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flavorpill CHI | NYC | SF | LA | LONDON March 7 - 13, 2006

 
 Linda Zacks courtesy of Start Mobile   
Cultural Stimuli in CHI
Issue 77: rawk-solid flavor

Those who survived the sonic Rolfing at last week's Mogwai concert shouldn't take out their earplugs just yet — the assault on tympanic membranes throughout the city continues this week thanks to a number of aurally stimulating events. Things start out innocently enough with the avant-garde ohm series at the Cultural Center and the Third Coast Festival's civilized Podcast Listening Room, but the volume starts to dial up when Thunderbirds Are Now!, the Narrator, and the Plastic Constellations storm the Beat Kitchen's stage and the Neo-Futurists lob a live one with their most recent show, A Child's History of Bombing. Not to be outdone, Chicago's most rockingest ladies talk back at a discussion at the Harold Washington Library and the Goodman celebrates native son and famously potty-mouthed miscreant David Mamet with a festival dedicated to his abrasive plays. Louden up now, and spread it...

 

flavorpill CHI is an email magazine covering a hand-picked selection of music, art, and cultural events — delivered each Tuesday afternoon.




 


 Table of Contents TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT
art Mark Wagner
dance Raizel Performances: The Piners Prom
discussion Third Coast Festival: Podcasts; Women Rock!
exhibition Game On 2.0
film My Name Is Ivan; Unknown White Male; Jules and Jim; The Killing
lectureRecycling Bikes for Social Change
multimedia Musical Enchantments & Wondrous Sounds; Over Your Head and Too Deep? Try Juxtaposition Semiotics!
music The Wedding Present; Tracy + the Plastics; The Books; Stereolab w/ Espers; Thunderbirds Are Now!; Of Montreal; Serena Maneesh; Oxford Collapse
reading Brian Costello: The Enchanters vs Sprawlburg Springs; Studs Terkel and Stuart Dybek
spectacleGreening of the Chicago River
theatre A Child's History of Bombing; Hizzoner Daley the First
FEAT mamet? i hardly even know'et David Mamet Festival; cd review The Duke Spirit, Cuts Across the Land; streams BBC Collective


Spotlight


Lend Your Ears
The aurally enlightened folks at the Third Coast Festival kick off their 2006 Listening Room series with a selection of today's most inspired Podcasts — you know, that new audio craze all the kids are talking about.

Daily Updates



Tuesday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


MULTIMEDIA
ohm Curator Series: Musical Enchantments & Wondrous Sounds

when: Tue 3.7 (7pm)
where: Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater (77 E Randolph St, 312.744.6630) map
price:
links: Event Info

You can usually find Joe Bryl behind the booking desk at Sonotheque, where, as club manager, Bryl's in charge of bringing in eclectic, up-and-coming talent. The Cultural Center has taken notice of Bryl's curatorial skills and enlisted him to organize "ohm," a series highlighting new media in audio, visual, and performing arts. This evening, Bryl pulls from his vast Rolodex to present Musical Enchantments & Wondrous Sounds, in which long-lost classic films The Teddy Bears (1907), The Wonderful World of Oz (1910), and The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) are scored live with acoustic harp, keyboards, and laptop electronics. Given Bryl's reputation at Sonotheque, tonight should be avant-garde nirvana. (VG)



ALSO ON TUE

FILM
Jules and Jim (1962)
Tue 3.7 (6pm) Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N State St, 312.846.2600) map $9

Event Info
 
Jeanne Moreau plays Catherine, an irrepressible femme fatale who captures the hearts of two friends, Jules and Jim. Wonderfully French and fascinating, this François Truffaut film delves into the joys and hazards of romance. (MS)



Wednesday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


DISCUSSION
Third Coast Festival Listening Room: Podcasts

when: Wed 3.8 (7-9pm)
where: Steppenwolf Theatre (1650 N Halsted St, 312.335.1650) map
price: $6 (reservations)
links: Event Info

Silly, concise, and often brilliant discourses on the Chicago art scene; quirky, poignant soliloquies; inspired voices of a national youth-radio movement: welcome to the new frontier of Podcasting. The Third Coast Festival kicks off its 2006 Listening Room series with an evening of discussion on this new audio craze. Listen to a variety of Podcasts, get pointers on starting your own, and pick the brains of local producers Bad At Sports and national 'casters Catalogue of Ships, PRX, and YouthCast. Hurry, boys and girls, before the medium slips, like radio and TV, from plebeian hands into fat corporate bellies. (PAG)

  Which City of Chicago department has its own video podcast? The second and third correct responses each win a pair of tickets to this event.



Thursday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


MUSIC: Weather Report
Thunderbirds Are Now! w/ Rahim and Call Me Lightning

when: Thur 3.9 (7pm)
where: Beat Kitchen (2100 W Belmont Ave, 773.281.4444) map
price: $10
links: Event Info | Thunderbirds Are Now! | Rahim | Call Me Lightning

Detroit lends us yet another great punk band who infuse their Motor City aggression with just the right balance of keyboards, drums, guitars, vocals, and whiskey. Their most recent (and hilariously titled) album, Justamustache, carries a one-two punch, its jagged post-punk guitars and ultra-catchy melodies ideal for both rocking the night away and dancing your face off. Thunderbirds Are Now! demonstrate why the exclamation point in their name isn't just hipster fun with punctuation. Sedated punksters Rahim and hardcore Milwaukee trio Call Me Lightning open. (MH)



THEATRE
A Child's History of Bombing

when: Thur 3.9 (8pm)
where: The Neo-Futurarium (5153 N Ashland Ave, 773.878.4557) map
price: $15
links: Event Info

The latest Neo-Futurist production, A Child's History of Bombing, takes aim at the history of all things explosive. Based on founding director Greg Allen's interviews with his uncle, a chemist in the Manhattan Project, this multimedia, interactive documentary covers our battle-scarred Earth from Hiroshima to the Bikini Atoll to Iraq. Generally, the production doesn't hide its pacifist political agenda; the most nuanced parts of the play come directly from the Manhattan Project chemist, as he either justifies or refuses to acknowledge the tremendous ramifications of his work. (CB)

Note: This play continues through Sat 3.11 (Thur-Sun: 8pm).

  What did Futurism (the art movement, not the comedy group) founder F.T. Marinetti consider the "highest form of modern art"? The fourth and fifth correct responses each win a pair of tickets to this event.



ALSO ON THUR

LECTURE
Treasure, Not Trash: Recycling Bikes for Social Change
Thur 3.9 (12:15-1:15pm) Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater (77 E Randolph St, 312.744.6630) map

Event Info
 
The Chicago-based Working Bikes Cooperative takes trashed bikes, fixes 'em up, and then sells 'em to fund shipments of new bikes to developing nations. This lunchtime lecture shows how you, Mr. or Ms. Urban Cyclist, can help — inferior mechanical skills notwithstanding. (QH)



Friday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


FILM
My Name Is Ivan (1962)

when: Fri 3.10 (6pm)
where: Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N State St, 312.846.2600) map
price: $9
links: Event Info

Tarkovsky's debut film, My Name Is Ivan, immediately established the director as among the most innovative and emotive in Russian cinema. And although he went on to helm better-known art flicks including the stilted sci-fi film Solaris (1972) and epic Andrei Rublev (1969), this film set the template. My Name Is Ivan follows a young, traumatized boy who becomes a World War II spy after his village and family are destroyed by the Nazis. The shot composition and sound editing are brilliant, making this pensive reflection on the Soviet era all the more poignant. The real draw, however, is central actor Nikolai Burlyaev, whose haunting performance lingers long after the credits roll. (FG)



DANCE
Raizel Performances: The Piners Prom

when: Fri 3.10 - Sat 3.18 (Fri & Sat: 9pm)
where: Open-End Gallery (2000 W Fulton St, 312.738.2140) map
price: $10
links: Event Info

Dust off your poodle skirt and pull on your saddle shoes for Raizel Perfomances' Chicago debut. The Evanston-based dance-performance group brings its DIY philosophy and team spirit to Open-End for two weekends of their unique rock show-cum-dance party. The brainchild of Northwestern University choreographer Jenny Shore, Raizel Performances' '50s-style dance concert features original choreography alongside golden oldies (Drifters, Runaways, etc.) performed by a live orchestra joined by the Arcade Fire's Will Butler. Swoon! (SN)



MUSIC: Solar Energy
Of Montreal

when: Fri 3.10 (9pm)
where: Metro (3730 N Clark St, 773.549.0203) map
price: $15 / $13 advance
links: Event Info | Of Montreal

Whether or not critics agree that Of Montreal's mastermind Kevin Barnes is a genius, only the most hardened of them could sit through a couple of the band's swooping harmonies and gleefully experimental melodies without feeling a tad euphoric. Emerging from the Elephant Six universe (the collective best known for Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control), this band from Athens, GA, is on tour to promote their latest album, The Sunlandic Twins — the auditory equivalent of a box of Day-Glo bouncy balls dropped from a very high place: all electronically-tinged joy and irrepressible energy. (SD)

  What was Kevin Barnes' favorite hair-metal band back in the day? The first two correct responses each win a pair of tickets to this show.



FILM
Unknown White Male

when: Fri 3.10 - Thur 3.16
where: Music Box Theatre (3733 N Southport Ave, 773.871.6604) map
price: $9.25
links: Event Info | Unknown White Male

One day in July, Doug Bruce took the subway to Coney Island. Two days later, he no longer knew who he was; he'd developed retrograde amnesia, a very real result of brain trauma that erases all memory of events prior to the accident. Unfolding in dreamlike fashion, Unknown White Male, a documentary by Bruce's friend Rupert Murray, takes its audience inside the mind of someone experiencing the world for the first time. If you've always wanted a clean slate à la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this film may change your mind (pun intended). (MS)

  Which amnesia-themed film classic features a dream sequence by Salvador Dalí? The first five correct responses each win a pair of tickets to this film.



ALSO ON FRI

FILM
The Killing (1956)
Fri 3.10 - Thur 3.16 Music Box Theatre (3733 N Southport Ave, 773.871.6604) map $9.25

Event Info
 
As any good film noir classic should be, Stanley Kubrick's The Killing is an exercise in dramatic suspense. Marie Windsor stars as Sherry Peatty, the acerbic, money-hungry dame who throws a racetrack heist off-course. (MS)



Saturday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


DISCUSSION
Women Rock!

when: Sat 3.11 (1pm)
where: Harold Washington Library, Video Theater (400 S State St, 312.747.4050) map
price:
links: Event Info

The concept of "Women's History Month" may be off-putting — half the world's population gets one cold and blustery honorary month — but the women of this panel, presented by the Chicago Public Library, know that ladies rock all year 'round. Discussing the changing roles of women in rock history are Amy Schroeder, publisher of über-zine Venus; Chicago Reader music critic Monica Kendrick; indie-music writer and promoter Jessica Hopper; and DePaul University professor Deena Weinstein, who teaches courses on mass media, pop culture, and the sociology of rock. (AM)



READING
Brian Costello: The Enchanters vs Sprawlburg Springs

when: Sat 3.11 (7pm)
where: Quimby's (1854 W North Ave, 773.342.0910) map
price:
links: Event Info | The Enchanters vs Sprawlburg Springs

In between hosting Empty Bottle's live comedy show "The Brian Costello Show with Brian Costello," teaching creative writing at Columbia College, and practicing with his band the Functional Blackouts, Chicago's favorite man-about-town Brian Costello somehow found time to write a book. Costello's debut novel, The Enchanters vs Sprawlburg Springs, tells the whimsical story of Shaquille, a part-time squid-cutter who plays drums for fictional punk band the Enchanters, making his way in his dreaded hometown, Sprawlburg Springs. It's both hilarious commentary on hipster ludicrousness and satire of yuppie suburban life. Tonight, Costello is joined by authors Megan Stielstra and Gary Johnson for readings, signings, and snacks. (SN)



MUSIC: Indie Rock
Stereolab w/ Espers

when: Sat 3.11 (8pm)
where: The Vic Theatre (3145 N Sheffield Ave, 773.472.0449) map
price: $21
links: Event Info | Stereolab | Espers

Stereolab albums are like Russian nesting dolls. Each album — and there are many, including Fab Four Suture, a recently released collection of the band's latest EPs — is a rarified artifact, similar to its sisters but with enough variation to earn a home on the knick-knack shelf. On the outer shell, sci-fi synths tango with jazz guitars while kraut-flavored rhythms keep a steady gallop; inside, chanteuse Laetitia Sadier intones elliptical melodies. You could keep opening up the album, searching out its tiniest details, but sometimes it's more fun to experience Stereolab as a seamless whole — soothing, strange, and impossibly engrossing. Psychedelic folk trio Espers open. (TG)

  What do Stereolab, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, and Rage Against the Machine all have in common? The third correct response wins a pair of tickets to this show.



MUSIC: Nügaze
Serena Maneesh w/ Psychic Ills and Dirty on Purpose

when: Sat 3.11 (10pm)
where: The Empty Bottle (1035 N Western Ave, 773.276.3600) map
price: $10
links: Event Info | Serena Maneesh | Psychic Ills | Dirty on Purpose

Continuing in the shoegazing tradition of Sonic Youth, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine, Norwegian quintet Serena Maneesh tune into the college radio of the early '90s, layering abrasive and distorted sounds with Animal Collective-reminiscent psychedelia. On stage, leader Emil Nikolaisen, sister Hilma, and cohorts ignite the crowd, expanding on the philosophical journey they began with their eponymous debut album — which, not surprisingly, was mixed by SY producer Martin Bisi. The evening begins with Dirty on Purpose's NYC-bred dream-pop and Psychic Ills' strangely catchy noise rock. (PG)



MUSIC: Pre-fab Pop
Tracy + the Plastics

when: Sat 3.11 (11pm)
where: Rodan (1530 N Milwaukee Ave, 773.276.7036) map
price: $10
links: Event Info | Tracy + the Plastics

Multi-talented, multi-personaed, and alluring as all get-out, Wynne Greenwood and her band of alter-egos put on a show that is as fun as it is provocative. Wynne appears as bandleader "Tracy," as well as Tracy's bandmates "Nikki" and "Cola," who are projected onto a video screen and interact with Tracy and each other throughout the show. Lo-fi electronic punk and sexy, swooning, sugary vocals aren't the only nourishment for the evening: Ms. Greenwood presents her electronic rock circus in the delectable dining room of one of Wicker Park's favorite hot spots, so you can nosh while you mosh. (MH)



ALSO ON SAT

SPECTACLE: St. Patrick's Day
Greening of the Chicago River
Sat 3.11 (10:45am) Michigan Ave & Columbus Dr (312.942.9188) map

Event Info
 
While we can't sanely recommend the overcrowded, drunken spectacle that is the St. Patrick's Day Parade, watching 40 pounds of bright-green vegetable dye being dumped into the Chicago River — turning it into an hallucinogenic approximation of the River Shannon — is a damn cool annual tradition. (AF)



Sunday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


MUSIC: Maximum Rock 'n Roll
The Narrator w/ the Plastic Constellations, Part Chimp, and Oxford Collapse

when: Sun 3.12 (8pm)
where: Beat Kitchen (2100 W Belmont Ave, 773.281.4444) map
price: $8
links: Event Info | The Narrator | The Plastic Constellations | Part Chimp | Oxford Collapse

It's been way too long since you went to a real rock show. Sure, you've been to "shows" — comatose audience members with their arms crossed, lightly swaying, sipping PBRs — but when was the last time you really rocked the eff out (that wasn't the '95 Warped Tour)? Beat Kitchen's got a lineup tonight that'll drag you back to those sweat-soaked, all-ages blowouts from your youth, including local young'un-punks the Narrator, hip-hop-tinged post-punk quartet the Plastic Constellations, the UK's (other) simian heroes, Part Chimp, and Brooklyn-based indie-rock purists, Oxford Collapse. Believe it or not, rock music can rawk — you might want to start double-fisting those PBRs. (TG)



MUSIC: The Sad Punk
The Wedding Present w/ Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves

when: Sun 3.12 (9pm)
where: Double Door (1572 N Milwaukee Ave, 773.489.3160) map
price: $15
links: Event Info | The Wedding Present | Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves

Were the Wedding Present an actual gift, they'd be a broken heart in a dented box caked with northern English mud; the card, a page of angsty scribbles from lead singer David Gedge's diary. And yes, you would be psyched to receive it. Making big waves across the pond with contemporaries the Smiths, the Wedding Present never really managed to break Stateside and disbanded after several critically acclaimed but commercially disappointing albums. Having briefly recorded as the poppier, calmer, more "mature" Cinerama, Gedge recently reformed the Present and re-gifted the pathos, stirring guitars, and bitter lyrics. That beats another gravy boat any day. Former Spoon-collaborators Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves open. (LT)

  According to Gedge, his last name is a uniquely Norfolk pronunciation of what word? The second and third correct responses each win a pair of tickets to this event.



Monday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


READING
Studs Terkel and Stuart Dybek w/ Donna Seaman

when: Mon 3.13 (6pm)
where: Harold Washington Library, Auditorium (400 S State St, 312.747.4050) map
price:
links: Event Info | Studs Terkel | Stuart Dybek

Columbia College launches its 10th annual StoryWeek Festival of Writers with a Chicago-inspired event. The venerable Studs Terkel reads from And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey, his new collection of interviews with icons like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Dizzy Gillespie, Leonard Bernstein, and Mahalia Jackson. Joining him is Stuart Dybek, reading from The Coast of Chicago, the stories of his Pilsen childhood recently adapted to critical acclaim by the Walkabout Theater Company. Moderated by Open Books host Donna Seaman, the pair discuss Chicago's influence on their respective work. At 93 years old, Terkel is a craggy-voiced font of American history, wisdom, and wit, and is not to be missed. (PAG)



MUSIC: Sonic Librarianism
The Books w/ Death Vessel

when: Mon 3.13 & Tue 3.14 (9pm)
where: Schubas (3159 N Southport Ave, 773.525.2508) map
price: $14 / $12 advance
links: Event Info | The Books | Death Vessel

The Books (aka multi-instrumentalists Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong) craft textured, sample-heavy noise-scapes — mostly peculiar vocal samples, culled from their massive, eclectic library, layered and reconstructed into new rhythms — and trim them with mellow vocals and such folky instrumentation as acoustic guitar, banjo, and violin. The effect is a melancholic, quasi-narrative sonic collage. Live, their sampler is integral, melting found sounds with Zammuto and de Jong's raucous noise and lovely melodies from guest vocalist Anne Doerner. Death Vessel, the project of experimental country/bluegrass singer-songwriter Joel Thibodeau and a cadre of collaborators, open the show. (AM)

  What homespun artifacts has Nick Zammuto been deliberately seeking out in thrift stores? The third correct response wins a pair of tickets to this show.



Ongoing / Upcoming TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


MULTIMEDIA
SIMPARCH and Paul Cekan: Over Your Head and Too Deep? Try Juxtaposition Semiotics!

when: Now through Sat 3.18 (Mon-Wed 11am-3pm / Thur: 6-8pm / Sat: 11am-3pm)
where: College of DuPage, Gahlberg Gallery (425 Fawell Blvd, Glen Ellyn, 630.942.2321) map
price:
links: Event Info | SIMPARCH

Artist collaborative SIMPARCH's mandate to create spaces for social interaction and exchange takes the form of an epoch-spanning archeological dig in the current exhibition at CoD's Gahlberg Gallery. Presided over by Dr. Paul Cekan, the exhibition displays artifacts of human communication including written and visual language, patterns, symbols, iconography, codes embedded in ancient religious scribblings, and contemporary conduits for information and meaning. Arranged chronologically from present-day text to the ancient Bonpo, the juxtaposition of varying religious and ideological texts illuminates all that has been lost in translation through the centuries. (CC)



THEATRE
Hizzoner Daley the First

when: Now through Sat 4.8 (Thur-Sat: 8pm / Sun: 3pm)
where: Prop Thtr (3502-04 N Elston Ave, 773.539.7838) map
price: $12.50-50
links: Event Info

Anybody impersonating Richard J. Daley (the beacon of mayoral muscle behind the warm greeting protesters received at the '68 Democratic National Convention) might want to tread lightly while his son Richard M. is still in office, or risk accruing a few unexplained parking tickets. But playwrite Neil Giuntoli, who also portrays the late political legend in Prop Thtr's new production, Hizzoner, needn't worry. Depicting one of Chicago's most memorable leaders during his final days in office (and on earth), Giuntoli paints an honest, nuanced picture of the issues that defined the original "Da Mare"'s tumultuous career. (PS)

  Which contemporary political figure (who isn't Dubya, ya lazy bums) most deserves to be immortalized in theatrical form? Our four favorite responses each win a pair of tickets to their choice of the Thursday or Sunday show.



ART
Mark Wagner w/ Derek Fansler and Scott Wolniak

when: Now through Sat 4.8 (Fri & Sat: 12-6pm)
where: Western Exhibitions (1648 W Kinzie St, Ste 2, 312.307.4685) map
price:
links: Event Info | Mark Wagner | Scott Wolniak

Brooklyn-based artist Mark Wagner drops Washingtons like crazy with tags and bills, which combines those pesky, itchy tags inside your collar with omnipresent one-dollar bills to make stunning collages and art books. Additionally, Wagner unveils the first completed panel of a 16-foot reproduction of the Statue of Liberty, constructed entirely of one-dollar notes. Also showing is a new video by friends, collaborators, and former Suitable gallerists Derek Fansler and Scott Wolniak called Concerning New Phenomena in the Ethereal World, Volume 1: The Buddy Cycles, which subverts the "buddy movie" genre with marionette self-portraits. (AM)



EXHIBITION
Game On 2.0

when: Now through Sun 4.30 (Mon-Sat: 9:30am-4pm / Sun: 11am-4pm)
where: Museum of Science and Industry (57th St & Lake Shore Dr, 773.684.1414) map
price: $16 (includes museum admission)
links: Event Info

Fact: One of the first video games was created on a $120,000 computer with only 4K of memory (Yow!). Fact: The first commercial-gaming console appeared in 1971, the same year as FedEx (You don't say?). Now that we've gotten the museum-justifying, "educational" stuff out of the way, on to the real goods of the exhibit: lots 'n lots of current and classic video games, all free (with admission) for the playing. Coin-op delights include old-school arcade classics like Asteroids and Dig Dug, confounding Atari 2600 releases like Adventure, and a bevy of current PS2 and Xbox 360 releases. With plenty of games to gorge on and no chance of quarter draught, sprained thumbs and carpal tunnel syndrome lurk around every corner, so be careful out there. (QH)

  Which game came packaged with Nintendo's infamously useless Power Pad? The third and fifth correct responses each win a pair of tickets to this exhibit.



Features TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


  MAMET? I HARDLY EVEN KNOW'ET: David Mamet Festival  

Put that coffee down. As everybody knows by now, coffee is for closers — and if you can't close shit, well, you are shit. Lucky for you, buying admission to the Goodman Theatre's seven-week-long festival (Sat 3.4 - Sun 4.23) celebrating native son David Mamet is easier than winning a set of steak knives in a cutthroat real-estate sales contest. Fans of this caustic darling of the stage — and to an ever-greater extent, the screen — are treated to panels analyzing Mamet's work and more than 90 performances of a dozen pieces, including his newest play, Romance, and the winning entry in the festival-sponsored write-alike contest. Get your Pulitzer-worthy profanity on. (CF)



 


  CD REVIEW: The Duke Spirit, Cuts Across the Land  

StarTime International
Released March 2006
$11.99 (Insound)

Despite the early hype surrounding them in their native England, the Duke Spirit chose to bide their time, ultimately compressing years of momentum into this dense, feedback-drenched banshee wail of a debut album. The five-piece initially sent local critics reeling with its Bloody Valentine-meets-Mary Chain-by-way-of-PJ Harvey brooding rock bonanza — a squall that Cuts Across the Land can barely contain. Wind-whipping, lightning-strike singles like "Lion Rip" and the title track seethe with classic rock 'n roll potency, while "Love Is an Unfamiliar Name," with its howling outro, could give Polly Jean herself reason for pause. Slower selections like "Bottom of the Sea" round things out in a narcotic haze, allowing just a moment's respite before the swirl kicks back up into a full-on tempest. (DL)


 


  STREAMS: BBC Collective  

This week, the BBC Collective delves into the good, the bad, and the ugly of modern covers. Read about Maxence Cyrin's Modern Rhapsodies project, which translates electronic classics by Aphex Twin, Massive Attack, and LFO into sleek, classical piano interpretations. Listen to full-length tracks of other well-executed recent covers, namely José González's version of the Knife's "Heartbeats," or Nostalgia 77's cover of the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army." Elsewhere, check a feature on Brazilian art, complete with multimedia gallery from the Barbican, and listen to the new Collective playlist — featuring new music from Liars, Kelly Stolz, and the Go! Team vs Kevin Shields (yes, you read that right). (CJN)



Various Artists: Creative Covers (Eclectic)
Various Artists: Brazilian Art (Multimedia)
Various Artists: BBC Collective Playlist (Eclectic)


 


Flavorinfo TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


 
 
Header Design:
Wolf EyesLinda Zacks courtesy of Start Mobile
 
Editors:
CrowdsMaia Armaleo
Car alarmsAnnette Ferrara
FeedbackJocelyn K. Glei
My Bloody ValentineTodd Goldstein
Club soundsystemsDoug Levy
ChihuahuasSascha Lewis
Anguished criesMark Mangan
Pots and pansColin J. Nagy
CymbalsPhilip H. Sherburne
 
ABOUT US
flavorpill CHICAGO is a free weekly mailer covering music, arts, and cultural events in Chicago. All listings are pure editorial, never paid advertisements. No money is accepted from venues, artists, or promoters. Read more about us, and spread it...
 
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Contributors:
Amorous neighborsConor Barnes
Jet engineSidra Durst
Street musiciansCaryn Capotosto
Spinal TapChris Foley
Big ol' paradePilar Gallego
Disco roomVictor Ganic
Crying babyFrancesca Gavin
FireworksPatricia A. Gray
CicadasMia Horberg
LawnmowerQuanah Humphreys
Robot dogAudrey Mast
ChainsawSuzanne Niemoth
Garbage truckMarla Seidell
Hair dryerPatrick Sisson
 
Production:
BansheesCasey Acierno
FlatulenceAnjuli Ayer
ThunderstormsJessica Bauer-Greene
CrowsSander-Martijn Milks
Police sirensDavid Morrow
BellyachingJamend Riley
Drunk dudesLeah Taylor
Sonic boomJudah Wiedre
 
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