Items filtered by date: November 2007

“Maybe it’s just Thursday,” remarked Antlers leader Peter Silberman to a packed crowd at Lincoln Hall, “but it feels like there’s magic in the air.” The resulting roar of approval and the alternating moments of fragile quiet and powerful release throughout the band’s memorable set indicated that Silberman may have been on to something.

The Brooklyn-based trio of Silberman, keyboardist Darby Cicci and drummer Michael Lerner returned, after playing in February at The Vic with popular UK act Editors, as a headliner to Chicago, in support of the critically acclaimed 2009 LP Hospice. The buzz surrounding the album and a Chicago fan base bolstered by multiple local performances during the past year made the show a weekday sellout, and the band delivered a solid hour and a half set focused largely on Hospice but featuring a smattering of songs from prior releases, a bit of new material, and a dirge-like cover of “VCR,” made popular by Londoners The xx.

Atmosphere was a key to The Antlers’ performance, and the stage show was simple yet effective. Contrasting with a completely dark house, the stage was bathed in alternating monochromatic light for much of the set, and blasts of smoke encircled the band and created a haze that reached to the back of the venue.  Small potted plants sat atop Silberman’s effects setup and Cicci’s weathered Rhodes piano, and added a subtle contrast to songs fixated upon illness and death (Hospice is a concept album revolving around a medical worker’s blossoming relationship with a terminal cancer patient).

Any concern that slow tempos and a general funereal quality to most of the band’s songs would make for a less-than-compelling performance was quickly allayed. As frontman, Silberman was surprisingly talkative, and the band’s emotional, energetic stage presence gave a drive to the songs that is present in the recordings could potentially have been difficult to reproduce effectively in a live setting. Lerner’s drums and a programmed bass track gave punch to the swells of guitar and ambient sound that accompanied the louder portions of songs like Hospice standouts and fan favorites “Two” and “Kettering.” Silberman’s voice, alternating between a falsetto reminiscent of Jeff Buckley and a controlled tenor, nicely filled the room and held most of Lincoln Hall’s two levels at attention for the duration of the show.

 In just nine months since their abbreviated appearance at the 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival, The Antlers have become vastly more assured as a live band and the songs of Hospice have taken on new qualities that can only be discovered through performing them night in and night out. The band’s next performance in Chicago takes place at this summer’s incarnation of the Lollapalooza festival, and checking them out is highly recommended. More information about the band, Hospice and upcoming concerts  can be found at their official Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/theantlers .

Porchlight Music Theatre debuts a revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s modern classic Into The Woods this week at The Theatre Building on Belmont Ave. Though the show still has its kinks, a snappy pace (crucial for most Sondheim musicals), excellent set design, and some good performances make this iteration of Woods a success.

Into The Woods follows the story of a baker (Steve Best) and his wife, doomed to infertility by a local witch, and inserts familiar characters and story lines from classic fairy tales to create both a parody of the stories we grew up with and a surprisingly moving meditation on wish fulfillment and the consequences of our choices. Jack (of Beanstalk fame), played by Chicago veteran Scott Sumerak, is a dimwitted youth who is sidetracked by giants when tasked by his mother (the funny Kristen Leia Freilich) to sell his beloved pet cow. While his vocal style occasionally teeters uncomfortably between reedy comedy and the power of a trained lead, Sumerak is an expressive actor, is clearly familiar with the beats of the character, and delivers his lines to great effect.   A host of additional characters includes the irrepressible Little Red (Jeny Wasilewski), Cinderella (Rachel Quinn) and her wicked family, Jennifer Tjepkema’s Rapunzel, two mugging princes, played by the multi-talented Cameron Brune and promising newcomer William Travis Taylor, and a narrator (Henry Michael Odum) who unwittingly becomes part of the story.

The Witch is played with hammy gusto and in commanding voice by Bethany Thomas. Thomas’s transformation from hag to diva toward the end of the first act should be a nice surprise for newcomers to the show, and though her acting is not exactly subtle she does a nice job conveying the Witch’s multi-faceted personality.  Though Thomas has (and clearly relishes) the flashiest role in the show, at the heart of Woods (and of this production) is the story of the baker’s wife, played with subtlety and depth by Brianna Borger.  The honesty of Borger’s restrained but emotional turn resonates in a sea of outsized performances, and her simple vocal delivery is powerful but never overwhelms her fellow performers or the poignancy of her character’s journey. Borger plays nicely off of Best’s Baker, and the couple’s comfortable interaction adds believability to the central storyline.   

The technical aspects of the production are mostly solid. Artistic Director Walter Stearns makes great use of the three-dimensional space at the Theatre Building, a particularly notable triumph of stage direction being a climactic exchange between Best and a mysterious man (also played by Odum) who may or may not be his father.  The lighting (designed by John Horan) is superb, particularly in its use of blues and greens in Act II. The spare orchestra, led by Eugene Dizon, effectively communicates Sondheim’s score without getting in the way of the performers, and is creatively embedded on stage behind a hedge – one of many effective aspects of Ian Zywica’s immersive woodland set. The most  striking technical aspect of the show is also the most uneven. Projection designer Liviu Pasare uses a beautiful backdrop of a gigantic full moon to display animation that serves the story. A giant beanstalk grows seemingly from nowhere, Cinderella’s feathered friends flit in and out of frame, and in a particularly ambitious sequence an entire part of a scene in Little Red’s grandmother’s house is played out on the screen. The animation is interesting but occasionally distracting, and its rudimentary nature makes its inclusion in the action of the show feel forced at times. Also, that the majority of the backdrop is translucent makes it difficult for actors to move around backstage without being easily seen by the audience.  

Porchlight’s production will improve with the run and is, on the whole, satisfying. Ultimately, it is the complex music (even for Sondheim) of Woods and unconventional resolution of the story that make the show a must-see. As the second act veers into darker territory, with various choices made to advance personal hopes resulting in the deaths of several main characters, the show (like the original versions of many of the fairytales it borrows from) abruptly turns from light comedy to morality play. The characters and Sondheim’s songs give us a stern warning of the potential consequences of allowing the whimsical stories we tell our children to become our own reality, and though it retains its fantasy setting the show becomes one of the most authentic interpretations of our most basic human dilemmas that the stage has to offer.

Into The Woods runs from April 9 through May 30 at the Theatre Building Chicago. Tickets are available through the box office at (773)327-5252 or at http://www.ticketmaster.com .

Standing at the House of Blues last Wednesday April 7^th was like stepping into a time machine. Suddenly I was back in high school, going to a concert on a school night to see my favorite pop punk band on the week. Back then it was cool to be seen at a show like this, it was cool to spike your hair and wear spiky bracelets. Now, sadly pushing 26, it was just kinda sad. For me at least.

At my age I should be going to see artsy bands with complicated lyrics, syncopated rhythms and chords that venture outside of the basic power chord. But hell, I still watch cartoons on a weekly basis, so who says my music tastes have to completely grow up.

In a line up that blasted through several styles of the punk-pop genre, a crowd full of much younger and sexier music fans waited for their headliner, Motion City Soundtrack. With synth pop melodies, extremely catchy hooks, and lyrics for those of us bred on Mountain Dew and Mario it was the place to be on an early Wednesday night. Assuming you had your parents permission.

Openers Sing it Loud and Rocket to the Moon were, completely forgettable. Their brand of ‘rock’ seemed like recycled bits and pieces from all my favorite songs ten years ago. Back then, I might have thought it was fresh but even with my current immature musical tastes, I could recognize music for high schoolers by high schoolers. Is this really the product of a generation weaned on Blink 182 and Green Day? The rest of the crowd (mostly the tweens) seemed into it so if it makes them happy, rock on you youngin’s.

Luckily for me and other older members of the audience, the following band was extremely, well fun. Fun, the product of the now dispersed band, The Format, is a completely indescribable band. But I’ll try my best. With musical influences that transcends decades of music, Fun is a band you have to see to experience. With 6 members jumping and dancing to the music fun not only provided a well-deserved burst of energy, but they genuinely seemed like they were having exactly what their name suggests. Songs like “All the Pretty Girls,” and “At Least I’m Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)” are insanely catchy and really set the stage for the headliner.

Motion City Soundtrack took the stage at 8PM and immediately started rocking into the night. Their setlist had a large amount of their older catalogue while still giving a broad, best of from their latest album, My Dinosaur Life. Single’s “A Lifeless Ordinary,” and “Her Words Destroyed My Planet,” are great songs, but for me, the fun and energy of their latest album came from “Pulp Fiction,” and “@!#?@!” Their style hasn’t changed too much since I saw them last, but their energy level was amazingly even stronger than it was when I first saw them at the Warped Tour in 2003.

What I enjoyed most of all was being there to witness a crowd that acted suspiciously like I did back in high school, jumping up and down, smiling with their pals, and screaming along to their favorite songs. They hit a deep chord of nostalgia with me with some of their older tunes like, “My Favorite Accident” and “The Future Freaks Me Out.” Songs I remember loving cruising around my first year of College.

If anything I can say that the concert was a blast to the past for me, which is weird considering that all the songs from this show were only released seven or eight years ago. But what can I say; I get nostalgia for things that happened to me at breakfast. And I like being reminded of my music history, no matter how embarrassing or silly it might be. But it takes a band that is still relevant after nearly a decade to make me realize that all those years of music were not completely wasted.

The dissident style of “Swear Jar” is a breath of fresh air in a comedic world filled with stale political and healthcare jokes. Imagine an uncensored Second City-style revue with the added bonus of a beer bar only a few feet away from your seat. That’s what you get with this show. To put it simply, it’s crude and experimental comedy at its finest and frankly you’re not going to find a funnier bang for your buck.

Mick Napier, founder and Artistic Director of the The Annoyance Theatre, birthed this unrestricted tour de force which happens to also mark the first sketch show he has directed for his own company in its 22 year history.  Napier’s resume is impressive and includes highlights like directing David Sedaris’ “One Woman Shoe” and Chicago’s longest running musical “Co-Ed Prison Sluts.” With a man of his caliber in the director’s seat, you know you’re in for a satisfying evening.   

For the last week I have been trying to find the right words to express my love for Napier’s “Swear Jar.” It’s a delightfully filthy experience thanks to its talented screwball cast and Lisa McQueen’s ever so witty musical numbers that included homage to the sheer joy only bulimia can bring and the nostalgia of early 90’s mall culture. As a whole, the show is raunchy, dark and pleasantly demoralizing. It opens with a quick jab at the snootiness of Trader Joe’s before travelling down a classless rabbit hole. Along the way, the audience is graced with explicit yet hilarious sketches about menstruation, cunnilingus and even being able to find clarity with a plunger or an impromptu gearshift stuck up your ass. This is the type of show that pushes the envelope and delivers laugh after laugh through deviant perversion.

The cast (Vanessa Bayer, Aidy Bryant. Angela Dawe, Colleen Murray, Andrew Peyton, Connor O’Malley, Brian Wilson and Chris Witaske) creates a dynamic powerhouse with undeniable standout performances from Vanessa Bayer, Aidy Bryant, Andrew Peyton and Chris Witaske. It is hard to pick a favorite but I have a feeling Mr. Witaske will become a big name in the sketch comedy world.  His stage presence is captivating which makes him a standout even when he’s isn’t center stage.  

The only criticism I can give can also be applied to most sketch comedy shows. “Swear Jar,” at times, suffers from its lack of continuity. The performance can seem a little choppy as they bounce from one sketch to the next. This might be alleviated if they end some of the sketches before they run out of steam and hit an ill at ease conclusion. One might accuse “Swear Jar” of using shock value to stimulate the audience rather than garnering actual laughter. That wasn’t the case for me but be forewarned the content of the show is rather vulgar. Overall, I found it to be a riot and as my friend put it, “funnier than anything I’ve seen on SNL in years.”

 “Swear Jar” runs every Saturday night at 10:00pm through May 1^st. Tickets are a steal at $15 and can be purchased at The Annoyance Theatre website, theannoyance.com, or by calling the box office at (773) 561-HONK.

Chicago’s As Tall as Lions fans helped kick off the band’s North American tour promoting their most recent album, You Can’t Take It With You, Tuesday night at The Bottom Lounge in the West Loop.  Headlining a tour for the first time, ATAL has their gaze fixed on the future, far past what guitarist Saen Fitzgerald calls their “dark days” when referring to the time period of making You Can’t Take It With You.  Three Producers, questioned self-confidence and a side step away from implosion, the “original four” -Dan Nigro (lead vocals, guitar), Saen Fitzgerald (guitar), Julio Tavarez (base), and Cliff Sarcona (drums)- managed to produce one of their most impressive LPs to date.           

Rhythmically fervent tempos and guiding melodic tones solidify this indie jazz-fused band as top seed in the live show experience.  Like twins separated at birth, the band members appear to read each other’s mind on stage knowing one another’s next musical move before it is made.  This musical spontaneity on stage is a unique quality only found in their live set.  Drummer Cliff Sarcona explains, “We live in the moment when we’re on stage.  We’ve gotten to the point as musicians and as a band where we can read each other and play off one another with whatever we’re feeling at the moment.”

Fans are transfixed on the energy and passion each member of the band exudes on stage.  Colored lights shine through the smoke filled stage as lead singer Dan Nigro belts out falsetto notes amplifying the band’s instrumentals.  The four have been playing together since high school. “We’ve definitely matured,” Sarcona said, “bringing in more complex instrumentation and incorporating horns into our tracks.”            

As Tall as Lions was on their first stop of a 23-city tour before heading to Minneapolis the next day and on to Kansas City Friday.   When asked about what they look forward to the most this tour, Saracon responded, “I think I’m most excited for Coachella.  It’ll be one of the biggest shows we’ve played…and we’re honored we get to play there,” and Fizgerald added “Mainly I’m excited to headline a tour…I think headlining is a great next step for us, and the right one. “

*Photo Credit Shawn Brickbill

Joining Xiu Xiu for his tour was a surprising treat called Tune-yards.  Consisting of multi-instrumentalist Merrill Garbus, with some help from a bassist, Tune-yards exhibited some of the most impressive live looping and song creation that I've ever seen.  Garbus' voice alone was an incredible talent.  Using several different styles, often in the same song, she conquered the range of throaty yells, fluttering falsettos, powerful belts, even a unique type of yodeling.  On top of vocal duties Garbus also operated the looping device, creating rhythms and voice harmonies right before your eyes and triggering them during the songs.  She situated herself between a floor tom and a snare, using the rims and mic stands percussively in developing beats.  When she wasn't banging the tom and snare she was playing what appeared to be an electric ukulele.

In my excitement I did purchase Tune-yards' CD, but unfortunately the album does not do justice to what I had witnessed.  While it works as a nice reminder of their performance, it lacks the entrancing grip that their live demonstration provides.  The album, titled Bird-brains, is a pleasant and intimate listen but with a lo-fi quality that dampens the expectations I pulled from the show.  The sound in Lincoln Hall was fantastic, and all aspects of the songs shined.  While there are a few songs on the CD that I can still enjoy(such as Sunlight and Hatari) and many that are downright relaxing, this act is best in the flesh.

Xiu Xiu took the stage quietly and began with a gentle opener.  Employing his trademark near-tremble sing, Jamie Stewart imparted a somber song: “My father was the second man to be inside you...” His vocals are passionate, confession-like utterings, teetering with intensity and often breaking into emotional outbursts.  Beside Stewart's voice and guitar was Angela Seo, who would tinker with the many backing electronic devices and controls.  In contrast to the simplicity of Tune-yards' setup, Xiu Xiu surrounded themselves with tall cymbal stands and various percussion, along with a large table cluttered with visible wires and knobs.  The toys are not superfluous either, this being especially clear when your ears are under assault from the noise avalanches that occur within half of Xiu Xiu's repertoire.  Both members have a go at the equipment, operating the many dials and gizmos laid about like surgical utensils.

The music of Xiu Xiu is a difficult thing to describe.  Albums will usually run the range of overloaded sound experimentation to delicate acoustic numbers.  Lyrics, when discernible, primarily will wield a sort of depressing if not disturbing weight.  Some of the audience will laugh at certain lines of dark humor, while others may get turned off or even genuinely concerned with how acutely Jamie Stewart delivers his themes.  If they are funny it's because they are so piercingly sharp that if you weren't laughing you'd be crying.  One thing I did not anticipate at a Xiu Xiu show was dancing, but this night the set was very beat heavy.  Don't let that mislead you into thinking it was upbeat and bright, as it could hardly be considered as such with lyrics like “Dear god I hate myself, dear god I hate myself...” 

I highly recommend seeing this show if you get the chance.  Xiu Xiu and Tune-yards possess fine performance abilities, and despite having little similarities in sound their coupling provided for quite the enjoyable evening.  Remaining dates on this tour can be found on Xiu Xiu's website:

http://www.xiuxiu.org/

You can also check out Tune-yards' website here:

www.tune-yards.com

Joining Xiu Xiu for his tour was a surprising treat called Tune-yards.  Consisting of multi-instrumentalist Merrill Garbus, with some help from a bassist, Tune-yards exhibited some of the most impressive live looping and song creation that I've ever seen.  Garbus' voice alone was an incredible talent.  Using several different styles, often in the same song, she conquered the range of throaty yells, fluttering falsettos, powerful belts, even a unique type of yodeling.  On top of vocal duties Garbus also operated the looping device, creating rhythms and voice harmonies right before your eyes and triggering them during the songs.  She situated herself between a floor tom and a snare, using the rims and mic stands percussively in developing beats.  When she wasn't banging the tom and snare she was playing what appeared to be an electric ukulele.

In my excitement I did purchase Tune-yards' CD, but unfortunately the album does not do justice to what I had witnessed.  While it works as a nice reminder of their performance, it lacks the entrancing grip that their live demonstration provides.  The album, titled Bird-brains, is a pleasant and intimate listen but with a lo-fi quality that dampens the expectations I pulled from the show.  The sound in Lincoln Hall was fantastic, and all aspects of the songs shined.  While there are a few songs on the CD that I can still enjoy(such as Sunlight and Hatari) and many that are downright relaxing, this act is best in the flesh.

Xiu Xiu took the stage quietly and began with a gentle opener.  Employing his trademark near-tremble sing, Jamie Stewart imparted a somber song: “My father was the second man to be inside you...” His vocals are passionate, confession-like utterings, teetering with intensity and often breaking into emotional outbursts.  Beside Stewart's voice and guitar was Angela Seo, who would tinker with the many backing electronic devices and controls.  In contrast to the simplicity of Tune-yards' setup, Xiu Xiu surrounded themselves with tall cymbal stands and various percussion, along with a large table cluttered with visible wires and knobs.  The toys are not superfluous either, this being especially clear when your ears are under assault from the noise avalanches that occur within half of Xiu Xiu's repertoire.  Both members have a go at the equipment, operating the many dials and gizmos laid about like surgical utensils.

The music of Xiu Xiu is a difficult thing to describe.  Albums will usually run the range of overloaded sound experimentation to delicate acoustic numbers.  Lyrics, when discernible, primarily will wield a sort of depressing if not disturbing weight.  Some of the audience will laugh at certain lines of dark humor, while others may get turned off or even genuinely concerned with how acutely Jamie Stewart delivers his themes.  If they are funny it's because they are so piercingly sharp that if you weren't laughing you'd be crying.  One thing I did not anticipate at a Xiu Xiu show was dancing, but this night the set was very beat heavy.  Don't let that mislead you into thinking it was upbeat and bright, as it could hardly be considered as such with lyrics like “Dear god I hate myself, dear god I hate myself...”

I highly recommend seeing this show if you get the chance.  Xiu Xiu and Tune-yards possess fine performance abilities, and despite having little similarities in sound their coupling provided for quite the enjoyable evening.  Remaining dates on this tour can be found on Xiu Xiu's website:

http://www.xiuxiu.org/

You can also check out Tune-yards' website here:

www.tune-yards.com

Am I the only person who cries during Beauty and the Beast?

Not when Belle and the Beast get together - but when Belle trades her life to save her quirky, inventor father from the Beast’s cold dungeon. I just love this story for little girls. Of all the popular fairy tales offering up Princesses saved by the handsome Prince to young people today, only Beauty and the beast extols the virtues of being a common girl with more book-loving brains that the common folk can stand to appreciate.

I loved seeing all the little girls in the audience thrilling to this colorful and lavish production that really encourages them to be courageous and unique and not settle for either the macho town cutie in Gaston or the brutish untransformed Beast that is unable to express his love for her in a considerate, loving way.

Liz Shivener, as Belle, was lovely in the role with just the right amount of imperious defiance. Justin Glaser, as the Beast had a nice stage presence but seemed a little too nice and not quite princely enough to make us want him to win Belle.

He had some tough competition from Nathaniel Hackman who really stole the show with his very funny, sexy Gaston, the town bully. Hackman, who has solid physical comedy skills under his belt also has a standout singing voice and is definitely a musical theater star in the making.

All of the supporting characters, were quite funny, and warmly played, particularly Sabina Petra's Mrs. Potts.  Some of the great ensemble dance numbers like “Be Our Guest” literally exploded into the excited young audience with canons shooting metallic streamers.  You really can’t miss by taking your kids to see this lavish magical and uplifting production of a classic fairy tale about a smart young girl whose true beauty comes from her brains and deeply unselfish loving nature.

Riding a wave of buzz created by their excellent third LP, Teen Dream, Baltimore’s Beach House visited Chicago Friday night for a sold-out show at Metro. The night began with a solid set of fuzzy indie-electro by New Zealand’s Bachelorette (aka Annabel Alpers). The crowd sufficiently warmed up and packed onto Metro’s overcrowded-as-always main floor, Beach House took the stage at precisely 10:15. The duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally was joined on stage by drummer Daniel Franz, and played a set that covered most of Teen Dream as well as a smattering of tunes from the group’s self-titled debut and 2008’s breakthrough Devotion.

The energy in the crowd was high, especially given the generally understated sound of the headlining act, and the audience was treated to a strong, surprisingly loud show. Concerns that Beach House’s cavernous recorded sound would be difficult to reproduce in a live setting were allayed by the pristine mix at Metro. The band’s albums are intricately layered with echo and subtle instrumentation, and each sonic facet was clear and defined. Scally’s guitar provided a nice skeletal framework for songs like Teen Dream’s epic opener “Zebra” and “Ten Mile Stereo,” and added the occasional riff as on Devotion fan favorite “Gila.” Legrand, aside from being the group’s lead vocalist and de facto spokesperson, augmented the sound with tasteful keyboard textures and what could be assumed was a pre-programmed bass track. Franz was a welcome addition throughout the set, his pounding percussion adding a dimension that is occasionally missing from the band’s dreamy, swirling recordings. 

The stage show was a surprise, and was apparently themed as a Teen Dream of sorts. An amused onlooker noted that the stage “look(ed) like a goddamned high school prom,” and the assessment wasn’t far off. Garlands of metallic pompons bordered both sides of the stage, and giant reflective diamond-shaped piñata-like objects stood on crude motion-activated platforms at various points. The band’s dark, cheap-chic lighting seemed designed specifically to light the diamonds rather than the musicians, and for most of the show the musicians were only sort of visible amongst the shining stage adornments and the thick dry ice haze that hung about them for the duration of the set. Adding to the feel of an 80s semi-formal dance was a white suit jacket worn by Legrand that strongly recalled James Spader’s Steff character in “Pretty In Pink.”

Without disregarding the energy of the crowd, wonderful instrumental accompaniment, and ambitious stage setup, the undisputed star of the show was Legrand’s voice. Though compelling on record, nothing could prepare the listener for the power and beauty of the singer’s live performance. Teen Dream standout “Silversoul” served as a particularly fitting showcase for Legrand’s multifaceted ability, her voice taking on a booming quality and filling the entire venue during the song’s swells and displaying surprising vulnerability during quieter moments. Legrand’s focus was evident as she stayed mostly still during vocal sections of Beach House’s songs, and her delivery was rewarded with rapt attention from the audience. Her flawless in-song execution was accompanied by levity - remarking on the heightened energy in the venue perhaps brought on by the first days of spring in Chicago, Legrand announced that it was “baby-making time.”

Clocking in at just over an hour and ten minutes, the set was brief. While this could potentially be cause for complaint about a headlining act, it made sense in this circumstance. There is a hazy similarity to most of the group’s songs, and an overlong set would run the risk of detracting from each tune’s impact. Beach House chose to mold their performance in the spirit of the “teen dream” invoked by the group’s album title – fleeting, perhaps, but no less memorable and powerful.