April 2014 – Underground Bee

April 28, 2014April 28, 2014

Waxahatchee at the Empty Bottle

Waxahatchee — which is either a band or singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield, depending on how you define these things — released an outstanding record last year called Cerulean Salt, with guitar chords and vocals that keep on reminding me of Liz Phair. The good, early Liz Phair records, that is. Waxahatchee played Saturday night (April 26) at the Empty Bottle, beginning and ending the show with quiet songs that were essentially solo Katie Crutchfield performances. In between, the full band kicked in, showing that Waxahatchee is more than mellow folk rock. Most impressive of all was the way Crutchfield’s melodies, stuck in my head from many listens to the records, rang out in concert.

April 28, 2014

Record Store Day at Laurie’s Planet of Sound

A lot of record stores around Chicago had fun festivities planned on Record Store Day, which was April 19, but I ended up spending most of the day at Laurie’s Planet of Sound in Lincoln Square. At making a morning stop at the store to buy some records, I returned midafternoon. Among the things I missed in the middle of the day was a performance by John Darnielle of Mountain Goats. I’d hoped to see the Lemons, a Chicago band that plays short bubble-gum pop ditties, but they started early and played such short songs that they were finishing up the minute I came through the front door.

But then I was there for a fun afternoon of music, including Phil Angotti and Friends covering the whole Simon & Garfunkel album Sounds of Silence; the solid riffs of Handcuffs; the reunited Chicago punk band Silver Abuse, who shouted goofy songs about dogs and Ron Santo and made a delightful art-noise racket; and Mazes, who artfully shifted from pretty chamber pop melodies into some rocking guitar solos.

Best of all, this was one of those days when a record store feels like a clubhouse where you hang out with friends.

Phil Angotti and Friends

Handcuffs

Silver Abuse

Mazes

April 18, 2014April 28, 2014

Eleventh Dream Day, Dump and Sidi Toure

You have two more chances this month to see Eleventh Dream Day. The band is playing every Sunday in April at the Hideout, trying out some new songs for an upcoming album. They sounded just as fiery as ever at last week’s show, which featured two excellent opening acts: Malian guitarist Sidi Toure (accompanied by n’goni virtuoso Abdoulaye Koné aka Kandiafa and joined on a couple of songs by Chicago harmonica player Billy Branch) and Dump (the solo side-project pseudonym of Yo La Tengo’s James McNew).