Loyal Divide (one of the bands playing at chicago.com/music’s sxsw showcase) took to the stage of Chicago’s celebrated Metro theater sometime after 8 pm on a warmer than usual January evening. The show wasn’t theirs as they were opening for Felix Culpa, nonetheless it was the first time this up-and-coming band took to the Metro’s stage and you could tell they were excited to do it.

Loyal Divide is a band that really is best understood live, or at least until you see them live once. The five musicians, who all seem to be able to play each other instruments (aside from the drummer, of course), coalesce their talents into a morphing, textured, spacey-yet-determined, quasi-electric, quasi-rock music that just beacons you to listen and dares you to not enjoy it. However, if one takes in just their albums the complexity and nature of their sound might lead one to assume the supplementation of computerization is used, in which one would be in error, and therein lies one of their most impressive traits.

The band started off with “Lights” from their first, self-titled, release. I believe this was a good choice for an opener in front of the substantial crowd of new ears that was present within the Metro that evening. It showcased their ability to groove, as well as to move from a mellow-rock-feelings into a noisy crescendo and back again. Afterward the band moved into a couple tracks from their more recent release, “Labrador” and “Vision Vision,” which I believe are more accurate descriptions of where this band is musically headed.

These songs employ briskly syncopated digital beats, reinforced by the actual drummer, and pivot around hallucinatory-synthesized sounds instead of the electric guitar. Throw in groovy bass lines and harmonized vocals and you have a complete party for your ears. Yes, they are making music that is in step with the current electrification of psychedelic music, but its more than that because their sounds are being created by individuals and because they employ a dynamism within their songs that completely computerized music just can’t cope with. They may use similar ingredients as their contemporaries, but the product just tastes different, and damn good.

The highlight for this author was their 4^th song of the evening, a new one that used this unchanging, awesomely-pounding bass line that had this subtle funk to it (like as if you could rap over the beat, if you wanted to), before the band put their instrumented, danceable, psychedelic highlights over it. It reminded me of the new material from the Brian Jonestown Massacre (which was just released, so there is no way the band heard it before writing the song), which to me means this band is substantially ahead of their genre’s curve.

The only bummer about the Loyal Divide’s performance was it’s brevity, but I won’t hold that against them as it was an understandable let-down, as they were an opening act. But rest assured the next time they play a full set I will be there, eager to hear some more of their new material, and if you enjoy either electronic or psychedelic music of any kind… you should be there too!

by sean brna

Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?

The Brian Jonestown Massacre have released another album, “Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?” The band, which for some of the current generation has come to embody the sound, philosophy and drive of the substance-fueled psychedelic music of the 60’s more so than the music of that generation itself, has changed up their game.

The title of the album itself, to this author, is an obvious reference to their altered reasoning inherent within the album’s music. It is a reference to the death of “traditional psychedelic” (or maybe more accurately drug-music), that has followed with the switch to the glittering new style of the likes of MGMT, Animal Collective, a handful of DJs, and to a lesser extent Radiohead. It is no secret that hippies and rockn’ rollers alike have now accepted, and gladly assimilated with the world of electronica. To the extent that hippies rarely support traditional psychedelic-rock nowadays, the indie crowd has taken up that duty.

Upon reading the questioning title of the album, I thought BJM would then follow up with a form of tuneful psychedelia similar to that on their first 9 albums (or so), that being an awesome display of classic rockn’ roll psych. However, they did not do that at all (it should be noted that their previous album, My Bloody Underground, was a failed attempt at intense-garage-punk-metal something or other, which was also inconsistent with their traditional style, however, it was still a straight-up rock album). Here they have brought forward an album that instead says, “Sure, we’ll try this electronic, rave’ish stuff out; how about this?”

The first track, “Temop 116.7 (Reaching For Dangerous Levels Of Sobriety),” emerges with a gleefully pounding beat, immediately one can tell this isn’t what one would reason it would be. The song has eastern undertones, yet has an electronic sound, which comes off as if it should be played at a rave. It, like many of the songs in this album, is without vocals. It closes out quietly and with class.

Then emerges the second track, an especially well named song, “The Heavy Knife.” It is both intense and heavy, unusual sounds wail in and out, it is unquestionably violent – yet somehow ready to party. It pounds with electronic syncopation. This song goes in tandem with its successor, “Let’s go Fucking Mental.” This song is pleasantly lo-fi, yet still electronic and large. The title of the song is aggressively repeated for most of the number, save one comical exception, in a way that lies on the line between anger and just a raucously good time. It’s a song not best understood in a sober mood, to be sure.

In fact there is a prevalence of anger within the album, yet I wouldn’t dare deem it an angry album. For indeed there are more genial sounds within this album then irritated ones, but the latter just seem to stick out more due to their unexpectedness.

Songs like the opening track or of the later occurring “Detka! Detka! Detka!”, which is happy right off the bat and combines amiable sounds of Indian origin with raw instruments, in one of the albums only non-electric song (it is, nonetheless, still an obvious dance number). Then there is maybe the album’s gem, “Super F*****”, a song with a formidable walking bass beat (almost hip-hop like), again with eastern sounds, yet now paired with wide acoustic guitars. It also has something else I was waiting for from BJM, a tambourine pleasantly holding the time throughout!

It seems they were at their happiest when incorporating eastern influences, and at their most vexed when they fully dived into the electronic sound. However, there were a couple tracks that held to neither dictum, and are just plain experimental, at least for BJM.

They are at their most experimental and out of their box with songs like “This is The First of Your Last Warnings (Icelandic)”, a shockingly poppy song with atypical females vocalists, that indeed does sound highly European. It’s a great electrified jam-groove, and I couldn’t help but think, “this is what the Disco Biscuits should sound like.” Also, the second to last track, “Feel It,” is a thumping club song with little variation that just builds and builds with these fuzzy, euro-pop, hook-like vocals floating in the background. It’s weird, but it’s undeniably good, especially if you feel like moving.

On the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s myspace page, under ‘Influences’, it simply reads “ACID.” Well, after listening to “Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?” it is apparent to me they went to Europe and took some ecstasy along with their LSD to record this one. It’s an album that incorporates a lot of different new sounds for the group; it is also one of those where if you didn’t tell someone it was an album, one might believe your iTunes was on shuffle. It’s a comment on the psychedelic and drug-music realm, post the death of the classical rock style. Is it a dancing celebration of that death or a Mad-Max like view of the way things are headed? I think neither.

“Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?” is BJM confirming they can indeed enjoy, and also create some of their own of, the contemporary alteration of their beloved musical genre. And in doing so they created one of the best albums within their discography. However, the last song is a 10 min piece that splices a pleasurable and mellow grand piano soundscape with clips from interviews with John Lennon and others. To me, it says, “Don’t be afraid people, it’s still us!”

I cannot wait to hear what they come up with next.

By Sean Poynton Brna

seanbrna@gmail.com

Feel free to copy and use this review, provided you leave the authors information and give a track-back to this blog. Thank you!

Often times as independent musicians, we’re faced with barriers which can inhibit us from booking gigs.  As an individual band, we can send dozens of emails to a booking agent, and if we’re lucky enough to get the gig, we’ll end up on a lineup with two or three other bands that we did not choose nor really know much about.  How do they draw?  To what extent are they willing to promote a show beforehand?  Does their music sound anything like ours?

To try to minimize the uncertainty that comes from booking shows in this way, a group of ten, highly motivated bands have come together in Chicago to form the Chicago Roots Collective.  The CRC consists of bands that fall into compatible music genres and share a common vision and work ethic.  The premise is simple:  by working together, each individual band—and more importantly, their fans—benefit.  Suddenly, the mentality shifts from:  “how do I book my band for this show?” to “how do I pitch a successful lineup to this venue?”  The truth is, from a venue’s point of view, the success or failure of a show depends on the whole bill, not just one band.   So, if you can pitch a bill from a network of bands you know to be reliable, that venue is more likely to work with all of your bands.

Aside from gaining more leverage with booking, there are also many other benefits to working with a collective.  Having like-minded artists working toward a shared goal can open the door to new ideas, new resources, and new fans.  With a collective, you can easily coordinate things like poster designs, publicity, backlining—even online event invites.  In addition, a well-run collective lends credibility to each member band and makes it easier to engage local graphic designers, photographers, videographers, etc—all of whom can benefit from associating with the collective.  Not to mention, the more bands you have in the collective, the cheaper everything becomes by splitting the cost.

If you’ve already been gigging in your hometown, you probably have a good idea of bands you like to work with.  Reach out and try to get some of them together in one room, simply to talk about your experiences and goals as independent musicians.  At our early CRC meetings, we found there was a shared experience and enthusiasm for collaboration among the bands.  One of the first major projects we focused on as a collective was a CRC showcase, featuring performances by all ten bands.  The event was an overwhelming success that garnered a lot of people’s attention, especially our fans’.  Regardless of the city you call home or the genre of music you play, there are plenty of local, independent bands like you who could benefit from genuine collaboration—you just have to reach out and grab ‘em.

The Chicago Roots Collective is a group of musicians working together to get their music heard.  Co-authors Danny Surico and James Hyde play in the folk/rock/pop band The Future Laureates.  For more information on their band and all the bands in the CRC, please check out: sonicbids.com/thefuturelaureates and chicagorootscollective.com

Hey you guys, the festival is still here to keep the goodies coming your way!

Check this out from our friends, Van Ghost. It’s a FREE album of live versions of their songs recorded both in Chicago and New York. Just click on the link at the bottom to access the download. Enjoy!

The following song selections are from “The Breakdown Acoustic” tour during November 2009. 

We were out on the road as an acoustic trio featuringMichael Harrison Berg (vocals/guitar), Jennifer Hartswick (vocals), and Chris Gelbuda (guitar/vocals) supporting our friends Nershi/Law Duo having too much fun. 

The performances feature material from our debut record, “Melodies For Lovers“, our forthcoming record, (currently titled) “Heartbroken On The Wrong Day” as well as a few covers by The Avett Brothers and CSNY. The track listing below will show you which show each track is from but all cuts are from:

11.21.09 – Kingston, NY – Keegans Ales (*)
11.25.09 – Chicago, IL – Subterranean (**)

1. Do It For You    2:38 (*)
2. Coliseum    3:01 (*)       
3. Head Above Water    2:47 (**)    
4. Danimal Plays For Keeps    0:23  (**)     
5. Wednesday    4:07 (**)      
6. Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full of Promise (The Avett Brothers cover)    4:04 (**)      
7. Return To Innocence    3:58 (**)   
8. Heart Broken On The Wrong Day    3:25 (**)      
9. Not Feeling Me    3:28  (**)      
10. Domino Effect    3:25 (*)     
11. Telling Stories    3:48 (*)       
12. Everyday Music    3:22        
13. Hurry Up –>    3:16 (*)       
14. On The Way Home –>    4:20 (*)     
15. Find The Cost Of Freedom (CSNY cover)    2:41 (*)   
16. Summer Promise    3:20 (*)     

Please pass along and share with anyone you think might like this… Van Ghost loves you.

Breakdown_Acoustic_PODkast.zip

Dr. Dog is trying to reach 20,000 friends on their Facebook page. And when they reach that milestone they will offer a preview of their latest album Shame, Shame. You can get to their Facebook page here. Let’s all help the boys out and then we can all enjoy their latest sounds. In other Dr. Dog news, keep an eye out to They Are The Imitators for audio from Dr. Dog’s set from this year’s festival as well as a preview of their upcoming album. Peace.

From the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival family,

Thank-you, Danke, Gracias, Merci, and thanks for all of the outstanding reviews from our friends. From sharp pictures to amazing video footage to the beautiful reviews we couldn’t be more pleased! And now to once more re-live and indulge in the greatest moments at this years’ Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival…

Alash who joined Bela Fleck & The Flecktones at the Festival has posted a great live audio recording from their performance! Hereyou can also see some lovely pictures of Alash and Bela Fleck & The Flecktones taken by Julie Collins.

Our friends, at Festival Family have created quite an impressive display of photos and review of their awesome experience at the festival! Festival Family has also shared free live recording downloads from The Giving Tree Band, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones and Emmitt Nershi Band from the festival.

Kindweb has been very kind to us this year by giving the festival a fantastic review and yet another eligantly stated unique perspective on their experience!

Allison Taich posted some hardy stuff on Popmatters. She got some great photos of Dr. Dog and Belafleck & The Flecktones with Alash, wrote a very kind review of the day, and managed to get the Dr.Dog set list!

This article takes a real downhome look at The Shams Band, who was interviewed by their local Oak-Park newspaper where they went to high-school as they are honored in their community for playing at the CBB Festival!

Who better than the Chicago Music Guideto elaborate on their experience at the festival. Chicago Music Guide not only covered the event but they also took some glamourous shots that you can see lined up on the right column of the article.

Alan Carter posted a radical review in the local tourist calling the festival a “blue chip feast”. He was blown away by the wide abundance of quality music in many different genres.

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones: Two Saxophones, One Mouth

Below are a  links to different sets of pictures, videos and free live recordings…
Free Emitt Nershi Band Live Recording Download
Emitt Nershi Band Pictures
The Giving Tree Band Pictures
CBB Festival Photography- Kate Gardiner
CBB Festival Photography-Happy Genius Heroes
Eddie “The Chief” Clearwater Pictures
CBB Festival Photography- Kris-Wade Matthews
Video- Alash and Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Video- Dr. Dog
Free Bela Fleck & The Flecktones with Alash Live Recording Download
Video – The Shams Band
CBB Festival Photography- Julie Collins and Jackafunk
CBB Festival Photography- Facebook Fan Page

Most of Dr. Dog, Bela, and the Flecktones’ sets, with a little Emmit-Nershi Band, Van Ghost, and Chicago Farmer to boot! And all in the eye-burning brilliance of HD!

Dr. Dog – Fly (Live @ the \’09 Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Fest)