Results tagged “darkhorse”

In keeping with our stated goal of focusing the remainder of this year's "BotW" selections on breweries we've not covered, we turn our attention this week to Dark Horse Brewing Company in Marshall, Michigan. It's a 3 hour drive to Marshall from Chicago and — as with New Belgium Holland, Founder's and, naturally, Bell's — worth a day trip.

Raleigh, NC's Bowerbirds have had some heavy expectations to live up to since the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle called the folk-pop trio one of his favorite new bands. Since then, they've brought interesting instrumentation, plaintive male-female vocal harmonies, and varying arrangements to cozy music rooms across America and signed to the freak-folk hotbed Dead Oceans label. Chicagoist caught Bowerbirds last August at Schubas, on tour in support of the critically acclaimed, self-released, Hymns For a Dark Horse EP. Chief songwriter Phil Moore weaved fantastical tales over an acoustic guitar and a hi-hat / tambourine contraption, while the supporting cast of Beth Tacular and Marc Paulson shifted easily between a marching band bass drum, violin, and accordion. The result was nothing short of mesmerizing, with Moore's tunes taking on a rambling dimension that would be just as at home in an Eastern European gypsy encampment as they’d be on some rogue, restless pirate ship.

The male bowerbird is one ugly dude, but he makes up for his drab plummage by building elaborate, intricate nests with unusual materials like insect skeletons and bits of colorful garbage. Like their namesake, Raleigh, NC's Bowerbirds build a rather glorious abode out of simple, majestic, and formidable storytelling to house their comparatively modest, unassuming image. Chicagoist first basked in the group's aural light back in August, amidst a mellow crowd at Schubas that had to be comprised of at least one-third journalists. At one point, a member of the audience approached our camera- and notebook-wielding contingent to ask what all the fuss was about this humble, soft-spoken freaky-folk trio, and we're pretty sure they had their answer by the end of the evening. Chief songwriter Phil Moore weaved fantastical tales over an acoustic guitar and a hi-hat/tambourine contraption, while the supporting cast of Beth Tacular and Marc Paulson shifted easily between a marching band bass drum, violin, and accordion. Much of the buzz surrounding Bowerbirds can be attributed to the staunch support of Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, who has called the group "my favorite new band in forever."