Anatomy of Habit - 7/16 Photos - Part 1

Here are a few photographs from Saturday's show with Cages at The Empty Bottle.  A write-up and more pictures should follow soon.  Our thanks go to Edra Soto for coming to see us and for taking these photos!

The Reader on AoH (7/16)

The Chicago Reader just published a nice piece on Anatomy of Habit... Thanks, Luca/Reader!


Cages, Anatomy of Habit 

When: Sat., July 16, 7 p.m. Price: $5, free with Pitchfork wristband

It’s kind of mind-blowing that a band whose lineup includes both Greg Ratajczak, guitarist for cyber-grind maniacs Plague Bringer, and Mark Solotroff, vocalist for harsh-noise collective Bloodyminded, would end up as pretty as Anatomy of Habit. Their sprawling progressive-metal jams, which often top ten minutes, are hardly gentle—unsurprisingly these guys don’t shy away from volume—but they’re introspective and icily delicate as often as they’re punishingly huge, and Solotroff sings in an Ian Curtis deadpan as well as a bloodcurdling scream. The loud-soft-loud postrock thing is a little overdone, but Anatomy of Habit stand out from the pack with their stark and honest sound. The band—which also employs former Cheer-Accident bassist Dylan Posa on drums, Blake Edwards of Vertonen on metal percussion, and Kenny Rasmussen from the defunct No Funeral on bass—just put the finishing touches on its debut album with Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, and it’s due before the end of the year. —Luca Cimarusti

Status - 7/12/11

- Catching up on a busy weekend of mail-order.  All domestic orders will be in today's mail and international orders should all go out tomorrow


- The Fortieth Day's practice was cancelled yesterday in order to accommodate an important band meeting at Kuma's.  Isidro and I are still celebrating the return of their mussels,which are better than ever.  He had the Mastodon and I acknowledged last Friday's doom extravaganza by ordering the Yob.  Things were kicking quite in nicely, crowned by a high-volume airing of "Dragonaut," and at that point we knew we were not going to make it to the space.

Brooklyn Vegan on Iceage + AoH

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/chicago/2011/07/iceage_adds_sho.html

Cages + Anatomy of Habit (7/16) details

The Empty Bottle will host a special Pitchfork Music Festival weekend show on Saturday July 16, 2011, and this early show will be free to those with Pitchfork wristbands.  Cages, a dark and foreboding duo from Milwaukee, will headline the night, and the aptly matched Chicago five-piece, Anatomy of Habit, will return to The Empty Bottle with their blend of doom, shoegazer, and industrial.  The band is fresh from the studio, where they just mastered their debut LP with Bob Weston of Shellac.

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Cages

Anatomy of Habit

Saturday July 16, 2011
Doors: 6:30 PM
Show: 7:00 PM Sharp!

21+

FREE with PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL wristband - $5.00 without

The Empty Bottle
1035 N. Western Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60622
773.276.3600
http://www.emptybottle.com/

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Event links:
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180902451967013
Last.fm:
http://www.last.fm/event/1987005+Cages+-+Anatomy+of+Habit
MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/events/view/11475135

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Cages

http://www.myspace.com/cages/

Cages is Nola Ranallo and David Bailey.  For those who need a quick reference, this dark duo who utilize startling vocals, guitar, and analog electronics, have a sound that inhabits a world shared by such artists as Jarboe-era Swans, Diamanda Galas, and the Scott Walker of "Tilt" and "The Drift."  The pair practiced, moved apart, relayed tapes through the mail, revised the entire damned thing, and then rejoined. They sought sounds from the same dreams that give fools belief and colorfully punctuate the nights of the sanest. Their newest full-length album is on the UK label Cold Spring, home to Psychic TV, Z'EV, Nadja, Merzbow, Wicked King Wicker, Ten Horned Beast, etc.

Cages "Folding Space" - There is nothing fun or pedestrian about dreams that are uncompromising to the point of reality. The shaking notes that make up “Folding Space” were recorded by two people holed up in their whole respective imaginations of visions of loops, layers and pleading lyrics. It is stubborn but not ugly, nearly one hour of music set in studios buried by blizzards of the American Great Lakes region. It’s sometimes pretty (“Lost Lipids”) or crushing (“Psalm to Mother”; “If It Flies, It Dies”) or left hanged in the speakers (“Dying”). There are elements of dreamy ether and discomfort rather than the easy choruses and catchphrases of the most collected and consumed art form. And, then, you’ll find a song radiating another thing entirely. (sweetness? The Devil’s hand?) Live, the duo transfers their forged and found music into a very personal presentation that soars above the casually talking show-goers, the poor man’s jazz bands, and the art house showboats. Patrons and fellow musicians are pulled in; sounds are pushed out but never apart. “Folding Space” is a foot to the honest and hard road, which can quickly cut away the uncurious and reward the rest like the tapes listened to repeatedly in the fevers of your youth. Please mull and judge, and add to the tops or bottoms of the lists you think necessary. And know the visions backing this elaborate music were recorded and are performed for a primary reason: to exist freely. -- Justin Kern (Sept. 24, 2009 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.)

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Anatomy of Habit

http://anatomyofhabit.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anatomy-of-Habit/65210152926
http://www.myspace.com/anatomyofhabit
http://www.last.fm/music/Anatomy+of+Habit

Anatomy of Habit formed in October 2008, following the dissolution of the group Animal Law. Blake Edwards (percussion; also of Vertonen, ssseepage, Burrow, Series Founders, Startless, Crippled Insectual, ex-Animal Law), Dylan Posa (drums; also of Dylan Posa and Three Cheers for One Dead Man, ex-Cheer Accident, ex-Flying Luttenbachers, ex-Brice-Glace, ex-Animal Law), and Mark Solotroff (vocals; also of BLOODYMINDED, The Fortieth Day, A Vague Disquiet, Nightmares, ex-Super Eight Loop, ex-Intrinsic Action, ex-Animal Law) joined forces with Kenny Rasmussen (bass; ex-No Funeral, ex-Radar Eyes) and Greg Ratajczak (guitar; also of Plague Bringer) — the duo originally slated to engineer and produce Animal Law's abandoned debut album. With less than 20 intense shows under their collective belt since their mid-2009 debut, Anatomy of Habit recently finished work on their first recordings, working with Andrew Ragin of The Atlas Moth at Phase Recording Studios. The band mastered the mini-LP in late-June 2011, with Bob Weston of Shellac, at Chicago Mastering Service. After their initial outings, people have mentioned diverse groups, including Joy Division, Swans, Einsturzende Neubauten, Killing Joke, Unsane, Bauhaus, My Bloody Valentine, Black Sabbath, The Cure, Jesu, The Sisters of Mercy, Death in June, and even The Doors, when attempting to describe the band. Part post-punk, part death-rock, part early-industrial, part noise-rock, part shoegazer, and part full-on doom-metal, this list of bands at least begins to describe where the powerful five-piece group might be coming from.

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Correction for DF by DP

The date of the Mark Solotroff solo performance at Ex Teresa Arte Actual in Mexico City was incorrectly listed in the July update as being on 9/2.  The "Thursday" part was correct, but it is happening on Thursday September 1st.  Thanks to Dave Phillips for pointing this out.  In fact, I am extremely pleased to announce that Mr. Phillips (Fear of God, Schimpfluch-Gruppe, etc.) will also be performing at this event.

July 2011 Update

The BloodLust! July 2011 Update was just sent out.  If you did not receive it or if you wish to be added to the mailing list, please send a request to bludlust@mindspring.com

Rare Intrinsic Action on eBay

There is a copy of the very rare "Exploration One" compilation CD currently on eBay, with exclusive Intrinsic Action recordings.  You can also find the tracks on the band's Bandcamp page, which is still in the build-out phase...

Show of Note, Tonight (7/8) +

Yob, Dark Castle, and Indian play tonight at Subterranean.  This one is a total no-brainer.  And that is also how you will feel when you leave, after being pulverized by such heaviness...

Also, for the Rudimentary Peni fans out there, my AoH bandmate Blake alerted me to the about-to-be-released Nick Blinko book on Coptic Cat (his second for the imprint): Visions of Pope Adrian 37th

Status - 7/5

- Mail-order is up-to-date

- AoH LP masters are at Mastercraft for electroplating

- Recent (and repeated/heavy) rotation. I have definitely locked in my top records for the first half of 2011:

A Storm Of Light "As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us Our Silver Memories Fade"

Batillus "Furnace"

Belong "Common Era"

David Bowie "Heroes"

David Bowie "Low"

HTRK "Marry Me Tonight"

HTRK "Nostalgia"

Iceage "New Brigade"
Indian "Guiltless"
Martial Canterel "You Today"

Necro Deathmort "Music Of Bleak Origin"

Population "Population" 7-inch

Seidr "For Winter Fire"

The Horrors "Skying"

The Soft Moon "The Soft Moon"

Tindersticks "Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009"

True Widow "As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Earth"

Zond "Zond"