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The 1900s were just as good as I remember them being back in June at Schubas – and now that I've had time to absorb their excellent EP Plume Delivery, the songs meant that much more to me. They've found a sweet spot between wispy '60s pop and more rocking rock. (Is "rocking rock" redundant?) But the most pressing question is: When is this bunch going to put out a full-length album? I asked guitarist Edward Anderson that question before the show, and he said the 1900s are heading into rehearsals and the studio in the fall – well, actually NOW – and they hope to have an album out next spring. I can't wait.

As far as shooting photos of the 1900s last night – could Subterranean be any darker? Maybe if the power went out completely. At least this is one photogenic band. The night started with an annoying set of DJ music and onstage calisthenics, with lots of nostalgia (or ironic nostalgia??) for the 1980s pop music that I hated when I lived through it in the 1980s and still hate today. After the 1900s, headliner Bobby Conn played, but I was out of there by then.

SEE PHOTOS OF THE 1900s.

As much as I liked the 2005 Sufjan Stevens album Illinois — and as much as I enjoyed the concert I saw by him last year at Metro — I had trouble working up much enthusiasm for seeing him this week. Maybe it was because his new album of Illinois outtakes, The Avalanche, is tepid. But he's undeniably a talented guy, probably a genius at arranging strings and incorporating them into pop music, so this was certainly a worthwhile concert. The cheerleaders from last year were gone, but there was still a sense of spectacle. The 15 musicians backing up Sufjan wore butterfly wings, while Stevens had big bird wings (and wore a feathery bird mask over the top of his head for the opening two instrumental songs). It was postively Peter Gabriel-esque (in a 1972 Genesis sort of way, that is). And then there was that little rooster figure that was sitting on a stool near Stevens throughout the show, which he claimed they'd stolen from a Perkins restaurant earlier on the tour.

This concert focused less on the Illinois songs, but those were the ones that won the biggest applause here in the Prairie State. As I did at last year's Sufjan concert, I sensed something amazing happening with the music scene. It's so encouraging to see thousands of young people getting excited and enthusiastic about sophisticated orchestral folk music. I don't think the worshipful Sufjan cult will necessarily result in a lot of other artists making similar music, but I hope it signals a new willingness to embrace music with unconventional arrangements and musical sophistication that goes beyond the Blink-182's of the world.

SEE PHOTOS OF SUFJAN STEVENS.

I'm probably one of the few people at this concert who was there mostly to see the opening act, My Brightest Diamond, but I'm hoping this wonderful artist (aka Shara Worden) will soon be attracting a lot more fans of her own. The debut album by My Brightest Diamond (both the name of her band and her stage name), Bring Me the Workhorse, is one of 2006's most outstanding albums, full of haunting, intimate and intelligent songs blending a deep knowledge of classical music and opera with punk attitude. I had the great privilege to meet with Shara Worden before the concert tonight and interview her for a forthcoming article, and her performance did not disappoint — except for the fact that it was so short, just six songs. She'll be back at Schubas on Nov. 11, though she apparently won't have the string section that she was able to borrow from Sufjan Stevens at this show. In any case, don't miss her the next time she's in town.

SEE PHOTOS OF MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND.

Download the My Brightest Diamond song "Something of an End" here.

Stream the album Bring Me the Workhorse here.

I've probably said enough before about how fabulous of a band the Sadies are, so I won't repeat myself too much here. As always, they put on a roaring-good show filled with lots of exceptional guitar playing. The opening act, Heavy Trash, was actually the Sadies plus Heavy Trash — which made it more enjoyable for me. I'm not a huge fan of Heavy Trash's rockabilly, but it sounded pretty good in this setting. During the Sadies' set, they brought out guest vocalists (three of Chicago's finest), Kelly Hogan, Sally Timms and Jon Langford, before finishing up around 2 a.m. with more Heavy Trash. What, no "Memphis, Egypt"? Now, that would have been a great way to close out the night. Oh, well. Otherwise, tons of fun.

SEE PHOTOS OF THE SADIES & HEAVY TRASH.

CHICAGO WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL
SEPT. 21, 2006

I neglected the festival this year — a shame. It's an exciting way to sample music from around the world. But I did make it to the closing-night open house of free performances at the Chicago Cultural Center. I walked in just in time to catch the last 15 minutes of Debashish Bhattacharya, which was the best thing I heard all night. At first, I thought he was playing sitar or a similar Indian instrument, but then I read the program notes and realized it was actually a slide guitar sitting in his lap — albeit a modified guitar with added drone strings. This guy was just incredible, and I can honestly say he "rocked." He might just win over Western rock fans who never got the whole Ravi Shankar thing.

After a late start (due to musical equipment getting delayed at the airport), Italian singer Carmen Consoli. Her voice impressed me, but her songs were just fair. At moments, her folk-pop arrangements reminded me in a good way of the great Lhasa, but there was a tinge of Europop to it that bugged me. Still, she was good enough that I'd give her another shot.

The Alaev Family sounded intriguing, but the concert hall where they were playing was too crowded to enter, so I went instead to the cafe show by Aza — a couple of Moroccan guys who have settled in California and hooked up there with three American musicians. This was quite nice, hypnotic desert groove music, a little like Tinariwen.

Wow, they weren't kidding when they put an "adult subject matter" warning on the tickets for this show. Of course, "Lear" is bound to include some violence that might disturb more sensitive types (eyeball plucking, anyone?), but this production goes far beyond the typical. Among other things, be prepared for some... Wait, I don't want to spoil this for anyone who wants to be experience the shock with fresh eyes. Let's just say there's some simulated sex onstage of a type that you wouldn't normally expect to see at a ritzy downtown Chicago theater. Not to mention those eyeballs being pulled out, the typical gun shots and stabbings and stranglings... And nudity. Oh, yeah, Stacy Keach gets naked onstage. For a few seconds, at least.

When I intereviewed director Robert Falls, he said he was using sets and costumes that evoke the recent history of Yugoslavia, though he didn't like summing up the play that simply. He went beyond what I expected, with a fullpblown modernization of the play's look, complete with some hip-hop references, Balkan music and a bit of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter." The production opens with a view of some urinals and ends with a massive amount of debris, including wrecked cars, strewn across the stage.

I'm no Shakespeare scholar, so I always feel a little inadequate to the task of critiquing Shakespeare productions, but I can say I enjoyed this immensely. Keach was great as Lear, especially when he literally goes barking mad.

The inventive staging might bother some people – it certainly does distract you at times from the Bard's words – but it was fascinating to see how Falls constantly came up with new and interesting ways of presenting the oft-told story.

www.goodmantheatre.org

I never had the chance to see the Vertebrats back in the day, when they were all the rage on the University of Illinois campus in the early 1980s, so these two reunion shows were must-sees. Of course, I can't really say how this compared to the concerts back then, but the songs have held up great – and the reconvened Vertebrats fans were an enthusiastic bunch, moshing like they were still teenagers.

Regular Vertebrats bassist Roy Axford was absent, but his substitute was another veteran of the 1980s Champaign scene, Paul Chastain, who has gone on to quasi-fame with the Velvet Crush. Drummer Jim Wald switched to guitar and J.R. Richardson took over the drummer's seat.

I can't talk about the Vertebrats without mentioning the long article I wrote a few years ago about the history of their song "Left in the Dark," following its path as it was covered by the Replacements, Uncle Tupelo and Courtney Love. (Is that Courtney Love version ever going to see the light of day? Her career and life seem to be a wreck, but it'd still be nice if that came out in some form...) Hear the original song here.

Townie, a band featuring a couple of the Vertebrats (Kenny Draznik and Matt Brandabur) plus my friend Paul Budin (formerly of another great Champaign band, the Outnumbered) and Pat Dailey, opened up the shows, sounding especially good on Saturday night when a couple of horn players sat in with them.

Both of these bands should play more often. The last Vertebrats reunion was in 1995– don't let another 11 years go by without playing, guys!

I noticed that all of the members of the Outnumbered were present. It's too bad they couldn't do a little reunion, too. In fact, I'm hoping someone will someday put together a festival featuring some of the Champaign bands I fondly remember from my days at the U. of I. To name a few: Lonely Trailer, the B-Lovers, Stamp Act, Turning Curious, Titantic Love Affair, Weird Summer, Ballyhoo, The Nines, The Big Maybe, the Last Straw, Contraband, Cowboy X, Nick Rudd and Paul Chastain.

CAT POWER
SEPTEMBER 13, 2006
THE VIC, CHICAGO

This was one of those Cat Power concerts. OK, not a total train wreck like some of the ones I’ve read about. But it certainly had more than its share of awkward moments when the train almost derailed.

I’ve never seen her before, though I’ve heard about her aborting songs and entire concerts. The reports were that she had her shit together for this tour.

The backup group playing behind her, the Memphis Rhythm Band, is great, and she seemed at ease playing the role of front-woman. Man, she has some odd dance moves. She was perched on stiletto heels — and though she took off and put on her shoes several times over the course of the night, even when she was barefoot, she seemed to be poised on her toes like she might fall over at any moment. She made swimming motions with her hands, danced Irish-style jigs, did whatever move seemed to pop into her head. Most of the time, this was charming, though it was disconcerting when she continued moving around like a kook even during a pensive ballad like “Where Is My Love?”

Midway through the show, the band left the stage and Chan Marshall played a solo set, mostly at the piano. She does have a great voice, which came though whether she had the whole band or just herself for accompaniment. But the solo set dragged with meandering songs and rambling talk (including her discussions of “Arrested Development” and Sandra Bernhard). Somewhere in there, she did a haunting cover of “The House of the Rising Sun,” though it devolved after a few minutes.

When the band came back, the concert regained its momentum, with covers of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” (a fine version, but that too got lost when Marshall couldn’t remember the lyrics).

The concert seemed to be ending. Marshall and some of the other musicians (including her backup singers) joined hands and did some impromptu a cappella bit. They took their bows … and then Marshall decided to go over to the piano for another solo set, warning, “This is going to bore you.” The performances that followed were fine, but they really felt poorly timed. She reached for her guitar, then changed her mind, saying, “I gotta go, I gotta go.” She won some concert-ending applause, but then remained on the stage and started talking about her hair. People got quiet to hear what she was saying, then she walked off and the house lights came up within seconds. End of show.

Marshall blamed her odd behavior on drinking too much coffee, and also explained, “Sorry. I’m so stupid because I’m happy, that’s all.”

Waiting a few minutes later on the el platform, I overheard a woman who’d been at the concert angrily telling her date, “She just crapped on the audience.” I wouldn’t go nearly that far, but I know what she meant.

For better or worse, Marshall performs a lot of unscripted moments. Overall, the concert was worth seeing for a number of good musical moments, but man, it would have been better with some editing.

It was a gray and rainy day, rather cool for this time of year, so it was hard for me to get motivated to show up early for the block party. I managed to get there in time for Tara Jane O’Neil, whose solo guitar songs sounded promising to me; I’ll have to hear more. Of the other bands today, Seam, the Black Heart Procession and Pinback were pretty good, though nothing really blew me away. Brick Layer Cake — with his stilted rhythms on guitar and largely tuneless singing — turned off some listeners, but I found it pretty funny. Not something I’m likely to listen to much, but worth seeing at least once. CocoRosie was the strangest act of the day, if not the whole festival, with harp, operatic singing and African rapping all blended together in a surreal stew. Not for all tastes, but fascinating.

I’d seen Calexico twice in the last few months, so I wasn’t all that eager to see their fest-closing set — but they reminded me again how good they are. In fact, because the sound was better, this struck me as a much-improved set from their performance at Lollapalooza. And it was a fine way to wrap up the block party.

SEE PHOTOS.

An assembled mass of old punk fans, predominantly male, predominantly dressed in black, with short-cropped hair, is gathered in the parking lot where the city of Chicago normally keeps its garbage trucks. I hear clusters of people speaking in German or Japanese. The faithful have gathered to hear reunions and long-awaited shows by some of the, um, “seminal” bands that shaped post-punk’s sound. As Steve Albini notes during the evening set by Big Black, a lot of people talk about the history of punk as if it skipped straight from the Sex Pistols to Nirvana. Well, this day was all about what came in between.

I showed up in time to see and hear a galvanizing performance by The Ex, a long-running band out of the Netherlands I’ve only discovered recently. Then came pulverizing punk by Killdozer, a collaboration between Jon Langford of the Mekons and Kat of the Ex (a phenomenal drummer who is bringing out some interesting sides of Langford’s guitar playing) and the cheeky Didjits. P.W. Long’s solo acoustic music didn’t impress me much, and neither did Negative Approach, one of the first bands signed to Touch & Go lo so many years ago. They struck me as pretty straightforward punk, nothing all that interesting (god, that lead singer knows how to sneer, though). As I stood in the photo pit, I felt something hit me lightly on the shoulder. I looked down. It was a toothbrush, thrown in my direction by someone in the crowd.

Another Mekon was up next, Sally Timms, doing those fractured and odd arrangements that have characterized her music of late. It’s an acquired taste, but I’m starting to acquire it. (Too bad the entire Mekons crew wasn’t available to play at the block party — to me, they are one of the seminal Touch & Go bands.)

Scratch Acid played a chaotic, incredibly energetic set, featuring the famous antics of singer David Yow. He’s been compared to Iggy Pop, and I can see why (though Iggy looks a lot better with his shirt off). At one point, Yow leapt into the photo pit and grabbed Touch & Go owner Corey Rusk. I was a couple of feet away, not sure exactly what was happening. I snapped some pictures, including one of Rusk apparently biting Yow on the hand. A playful bite, I take it.

Man … or Astroman? had the coolest set of the festival. (Actually, they had just about the only “set” that went beyond a basic set-up.) TV monitors, spiral yellow tubes, space-age junk… you get the idea. The mostly instrumental space surf guitar music was fun, if nothing super special.

The biggest event of the day for most people was probably the brief reunion of Big Black’s original lineup. As promised, it was short, with just four songs. The Big Black show began with Albini tossing some lit firecrackers onto the stage, which scared back us photographers as they popped (I felt a spark or two hit me, but have no injuries to report). At one point Albini remarked that the audience could probably pick up on the fact that they weren’t thrilled to be doing it — but that they were willing to do it for the sake of Touch & Go. (Gee, thanks for the enthusiasm.) The Big Black set was followed by a strong show by Albini’s current band, Shellac.

SEE PHOTOS.

Oakley Hall impressed me when I saw them in January 2005 at the Empty Bottle (opening for the Constantines), but their first album, which I purchased at the show that night, was a bit of a disappointment. A decent start for the group, but a little too lo-fi. The new Oakley Hall album Gypsum Strings is a marked improvement (I’ve yet to pick up the record the band released earlier in 2006, Second Guessing, but it’s now on my “must” list), and the band sounds even better in concert. I hear a lot of Fairport Convention and Richard and Linda Thompson in their music, mostly because vocalist Rachel Cox sings in that even-toned English folk style — and because the repeating chords have some of that dirge quality you hear in Fairport. It’s a fascinating variation of the music that guitarist/singer/keyboardist Pat Sullivan did when he was in Oneida. Oakley Hall takes those folk elements and then really cranks up the guitar riffs and oscillating keyboard chords. Sullivan’s just an OK vocalist, so it’s a good thing that the wonderful Cox is taking over more of the singing duties. SEE PHOTOS OF OAKLEY HALL AT METRO.

Oakley Hall's set list:

For anyone who has the impression that M. Ward performs sleepy, quiet music (an impression you could easily get from some of his records), this performance definitely proved otherwise. Ward played electric guitar, not acoustic, almost all night, until the first encore. And he had two — two! — drummers. Ward and his band rocked, with Ward taking some wonderful guitar solos. It’s not just the solos that make his playing special, it all of the subtle finger picking he employs throughout his songs. But when he’s playing with a full band, he doesn’t hog the spotlight, often delegating some of the guitar lines to the other players, allowing him to sing verses without touching the strings, or to step over to his electric piano.

Ward tends to crouch down, doing sort of a low-key version of Chuck Berry’s duck walk as he skulks across the stage with his guitar. And his microphones are set low so that Ward has to lean down into them, scrunching his face as he sings in his husky voice. His face looks calm as he plays a solo, though, his fingers flying with amazing ease.

As Ward and his band came out, a recording of Daniel Johnston’s original version of “To Go Home,” the second track on Ward’s new album, was playing. With Ward pounding the chords on the piano and those two drum kits clattering with a joyful sound, his band took over the song.

While there were a few folky moments, Ward emphasized the rock side of his repertoire. After closing the main set with “Big Boat,” Ward returned to the stage alone for an acoustic encore. In “I’ll Be Yr Bird,” he changed the words to “I’m not Vic Chestnutt, I’m no Bob Mould.”

The set list on the stage listed another Daniel Johnston song, “The Story of an Artist,” as the final song of the night, but when Ward and band came back for a second encore, they instead chose to play the song that may be Ward’s most memorable anthem, “Vincent O’Brien,” and it was the finest live version of it I’ve heard.

This was also surely one of the best concerts I’ve seen this year.

M. WARD SET LIST
To Go Home
Four Hours in Washington
Right in the Head
Magic Trick
Chinese Translation
Requiem
Undertaker
Post-War
Poison Cup
Emperor (instrumental)
Flaming Heart
Regeneration #1
Neptune’s Nest
Helicopter
Poor Boy, Minor Key
Big Boat

FIRST ENCORE
Duet for Guitars #3 (this may have begun with Rag)
I’ll Be Yr Bird
Paul’s Song
Lullaby & Exile

SECOND ENCORE
Vincent O’Brien

SEE PHOTOS OF M. WARD AT METRO.

With the addition of the Touch & Go 25th anniversary theme, the Hideout’s annual Block Party has become a bigger affair than ever before. All three days sold out in advance? Wow. Well, I guess there are many fans of ’80s and ’90s punk-rock flocking to this event to relive their old glory days. I have to admit there are a lot of bands on the lineup that I don’t know all that well — in many cases, I knew these bands more by their reputation than their music. So I feel inadequate to the task of giving a really well-informed critique of their performances, but I was eager to see and hear what I’ve been missing.

As it all got under way, Hideout head honcho Tim Tuten thanked the city for allowing the Hideout to use the parking lot next to Wabansia, where garbage trucks are normally parked. He said the city workers had been cleaning up and preparing the area for the festival for the past couple of weeks — and a couple of the guys had asked him if Twisted Sister would be reuniting for the party. Yeah, he told them, they’re playing at 8 o’clock on Saturday. As always at the Hideout’s block parties, it’s strange but somehow fitting to see that hulking Department of Fleet Management building behind the stage, with old brick factories ringing the rest of the site. An industrial setting for Chicago rock music.

Friday night got off to a good start, with the Shipping News. I didn’t care much for the dance music of Supersystem, but the next set by Girls Vs. Boys was strong. I would have liked to stick around for Ted Leo and !!!, but I also had a ticket to see M. Ward and Oakley Hall at Metro (a must-see for me), so I headed uptown at 8 p.m.

SEE PHOTOS FROM DAY ONE OF THE HIDEOUT BLOCK PARTY.

This was one of the most peculiar concerts I’ve ever seen. Billed as "Japanese New

Music Festival," it was actually two of the guys from Acid Mothers Temple (Tsuyama Atsushi and Kawabata Makoto) and the drummer from the band Ruins (Yoshida Tatsuya) teaming up in seven different configurations over the course of one night — so it was allegedly seven different "bands," each of them including either one, two or three of these guys, and each playing music in a different style. A lot of it was comical performance art, really.

First up was Seikazoku, with all three musicians doing free-form avant-garde improv.

Then came the oddest act of the night, Akaten (Atsushi and Tatsuya). They used no instruments and hooked up clip-on microphones to various objects to make noise — including one song that they played on the zippers of their pants. Other “songs” were played on a toothbrush and a camera. For one piece, the two guys drank wine, using sound effects of bottles being opened and wine being poured into glasses, with the sounds out of synch with the actual objects. They were laughing and having a good time as they fooled around onstage, and it was pretty funny.

Next, Makoto and Tatsuya played as the improvising duo Shrinp Wark (a Japanesization of “Shrink Wrap”), which was more rock-oriented that the jazzy noodling earlier in the night.

Tatsuya did an impressive set of drum solos (actually drumming along with prerecorded tracks of guitar and other sounds), under the name Ruins Alone. And all three musicians performed a cappella under the name Zubi Zuva X. Introducing one song as a “world music jam,” they explained that it combined Tuuvan throat singing, African pygmy chants and Japanese Noh music, all at once. Again, the guys were cracking up.

The two AMT guys played as a duo called Zoffy, doing mostly weird cover versions of some well-known songs. They were laughing again as they gave a long introduction to one song — "This next song is a very, very famous song ... avery, very, fucking famous ... a million-peoples famous song ... a more famous than George Bush famous song... This is a by-the-people, of-the-people, for-the-people famous song ... It's 'Smoke on the Water' by Deep Purple as done by Captain Beefheart and Bob Dylan." And that's what it was. They followed up that with a

hroat-singing version of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” and truncated versions of a few Miles Davis songs — with Makoto playing guitar and Atsushi pretending to play a toy trumpet (but not actually making any noise).

The final half hour was more of a "normal" Acid Mothers Temple set, which rocked with abandon. The band keeps using different names for its various units, and this one was billed Acid Mothers Temple SWR. Finally, for the last bit of the encore, Atsushi chanted, "We're only in it for the money." It was an appropriate Zappa-esque touch to end the show.

At times, all of the tomfoolery got to be a bit much, but it was certainly a very memorable concert.

SEE PHOTOS FROM "JAPANESE NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL."

Comets on Fire’s last record, Blue Cathedral, was a great blast of psychedelic hard rock, and I’m eager to hear the band’s new album (don’t have it yet). The new tunes sounded good next to the ones I recognized at this show, which was almost unrelentingly intense.

SEE PHOTOS OF COMETS ON FIRE AT THE EMPTY BOTTLE.

Somehow, I’ve missed out on Radio Birdman all these years — heard the name, didn’t know much beyond that. I picked up on some excitement that these Aussie punks were back together and touring, so this show became a must-see. The Radio Birdman tracks I’ve checked out are solid, tuneful punk, and this reunion gig was a top-notch performance. With his long white hair, unrestrained singing and exuberant moves, vocalist Rob Younger was an arresting presence. I heard some longtime fans of the band saying they weren’t disappointed — and that they could hardly believe their luck in finally seeing Radio Birdman.

This was part of the Electric City Rock Festival, the same “festival” that brought the Dirtbombs to the Double Door last year. Like that gig, this one featured too many opening bands, but it was a decent lineup this time. Lust Killers and Easy Action played fairly typical punk, but had good energy. SSM played a hybrid of punk and keyboard rock. I liked it, but I later heard one guy saying, “How can you have a rock band with a bass?” Well… it’s been done, dude.

SEE PHOTOS OF RADIO BIRDMAN, LUST KILLERS, EASY ACTION and SSM.