Dig ‘in: Post Office Winter, Lifeguard, Party Dozen
Check out what the No Wristbands team is listening to and what’s in our show calendars this month on our latest Dig ‘in.
INCOMING
Post Office Winter - Music Box (self-released LP)
I don't know about you, but at 17 I hadn't accomplished anything as impressive as putting out a second album, but that's what we have here. Post Office Winter is the brainchild of Chicago neighbors (living one block away from one another counts as far as I'm concerned) Charlie Johnston and Will Huffman. During the height of Covid, Johnston and Huffman would meet in Johnston's garage and play music together. Soon, they were DIY recording their own music on a seemingly daily basis. Post Office Winter is the antidote for a cold winter day that inspired the band's name with their warm production of their jingly emotive pop. Each song is anchored by Johnston's soft vocals, which are surrounded by found recordings, acoustic and electric guitar, percussion, and synths/keys. The results are thrilling like in album highlight “Veil/Chapel." It’s great to see another young Chicago band crafting their own unique spin on indie music. -Mark Joyner
Lifeguard - Crowd Can Talk (Born Yesterday EP)
Crowd Can Talk sucks you in swiftly with a maelstrom of aggro noise—guitar shrapnel that will have you ducking for cover and rhythm section jousts of push/pull dynamics. Since forming in 2019, Lifeguard has built on their tensile, adrenalized beginnings for a lockstep confidence that explores a wider post-punk spectrum. While their ten song debut LP, Dive, was tracked over a single day at Chicago’s Electrical Audio, the Crowd Can Talk EP was executed in a more leisurely three days. Opener “New Age (I’ve got a)” is a clarion call for a reboot following a period of relative stasis and gives way to “I know I know,” which further cements the full speed ahead approach. “Fifty Seven” lessens the pace with a slithery Wire-esque delivery that highlights Kai Slater’s nuanced vocals. “Typecast” wraps things up in a rollercoaster journey of hairpin turns before a final descent where the wheels nearly come off as the instrumentation becomes more loose and fractured. When the final cymbal crash comes down, don’t be surprised if you’re eager to jump back in line to experience things all over again. -Bruce Novak
Party Dozen - The Real Work (Temporary Residence Limited LP)
The video for Party Dozen’s “Macca The Mutt” is set in a junkyard with percussionist Jonathan Boulet and saxophonist Kirsty Tickle laying waste to a dilapidated auto with bludgeoning sledgehammer blows. Fellow Aussie, Nick Cave, turns up in the last minute of the song to deliver the refrain about ownership of a dog who’s name was nicked from Sir Paul McCartney. The imagery and sound adeptly encapsulates Party Dozen’s universe—born out of the grimy depths inhabited by The Birthday Party, Bad Seeds, Dirty Three and Grinderman, Party Dozen unleash a clatter racket from an industrial wasteland. The duo mine free jazz, metallic bombast, and sound loops in a cataclysmic manner that will have you lunging for the volume control moments after settling in for a listen. Tickle employs an effects arsenal that manipulates her sax range from soulful to soul wrenching. Occasionally, she’ll wail into the instrument’s bell end for added distorted texture. Throughout it all, Boulet hammers his kit into submission and triggers an array of samples that propels the compositions into a heightened sonic realm. True to the record’s title, there’s some heavy lifting going on here—best to keep a safe distance and give the band room to operate because the destruction is too close for relative comfort. -Bruce Novak
UPCOMING
Here and There Festival — Courtney Barnett / Alvvays / The Beths
Where: The Salt Shed / Directions
When: August 16, 5:00 PM (all ages show)
Born out of a childhood passion for creating mix-tapes and imaginary festival band pairings, Courtney Barnett curated the Here and There Festival to feature a rotating line-up of two dozen performers spread across fourteen US dates. The Salt Shed event includes a $1 per ticket donation to The Ally Coalition in support of LGBTQ rights. Barnett has been issuing annual artist compilations through her Milk! Records label since 2012, and in conjunction with the festival there’s a special cassette edition of B-sides, live tracks and demos by some of the tour’s artists, with all profits going towards the National Network of Abortion Funds and Advocates For Youth. For the Chicago show, Barnett partners with Toronto’s Alvvays and Auckland’s The Beths—two female-fronted bands that make for a perfectly aligned slate of pop nirvana. The Beths third LP, Expert In A Dying Field, is slated for release next month, and Alvvays will follow with Blue Rev in October, also number three in their catalog. Both of those bands have a couple of advance singles already out for the airwaves that showcase a heady rush of melody and bite. No word yet on when Barnett will be back in the studio, but this tour finds her coming full cycle from her 2012 debut that included “Scotty Says,” which provided the source for the festival name with its chorus of “I got lost somewhere between here and there / I’m not sure what the town was called.” Courtney has certainly mapped out a path to success since then so her journey’s been one well travelled. -Bruce Novak
Built To Spill
Where: Thalia Hall / Directions
When: August 18 & 19, 7:00 PM
As an unabashed fan of guitar heroics, there are few bands that deliver the goods in the indie world better than Built To Spill. Doug Martsch and company have been consistently churning out prime material since forming in Boise Idaho in 1992. Anytime there is the opportunity to see them live, it’s worth your time. Martsch's distinctive voice pairs perfectly with his guitar work that is reminiscent of Neil Young at his most propulsive. Hopefully BTS (the TRUE BTS!) will be playing songs off their forthcoming release When the Wind Forgets Your Name, their first original studio album in seven years. The singles so far are vintage BTS, with plenty of solos to keep the fans happy. -Mark Joyner
Shame
Where: Thalia Hall / Directions
When: August 31, 7:30 PM
Shame became battle-tested early on by touring relentlessly for nearly four years before releasing their first LP, Songs of Praise, in 2018. It took a pandemic to put them down, which in hindsight was regenerative and provided an opportunity to refocus for their Drunk Tank Pink follow-up. That album’s title was pulled from the Britain’s use of the bubblegum hue to pacify violent and aggressive behavior of drunkards, prisoners and psychiatric patients. Feeling mentally spent and imprisoned by his own frustrations, vocalist Charlie Steen pink-washed his entire bedroom, re-christening it as “the Womb,” in order to clear his headspace. He’s emerged with all senses fully intact, maintaining his trademark stage intensity while letting go of some of the festering contempt that was eating away at his soul. Having a recharged Shame is like adding fuel to a fire. For a band that initially began playing out of a sense of boredom, expect nothing less than to be energized and entertained to near exhaustion. -Bruce Novak
UNCOVERED
Nikki Sudden & Dave Kusworth - Jacobites (Glass Records LP)
This debut record by Jacobites, comprised of Nikki Sudden and Dave Kusworth, was originally released in 1984. In my mind, it’s their finest record. The interweaving guitars and vocals between Sudden and Kusworth are just magical on this record. They are augmented on this one by Epic Soundtracks (Sudden’s brother) and Mark Lemon. The overall sound is reminiscent of those folky Rolling Stones songs that we all love. The record opens with the eight minute guitar opus, "Big Store (Orig.).” Over the plaintive, searching vocals —“Oh, I’m looking for the girl from the big store / Oh, I’m looking for the girl who never called” —the guitar solos weave in and out, culminating in a final epic frenzy. Following that one, the songs shift to a softer/folkier version of their longing vocals. Side one closes out with the incredible “Kings And Queens.” Acoustic guitars strum behind soaring vocals from Sudden and Kusworth. “Where the rivers turn to sands / I will hold your hands.” Just lovely! Flipping over to side two, “Silver Street” begins with a church-like hum, before rolling into more acoustic magic. The record closes out with the beautiful “For The Roses.” I’ve got a t-shirt (by the wonderful artist Vanessa Jean Speckman) that says “Sad Songs Make Me Feel Better.” I often think of this song when I wear it. Unfortunately, both Sudden and Kusworth have passed on—so Jacobites are no more. And although this record has been re-issued in the past, I don’t think it’s currently available on Spotify. Oh well, go find yourself a copy. -Tom Novak
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: