The September Third Conspiracy

This morning as I flipped through the Reader's section 3. I hadn't checked it out in a couple weeks, so I took a good look at the Early Warnings section to check out what's on the agenda for the next few months aside from festival mania. There were a few shows that caught my eye (Oneida on 7/15, Peeping Tom on 7/27, and Justice at Smart Bar in Nov. No Intonation appearance, but at least they'll be out here).

A strange thing happened with a couple other shows I wanted to see, though. As I looked through the listings, I noticed a common thread. First I noticed that Jamie Lidell is playing the Metro on Sept. 3. The last time he played here, at the Bottle, I waited until the last minute to go, and it was sold out. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing him. Then I saw that Comets on Fire are playing at the Empty Bottle. On Sept. 3rd. And here I thought my agonizing decisions were all going to be at Lollapalooza.

That wasn't all though. Moments later I'd discover that there is in fact a third competing show that very night when the Double Door plays host to...wait for it...Pig Destroyer and Brutal Truth! Whaaa?? Since when is Brutal Truth back together? I Googled , and there it was: Brutal Truth schedule Reunion show in Chicago. Damn, man. At least my decision has been made for me. According to the article, Brutal Truth reformed to record a song for the tribute album to raise money for Eyehategod, who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. After recording the song, they figured they might as well play at least one live show. I guess Chicago won because Kevin Sharp lives here. I saw him play at Venomous Concept's first (and only?) show a while back, but I never suspected I'd get another chance to see Brutal Truth! If you don't know, Brutal Truth was probably the finest grindcore band of the '90s, at least in my opinion. Their video for Collateral Damage is in the Guinness Book of Records for Shortest music video. This is Godplayer off of the excellent Need to Control.



Um, I think I'll go get my ticket right now. This is a great summer for music in general, and it keeps getting better.

Intonation Hangover

Yeeeeah!

This weekend was the long awaited (for me, at any rate) Intonation Fest in Chicago's Union Park. It was a beautiful weekend filled with tons of fantastic music. I wrote a quickie recap on the first day for Stereogum, so check that out. Honestly, the bands that I was most looking forward to were High On Fire and The Boredoms. I've seen them both at the Logan Square Auditorium in the past year or so, but both of their sets on Saturday achieved "best ever" status. I'm sure the festival setting helped, but both bands were on. The energy was there and they were tight. There wasn't a whole lot the two had in common other than that (and maybe a good scream or two), but really, what more do you need?

New Yorkers were supposed to witness Eye's 77 Drum installation, featuring 77 drum sets, later this summer, but I guess that show was cancelled. Too bad, that.

There's a bunch of pics up on my flickr. Day One/Day Two More later (probably.)

Lollapalooza & The Lincoln:You're killin' me today!

Well, even though I've had Intonation on the brain this week, there's other news in the Chicago summer music festival world today as Lollapalooza announces a couple more acts and, perhaps more importantly, the schedule of events. I think we all know going in that scheduling conflicts are pretty much inevitable for any large multi-stage festival. I remember having to choose between Ice Cube & Jim Rose's Circus sideshow at the second Lollapalooza many, many moons ago, but this year they're killing me.

There's a few choices that are somewhat easy to make with only a wee bit of regret (Ween vs. Death Cab? Sorry, Ben.), and a few that are mildly difficult (Be Your Own Pet or Sa-Ra? Fiest or The Go! Team? Coheed & Cambria or Built to Spill?) , but the head to head match-up that's really got my knickers in a twist is Gnarls vs. Sonic Youth. I mean, Gnarls will probably win out in the end, but why must I choose? It also seems like all the hometown heroes have been lined up against other heavy hitters as well (Queens of the Stone Age vs Wilco, Flaming Lips vs. Common, and Manu Chao vs. Kanye.) While I'm not too torn up to miss Common, I think Wilco & Kanye are gonna have to get kicked to the curb. That is, unless the sun is so bright that I need to take cover in the shade of Kayne's ego.

One decision you can avoid if you're free tonight is Calexico vs. Lyrics Born. Intonation isn't the only game in town this weekend. We've also got Pride (Irene Cara, y'all!), the Cans Anniversary Party featuring Tone Loc and Flock of Seagulls, and MOBfest which kicks off tonight at the Abbey Pub with a show featuring Lyrics Born, Verbal Kent, Earatik Statik, Skitzophonic, and DJ LA*Jesus. If you see DJ LAJC, tell him you think he's sacrilegious, he loves that!

The other bad news today is that Chicagoist is reporting that the "Big Head" Lincoln restaurant has been shut down for health code violations of the ratty kind. It's a shame, but much like the esteemed staff over at Chicagoist, I doubt that I'll stop eating there once they're back in business. I loves me some O'Brien Potatoes with my Stonewall Jackson. Besides, recent studies prove that dirty filthy rats are actually healthier that the domestic variety since their immune system gets a better workout. There's your excuse to go back to The Lincoln right there!

Misty patch-bay colored memories

The other night I watched "Moog", the documentary on, duh, Bob Moog. While the film isn't exactly compelling from a cinematic or storytelling point of view, it is an interesting piece of oral history for music nerds. While watching it, I was stuck by a random memory from my youth.

Back in 1984, I spent a good part of the summer with family in Sacramento , CA. I say it was 1984, because that was the summer I was rocking the awesome Teen Titans painter's cap seen on this page. My aunt and uncle had a bunch of albums in their front room and I loved listening to their collection of Bill Cosby's comedy albums. But there was one album that really caught my attention. I couldn't tell you exactly what album it was, but I remember being transfixed by the image of a man at a keyboard who was being dwarfed by a huge patch bay with cables hanging out every which way.

My parent's LP collection mostly consisted of Peter, Paul & Mary style folk music and showtunes, so this slice of burbly electronic keyboard music flipped my little wig. I hadn't thought of that in years until the sight of a similar patch bay in the documentary jogged my memory. I guess my aunt & uncle are responsible for sparking my love of electronic music. Weird. I think that was also the summer that my cousin told me that "rap music will never last". heh.

Speaking of electronic music...

Looks like we're gonna get a few Intonation pre-parties this week in addition to the big fest. On Friday night MSTRKRFT and Chromeo will be DJing at SmartBar. I missed Chromeo a couple years back when they played Sonotheque, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing them at Intonation on Sat. (even if I am getting sick of seeing that damn Heineken commercial featuring "You're So Gangsta" every time I try to watch a Cubs or Sox game.) I'd also love to Check out MSTRKRFT, but I think I might need to turn in a bit early of Friday in order to be well-rested for a weekend of baking and rocking out in the sun.

If you're looking to get your Friday night Intonation pre-party on with a little less vocodor and a bit more H-town hip-hop, head over to Zentra where Rapid Ric, D Double, Fader Pilot, & Ruki will be spinning and Devin tha Dude will be making a special appearance.

Also, have you seen the video for Peeping Tom's "Mojo" yet? Have you heard the new Portishead track? (more info at thier myspace) Alright then, carry on...

The world according to Pretty Toney

Two weeks from today Ghostface will be rocking the stage at Intonation. So let's take a look inside the mind of Pretty Tone. (via sneakmove)