“We can’t turn down the music. Let the Beatles speak for us. Anything they have to say, we have to say.” These are the words of the founding fathers of Go-Go Town, a contemporary loft venue at 3117 S. Morgan Street. Read the rest of this entry »

I say “accordion,” you say what? “Polka!” “That girl in the Decemberists!” “Lederhosen!” Associations abound, but one would be hard pressed to find anyone who, upon mention of this quirky instrument, would automatically blurt out “Classical music!” Teodoro Anzellotti is aiming to change that, however, and by the look of things, he just might get his way. Read the rest of this entry »

Listening to the University of Chicago’s Middle East Music Ensemble, it’s hard to believe not all of the members have a lifetime of experience in Middle Eastern music. In fact, many have only recently begun playing it. Students at the UofC make up most of the group. No experience with Middle Eastern instruments—as long as they can play an instrument—is necessary to join the ensemble, which auditions new members in September of each school year. Guitar, piano, and clarinet players, among many others, can use their skills to learn the ‘ud (similar to a lute), qanun (a box zither), or baglama (also similar to a lute). The ensemble also uses Western string instruments and even accordion on certain songs. Although the singers are native Arabic speakers for authenticity’s sake, the rest of the ensemble is as diverse as any student orchestra. The Middle East Music Ensemble is led by renowned Palestinian-born composer and ‘ud player Issa Boulos. He believes that the group’s diversity improves their performance, and even makes it competitive with similar ensembles in the Middle East. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the third Thursday of the month at Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy facility in the southwest Chicago suburbs, and that means it’s open mic night. By the time the first band goes on at 5:30, the Exchange Club on the ground floor of Building 617 is filled with the hubbub of conversation, and the parking lot outside is packed. Employees crowd the bar, socialize on couches, and play pool as the Sloppy Joes start off the night with “Roadhouse Blues.” Two out of three of the band members could probably pass for rock stars, particularly long-haired guitarist Mark Clark. As a matter of fact, Clark moonlights in an ’80s heavy metal cover band called Lockdown alongside drummer Eric Zoellner. Both are technicians at Argonne; by day Clark works with radioactive materials, while Zoellner operates an X-ray beam line at the Advanced Photon Source. Read the rest of this entry »

When sludge-rock progenitors the Melvins formed in a Seattle basement more than a quarter century ago, it’s a fair guess they never expected they’d keep at it so long, let alone sell VIP tickets to their concerts. Named after a widely loathed clerk at the grocery store where singer and general weirdo King Buzzo worked, the group started playing a mix of teenage favorites—Hendrix, the Who, and the ’80s hardcore punk canon. A few lineup changes later, they took a distinctive turn towards the slow, heavy, and droning, emerging as torchbearers for the nascent sludge-rock genre. With a guitar sound like sharpening an epoxy-covered pencil, funereal drums, and vocals somewhere between a blown speaker and a busted Lysol can, it’s fair to call them an antidote for New Wave. Their first two releases, “Six Songs” (subsequently expanded and re-released as “Eight Songs,” “10 Songs,” and “26 Songs”) and “Gluey Porch Treatments,” were regarded with particular reverence in Louisiana’s metal scene, inspiring bands like Eyehategod, Acid Bath, and Buzz*oven. Read the rest of this entry »

In Frances-Marie Uitti’s hands, the cello is anything but staid. For starters, she plays with two bows. The Chicago-born, Amsterdam-residing cellist developed her radical extended technique while living in Rome in the ’70s. Frequently improvising alone, she grew obsessed with chordal playing. After experimenting unsuccessfully with a specially-commissioned curved bow that only allowed adjacent strings to be played simultaneously, she began developing her distinctive underbow-overbow technique. It’s no surprise, then, that Uitti has become known as an experimenter, as well as a masterful interpreter of 20th century art music. That combination has long been appreciated by the Univerity of Chicago-based Renaissance Society, which is now hosting her for a fourth performance, this time on November 16th in Bond Chapel in conjunction with Mexican conceptual artist Francis Alys’ exhibit “Bolero.” Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve known University of Chicago alum Pat Reisinger for about a year and a half now; that is, about as long as he’s been running the Rocket Reducer distro. “What is a distro?” the reader may wonder. “Distro” is an abbreviation for “distributor” that implies independence and informality on the part of the material being distributed. No surprise, then, that the term refers to packagers of open-source operating systems as well as clearinghouses for zines and minimally-produced records. Reisinger’s focus is garage punk records, the product and obsession of a tiny scene of bloggers, message board posters, eBay buyers, bands, and distro operators. Taking its name from an MC5 proto-punk anthem and its phallic logo from a drawing Reisinger’s ex-girlfriend made, Rocket Reducer is something of a middleman between labels and buyers. Or, as Reisinger puts it, he’s a dealer. Read the rest of this entry »

After dusk, the vast industrial district of Chicago’s West Side falls into an uncanny silence. Cut off from Michigan Avenue and residential neighborhoods, certain stretches of city would be devoid of life were it not for the numerous lofts and artist co-ops in the area. At an intersection like Fulton and Damen, the location of abandoned warehouse turned arts space/music venue the AV-Aerie, dilapidated buildings, empty streets, and piles of urban jetsam provide a bizarre juxtaposition to the distant Sears Tower. This forgotten corner of Chicagoland is the ideal place for the city’s disenchanted underground to tuck itself away—and make a lot of noise. Read the rest of this entry »