Tag: Chicago

Ep. #287: Fake Limbs

Post author By vish
Post date November 16, 2016

Fake Limbs are a noisy rock band who hail from the west side of Chicago, Illinois. Known for creating a kind of “social justice street rock” that’s exhilarating and outspoken, the band formed in 2011 and have released three acclaimed full-length albums, including 2016’s Matronly, which is out now via Don Giovanni Records. Fake Limbs have been on the road a bunch of late and, before their recent show at the Silver Dollar in Toronto, lead singer Stephen Sowley and I ate some pizza at Fresca, just west of College and Spadina, and then we talked about his time in Toronto and tour managing, Jenny Hval, Screaming Females don’t really need roadies, driving and sleeping in cars and planes, Brendan Fraser and The Mummy, Danny Brown’s leather sleep mask, flight recliners, Ted, Colin Atrophy’s Slice Harvester, Fresca Pizza in Toronto, Chicago and Montreal, living in upstate New York, Second City and comedy, The Blues Brothers, not from Chicago, the Cubs’ World Series win, loser town, a goat and Steve Bartman, baseball points, a momentary Sowley curse, loving the Cubs and Wrigley Field and Toronto Blue Jays fans, so Grohl, working at Electrical Audio with Steve Albini, studio managing, encountering Iggy and the Stooges within weeks of taking a job at EA, the Breeders, working at Reckless Records, cashing Albini out on his first day at RR, lending Iggy $40, going to see Gimme Danger on election night, how Jim Jarmusch’s film basically overlooked the last Stooges record The Weirdness, which Albini engineered, election night predictions, phones on and off in the movie theatre, no surprise, voter participation, echo chambers, the shock, feeling ill- and misinformed about class-based anger, how Trump did everything he possibly could to willfully lose this election, people steeling themselves for the next four years, people who protest, The Dark Knight Rises, the left and exclusion and intersectionality, Michael Moore’s Facebook Live report during a recent protest in New York City, rationale, the ‘this will be good for comedy/punk rock’ stupidity, hoping for empathy, talking about Fake Limbs and their album Matronly, Black Lives Matter and “An Inconvenience,” Trump’s cabinet, what is punk, dinner with Grace Ambrose, Phleg Camp, the Jesus Lizard, Carla Bozulich, influence projection, idiots, Don Giovanni Records, Moor Mother’s Fetish Bones, more hugs, Bandcamp and Jes Skolnik, the Fugazi Live Archive, the song “Lil Bit,” and that was all from Fresca.

Related links: dongiovannirecords.com fakelimbs.com frescapizzapasta.com vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #279: U.S. Girls

Post author By vish
Post date September 15, 2016

U.S. Girls is the moniker of Meghan Remy who currently calls Toronto, Ontario home. Since moving there from Chicago in 2010, Remy has become a vital part of the city’s music scene and, along with her husband Slim Twig, plays in the excellent band Darlene Shrugg and runs the Calico Corp. label. She is likely best known for her stunning voice, pointed perspective, and startlingly great post-pop work as U.S. Girls, including her acclaimed and most recent album, Half Free, which is on the 2016 Polaris Music Prize short list and out now via 4AD Records. Remy and I recently caught up at Jules’ Café in Toronto’s Kingsway neighbourhood to discuss Jules Café and its wifi and its delectable croissants, just barely Etobicoke, Boxing Day 2010, Chicago and Toronto, Americans thinking about Canada and the rest of the world, facts and fiction and trust, not necessarily the news, overwhelmed by the world, free but only to consume, leaving America and loving Canada, military madness and taxes, health care, because Britain stayed and Canadian reserve, nice not friendly, Canada’s British accent, we’re smart, Toronto’s ahistorical aesthetic, many cranes in the sky, Chicago is grand, it’s hard to be America’s hat, grants and being driven to achieve, gross generalizations, the music media and scams, the regurgitated one sheet, disengaging, anti-intellectualism, being in a military family, John Cassavetes and Bruce Springsteen, cinéma vérité, Springsteen’s rise as an American superstar as he was criticizing America, Springsteen’s empathy and socially conscious gestures, her song “Damn That Valley,” why Meg doesn’t ever vote, the 2000 election and Ralph Nader and Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party doesn’t really get it, anti-war, the shades of evil, Hillary Clinton and women, revolution and protest and duty, social media’s distracting nature, the internet is everything but still new, MySpace as a touring resource, Silver Apples and Suicide and the Shaggs, the two-piece, when Springsteen covered “Dream Baby Dream,” the Devils & Dust tour, radio on, the Beatles Anthology, Bikini Kill, dealing with male music biz crap as a woman, sound people are cranky, frustrated musicians, the average white American woman, “First World Blues,” problematic self-esteem issues in a digital age, the requisite weirdness of receiving a Polaris Music Prize nomination, the infrastructure and its usual suspects, Darlene Shrugg is the best band and a record is almost done, Simone TB and Tropics, Ice Cream, word of mouth, the new U.S. Girls record with the Cosmic Range, Onakabazien, playing live at the Polaris gala on September 19, the song “Window Shades,” Gloria Ann Taylor, and then I got a croissant.

Related links: yousgirls.blogspot.ca vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #223: Ian MacKaye & Steve Albini (Part I)

Post author By vish
Post date November 12, 2015
7 Comments on Ep. #223: Ian MacKaye & Steve Albini (Part I)

Ian MacKaye was once in bands like Minor Threat and Embrace and is currently in the bands Fugazi and the Evens. He also co-founded and continues to oversee the excellent label Dischord Records, which is based in his hometown of Washington D.C. Steve Albini has been in bands like Big Black and Rapeman and is currently in the vital and wondrous rock trio, Shellac of North America. He’s a very well-respected recording engineer who owns and operates the Electrical Audio facility in the city of Chicago, Illinois, where he has lived for a good long time. In this first of a two-part moderated conversation between Ian and Steve, we discuss how they first met via either the late John Loder or Corey Rusk, Steve’s harshly written published review of the Rites of Spring record, Big Black playing D.C., machines and heartbeats, the formalization of punk, the influence of Minor Threat, punk violence, the Butthole Surfers, one-upmanship, explaining Pailhead and how Ian came to work with Al Jourgensen, the significance of John Loder, his company Southern Records, and its role in distributing underground music, Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Wax Trax! Records, Strike Under, punk to electronic music, Paul “Ion” Barker, the Blackouts, Bill Rieflin, drumming, Chicago’s drug scene, Minor Threat’s ferocity and execution, the time Pailhead employed an Ian MacKaye impersonator at shows, Adrian Sherwood almost working with Big Black, the story behind the In on the Kill Taker sessions, staying in London and missing John Loder, why Fugazi recorded in Chicago, how the greatest session ever yielded the saddest demo tapes, Fugazi let its guard down, Steve’s magical rapport with bands, Fugazi goes hard, how Steve bonded with Fugazi during their session together, stifling your fandom as an engineer, treating people you record with respect and trusting their vision, Ian teaches Steve how to double vocals, Ian’s phrasing, single vocals are just fine, trumpets, Ian as a prolific producer, the first Teen Idles recording session with a mean engineer, how Terrie from the Ex obtained his first guitar, Skip Groff and Don Zientara, Inner Ear Studio, Round Raoul Records, resisting technological trends when running a studio, how the In on the Kill Taker sessions with Steve ended up circulating publicly, Fugazi tried to bury it, how records leak, the song “Great Cop,” and that was the end of part one.

Related links: dischord.com electricalaudio.com vishkhanna.com

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