Stroger Makes Hollywood Play
Put Down Your Nanowrimo And Leave The House
Sox Shuffle Continues
Jay-Z Announces 2010 Tour Dates. Chicago Not On List.
O.K., you already know we love the new M83 album. How could you not? So we were excited to hear they're playing Bottom Lounge tonight since we missed them last time they were in town. Once we learned School Of Seven Bells was opening we couldn't wait to rush home and get dressed up in our finest 1988 attire to greet their distinctly 4AD sonic delivery.
A few years ago, it would have seemed ludicrous that the broadly atmospheric M83 would ever team up and tour with the monolithic guitarist from Secret Machines .. oh, wait, actually that makes total sense. O.K., let's try that again, once M83 turned towards '80s synth-pop, and ex-Secret machines guitarist Ben Curtis turned towards laptop twin-rock, their teaming up looks more unlikely, on paper. in fact though, the two groups' aesthetic is so closley intertwined it makes total sense.
Curtis teams up with twin singer / multi-instrumentalists Alejandra and Claudia Deheza to craft minimalist shoegaze anthems that bear no resemblance to anything out today, save perhaps Sad Day For Puppets. (Yes, we're shamelessly referencing via name dropping, but honestly when you're writing about bands so unabashedly directed towards their influences ho do you expect us to say anything REALLY new or insightful?) Curtis lays down the minimal rhythm tracks andd supplies the twinkling and sometimes surging guitar work, while the girls lay breathless vocals over top the dreamscapes and apply color as needed. it's all the right kind of angelic bliss delivered straight to the cerebral cortex.
M83 and School Of Seven Bells play tonight at Bottom Lounge, 1375 W Lake, 9 p.m., $20, 18+
School Of Seven Bells via the band
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I've yet to see a show at Bottom Lounge since the new opening, but between this show and Margot and the Nuclear So & So's tomorrow night, it looks like a killer weekend to end that dry spell.
Man, I've had this show on my calendar for a few months and I'm not sure if I'm going now. There could be no better place to see M83 in Chicago except for Metro.
I avoided the Empty Bottle show when they played not long ago because the sound there is abysmal. I don't understand that venue; it gets such wonderful touring bands but it spits out such awful sound in a room that, because of the odd layout, isn't really meant for loud, live music of the caliber that other venues can and do provide for the same tier of band. There's no fun in a show like that for me.
Tankboy, I'm sure you've seen some shows at the new Bottom Lounge? My band has played there a few times and if the sound in the crowd is anywhere near as good as it is from the stage this show is going to be amazing. Just listened to Seven Bells for the first time today and they seem pretty cool and a great opener for this kind of show.
the new bottom lounge is very nice. i was there for fujiya & miyagi and was pretty impressed. couldnt get over how big it is...basically a former warehouse. more importantly, the sound is the best ive experienced in the city.
I wish it wasn't so far away, especially on a cold night like this. I really really want to be at this show...
I went to the show, and thought the sound at the Bottom Lounge wasn't very good. I will have to go see another show there to see if it gets any better.