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If every song Heavy Times played sounded like “Coffin Dirge,” the troupe wouldn’t be any better known, but it would be notable as one of the creepier acts out there. Taking the almost-instrumental track as the band’s pinnacle is completely anathema to growth. But over Heavy Times’ few releases, as it simultaneously draws influence from first wave punk acts and the contemporary garage scene, no single approach has suited the band in totality. During straight punk bangers, hearing Reader contributor Luca Cimarusti pound out frustration on the drum set, it’s clear he picked up sticks to play at a certain BPM. Read the rest of this entry »

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Every good theatrical performer benefits from having a partner tuned in to his or her brand of noxious foolery. BBQ has been King Khan’s foil on and off since the mid-nineties, when the pair performed as the Spaceshits, a Canadian garage and punk ensemble. The group served as training ground for the two performers who would continue recording together sporadically in ever-evolving situations over the next decade and change. For Khan, the Shrines, a German R&B group replete with horn section and a dancing girl, next served as his sounding board, holding down a groove for the singer and guitarist to flip out, dance around half-clothed and engorge his public persona with an even greater sense of abandonment. Read the rest of this entry »

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In a weird way, the first handful of records Thee Oh Sees issued—or The Ohsees or even OCS—presaged the band’s latest disc, “Castlemania.” The ensemble’s always had an ear for jacking up pop melody, but the 2011 In the Red-released disc deals in tunefulness that’s seemingly subservient to flute jams like “Meat Step Lively” from 2009’s “Help” or the thirteen-minute title track on “Warm Slime” and its galloping meanderings. Jammed in between these discs were a few albums springing up from labels with lower visibility–the experimental “Zork’s Tape Bruise” on Oakland’s Kill Shaman and Captured Tracks’ relatively hum and strum “Dog Poison.” Read the rest of this entry »

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The party line regarding Pittsburgh’s The Cynics is that the band kept simple-minded garage rock alive during the mid to late eighties not just by reinterpreting its dulcet, scuzzball tones, but by running Get Hip Records. Matched up to the indie-inspired crop of relative newcomers to the genre over the last decade, it’s reasonably easy to discern a difference between those folks and Pennsylvania’s torch-bearers. Read the rest of this entry »

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Songs from Frankie Rose and the Outs aren’t any more tuneful than those from either the Vivian Girls or Dum Dum Girls. Of course, that latter group might only be meaningful to listeners as concerned with what their favorite musicians are wearing as they are with the music’s quality. But as a drummer for both those latter ensembles, in addition to the vastly more engaging Crystal Stilts, Frankie Rose has displayed a penchant for updated garage and girl-group stuff. Varying only slightly from band to band, it’d seem that the basic formula for these ensembles almost defies founding individual groups. Read the rest of this entry »

Mavis Staples

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Saying goodbye to summer means a farewell to beaches, outdoor seating and, perhaps the saddest of all, festivals. Fear not! The Hideout is squeezing the last out of the festival fun with the return of its legendary block party after a two-year absence. Perhaps the most impressive element of the festival is the diversity of style of the artists. The ten-hour event is a variable platter of sound, and it all looks delicious.

Andrew Bird, the biggest name on the bill, will provide the intricate indie tunes he’s known for. Lofty soul calling your name? Mavis Staples and her syrupy low voice at your service. To take that one step further, Booker T. Jones will be around to inject some serious funk into said soul. Read the rest of this entry »

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It can be incredibly patronizing to discuss a band by the prevailing gender of their members, but with Vivian Girls the 1960s “girl group” style that the band certainly draws inspiration from is an important crux of their sound. The harmonized vocals are at the forefront of their music, against a backdrop of steady beats and with a more contemporary take on a garage rock sound. Despite this influence, the lyrics of Vivian Girls eschew the formula of their 1960s foremothers, whose archetypal character in the lyrics was that of the desperate and dependent girlfriend rather than the dominant and often disrespectful male subject. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ditching Chicago a few decades back probably wasn’t the worst idea the Dwarves ever came up with. Relocating to the Bay Area, singer Blag Dahlia, guitarist HeWhoCanNotBeNamed, and their rock solid rhythm section found a part of the country a bit less resistant to being attired in outrageous gear while performing live. Leaving the Midwest, though, also found the band eschewing some of its more garagey inclinations. Read the rest of this entry »

The Yolks are a Chicago punk group. Ta-da! There isn’t much to say past that. They’re not casting punk into revolutionary hyperspace, nor screwing punk over by crossing the “cool” line over to “lazy.” The Yolks seem to have a simple approach to their music: play well, have fun and make everyone kick-dance till it hurts. Their music is so unassuming, it’s impossible to hate them.

Singer Aaron Stringer’s voice is eerily similar to Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, with comparable muffled meowing techniques. The group is also a fan of distortion of all kinds, as it affects almost every aspect of their music. It perfectly accompanies the laidback garage-band sound, adding to the grind of their fast-moving grooves.

Seems like reason enough to check out their show at The Empty Bottle, right? Sure. Another reason, however, is to see if they live up to their own hype. Their website boasts that they turn “every show they play at into a party, and every party into [a] riot.” (Maureen Clancy)

August 19 at The Empty Bottle, 1035 North Western, (773) 276-3600, 10pm. $8.

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Jake and Jamin Orrall are brothers. As spawn of musical mastermind Robert Ellis Orrall, it’s not difficult to see why they eventually formed the duo known today as JEFF the Brotherhood. It’s also not difficult to understand why they’re so good at what they do, and seemingly without trying too hard, considering their extensive history with music. Though they were involved in other bands before, the bond of blood and beats proved an undeniable force. That shows in their ten-year history together and in the continual experiment that is their music. Read the rest of this entry »