Ear Relevant

Damn, last week was a busy music week. Writing and going to shows. Recap time:

Monday:

First part of Frontier Psychiatrist's timeline of the 22 years between between My Bloody Valentine's Loveless and the new album, mbv. My pieces include albums by the Lilys, the Swirlies, and Spiritualized' smashterpiece Ladies and Gentlemen We're Floating in Space. 

That night, I saw the Ex Cops at the Empty Bottle. A short set, a little sloppy, but definitely a band with potential. Like a shoegaze version the Go Betweens, more melodic, than wall of noise sound. Songs are short and sweet, and their new album True Hallucinations gets better with each listen.

Tuesday:

Part two of FP's timeline. I reviewed Autolux, and discovered I didn't hate No Age as much as when I first heard them.

That night saw Bosnian Rainbows at the Bottom Lounge, then hightailed it over to a basement in Logan Square to catch the end of Dada Trash Collage's set. Wish I caught more. New EP just came out. Surprise hit of the night was catching Selectronics, also with a new album. Very visual live show with projections, a red light-up cube, tapedeck rapping, hip-hop beats and lo-fi analog aesthetics. Definitely one to catch if you see the name around.

Wednesday:

Nearing exhaustion, managed to catch Mountains at the Hideout with White/Cream and Bitchin Bajas. Recap up on Windy City Rock. Mountains' experimental/ambient Centralia is one of the best this year so far, although they unfortunately didn't perform any of it.

Thursday:

Reviewed the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Push the Sky Away for Frontier Psychiatrist as well as previewed Conductive Alliance's upcoming album, Opticks, on Windy City Rock.

Ear Relevant

Been really shitty about updating this, but much planned for the next few weeks. For now, here's some music-shtuff I've been into:

I reviewed Speck Mountain's newest album for Windy City Rock last week and managed to namedrop Nietzsche at the same damn time; read it here.

Bosnian Rainbows. Teri Gender Bender from Le Butcherettes and dude from The Mars Volta. Pretty wild, and unexpected change halfway through the song. Very 80s post-punk.



Marnie Stern never fails to disappoint. Looking forward to new album later this year:



Dance time, y'all. Not sure why I dig this so much. Lindstrom is Swedish, probably has something to do with it.



Oh, and one of my highest anticipated albums of the year is from the Knife. Rumor has it they'll be at Pitchfork. Wouldn't be a surprise. Here's a short film accompanied by one of the new songs. Makes their early stuff sound like the Postal Service: