Dig ‘in: The Goon Sax, Whitney, The Cannanes
Dig ‘in with us as we comb through the latest releases that’ve caught our ears, plus the resurrection of a prior, under-appreciated gem, and find out what performances we’re excited to see and hear that are coming to Chicago’s stages.
INCOMING
Roadrunner - A Film About Anthony Bourdain (Focus Features - Directed by Morgan Neville)
When news of Anthony Bourdain’s demise broke it gutted me beyond normal comprehension. After all, save one speaking engagement at the Auditorium Theatre, this was an individual that I only experienced from a distance. But I did live vicariously through his travel shows and from the prose that he let spill from his memoirs. As this documentary illustrates, despite his social anxiety, Bourdain possessed an innate curiosity and a willingness to share his thoughts and adventures. He felt like one of us; part of our food and music communities. In the manner that he championed authentic cooking, be it from street vendors or cutting edge chefs, he also was a supporter of pioneering and underground music. New York’s lower east side ‘70s scene informed the basis of Bourdain’s musical pursuits. His television shows incorporated a smattering of his heroes; Iggy Pop, Tommy Erdelyi (Ramones) and Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre) among them. Roadrunner is successful in examining the wide swath of Bourdain’s persona - mercurial, sarcastic, yet empathetic and romantic at heart. Some of the best insights come from his production crew, who came to know him best due to the significant time he spent on the road filming. Ultimately nearly everyone who knew him well is at a loss of words to describe his passing; an ironic turnabout for someone who informed us so much about the world we inhabit.
Find a local screening at the Focus Features website
New Candys - Vyvyd (Little Cloud Records, Dischi Sotterranei LP)
Italy is a country renowned for its influential horror movie directors (Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci & Dario Argento among them), so for a Venice band that frequently sites cinematic influences it’s not surprising that they’d deliver an album that centers around the struggle between good and evil. With its expansive, enveloping sound, Vyvyd could very well function as a stylistic film soundtrack. Combining psychedelic structures, embellished with judicious use of distortion and reverb, the record is warm yet somewhat unsettling. References to electroshock (“Zyko”), mental deterioration (“Factice”) and bleeding out (“Evil Evil”) haunt the proceedings. So while there’s some devil in Vyvyd’s details, this is far too good of a record to be scared off from. Invest some time with the New Candys and don’t fear the reaper!
Dig ‘in at their Bandcamp page
The Goon Sax - Mirror II (Matador LP)
The Goon Sax’s third record, and first for Matador, is a tempo shift in both pace and texture from the band’s previous releases. The imposed touring hiatus resulted in a lengthier gestation period between this record and their 2018 sophomore release, We’re Not Talking, compared to the rebound time from their 2016 debut, Up to Anything. After a brief decamping in Berlin where the band members expanded their music vocabulary, recording commenced with John Parish (noted PJ Harvey producer) at Invada Studios in Bristol. The results represent a more varied band approach, with Louis Forster writing about half the material and the rest being split among Riley Jones and James Harrison. The vocal interplay between Forster and Jones is a striking mix of melancholy and sweetness. The introspective angst and organic constructions hearken back to fellow Australians, The Cannanes, who were more contemporaries of the elder Forster, Robert, and his outfit, the Go-Betweens. So while generations come and go with their own musical innovations, a shared aesthetic sometimes renders those age gaps to be rather meaningless.
Check it out at their Bandcamp Page
UPCOMING
Whitney
Where: Sleeping Village / Directions
When: August 1, 11:00 PM
Despite a fraught relationship with ‘70s AOR, there appears to be something in our DNA that wears down our defense mechanisms to the point where inevitably those sounds nestle in our consciousness and become persistent earworms. Fortunately, Whitney are such exemplary practitioners of the genre that I’m more than happy to succumb to their charms. Their debut, Light Upon The Lake, was a pleasant, if unexpected, surprise. A key to the band’s appeal is that they’ve always favored soulfulness over surface gloss, resulting in songs that stand up to the test of time. They also maintain a healthy respect for their forebears, as evidenced by last year's all covers record Candid (which includes a gorgeous version of the Roches’ “Hammond Song”). Expect a sing-along fest at this intimate performance and a lot of missed attempts trying to replicate Julien Ehrlich’s note perfect falsetto.
Floatie
Where: Empty Bottle / Directions
When: August 13 10:00 PM
Floatie are itching to make friends. Concerned with the loaded connotations of the math rock genre, the band have rechristened themselves as “frog rock,” apparently meant as a fun version of prog rock. To be honest, there’s little in their output to suggest obsessive chin-stroking; time changes are more fluid than abrupt and chord progressions are rarely jarring. While band members had played together in the past in different outfits/configurations it wasn’t until two years ago that the current quartet took shape and released their first record, Voyage Out. Abetted by Sam Bern’s reedy vocals, their compositions are jaunty and playful, not unlike another Chicago outfit, The Sea and Cake, who share the same understated sensibility. Perhaps a double bill could be in the offing!
UNCOVERED
The Cannanes - A Love Affair With Nature (Feel Good All Over LP)
Sprung from the imagination of David Nichols since nobody he recruited to form the band could play instruments, the Cannanes would become more beloved stateside (Kurt Cobain was an avid admirer) then in their native Australia. After some initial exposure with a couple of 7” releases via Calvin Johnson’s K label, A Love Affair With Nature arrived in 1989 as the band’s second LP offering. Initially self-released, it was subsequently licensed by Chicago label Feel Good All Over the following year and later re-issued on CD by another Chicago stalwart, Ajax Records. Come 2016, Chapter Music extended its legacy with a deluxe picture disc reissue in addition to the inclusion of 13 digital bonus tracks. From the band’s fraught beginnings, the lineup had solidified to the core trio of Nichols (drums), Stephen O’Neill (guitar) and principal vocalist Fran Gibson by time recording of the album commenced. Its jittery tempos and unvarnished songwriting chronicled the everyday experiences of navigating life in Sydney. No more so than in the track “Sound of the City,” in which Gibson strikingly narrates the drunken haziness of settling into a new and enchanting world. A Love Affair With Nature offers up personal tales that are pure and honest and that’s certainly the kind of record I’m more than happy to live with.
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: