This is an online music fan zine. Please support music and musicians by going to shows, purchasing CDs, buying a damn T-shirt!
All mp3s are posted here with permission from the artists/labels/PR folks, and for a very brief time. If you have any issues with content on this zine please email me; atartytart@gmail.com I'm addicted to my Iphone, darlins'... I'll get back to you.
If you like what's up here, it'd be nice to know about it, so leave me some comments, eh? You can always post me love notes and CDs and such at: Love Shack, Baby, PO Box 221235 Chicago, IL 60622 (note new addy)
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And you can find PuppetShow at enjoy.the.puppet.show@gmail.com
You know it’s often worth showing up early to hear the supporting band, right? It just kills me when there’s 20 people in the room and the first act goes on. Often that’s the band I come to hear. I know, I’m weird like that! It’s not that I don’t want to hear Final Fantasy and Sharon Van Etten. Far from that! But I am curious about this Peter Wolf Crier duo (yes, there’s two of them: Peter Pisano and Brian Moen) And when the bill is comprised of all out of towners, well…. that means you’d best get there in time for all of them.
Peter Wolf Crier has a sound like what I want so many other indie bands to have. The chords dissolve just right. The piano/organ melds with simple harmonies in small melodies and finish with a clash of cymbals into songs that evoke memories of moments never forgotten. There’s drama here but it’s not hitting you over the head. The music flows as it should. Peter’s voice is beautifully soothing and with just the right touch of Americana and straight up indie stylings, he delivers. Yes, Peter Wolf Crier delivers. Full Stop. I’m very pleased to recommend this album and to eagerly anticipate this show. So, darlings, show up early. Don’t miss this. xoxo
Napping Captain mp3 Jogger This Great Pressure ….. go to Itunes!
Well, my last gig of 2009! And I went to a venue I’ve never been before too. I walked in and the first person I talked to just happened to be the manager of the duo I came to see. An auspicious ending to the year! I’d been looking forward to seeing Jogger, a duo from LA, for months now. If you scroll down my page, you’ll see I’ve included their LP in my list of 25 most listened to records of 2010. I’ve found This Great Pressure to be innovate, completely fresh sounding and just really exciting and sexy! Their opening track, “Napping Captain” completely won me over. It’s a uniquely perfect hybrid of indie and electronica and has all those little clicks and ting tings that entice me. Scattered throughout This Great Pressure are some great grooves, heavy beats, and tremendously repetitive refrains that have the dancefloor completely at their command.
But equally important to this project are two other components that show just how talented these guys really are. Amir on guitar almost manages to steal the show a few times that evening. Yes, he’s that good. No, I didn’t expect that from live electronica. It’s hard and fast and not very indie and we applauded in the middle of the song, after his solo. But Amir is much more than a virtuoso on guitar, he also sings harmony with the mastermind behind all this, Jonathan. And their vocals are key to many songs on the album. Hearing them live, I was more than impressed with their ability to not only reproduce what was created in the studio, but I also realized to a greater degree how wonderfully the music was crafted around their voices, to offset those harmonies. The word “organic” came to mind. The evening just felt like a whole, a piece, a unified being, a tree which was comprise of both bark and leaves. Unlike some electronic music, with awkward transitions between laptop and vocals and instruments, Jogger melds it’s sound. The sources seem inconsequential to the outcome. I felt that way listening to the album as well and I was glad that it carried over to their performance.
The Kinetic Playground was a terrific site for this duo to stretch its wings a bit and iron out its live performance. Jogger will return to Chicago on February 16, supporting Nosaj Thing at Lincoln Hall. I anticipate a really fun show. And hopefully I’ll have more time to chat with Jonathan and Amir about their plans for 2010. I also really need to know what Amir does with that violin.
Well, I didn’t really mean to abandon you for a week there! Ooops! But Happy New Year, darlings.
And for your pressie, I bring you the Contrast Podcast’s final installment of the Festive Fifty, wherein this Tart introduces the #11 song of the year: Mumford & Son’s “White Blank Page” from their very popular album, Sigh No More Go over there and listen to all the great intros!
The choices on the Festive Fifty are pretty amazing. They range from Grizzly Bear to Withered Hand, its very eclectic. Just pop over to Tim’s site and you can download this final podcast and the other two in the series as well. Next week’s podcast will feature New Year’s Resolutions. If you want to be a part of it, there’s instructions there as well. All you need is a computer and a microphone and you’re all set to join the crazy team there.
What has the past year meant to me here at the Shack? Well, you, dear readers, have been so kind as to put up with my ramblings on so many topics and bands and songs and shows. I’ve covered everything from the good old Southern Rock of The Lonely H to the crazy, electronica of Deastro. It’s been a really fun ride and 2010 promises to be even more of a weird and wonderful roadtrip to who-knows-where. I anticipate Puppet Show doing some more album reviews here and there’s loads of great bands coming through Chicago which I hope to cover. So, stick around, this week off has given me plenty of time to reassess just where I want this blog to go. And that direction is pretty much the same forward-looking, wide scope, new-music oriented trajectory that I’ve been on. Thank you for your kind words in the comments. Thank you for reading. Thank you for making 2009 a year worth blogging. And thank you most of all for supporting new music, for buying records, t-shirts, tickets, and showing up to hear unsigned bands play. Go up and shake a musician’s hand and tell him or her how great they sound; they need to hear it. That’s what the Love Shack is all about, ya know. xoxo
You know it’s often worth showing up early to hear the supporting band, right? It just kills me when there’s 20 people in the room and the first act goes on. Often that’s the band I come to hear. I know, I’m weird like that! It’s not that I don’t want to hear Final Fantasy and Sharon Van Etten. Far from that! But I am curious about this Peter Wolf Crier duo (yes, there’s two of them: Peter Pisano and Brian Moen) And when the bill is comprised of all out of towners, well…. that means you’d best get there in time for all of them.
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