Dig ‘in: Quivers, Marcel Wave, Black Market Karma
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
Quivers – Oyster Cuts (Merge Records LP)
On Melbourne-based Quivers’ third LP, Oyster Cuts, their collective observations come across as well considered and introspective. “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” cautions Sam Nicholson on “Apparition” before offering: “Don’t patent your sorrow / If your heart’s not open yet / Just try again tomorrow.” Matters of the heart play a central role on the record, whether it be mending, nurturing or exalting. Nicholson and drummer Holly Thomas have both experienced the premature loss of a sibling. “Grief Has Feathers” recognizes the pain, but finds comfort that it will dissipate over time. “This year, I wanna be more hopeful,” Nicholson reveals in “Fake Flowers.” “Pink Smoke” is his tribute to the ever-evolving loving relationship that his parents have nurtured for over fifty years; a shared journey that wasn’t predestined but flourished nonetheless by pushing forward. Through their embrace of their self-described jangle-damaged guitar pop, Quivers offer resilience and the belief in the healing powers of music unto itself. -Bruce Novak
Marcel Wave - Something Looming (Feel It Records LP)
Francois Marcel Grateau invented the namesake Marcel Wave as a means of softening the hard appearance of the bob hairstyle that took hold during the flapper period of the 1920s. It quickly gained popularity among Hollywood actresses like Joan Crawford and Jean Harlowe. The co-optation of the countercultural impact of the flappers resonated with Maike Hale-Jones when she was brainstorming for a name for the band she had recently formed with formers members of Sauna Youth and Cold Pumas. Marcel Wave’s debut, Something Looming, contains a pair of songs chronicling the lives of actresses. “Peg” explores the demise of Peg Entwistle, who committed suicide by leaping from the iconic Hollywood Hills sign. “Elsie,” written about Pat Phoenix, avoids a similar fate when she lands the role of Elsie Turner in the UK’s first soap opera, Coronation Street, a mere week after her own unsuccessful suicide attempt brought on by despair.
The theme of turmoil extends to greater British society throughout Something Looming. The churning “Barrow Boys” rides on the back Lindsay Corstorphine’s pumping organ as Hale-Jones skewers the yuppies that have overtaken the historical blue-collar docklands enclave. “Where There’s Muck There’s Brass” starts out bouncy until Oliver Fisher imparts a spiraling guitar riff that portends the discord brought about by the municipal corruption scandal centered around architect John Paulson. “Stop / Continue” pulls in different directions, where others are left to pick up the pieces from industrial waste fallout. Something Looming effectively illustrates how the past impacts the present and how a course of correction is often put in the hands of those who are least equipped to be behind the wheel. -Bruce Novak
Black Market Karma - Wobble (Fuzz Club LP)
Stanley Benton is a bit of a mad scientist with his lab being his home studio that he’s christened as the ‘Cocoon.’ Starting out in London in 2011 and now situated in Dover, Wobble marks the eleventh studio album for Benton under the guise of Black Market Karma. It’s also his first proper label release with Fuzz Club after his long-running partnership with Flower Power Records where he would essentially self-release his work and have the them market it, initially beginning by offering free digital downloads. Wobble’s title is a nod to his analogue recording process and the imperfections associated with with it; the wow and flutter that’s the result of tape wobble.
Benton assembles a backing band when Black Market Karma tours, but records on his own. He has a penchant for vintage gear and experimentation, utilizing open tunings and processing drum and bass tracks through guitar amps and effects pedals. Wobble was devised to create a feeling of ‘fernweh’—a German term to describe a sense of wanderlust or longing for the unknown. With nods to ‘60s psych and pop, there’s connective tissue in Benton’s oeuvre, but his incorporation electronica, trip-hop, break-beats and oddball instrumentation places his work in a new context. Wobble is almost equally divided between expansive instrumentals and songs framed by Benton’s soulful, reverb-laden vocals. Titles like “Sonic Broth Soul Taster,” “Puddle Eyed Sponger” and “The Death Throes Of Nuance” engender an air of mystery and exoticness. There’s an innate charm to the iconoclastic approach of Black Market Karma—an outsider perspective that gives you access to an otherworldly universe. -Bruce Novak
UPCOMING
The Deals
Where: Empty Bottle / Directions
When: August 19, 9:00 PM
Performing in a number of outfits (The Deals, Monotype, Patter) has exposed Joe Suihkonen to a myriad of musical styles. When he recently returned to developing songs again for The Deals years after their 2021 debut album, Clear and Severe, surfaced, the results were a change of course. The band’s previous twangy pop inclinations have morphed into a richer and denser palette. The initial evidence came this Spring with their song “Freeway,” a shoegaze number framed by a plangent guitar duel between Suihkonwn and Andy Krull. That was followed by “Tootsie Pop,” a breezier affair propelled by Emerson Hutton’s crisp beat and tag-team backing vocals that mesh with Suihkonen’s tender lead. The results thus far have been impressive and hold the promise that further revelations might be forthcoming with this performance. -Bruce Novak
Cairo Jag
Where: Empty Bottle / Directions
When: August 22, 9:00 PM
Chicago has been on Cairo Jag’s radar plenty over the past year with the band popping up at Sleeping Village, Reed’s Local and Cobra Lounge. Following this Bottle appearance, the Indianapolis trio will head out for a European jaunt that will take them through France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Their leaden psych and proto-punk maintains a Midwestern sensibility that follows in the wake of such legendary acts like the MC5, Stooges and Rocket From the Tombs. Frontman Curt Turner balances pulverizing riffs with hypnotic passages that avoids getting bogged down in a sludgefest. Likewise, drummer Nolan Schockman and bassist Joe Wise know how to push the tempo when an adrenaline boost is called for. Cairo Jag’s latest offerings released this year, “Tides” and “Worm” are full-on scorchers that indicate the band is reaching another gear. Get ready to hold on for dear life. -Bruce Novak
Mandy
Where: Sleeping Village / Directions
When: August 30, 8:30 PM
Fronting one of Chicago’s finer clatter combos in Melkbelly provides a certain visibility, but not a complete accounting for Miranda Winters. Driven further to examine how her femininity has impacted her throughout her life, she set about assembling an all-women band with Wendy Zeldin (drums), Lizz Smith (bass) and Linda Sherman (guitar). Having already recorded as a solo artist, most notably with 2018’s Xobeci, What Grows Here? cassette release, this new project was newly christened as Mandy. Partnering with Taylor Hales at Electrical Audio, Winters’ initial compositions were fleshed out into a 9-song album titled Lawn Girl that was issued by Exploding in Sound Records this past April. Pregnant with her second child at the time of recording, Lawn Girl explores how family and friend connections shape our sense of self. Winters’ observations are pointed, but not lacking humor or self-effacement. The band brings a balance of grittiness and pop chops that bridge the separation between Winter’s more plaintive earlier solo work and the peak intensity of Melkbelly. It’s undeniably a sweet spot for Winter while still managing to take her past previous comfort zones. -Bruce Novak
UNCOVERED
Dungen - Ta det lugnt (Subliminal Sounds LP)
I recently went down to Mississippi to prepare my dad's house for sale following his passing last year. The process included sifting through items he had left behind. This sounds like a heavy undertaking, but it was filled with a lot of great memories—seeing pictures I'd either never seen before or hadn't seen in ages made me feel closer to him. The things he chose to keep as his life shifted from the suburbs of Chicago to Oxford Mississippi were also quite striking. He was a man who LOVED music, and this was shown through the various instruments he left behind (does anybody need an accordion?) as well as hundreds of CDs. However, the thing that captured my eye was my iPod. A relic of simpler times, I hadn't used it since I got my first smartphone in 2010. Obviously it was dead, but why did my dad keep it? It felt like he was reaching out to me to remind me of who I once was, and what music I held near and dear to me in my past life as a New Orleanian. I had to know if it would still work, could it resurrected? I brought it back home with me, and procured an old charging cable, it lived! I feel like I have been reconnected with so many old friends. There are friend's bands from the 2000's that they don't even have recordings of anymore (shout out to The Easterlings!), and there are monthly mixes I made until I moved back to Chicago in December of 2010. There are so many bands that I had forgotten about, so much music that was so important to me in my late teens to mid 20s. It was like digging up a time capsule —this was my music time capsule!
One of the bands that appeared on my click wheel scroll was Dungen, the Swedish psych-rock band. I first heard them at the precursor of Pitchfork Music Festival— Intonation Music Festival—with fellow No Wristbander Wade (compliments of Dig ’in legend Bruce's very generous birthday gift of tickets). In those days we'd show up right as the festival was opening and check out bands we'd never heard of before (music streaming services didn't exist back then, so it was harder to find out about bands who weren't on your radar). I was immediately captivated by these Swedish dudes despite not knowing any Swedish. They looked like what I thought Led Zeppelin must have looked like at their apex; these were cool dudes who were making some great throwback psych rock. They even made it look cool to play the flute on stage! I had to know more, I had to hear more, I had to buy their CD! Scraping together what limited funds I had as a 20-year-old, I went to Best Buy and bought their U.S. breakthrough 3rd album Ta det lugnt, which translates to "Take it Easy.” I then undertook the laborious task of uploading it to my computer and then my iPod. Listening to it then was revelatory, this was going to be MY Led Zeppelin! They never broke further into the U.S. than they did on this album, but there is so much to love then and now. There are the more straightforward rock songs like "Panda" and eternal college playlist staple “Festival," and there were instrumental songs that wouldn't sound out of place on a Sigur Ros album—songs like "Lejonet & kulan" and "Det du tanker idag ar du imorgon.” There are even songs that blend the two styles like "Ta det lugnt.”
They seemed primed that day out at Union Park—Pitchfork had favorably reviewed the album (a 9.3 score), they were early in the day with a big crowd, and they even sold out of all their merch. They brought a ton of energy to the show—energy that was luckily captured on Ta det lugnt. I saw them again at Bonnaroo in 2006, and again, they had a packed set that whipped the crowd into a frenzy. If you'd asked me then what their trajectory was going to be, I would have said a breakthrough into the mainstream and headlining sets would have been easily attainable. Sometimes life doesn't quite work out the way you think it will, but at least on this transcendent album anything was possible. I'm glad my dad kept my old iPod, I like to think it is proof he is still looking out for me even if he isn't around anymore. -Mark Joyner
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: