Ruckus Live: My Brightest Diamond

Schuba's Tavern
November 11, 2006
(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

By now, Shara Worden should require no introduction, but in case you've been living in a cave, "Blah, blah, blah, Sufjan Stevens, blah, blah, solo project, blah, blah, My Brightest Diamond, blah, blah, opera training." Okay, now that we got that out of the way, we can go forward. When My Brighest Diamond played Schuba's Tavern, she decided to come to town on the same night as The Decemberists. Ouch. So, as you might have guessed, the typical crowd of indie-kids was nowhere to be seen (not nessecairily a bad thing), and instead, in their place, was the typically older, slightly dorkier, crowd of thirty-something indie rock fans. Seriously, I was the youngest and least dorky person there, and I spent the day writhing in my bed, hungover, watching the Star Wars marathon on Cinemax...

Anyways, with opening act, Pedestrian, as her backing band, Shara tore through an amazing set. I don't think I need to bother describing it, since most of the people reading this post have long sinced scrolled down to the pictures. It's like Playboy for indie kids, so stop kidding yourself, you're not reading the articles... So, yeah, here's the pictures; just make sure you clean up when you're done.














Conclusion

The Good:

• Pleasantly surprised by opening, opening, act: Via Tania

The Bad:

• Little to no ruckus in the crowd, as the average age created a sort of aura of pacifism.

The Ugly:

• All the paralysed hipsters locked in a smitten daze by the seductive dance stylings of Shara Worden.

Amazing Hip Hop Collaboration

As they say in the rap world, "New shit, new shit!" Here's a new track from LL Cool Jay featuring Snoop Dogg, DMX, and Jay-Z. Okay, well not really... but it's amazing. Also, it kind of reminds me of how like five years ago, when everyone still used Napster, unsigned MC's would upload their own songs and rename them, "Eminem ft. DMX, Jay-Z, and Dr. Dre," to get people to download/listen to it. So, who knows... maybe Aries Spears is just from the Napster school of hip hop.



Straight up gangsta... My Brightest Diamond pics tomorrow.

Ruckus Live: Annuals

The Empty Bottle
November 10, 2006
(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

I first heard of Annuals through Pitchfork's Infinite Mixtape, but, admittedly, my intrigue was peaked when Chris Walker Versus had me review their single, Brother, for his Four Track Fridays featurette. While writing the review and listening to the song on repeat, I officially decided that I needed to go see Annuals play a show... I was definitely craving some sort of crazy, spaced out, jam session; which seems like the logical live interpretation for Brother, if you ask me. Apparently, not so much. (Sorry, just needed to drop the "...Not So Much" at least once in my blog before it's totally dead.)

Nevertheless, while Annuals may not really "jam out" live, there's still plenty going on musically. The band members are seemingly all over the place as they play musical chairs--swapping instruments and percussion details around--enabling them to match Adam Baker's amazing song arraignments with perfect accuracy. And, as if the sonic pictures painted upon your ears weren't enough, everyone also drinks A LOT before the show; always a bonus. Previously, I compared them to Animal Collective, but after hearing more of their 2006 album, Be He Me, it's clear that their influences come from a place much further south than Brooklyn. So, to sum things up: Show, good. Album, good. You should probably go watch them play, drink a few whiskeys, and buy their CD... Sounds like a winning evening.















Conclusion

The Good:

• Adam Baker's amazing "Kelso-Vest."

The Bad:

• Disease ridden, graffiti infested, bathroom (with no handles on the doors), PBR in the bottle, and the first time the Camel Cigarette Girls found me in Chicago all adds up to a Double Downesque experience... Which actually made me a little bit homesick. *tear*

The Ugly:

• Dancing with Death's cruel temptress. (AKA: Trying to resist the urge to piss on the light switch that's mockingly located a mere six inches above the urinal.) PS: Does anyone know if that'd actually electrocute you?

Justified Annoyance

I just want to hit everyone with a disclaimer before you read this. This post is going to be about Justin Timberlake. Yeah, I know... but seriously, I need to talk about this for a second.

Through some miracle of deception, Timberlake's new album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, managed to snake its way into the number two spot on Urban Outfitter's October play list. And yeah, I do know it's November, but I still have to hear this shit all the damn time because the girls I work with will always go take out The Decemberists and Cold War Kids CDs and put it in. It sucks... Not only do I have to actually listen to the man who saved his receipt for sexy so that one day he could bring it back, but I have to constantly explain to people why his album is terrible; and trust me it is. If you think SexyBack is an awful song, go listen to Losing My Way. It's supposed to be some kind of anti-drug PSA or something, but it's so ridiculously bad that you find yourself sticking heroin needles into your eardrums just to numb the pain.


The only time Justin's fingers have ever smelled of fish...

Now, I know that JT received some critical acclaim for his first album, due mostly to the fact that everyone was so shocked and surprised that it showed artistic development and maturity from his boy band days. But, what surprises me, is what people have to say about FutureSex/LoveSounds... I mean, just read the Pitchfork review - WTF? This album blows. I'll say it again, I really can't say it enough, BLOWS. B-L-O-W-S. People say that it's great and shows maturity, but I dissent, I say it shows regression. Seriously, the whole thing sounds like Timberland just remixed an old *NSYNC CD.

When it comes down to it... I think people can really only "OMGZ Luv his music!!!" for three reasons:

• You think his music is awesome. [AKA, you're deaf.]
• You think his music is awesome to dance to. [AKA, you're a whore.]
• You think his music is awesome due to a left over crush from when you were sixteen [AKA, you suck at life.]

I mean, I understand that it's wierd to like Michael Jackson due to the fact that he bought the Elephant Man's remains (and also thinks that Hailey Joel Osmand is "too mature" to fellate), but you don't have to turn to JT to get your old Michael Jackson fix. Seriously, stop comparing Justin Timberlake to Michael Jackson. If we, as a society, keep doing this, he's eventually going to be able to molest a boy and get away with it.

I think that when it comes down to it, the part that pisses me off the most about the whole situation is that you just KNOW he's going to win a Grammy or something for SexyBack--a song in which he doesn't play an instrument, doesn't sing, and didn't even produce the beat on a laptop. Seriously, if it wins one, I think Timberland (or at least Lou Pearlman) should get to go up and accept the award.

Anyways, yeah... ladies, get over it. It's not good. If you want to go to a club and "get yo dance on," there's hundreds of better songs to do it to.

* * *

In other news, I just got this via e-mail and thought it was pretty funny/interesting. So, if you live in Chicago and are bored, you should probably go.

Wednesday, November 8th | 8:30 p.m.
free Jack drinks for an hour

UR Chicago Presents: Chicago Sounds
Schuba's

Details:
3159 N. Southport Ave.
First, the bad news: Tonight's event'll cost ya 15 bones. (Sponsor URChicago must not see the advantageous PR in a free show.) However, Suffrajet, Detholz! and Skybox provide a range of delicious sounds, perfectly complimenting an event focused on the local music scene. And there will be prizes! Looks like someone's getting a URChicago key chain this Christmas. Make sure to RSVP at urchicago@purepromote.com.

Ho no, Schuba's Tavern, I beg to differ... the bad news will be you cleaning up the gallons and gallons of Jack Daniels scented puke. Seriously, the only situation I could think of that could result in more trouble for the management is if they gave away free Jack for two hours.

Ruckus Inquisitus: La Rocca

I find myself sitting at the only occupied table in the smaller, secondary, dining room of Schuba's Tavern, located right in the heart of Lakeview. A graveyard of barren pint and wine glasses already lie scattered about the table as the waitress arrives with yet another tray of libations. The four dapperly dressed individuals across the table from me are none other than the Silverlake-via-Ireland rock band, La Rocca, and currently they are entrenched in a debate over whether or not to order Schuba's much recommended meatloaf. Apparently, meat and breadcrumbs, when molded into a comforting shape, is a dish that is pretty much indigenous to America, so they were all very excited to try out some of our obese country's local cuisine. Yet, at T-minus forty-five minutes until they hit the stage, something like meatloaf might not be the best dinner choice--you can see the dilemma.

The waitress scribbles everyone's alcohol preferences onto her notepad and I decide to switch up from Guiness to PBR; a metaphorical move, bridging the gap between the Irish and American Indie Rock scenes. As we continue to bullshit and drink the respective drinks of our people, time constraints force the actual interview portion of the evening to begin. Now, originally, I was scheduled to interview lead singer/guitarist, Bjorn Baillie, but after sharing some pints and some words with the entire band, we decided to do the interview as a collective group effort; creating a sort of La Rocca Entity. In case you're wondering what the hell that means, basically, I ask a question and they all answer, add in after thoughts, whatever... and then we combine all of the input into one coherent written answer. Amazing. I was especially excited about it since I'm the type of guy who brings a water bottle full of red wine to a concert rather than a tape recorder.



In afterthought, I actually kind of like the idea of a group entity. It promotes honesty and togetherness and negates personal liability for slanderous drunken remarks. Anyways, after the interview, La Rocca hit the stage and rocked names and took faces--good thing only Nick went for the meatloaf.

However, for exposition's sake, I should note that the original idea for the La Rocca Entity was that each band member takes turns providing one word of the answer, moving clockwise around the table until a complete answer is drafted.

Ruckus Maximus:	So, you guys have played Chicago before, right?
Bjorn:	Yes!
Ruckus Maximus:	So, what'd you guys think? I've noticed that the scene here is definitely a lot more supportive than other places...
Nick:	It's
Alan:	absolutely
Bjorn:	great;
Simon:	so
Nick:	far
Alan:	so
Bjorn:	good.

Everybody laughing

Ruckus Maximus:	That was awesome... So, do you think you guys are going to be able to keep this up for the whole interview?
La Rocca Entity:	That depends... How many questions do you think we can answer with, "So far, so good?"
Ruckus Maximus:	Technically, all of them... but I think that's the only one that would make sense.

And so ends the round-robin portion of the interview, and thus begins the La Rocca Entity portion...

Ruckus Maximus:	I've heard some pretty crazy stories of debauchery involving Birdmonster. What's it like being on tour with them?
La Rocca Entity:	They're lunatics... in a good way though. But, they can't drink as much as us. At all.
Ruckus Maximus:	Speaking of that, as I'm sure you're all aware, there's a long standing history and tradtion of rock bands from Europe causing some outrageous ruckus in the States... Have you guys been contributing to this fine pissing on the Alamo tradition?
La Rocca Entity:	Well, we've absolutely drank every band we've played with over here under the table. Except Silversun Pickups--those guys can drink. Actually, we have a pending drinking and golfing contest in the works with them.
Ruckus Maximus:	A drinking and golf contest, how does that work?
La Rocca Entity:	We're going to basically get really drunk while playing golf. Maybe the goal should be to drink one beer every hole--that's eighteen beers by the time we're finished.
Ruckus Maximus:	That's awesome. Maybe you guys should make it miniature golf... you could knock out those eighteen beers in, like, an hour. So, when is this feat of alcoholic rivalry going to go down?
La Rocca Entity:	Well, once we both have a day off, we can settle it... It's pretty rare that we get a day off in a good city. We were off last night, but, before that, the last night we had was when our van broke down in Mesquite.
Ruckus Maximus:	That's terrible... Ironically, I'm from Las Vegas, so I know exactly what you mean when you say Mesquite... That sucks man, I'm sorry... So you guys just get really hammered off of nickel slots and free drinks?
La Rocca Entity:	Actually, we ripped the hell out of the Mesquite Public Library's CD collection.

Right about here was a, "You're from Vegas," related burn about The Killers... Awesome.

Ruckus Maximus:	So, you guys go anywhere cool last night?
La Rocca Entity:	We went to Club Foot. They have Vodka/Oranges for $2.50... it's cheaper than the beer!
Ruckus Maximus:	Damn, I'm going to have to check that place out... So, back on track... You guys are obviously from Ireland, but you've made a name for yourselves and exploded out of the Silverlake scene. What exactly is it about Silverlake that produces so many amazing bands?
La Rocca Entity:	Well, there's a lot of cheap rehearsal rooms and great venues there; there's a lot of musicians living in the area, too... I guess, basically, it's just inductive to the area, you know?
Ruckus Maximus:	I saw that Tony Hoffer produced your LP, The Truth. What was it like to work with such a legendary and well respected producer?
La Rocca Entity:	Tony was cool... he definitely brought a lot to the record. We were very lucky to have gotten to work with him, I mean, we try to work with only really short people, so we were definitely lucky in getting him to produce our record. Seriously though, he's great. He's the reason we signed with Dangerbird; just a great vibe.
Ruckus Maximus:	Now, I didn't see him listed among your influences, but when I listen to the self-titled track off of The Truth, I get a serious Billy Joel vibe. Was that what you were going for? Because, I definitely think it's the best drunken, bar room singalong that I've heard since Piano Man.
La Rocca Entity:	(laughing) It worked then! We actually went shopping with Tony for the piano we used to make the record. We literally looked at hundreds of pianos until we found this perfect one that made the record sound really great. Actually, we got it from the piano tuner from The Band, which was great because we're massive fans of theirs.
Ruckus Maximus:	So, what have you guys been listening to lately?
La Rocca Entity:	The new Jet and Killers!!!!

Everybody laughs for a really, really, ridiculously long time.

La Rocca Entity:	But, no, seriously... a lot of Silversun Pickups and Birdmonster. My mom actually just went to go see Elvis Presley live... Apparently it's just his backing band performing, with like vocal tracks and his image on a big screen. She said it was great, though.
Ruckus Maximus:	As everybody likes to point out, you guys are named after your favorite bar back home... but what makes that bar so name-borrowingly awesome?
La Rocca Entity:	It's a total dive... really down and dirty with their drinking. Plus, they have a shiny new green sign.
La Rocca Entity:	Wait, we have to go watch this band. (Los Abandoned, the opening act, started playing a few minutes ago.)
Ruckus Maximus:	Oh yeah, totally. Let's just do one more fast conclusatory [not a word] question, and we'll all go watch them. Any final shout outs, shameless sponsorship plugs, or unknown bands we should be watching out for?
La Rocca Entity:	Dappled Cities, another Dangerbird Records band that is great... Them and Turn; a cool band from Dublin.

Sweet. Big ups to the guys from La Rocca for taking the time to hang out... They played a great show, pictures are up at: Ruckus Live: Birdmonster & La Rocca. If you don't own The Truth, go buy it...

Ruckus Live: Margot and the Nuclear So & So's

The Abbey Pub
October 29, 2006
(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

Chicago, Halloween weekend, The Elected, Margot and the Nuclear So & So's, Whispertown 2000--a seemingly perfect formula for maximum ruckus, or, at the very least, an awesome edition of Ruckus Live. I was pretty excited for the drunken potential of this show, as The Abbey is just a short walk from my house. Further adding to the show's alcoholic intake was the fact that almost everyone in the joint was wearing their Halloween costumes. I mean, even Satan showed up in his costume ready to party (pictured above.) Satan's scary jack-o-lantern costume actually gave me a great idea for a new drink. A new and spectacular drink; as troublesome as it is festive.

So, ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu, I present to you:

The Jack-O-Latern:

• One half pint Pumpkin Ale (on special at almost any bar for the next month.)

• One shot Jack Daniels.

• Slam shot into pint glass, chug, you get the picture.

Hardly innovative, but damn is it delicious!

I digress, back to the music. The first band was Whispertown 2000. I don't know if I missed the line on this one, or what, but I'd never heard of Whispertown 2000 until I said, "Hey, awesome show... what's your guys' names? No, no, I mean your band's name..." Anyways, they play some pretty cool tunes, so, if you too have missed the line, check them out on Myspace. It's the type of music that will leave you standing there wondering to yourself, "Did she really just say, 'So stick your tongue in there and wiggle it around?'"



History seems to have a way of repeating itself, and as is usually the case when Jack Daniels shows up to a function, disaster struck. Early in Margot and the Nuclear So & So's amazing set, my camera's battery died because I forgot to charge it after the Birdmonster /La Rocca show on Thursday (Go me.) So, needless to say, there will be no pictures of The Elected. However, I will provide you with a picture of The Elected that I stole from Flickr.com and subsequently fixed by photoshopping Jenny Lewis into. Now before you get all uppity and start argueing that The Elected DOESN'T sound exactly like Rilo Kiley sans the Jenny Lewis charisma, I want you to answer me this... Why then, does The Elected sell Rilo Kiley CD's at their merch booth? Okay, thank you. If they're content with themselves living off of Rilo Kiley hype, you should be too.



Due to the fact that I didn't get the chance to take very many quality pictures before my camera went flaccid, I'm just going to haphazardly post the best ones with some random Margot highlights.

• "Hey, my dad drove all the way from Indianapolis to see the show tonight, everyone should give him a dollar!" - Richard Edwards

• Oh Where, Oh Where, Has my Dog Gone?

• The band's perpetual bumming of cigarettes from the crowd.

• Emily Watkins rocking the lead riff of Skeleton Key on the Melodica

• All the girls in the crowd "spring break style" screaming, "Whoooo!" every time Richard Edwards took a drink of PBR.

• Margot returning with Dirty on Purpose in a month and giving me a chance to take some better pictures.

Conclusion

The Good:

• Despite the fact that they didn't play Jen is Bringin' the Drugs, there were enough people who did, in fact, bring drugs that one of them was bound be named Jen.

The Bad:

• My awesome digital camera battery charging skills.

The Ugly:

• It's hard to tell what's actually ugly when everything's in its Halloween costume...

Ruckus Live: Birdmonster & La Rocca

Schuba's Tavern
October 26, 2006
(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

Take two bands that love to play good ole' fashioned rock and roll, pour them into a small venue, add seventeen liters of booze, stir, and what you get is a Birdmonster and La Rocca show. Good times were to be had last Thursday at Schuba's, it's just too bad everyone in the joint got too soused up to remember them. Fortunately for the liquor saturated Chicago crowd, I brought my camera.

Props and shout outs to the Walk from Chris Walker Versus for having his buddy, Torr, over at Filter Magazine, guest list me to this show. Word.

Los Abandoned, from Vapor Records (Neil Young's label), opened the show with their breed of indie, post-punk, Latin new wave; yeah, you heard me. They put on a pretty good set, as front woman, Lady P, is all over the place on stage. It definitely brought a different, but appreciated, sound to the evening's show--despite concern from the boys of La Rocca that the combined power of their names would draw an audience comprised of one hundred percent mariachi fans. Los Abandoned are going to be be the musical guest on Conan O'Brien this Thursday, Novemeber 2nd, so you should probably check that out.

Next up was La Rocca, whose uber-polished, Tony Hoffer produced, album transforms well into an amazing soundscape of gritty, barroom, piano rock when performed live. The Truth, the title track off of their 2006 Dangerbird Records album, is probably the best drunken sing-a-long that I've heard since Billy Joel's Piano Man. Even the most pretentious of the hipsters in attendance couldn't help but join in chorus with their PBR's hoisted high in the air. So, drop what you're doing and go buy The Truth right now, see La Rocca if they ever come to your town, and for fuck's sake, buy them a shot... they'll appreciate it, and so will you.















Closing up the show was San Fransisco's Birdmonster. I just want to say that nobody, and I mean nobody, rocks out harder on stage than Birdmonster. By the end of their set, they're so covered with alcohol flavored sweat, that even a seasoned drinker like Mel Gibson would would get hammered from just a mere sniff of their T-Shirts. If you don't believe me, check out the pictures. Or, better yet, check them out live... it seems like they're perpetually on tour with somebody.





















Conclusion

The Good:

• Libations liberate rock and roll.

The Bad:

• On weekdays, last call is at 1:30 in the AM.

The Ugly:

• Watching a homeless guy lick the stage after Birdmonster's set trying to get drunk.