Tag Archives: live performances

Wed 2/20, 8PM: Waxahatchee on Jon Solomon’s program

Listen to WPRB 103.3 FM on Wednesday, February 20th at 8:00 pm ET as Jon Solomon welcomes Don Giovanni recording artist Waxahatchee to the Doctor Cosmo Production Studio for a live session.

Waxahatchee is the voice and guitar of Ms. Katie Crutchfield, formerly of P.S. Eliot. Her tremendous, tiny and personal debut “American Weekend” was included on Solomon’s “Best of 2012” program.

Coke Machine Glow wrote kindly about this record last year, saying:

“[A] damned great album. Think of it as a kind-of Blue (1971) for the basement punk set. Like Joni Mitchell, Crutchfield displays a rare emotional intelligence in singer-songwriters.”

Above, Crutchfield performs in an Oklahoma cemetery.

Her second LP “Cerulean Salt” will be released next month. Here’s a preview track from this anticipated record titled “Peace & Quiet”

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/76264002" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

Want more? You can stream Waxahatchee’s split cassette with Chris Clavin here.

Wed 2/13, 8PM: Trummors on Jon Solomon’s program

Listen to 103.3 fm WPRB on Wednesday, February 13th at 8:00 pm ET as Jon Solomon welcomes Ernest Jenning recording artist Trummors to the station for a live session.

The lovely, whispy duo of Anne Cunningham and David Lerner (formerly of Native Nod and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists) released their debut album “Over & Around The Clove” last year and Alternative Press wrote of it at the time:

“An album made for listening while you stare from your back porch (or apartment window) as the sun sets…the latest proof that the well of traditional American music is truly bottomless.”

Here is a video for the record’s title track.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlpY-75-KrQ&version=3&hl=en_US]

You can see Trummors live on Valentines Day in Philadelphia at Kung Fu Necktie with Mary Lattimore, Fred Thomas and Morning River Band.

For more Trummors visit their Tumblr, become a fan on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

Wed 5/16, 8PM: Tim Foljahn live on WPRB

Listen to 103.3 fm WPRB on Wednesday, May 16th at 8:00 pm ET as Jon Solomon welcomes Kiam recording artist Tim Foljahn to the Doctor Cosmo Production Studio for an exclusive live performance.

Here’s what Kiam had to say about Foljahn’s simultaneously bleak and uplifting new record “Songs For An Age Of Extinction”:

Tim Foljahn is a Michigan-born, New York-based singer-songwriter/guitarist who has more than likely played on one of your favorite records.

Some highlights from the tip of his iceberg-sized resume: He was the guitarist on the first two Cat Power records. He toured with and worked on the final Townes Van Zandt recordings. He lent his guitar skills to Half Japanese as well as the Boredoms. He played on the fantastic Thurston Moore solo record Psychic Hearts.

All the while, Foljahn released a series of his own brooding and lovely song cycles and experimental recordings under the moniker Two Dollar Guitar. With Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley on drums and a revolving cast of band and tour mates, including Smokey Hormel, Chris Brokaw and Christina Rosenvinge, the group released six albums on Shelley’s Smells Like Records label.

Songs For An Age Of Extinction is Foljahn’s first “song-based” record since Two Dollar Guitar’s The Wear and Tear of Fear from 2006 and his first release for Kiam Records. The wait has been long, but worth it.

The seven songs on Songs For An Age Of Extinction are long and languid—the shortest is over four minutes and the longest is over ten. But even marathon tracks like “The Dust of Exploded Stars” never wander aimlessly: Foljahn knows just where the songs are headed and you just have to have the trust and patience to follow him there.

On the album’s third track “Faded”, Foljahn sings the question, “How do I leave what’s gone?” His voice is searching but also somehow sounds comfortable in its sense of unease. It’s a defining, poignant moment on a record full of them.

“We really are in an age of extinction,” Foljahn said. “Species disappearing in droves – that as a fact and as a metaphor. It’s not the end of the world. Time, space, beliefs, people, relationships come and go and other stuff comes in. It’s a little corny but it is kind of cycle of life type stuff and how the universe interacts with us.”

The sound of the record is typically awash in Foljahn’s distinct, lush guitar playing and deep, rich vocal melodies, but also features a new element: piano.

“There are always songs kicking around but I think what made me think I had a record going were the songs I started writing on piano,” Foljahn said. “That seemed like a new direction worth exploring. I love the full resonance of the Wurlitzer. Like guitar, it functions so well by itself, can do chords and melody lines. But I think the real reason I was drawn to the piano is that I have lost a lot of the primitiveness and crudeness in my guitar playing, and I think I really missed that sort of simplicity. I have that in spades on the keys. There is nothing subtle or fancy happening there.”

Songs For An Age of Extinction was recorded by Foljahn at his home studio over the course of a year and mixed by Tom Beaujour at Nuthouse Recording in Hoboken. Foljahn plays everything on the record with two exceptions: Alexa Wilding plays piano and sings on “War Song” and Kirsten McCord plays cello on “Faded.”

Beaujour was particularly impressed with Foljahn’s recording skills: “When you get tracks that were recorded in an apartment with less than $500 worth of equipment that sound as good as Tim’s did, your initial impulse is to fucking light all the pricey gear in the studio on fire and go fishing. Once that passes, you just want to make sure that you do the work justice and don’t make anything worse than it was when it came in the door.”

Here is video of Foljahn covering a Ramones song at Time Out New York.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb3CwpIhPtI&version=3&hl=en_US]

Look for an equally excellent cover in their WPRB session!

Wed 4/18, 8PM: Nervous Curtains live on WPRB

Listen to 103.3 fm WPRB on Wednesday, April 18th at 8:00 pm ET as Jon Solomon welcomes Latest Flame trio Nervous Curtains all the way from Texas to the Doctor Cosmo Production Studio for an exclusive live performance.

Here’s the press release for the band’s fine second album “Fake Infinity”:

With their amplified synth-rock and creeped-out, cryptic vocal hooks, Nervous Curtains’ new record takes you into a world of Fake Infinity where everything you think you know is wrong. The canvas here is filled out by black space organ and pulverized synthesizers. The grand piano that dominated the Dallas, TX-based trio’s 2010 debut, Out of Sync with Time, is used sparingly, lending these songs an aura of impenetrability. Sean Kirkpatrick, formerly of The Paper Chase, has written a record that wakes you up and shakes you out of the usual stupor.

Taking the dislocation and anxious agitation of 70s post-punkers such as Magazine or early Ultravox and injecting a jagged noise rock aesthetic and dynamic moodiness, Nervous Curtains avoids retro devotion while producing a memorable and authentic sonic experience. Kirkpatrick creates narrators whose pathologies and disorders put them at odds with the world around them on “Moody Photos,” “Wired to Make Waves” and “The Crooked Telepathic.” “Come Around Viral” subverts the usual feel-good aesthetic of spiritual connectedness with a darker undercurrent. Album centerpiece “It’s the End of Eternity” brings you into the post-apocalyptic world of your own adulthood.

The song is a landscape where discarded metal bakes on the broken concrete foundations of abandoned buildings and carefree summers of youth have given way to oppressive heat waves. As naive optimism and idealism have been destroyed, the band seeks a new kind of beauty in the rubble.When the world is at its end, it is whatever you make it to be. Once you understand that we’re living in Fake Infinity, a new concept of personal success is born within the crumbling system. When the final track, “Letter of Resignation,” tells you to “kill your dreams before they kill you”—you’re grateful for the advice. Nervous Curtains promises you, this is no beach party.

Nervous Curtains has released a series of videos for songs from this release. Below you’ll find one built around the track “Come Around Viral.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8edpNUtE3XM&version=3&hl=en_US]

Concert Review: Memory Tapes (live at Johnny Brenda's)

–Jake Sanders

Seeing Memory Tapes play at Johnny Brenda’s this past Wednesday reminded me that hearing a band or musician play live can be such a unique experience from hearing them on record. As a concert goer, you expect a musician’s songs to be changed at least a bit in the live performance, or at the very least you expect to see how they’re played. This seems especially true with electronic music. At a show you see how the musician innovates on the sound immediately with mixers and turntables rather than from studio overdubs. This could have been the method that Memory Tapes’ Dayve Hawke employed, but instead he played guitar with a bassist and drummer, which is interesting given that he records and produces all the music on his albums himself. I thought this might be just an arbitrary choice before the show, but the band was so strong and cohesive that it made the songs all the more enjoyable.

After goth-synth Philadelphia band Instamatic and a short DJ set, two screens descended from the ceiling onto which were projected kaleidoscopic images. While Hawk and the band set up, the DJ spun a prolonged note that resonated for a bit too long, inciting a curt “Yo dude. Where’s the spaceship landing?” from Hawk. I got to chuckle a bit before they broke into an impressive version of “Yes I Know” from Player Piano, which sounds downbeat on record but came across radiant and much more expressive with the three playing together live. Right off the bat, anyone could hear how strong and collected the band sounded, and how well they played off each other. They kept the flow going with loud, big versions of “Wait in the Dark” and “Offers”. Everything about the music was confrontational and right up front, including Hawk’s voice, which shot through the speakers as loud as anything else (a big difference from his vocals and the instruments on record). They played two I didn’t recognize, then “This is Our Life” and “Trance Sisters,” which amplified the desperation and disaster of the song, rendering it all the more cataclysmic. They closed with a slow-building version of (their now-classic?) “Bicycle,” which turned into a bombastic dance number that got the whole crowd groovin’.

In short, I liked the record a lot, but the show totally sold me on how good Memory Tapes is. Hawk is a special kind of musician because he does all the writing himself, but it really made such a difference to hear everything played together. The already excellent melodies became fire and electricity with the group’s performance, and I think that might be just the result of the cooperation (or competition) natural between musicians. It’s a credit to Hawke that he can do both—play everything together and make a show that powerful. This isn’t to say that live music is always superior to music on record, but I think it showcases a different type of musical skill. Hawk constructs and records memorable melodies demonstrating his skill as a composer. However, he can also translate that into the kind of performance that shocks, which certainly places him as a forerunner in the category of “artists to watch.”

Album Review: Memory Tapes' Player Piano

Album Review by Jake Sanders

Player Piano, the second release from home-based electronic recording artist Memory Tapes, is a very welcome continuation of the gentle pop-electronica that the sole musician Dayve Hawk crafted in 2009’s Seek Magic. Like the last album, this one is rich with clear pop-melodies that jump playfully around, constructing a sound that’s both melancholy and charming, and both old and new. Hawk himself describes the music on the album as ‘keyboard-based psychedelic girl group songs, a sort of motown suicide note’. If that sort of description eludes you, I doubt you’re alone in that. There is something elusive about the sound on this album, partly because it does seem like a throwback, but one that still keeps the novelty of chill-wave. What eludes me on this album is the conflict beneath the surface, like with the pleasant synth sounds and high-pitched vocals that pull in a sunnier direction, but with lyrics that explore much more stressful that don’t seem to fit with the airiness of the music, including painful relationships and the inability to mend them. But I think its real success lies in Hawk’s ability to organize the different moods together flawlessly on each song, to make it all seem nonchalant and easy.

“Wait in the Dark” introduces the layers of synth-noise, clean bass and real percussion present on the rest of the album. It’s hard to deny the sadness of this one, though it still has an upbeat rhythm and a mobile instrumentation that implies cheeriness. “Today is Our Life” and “Yes I Know” sound like the music could delve into the sadness that‘s implied, but they end up sounding as pleasant and nonchalant as the others. Hawk has said himself about his recording style that “the music is my better nature, and the lyrics are me shouting myself down with self-loathing and cynicism. You end up somewhere between a genuine smile you’re trying to hold back, and a false smile you put on for a show.” That’s a really good description of the double-life of this record, or on a lot of chill-wave for that matter. The music is so well packaged and planned that it doesn’t cross the boundary that separates “chill” from anything else, but often it does imply something heavier, like in the lyrics. In a song like “Sun Hits,” there’s not even an attempt at getting at any other mood: it’s all candy. But with the last five tracks, Hawk does pull forward at the darker stuff in the music, with “Fell Thru Ice” and “Trance Sisters.” I was glad to hear the cataclysm and the desperation of the synths on these tracks, partly because it seemed like that’s what he was trying to get to the whole record, and partly because it shows that he’s capable of breaking those boundaries for himself.

All in all, this is a great second album in itself and for the interesting questions about recording that it inspires. One of the interesting things about the music is that Hawk records it all himself with live instruments, without a sequencer to help him. However, on this summer’s tour, he has been playing with two other musicians in a guitar-bass-drum set-up. This Wednesday, he’ll be playing at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it’ll translate live. I’ll be writing a review of the show later this week, so stay tuned!

Memory Tapes will be playing in Philadelphia at Johnny Brenda’s. Doors open at 8PM.

Pitchfork: (Or…Reading About It Online) (4/4)

by Jake Sanders

Ah yes. Like a national holiday for those who aren’t quite patriotic, The Pitchfork Music Festival comes around but once a year…however, I don’t have the money to attend. No, I’m not bitter or jealous. After all, there’s a ton of music blogs to choose from that give an group-by-group account of the festival, plus all the really juicy stuff that happens off stage. That should be almost as good as being there, right?

Trying to get to a concert of this size is the same story almost every year. The ads show up around the beginning of spring for the summer shows, there’s a lot of hype, there’s a lot of bands listed, and even the price is affordable. And I think, “Yes, this will be the year I’ll get to see at least one, get out there and really jive, y’know?” Yet I wonder.. “How will I make it there? I don’t think I know anyone who lives in East Sussex, and I’m not sure if there’s even a hamlet nearby where I could rent a room.” So I become resigned to looking around for local shows, or if the money’s really tight, watching The Last Waltz at home.

Thankfully, the blogs are there for people who couldn’t go to Pitchfork. You can skip a rock on the internet and hit a music blog covering it. If you’re quick enough, you can catch the live streaming videos during the performances, but if not, there are the write-ups that some blogs do. It’s not exactly the same as hearing the band live, but if you know them well enough it’s kind of interesting to read what they sounded like, and to check out some pictures too. And for bands that you’ve never heard, it’s good to read about what their performances were like, and to check them out some other time. To be fair though, sometimes they can leave something to be desired. I would like to know how Neko Case and Fleet Foxes played, but reading on Pitchforks’ blog that an out-fit looked like it was from a yard-sale and how there were five beards were on stage seems a bit like reading tips from Vogue or GQ.

One thing that I do love about reading the blogs is checking out the pictures. I’d like to think that I’m a purist and couldn‘t care less about what a band looks like. But, I know that I’m really not, and that I do like to see the funny faces that musicians make and the like. Like, scrolling down a list of pictures on onethirtybpm.com and Brooklynvegan, then seeing Robert Pollard performing a high-kick without any context or without actually having been there is hilarious to me. Or, seeing Ariel Pink putting three fingers in the air and grimacing. “He looks so angry here,” I think to myself, “and yet he makes such pleasant music”.

It is a stretch to think that a combination of pictures and a short description is any substitute for seeing a band live. But I found out about a lot of new groups looking over all this stuff, so thanks to all those who went and wrote about it. Then again, it could be that the bloggers are just flaunting how much fun they had, just callously rubbing it in our faces. Just giving us little tidbits of information to keep us mildly interested, but really laughing themselves silly thinking about all those who couldn’t go.

But no, I’m not bitter at all, really.

Pitchfork: Day Three (3/4)

This is the third of WPRB’s four part review of the Pitchfork Music Festival held on July 15-17 in Chicago, Illinois.

Deerhunter

Day Three

by Griffin Winton-LaVieri (WPRB Music Director)

Sunday was the hottest day of them all and I was the most worn out. We saw The Fresh and Onlys, Kurt Vile, and Ariel Pink at the Green Stage but I was too tired and hot to be able to judge them well. Kurt Vile seemed to be well liked by everyone in the crowd. Ariel Pink seemed out of it as he performed, falling down at one point, and left the stage for unexplained reasons half way into the set, thus cutting the set down significantly. Also, Ravi and I made it to the festival grounds first that day.

Sunday was also the day that OFWGKTA performed. We probably made the right decision in not joining the massive crowd but viewing the chaos from afar. It looked like madness. Tyler, the Creator, the front man of Odd Future, despite having a cast on his foot which caused him to hobble, jumped in the crowd on multiple occasions. One of the friendly security gaurds, Jeff, described working it as the hardest thing he’s ever done. Jeff was in Iraq 6 months ago. The meaning of Odd Future and their controversial lyrics has been and will continue to be the theme of many think-pieces. You can make your own call about the whole thing.

Sunday improved as Deerhunter’s set at the Green stage approached. Deerhunter are simply, a quality band. Hits such as “Helicopter”, “Revival”, and “Nothing Ever Happened” were performed. “Nothing Ever Happened” was definitely the highlight as they jammed along – rhythmic and euphoric. No new songs were played but I was fine with that, having never seen them live. Bradford said that they had just returned from the UK and concluded ”It’s good to be back in the USA. Fuck anybody that tells you it isn’t the best country in the world.”

After Deerhunter we got dinner and walk around. Cut Copy was playing so we watched them from afar. It was impressive to see the huge crowd jump up and down as a mass. Cut Copy put on a high energy show and ended with “Need You Now.” I like that song. After Cut Copy was the final headliner, TV on The Radio. I’m not a big fan of them so I persuaded Ravi that we should cut out early as we were going to another after-show. The second song TV on The Radio played was “Dancing Choose” so I felt like we saw at least one important TV on The Radio song and could leave the festival knowing it was a weekend well spent.

We traveled on the “L” to Schubas. The venue struck me as almost equivalent to Maxwell’s, in New Jersey, as it was basically a bar with a room for concerts in back. Unknown Mortal Orchestra opened the show. I haven’t really made up my mind about them but that is more a function of me not listening to them much than anything else. Yuck had played Pitchfork earlier that day but we had missed them so it was worth the trip, time and money. They are pretty heavily indebted to their nineties influences but nonetheless the music they make is enjoyable to listen to and I’m glad I got a chance to see them live.

Overall, the weekend met if not exceeded my expectations. Ravi and I saw pretty much all the bands we wanted to and saw them up close. It was our own summer adventure. We left Chicago the next day separately–tired but happy.

Photo Credit: Ravi Prakriya

Pitchfork: Day Two (2/4)

Zola Jesus

This is the second of WPRB’s four part review of the Pitchfork Music Festival held on July 15-17 in Chicago, Illinois.

Day Two

by Griffin Winton-LaVieri (WPRB Music Director)

Having realized it was worth it to be up front and thus arrive at the gates early; Ravi and I spent two hours waiting outside the festival grounds on Saturday. However, that day, instead of going to the Green stage where Fleet Foxes would headline, we opted for the nearby Red Stage. Our fellow early arriving Pitchfork attendees were generally more interested in Fleet Foxes so we had no trouble making it to the barrier.

The first act on the Red Stage was Woods. Woods are a pretty solid freak folk band. I haven’t really gotten into their music so I didn’t really recognize their songs but nonetheless enjoyed my self. One of the members of Woods sang through a pair of headphones, which is a rather novel way of making music. The lead singer sang in a pleasing falsetto.

After Woods, on the Green stage was Cold Cave. Thanks to the positioning of the stages and a jumbotron, we could observe the band though either a video feed or as tiny guys on a relatively distant stage. They were dressed in black and performed with remarkably high energy considering it was not only incredibly hot out but it was likely earlier than they would be ever expected to leave their apartments. I really like Cold Cave’s first record so I enjoyed hearing tracks like “Youth and Lust”, “Hello Rats”, and of course, the title track. As mentioned above, the members of Cold Cave danced wildly around the stage (in a cool way, though) and I was ultimately unsure how much of the sound they were actively producing themselves.

Up next on the Red Stage was No Age. I’m a big fan of No Age and so I was particularly excited to rock out to them. Dean and Randy ripped through songs off of all three of their records and the crowd ate it up; bodies were pressed against each other, water was flung overhead to cool us down, and crowd surfers flowed regularly over the barrier. No Age covered a Black Flag and the Misfits but the highlight of the set was “Everybody’s Down” which featured Dean leaving the stage and joining the crowd. No Age are a quality band who write good songs and put on fun shows. Fun Fact: The picture that heads the Pitchfork article about the festival was taken during No Age’s set and I’m the kid wearing red in the front row.

Destroyer played next on the Red Stage. Naturally, Bejar’s epic jazzy jams were a stark contrast to No Age’s punk songs but it was now late afternoon and chilling out was in order. Destroyer make enjoyable music and they performed their tracks well so it was a good set, even Dan Bejar, who is notoriously moody, seemed like he was having fun. I had the part in “Bay of Pigs” where Bejar sings “Magnolia’s a girl/ her heart is made of wood/ as apocalypses go/ that’s pretty good/ sha-la-la/ wouldn’t you say?’ and the synths come stuck in my head all day in anticipation of hearing it live so I was quite pleased when that song concluded Destroyer’s set.

After that, Ravi and I grabbed dinner and headed to the Blue stage for Nika Roza Danilova, who is better known as Zola Jesus. With barely any trouble we were able to make it to the front, which made me happy because Zola Jesus is actually one of my favorite musicians and I had never been able to make it to one of her shows before. Although I had read about how small a stature she has, it was surprising to see her in real life and realize that, yes, she is 4’11”. Her size didn’t inhibit her performance in the least as she danced and pranced across the stage as she sang tracks from her Stridulum and Valusia EPs. The standout song was probably “Manifest Destiny” which is an incredibly powerful track in terms of Danilova’s vocal performance. Zola Jesus is an artist to watch out for and I am incredibly excited to hear her new record Conatus, which will be released in October.

Fleet Foxes were headlining that night but neither Ravi nor I are particularly familiar with their music so we left after Zola Jesus. Instead of being satisfied with a day’s worth of live music, we ventured to Chicago’s Lincoln Hall for an unofficial after-show. Shabazz Palaces opened the show. I’m not a big fan of rap or hip-hop so they weren’t exactly my thing but I definitely acknowledge that they could be a quality act. It was entertaining to watch the two members perform as many of the songs featured synchronized dance routines. The headlining act was Moonface, which is Spencer Krug’s new project. It was an interesting performance as Krug played keyboards and sang and another fellow played marimba and drum machines. It was fun and worth going to but after two days of standing on metal barriers, I was tired and my feet were incredibly sore.

Photo Credit: Ravi Prakriya

Pitchfork: Day One (1/4)

This is the first of WPRB’s four part review of the Pitchfork Music Festival held on July 15-17 in Chicago, Illinois.

Day One

by Griffin Winton-LaVieri (WPRB Music Director)

Every year the Pitchfork Music Festival seems to book the best bands. Last year as I watched the artist announcements (Broken Social Scene!) come out (LCD Soundsystem!) through out the spring (Pavement!), I was all too aware that there was no way I could make it. But 2011 was different; with orientation for college in Wisconsin, a trip to Chicago would fit perfectly into my summer and thus the trip was meant to be. When Animal Collective was announced as a headliner, I ran through the halls of my high school to tell my best friend, Ravi, who would be going to the festival with me. It was going to be the high point of my summer.

Since we arrived the day before, Ravi and I had nothing in particular to do midday Friday. As I’m a big fan of being early to concerts (a result of my short stature and subsequent love of being in the front row), we arrived at the festival gates at noon- approximately 3 hours before they would open. This was, in retrospect, one of the best decisions of the weekend because it allowed us to think about our priorities and prepare to realize our goals; namely, we decided to get through gates quickly and sprint to the Green Stage and stay there the whole day so we could see Animal Collective up close.

The first band on the Green Stage was Battles. Despite the fact that Tyondai Braxton no longer numbers among their ranks, they rocked through “Atlas” and other songs with the help of prerecorded vocals and a screen on stage displayed the guesting vocalists. Their set up was gear-intense as it featured such remarkable aspects as a cymbal elevated to the height of approximately 7 feet, effects pedals lining key board stands, keyboards angled at 45 degrees, and the machinery which built the loops that built the songs.

After Battles was Guided By Voices. If one band epitomized rock’n’roll that weekend, I’m pretty sure it is GBV; first off was Robert Pollard, the lead singer, who proudly took swigs of rum between songs and did multitudes of leg kicks as he performed. The guitarist took the prize, though, as he chain-smoked through the set; always needing a cigarette, he had a stagehand behind him whose sole role was to light new cigarettes and place them in his mouth. I have never gotten into GBV’s extensive catalogue so I recognized only a few songs that they play, but any set with “I am a Scientist” is a good set, right?

At 8:30, Animal Collective finally took the stage. In the break after GBV, an elaborate set was built featuring a giant head behind the band, huge glowing crystals in front of the band, and illuminated plastic bats hanging down from the rigging. The set consisted of almost entirely new tracks and the first song they performed was especially special as it was “Change”, one of the new tracks, which is the first Deakin sings on. As for the new songs, they generally the rhythmic and aggressive, more like Water Curses than Meriwether Post Pavilion. Then again, it by the time they come out in the form of a new record they will probably not only have different names but new directions as well. AnCo did play several old songs and each time they did, it seemed more euphoric; They worked their way through “Did You See the Words”, “Brothersport”, a slower, heavier version of “Taste”, and ended on an incredibly high note with the much loved “Summertime Clothes.” Despite the fact that they had 10 minutes before the Chicago curfew, they didn’t play an encore. Although the time they spent playing was magical, I’m sort of glad they didn’t. They couldn’t have topped “Summertime Clothes.”

Photo credit: Ravi Prakriya