out early to support us, not to mention a decent-sized crew who took some time out to come down from the festival being held at the Viaduct Theater, so we had a pretty active pit in front of us. There was a humorous mix of bodies flying around, including Alex from Climax Denial, Ted from Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck, and Dave Phillips (Schimpfluch-Gruppe/Fear of God) who was in town for the festival. Nice! Of course, the focal point for us all was the new song ("Now It Is A Private Thing") that Margaret and I had specially prepared for the show. James took over on her keyboard, allowing her to step up front with me, and she immediately began to stare me down in the most disarming manner. The atmosphere was completely electrifying... chilling, really... and it made my delivery - at least - all the much more effective. We have been getting such amazingly positive feedback over the last few days, particularly about the new song -- and it is clear that we need to record it with her in the studio ASAP. Overall, the layers of Pieter, Isidro, and James' synths combined with Margaret's keyboard chords, sounded fantastic. And just when songs needed an extra push, Isidro and James were there with their strong and contrasting vocals. I did not end up too bruised or sore afterward, so I am not sure if that means Pieter went easy on me or if I just managed to dodge him better than I usually do, but I will take it. Isidro had to jet back to work right away, which was a shame, and Margaret headed to the Viaduct, but the rest of us spent the night between the Bottle and one of the Polish bars down the street where a large group of friends had gathered. It was funny to have the poppier of the two bands follow us, but Headache City tore through a set that somehow took in the melodic style of The Jam, maybe, with a heavy dose of Misfits swagger and structure... weird... ultra-catchy. Insane drumming action! No synth on Saturday, though. Even with a blown guitar amp (we saw smoke!), A-Frames soldiered through a deep set of dark, snarky, and paranoid songs that painted a very grim picture of our future. Ultra-minimalistic Gang of Four structures, Joy Division textures, and J.G. Ballard-influenced storytelling. I would like to see them paired with Daily Void someday. At one point, I was reminded of Special Affect, but my memory of that LP is extremely fuzzy, as I sold it years ago during Wax Trax! fever at Bleecker Bob's, so who knows??? A big THANKS to Margaret for playing with us. Thanks to all of our friends for the excellent support. Thanks to Wes for shooting video. Holy god, the slow motion footage of the song with Margaret is beyond intense! Thanks to The Empty Bottle for having us back, as always, and for the great hospitality. And thanks to Arman for inviting us to play his birthday show. Photos soon, I hope... I saw some good ones.
Showing posts with label Headache City. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Headache City. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Flavorpill on Tomorrow's Show
From Flavorpill
http://flavorpill.com/chicago/events/2010/8/21/a-frames
MUSIC: Punk/Metal
A Frames
when: Saturday Aug 21 (10pm)
where: The Empty Bottle (1035 N Western Ave, 773.276.3600) map
price: $8
Smart money would have bet against an A Frames tour even happening: the Seattle trio has been largely inactive for the last five years, following original drummer Lars Finberg's departure to the Intelligence; and other members have more recently focused on their AFCGT project. The long shot won, thankfully, and even if they are touring behind an odds-and-sods collection, 333, rather than new material, their back catalog of ultra-mechanical robo-rock still sounds way ahead of the curve. (2005's Black Forest enjoyed Sub Pop distro, but the band's deserved rank — no hyperbole, one of the decade's finest art-punk bands — eludes them.) Try early marvels like "Hostage Crisis" or "Surveillance" (2000), which despite traces of Wire and the Urinals, sound wholly singular. - Stephen Gossett
http://flavorpill.com/chicago/events/2010/8/21/a-frames
MUSIC: Punk/Metal
A Frames
when: Saturday Aug 21 (10pm)
where: The Empty Bottle (1035 N Western Ave, 773.276.3600) map
price: $8
Smart money would have bet against an A Frames tour even happening: the Seattle trio has been largely inactive for the last five years, following original drummer Lars Finberg's departure to the Intelligence; and other members have more recently focused on their AFCGT project. The long shot won, thankfully, and even if they are touring behind an odds-and-sods collection, 333, rather than new material, their back catalog of ultra-mechanical robo-rock still sounds way ahead of the curve. (2005's Black Forest enjoyed Sub Pop distro, but the band's deserved rank — no hyperbole, one of the decade's finest art-punk bands — eludes them.) Try early marvels like "Hostage Crisis" or "Surveillance" (2000), which despite traces of Wire and the Urinals, sound wholly singular. - Stephen Gossett
The Reader on Tomorrow's Show
From the Reader
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/EventSearch?keywords=bloodyminded
Critic's Choice
Recommended
A Frames, Headache City, Bloodyminded
Sat., Aug. 21, 10 p.m.
Rock, Pop, Etc
In the 2020s and beyond, assuming civilization and the biosphere both hold up, it's a sure bet hipster kids will be getting nostalgic about the turn of the millennium, raiding it for musical inspiration and kitschy thrift-store fashion ideas. With any luck the more intelligent among them will recognize that Seattle's A Frames best captured—in a beautifully covert way—the paranoid schizophrenia of those years closest to 9/11. While the emo bands of the time whined their relatively privileged lives away, the A Frames built meaty metaphors, using surveillance cameras, hostage crises, electric eyes, and spy satellites to talk about the human condition. Their wired, wiry music combines the herky-jerky robot beats of Joy Division with the alien guitar skree of Stickmen With Rayguns, then deconstruct those influences so radically that the results transcend comparison—you get the sense these songs might've begun as rather accessible, conventionally structured pop, but like Steve Martin early in his stand-up career, the A Frames have methodically stripped away all traces of unoriginality from their material. Their latest release, a 42-song triple-LP retrospective of singles, demos, and rarities called 333 (S.S. Records), proves just how consistently they've succeeded. It also proves that drummer Lars Finberg (who left in 2006 to devote his full creative energies to the Intelligence) did a great deal to push the A Frames away from standard rock rhythms—what Captain Beefheart dismissively called the "mama heartbeat"—and toward something much more brutally hypnotic. Newer bands like Tyvek, who play similarly deconstructed post-post-postpunk to similar effect, owe big debts to these guys. Tonight's show is not only a rare opportunity to see the A Frames—they've been pretty quiet since 2005's Black Forest—but also the debut of the resuscitated Headache City. Formerly local, they played their not-actually-final show in late 2008; since then co-front men Mike Fitzpatrick and Dave Head have both moved to New York, Fitzpatrick to Ithaca and Head to NYC. Their second LP, We Can't Have Anything Nice, came out on P. Trash in spring 2009, while the band was inactive, and this year they started writing songs together again with an eye toward a third record. They're looking for a permanent drummer, but for this gig they'll play old material with their old drummer, Lisa Roe of CoCoComa. —Brian Costello
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/EventSearch?keywords=bloodyminded
Critic's Choice
Recommended
A Frames, Headache City, Bloodyminded
Sat., Aug. 21, 10 p.m.
Rock, Pop, Etc
In the 2020s and beyond, assuming civilization and the biosphere both hold up, it's a sure bet hipster kids will be getting nostalgic about the turn of the millennium, raiding it for musical inspiration and kitschy thrift-store fashion ideas. With any luck the more intelligent among them will recognize that Seattle's A Frames best captured—in a beautifully covert way—the paranoid schizophrenia of those years closest to 9/11. While the emo bands of the time whined their relatively privileged lives away, the A Frames built meaty metaphors, using surveillance cameras, hostage crises, electric eyes, and spy satellites to talk about the human condition. Their wired, wiry music combines the herky-jerky robot beats of Joy Division with the alien guitar skree of Stickmen With Rayguns, then deconstruct those influences so radically that the results transcend comparison—you get the sense these songs might've begun as rather accessible, conventionally structured pop, but like Steve Martin early in his stand-up career, the A Frames have methodically stripped away all traces of unoriginality from their material. Their latest release, a 42-song triple-LP retrospective of singles, demos, and rarities called 333 (S.S. Records), proves just how consistently they've succeeded. It also proves that drummer Lars Finberg (who left in 2006 to devote his full creative energies to the Intelligence) did a great deal to push the A Frames away from standard rock rhythms—what Captain Beefheart dismissively called the "mama heartbeat"—and toward something much more brutally hypnotic. Newer bands like Tyvek, who play similarly deconstructed post-post-postpunk to similar effect, owe big debts to these guys. Tonight's show is not only a rare opportunity to see the A Frames—they've been pretty quiet since 2005's Black Forest—but also the debut of the resuscitated Headache City. Formerly local, they played their not-actually-final show in late 2008; since then co-front men Mike Fitzpatrick and Dave Head have both moved to New York, Fitzpatrick to Ithaca and Head to NYC. Their second LP, We Can't Have Anything Nice, came out on P. Trash in spring 2009, while the band was inactive, and this year they started writing songs together again with an eye toward a third record. They're looking for a permanent drummer, but for this gig they'll play old material with their old drummer, Lisa Roe of CoCoComa. —Brian Costello
Time Out on Tomorrow's Show
From Time Out Chicago
http://chicago.timeout.com/events/music/355520/a-frames-headache-city-bloodyminded
Postpunk, post-garage and in fact post lots of other things, the A Frames seemed ready to conquer the world back in 2005 with the release of their cool Black Forest. Clearly, another record was not a priority, but half a decade later we presume the band is hard at work on one. Led by ex-Chicagoan Mike Fitzpatrick, aptly named opener Headache City is all about the rush of no-frills punk, with long-running sonic antagonists Bloodyminded specializing in earsplitting electronic noise.
http://chicago.timeout.com/events/music/355520/a-frames-headache-city-bloodyminded
Postpunk, post-garage and in fact post lots of other things, the A Frames seemed ready to conquer the world back in 2005 with the release of their cool Black Forest. Clearly, another record was not a priority, but half a decade later we presume the band is hard at work on one. Led by ex-Chicagoan Mike Fitzpatrick, aptly named opener Headache City is all about the rush of no-frills punk, with long-running sonic antagonists Bloodyminded specializing in earsplitting electronic noise.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Saturday Night...
On Saturday August 21, 2010, Seattle's A-Frames storm The Empty Bottle in support of their new triple-LP set on S.S. Records, which serves as a long-awaited follow up to their critically acclaimed "Black Forest" LP on Sub Pop Records. The vast new "333" set gathers the post-punk/noise-rock band's singles and e.p.s, along with demo recordings, outtakes, and unreleased tracks. Joining them will be a revitalized Headache City, the dark garage-punk band launched in Chicago and now calling New York home, while they lock in with a new drummer and prepare to record a new batch of songs. The group continue to turn heads and assault ears with their late-2009 LP "We Can't Have Anything Nice" on P-Trash Records. Starting off the night with a bang, Chicago's BLOODYMINDED will deliver their punk and noise-rock inspired brand of heavy electronics, characterized by jolting analog synth blasts, chaotic feedback and howling vocals. For this very special show, the band will be joined by NYC's Pharmakon - AKA Margaret Chardiet - who performed a jaw-dropping set of hard-hitting death-industrial music at The Empty Bottle in July 2009. BLOODYMINDED's Mark Solotroff and Miss Chardiet are writing a new song for this show, which they intend to perform as a lovely duet.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday August 21, 2010
The Empty Bottle
1035 N. Western Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60622
773.276.3600
http://www.emptybottle.com/
10:00 PM
$8.00
21+
A-Frames
http://www.myspace.com/therealaframes
Headache City
http://www.myspace.com/headachecity
BLOODYMINDED
with special guest Pharmakon
http://www.myspace.com/officialbloodyminded
http://www.myspace.com/noisepharmakon
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Event Links:
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/27udsvj
Last.fm: http://tinyurl.com/25kxn4c
MySpace: http://tinyurl.com/292gbvr
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday August 21, 2010
The Empty Bottle
1035 N. Western Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60622
773.276.3600
http://www.emptybottle.com/
10:00 PM
$8.00
21+
A-Frames
http://www.myspace.com/therealaframes
Headache City
http://www.myspace.com/headachecity
BLOODYMINDED
with special guest Pharmakon
http://www.myspace.com/officialbloodyminded
http://www.myspace.com/noisepharmakon
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Event Links:
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/27udsvj
Last.fm: http://tinyurl.com/25kxn4c
MySpace: http://tinyurl.com/292gbvr
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Poster for August 21, 2010 Show
Event Links:
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/27udsvj
Last.fm: http://tinyurl.com/25kxn4c
MySpace: http://tinyurl.com/292gbvr
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