Dig ‘in: The Smile, Liquid Mike, SPRINTS
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
The Smile - Wall Of Eyes (XL Recordings LP)
November 2022, Nashville. In for a weekend to meet friends and hang free. Uh oh, what’s this? The Smile are playing Ryman Auditorium tonight?! Sold out...(never). Gulp...let’s do it! (this will never happen again). And so there’s Thom and Johnny from Radiohead and superlative skins man Tom Skinner previewing several songs from what would eventually become Wall of Eyes, and absolutely thrashing highlights from their debut A Light For Attracting Attention, which had come out the previous May. Live, the band expands and contracts the recorded versions, finding blend and nuance within an absolutely master class of live sound and mixing.
After a couple of breezy, if somewhat forgettable openers, Wall Of Eyes middle four songs are more than worth the price of admission. “Friend Of A Friend” nods politely towards mid-seventies Wings, complete with string swells and lovely piano, while “Read The Room” has angular guitar circles, undergirded by an ascending bass line that grounds the funk and swing of Skinner’s drums. The song plays out down a sonic tunnel with Yorke’s voice reverberating all the the way. The groove, man! “I Quit” opens with the evocative words: “I quit / My head is lit / A piece of me / This is my stop / This is the end of the trip / Conscience / And brotherhood / And brotherhood.” Moody and beautiful. An interlude of strings nestle in and the journey continues. Woah! Will there ever be another Radiohead album? Maybe doesn’t matter. Yorke ends the song with these words: “And wherever it goes.” Indeed. -Wade Iverson
Liquid Mike - Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot (self-released LP)
When you think of music hotbeds, Marquette, Michigan isn’t exactly a spot that comes top of mind. Located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, it isn’t exactly close to bigger cities with more robust music scenes, but that is exactly where Liquid Mike hails from. Liquid Mike taps into a form of music that I hold near and dear to my heart—punky power pop. Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot’s 13 songs clock in at just a hair under 26 minutes—all killer, no filler here! The interesting thing about Liquid Mike is that their previous album, S/T arrived with a buzz spearheaded by like-minded music fans across Twitter. By that I mean there wasn’t a lot of mainstream coverage, that is until the buzz started growing rapidly. Now you will find Liquid Mike reviewed in Rolling Stone of all places. Early album highlight “K2" taps into anthemic power pop complete with a soaring guitar solo all packed into 2 minutes and 15 seconds. The good news is that Liquid Mike’s lead singer/songwriter Mike Maple is constantly writing while out working for the US Postal Service, so they have amassed quite a collection of songs from which to choose. As I’ve written about several times in this column, the ’90s are cool again, and here you will find grungy alt-rock mixed with power pop, like on album cut “Pacer.” Liquid Mike portray a true DIY spirit with hooks for days aimed at slice-of-life moments and figuring out one’s place in the world. -Mark Joyner
Sprints - Letter To Self (City Slang LP)
Karla Chubb resides among the top ranks of powerful female howlers, reminiscent of Nina Ljeti (Kill Birds), Alicia Bognanno (Bully) and her noted personal inspiration, Jehnny Beth (Savages). In a nod to the latter, Letter To Self contains the track “Adore Adore Adore” that echoes the title of Savages’ 2016 album Adore Life. When the chorus hits, Chubb repeats: “They never called me b-b-beautiful / They only called me insane.” Throughout Letter To Self, Chubb is documenting slights and inequities. The Dublin quartet rounded out by Colm O’Reilly (guitar), Sam McCann (bass) and Jack Callan (drums) often pushes the pace to near exhaustion. On “A Wreck (A Mess),” Chubb grapples with her ADHD and reveals: “Life’s a party but I didn’t ask for a dinner date / My mind is starved / For better days.” By the closing title track, she vows to overcome in stating: “I don’t have to take the path that was carved in front of me / I always had the willing / Now I’ll find the way.” Contrary to their name, Sprints knows that there’s no quick way to the finish line but their perseverance might just pay off in the long run. -Bruce Novak
UPCOMING
BCMC
Where: Constellation / Directions
When: February 20, 8:00 PM
Since he’s entered the fold, guitarist/composer Bill MacKay has become Drag City’s most prominent collaborator, sharing works with the likes of Ryley Walker, Matt Lux, Katinka Kleijn and Nathan Bowles. In BCMC he partners with keyboardist Cooper Crain (Bitchin Bajas, Cave) and the pair released Foreign Smokes last fall for the label. It’s an expansive and spectral affair spread out over four tracks that gives both musicians ample space to stretch their legs and not trip each other up. Crain’s organ and synth work typically sets the base for their canvass and MacKay colors in the accents with an array of guitar textures. There’s a middle eastern vibe to the percolating number, “The Swarm,” and the record closes out with the entrancing “Sunset Saturn,” bathed in a rolling organ passage and reverb-laden guitar wash. The performance is part of the annual Frequency Festival—a bastion for the experimental and improv music community that began back in 2016. -Bruce Novak
Militarie Gun
Where: Bottom Lounge / Directions
When: February 23, 6:00 PM
Adolescent therapy sessions due to a tumultuous upbringing led Militarie Gun frontman Ian Shelton to obsessive self-reflection and a pursuit of brutal truths. The band’s music is understandably agitated, but also leavened with a vulnerability that emerges from the cathartic release. Last year’s debut full length album, Life Under The Gun, brought more melody into the fold with Shelton no longer compelled to exist in full-shred mode. It’s a promising arc that reminiscent of the trajectory of an early Hüsker Dü or recent contemporaries Shame. No doubt the listening public is taking notice as evidenced by the sell-out status of this show and many others on their North America tour swing. -Bruce Novak
Cat Power
Where: Cahn Auditorium / Directions
When: February 27, 7:00 PM
Chan Marshall’s decision to recreate Bob Dylan’s 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert (which actually emanates from a Manchester Free Trade Hall performance in a case of a subsequent bootleg mislabeling error) is a fascinating occurrence. What initially began with a November 2022 performance at the venue by Marshall, later resulted in a live recording release and, presently, a world tour kicking off on February 14. No stranger to covering other artist’s material with three albums dedicated to just that over the course of her career (The Covers Record in 2000, Jukebox in 2008 and Covers in 2022), Marshall is often given to reinterpreting songs that have hold sway over her throughout her life. But in order to pay proper respect to the historic significance where Dylan transitioned from folk troubadour to electrified rebel, Marshall elected to stay true to the source material with the first half of the set performed acoustic before plugging in for the finishing flourish.
In the manner that director Todd Haynes choose Cate Blanchett to portray parts of Dylan’s life in I’m Not There, Marshall’s performance recontextualizes the audience’s relationship to the artists and material. Dylan was just shy of his 25th birthday when the original performance took place while Marshall tackled her project at age 50. Dylan was jeered as Judas for his insolent disregard for tradition, while the present day culture of sexism often dismisses the relevance of women as they age. Marshall has experienced her own dose of audience discontent during times when her mental struggles were misinterpreted as disinterest. I can’t help but to think that when Marshall performs numbers like “She Belongs to Me,” “Just Like a Woman,” “Ballad of a Thin Man” and “Like a Rolling Stone,” she’s tapping into her own self of sense. How does it feel? Pretty damn satisfying, I would suspect. -Bruce Novak
UNCOVERED
That Petrol Emotion: Manic Pop Thrill (Demon Records LP)
In retrospect it’s clear to see that Feargal Sharkey and the rest of The Undertones were headed in vastly different directions when Sharkey departed the band in 1983. Despite penning BBC Radio DJ John Peel’s all-time favorite song in “Teenage Kicks,” the band’s chart success gradually dissipated over the course of their four albums. Following the split, John O’Neill went back to Derry and hooked up with fellow guitarist Raymond O’Gorman and then drummer Ciaran McLaughlin before coaxing his brother Damian O’Neill to join in on bass. American Steve Mack, then living in London, was the last member to be drafted to handle lead vocals.
Because all five members participated in the group’s songwriting, their 1986 debut album, Manic Pop Thrill, is a wildly diverse affair that holds up remarkably well amidst all of its contrasts. “It’s A Good Thing” sounds like a radio ready pop hit that never was. “Blindspot” is a touching ballad that would slot in seamlessly on Velvet Underground’s third album. Considering the band’s Northern Ireland roots, political post-punk is ever present, turning up on numbers like “Fleshprint” and “Tightlipped.” With its serpentine and squalling guitar jousting, carnivalesque breaks and stretched-out vocal gymnastics from Mack, “Lifeblood” exists in its own dimension, sounding like something under the influence of Captain Beefheart (whom the band paid homage to with a cover of “Zig-Zag Wanderer” on the b-side of their excellent “Keen” single). Sadly, Manic Pop Thrill never received a U.S. release (although the band’s subsequently albums did) and remains an under-appreciated gem. -Bruce Novak
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: