Chicago sounds like this
by Gregg Shapiro
Contributing writer
In their early years, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir mined a respectful and respectable Belle and Sebastian sound. As if Belle and Sebastian hailed from Chicago instead of Glasgow. SYGC haven’t completely abandoned their U.K. pop influences on… and the horse you rode in on (Bloodshot), gently switching their allegiances to Pulp and Jarvis Cocker. Frontman Elia Einhorn admirably emulates Cocker and the songs have a dark viciousness with which Pulp fans will connect. To their credit SYGC don’t get lost in the shuffle. The band’s radiant personality shines through, as on “I Pretend She’s You,” “Libertyville or Somewhere” and the bare bones acoustic number “Praying Is A Heartache.” Wishing the band a speedy recovery from the injuries sustained in a September 2009 van accident so that they can be experienced in a live setting.
Possibly the biggest success story in the history of the aforementioned Chicago-based Bloodshot Records, Neko Case switched label allegiance to Anti- in 2004, which reissued her early Bloodshot recordings. Case’s breathtaking Middle Cyclone (Anti-) is easily her most accessible recording. With a voice as powerful as, well, a cyclone, Case originals such as “This Tornado Loves You,” “People Gotta Lotta Nerve,” “Polar Nettles,” “Magpie To The Morning,” easily rank among her best. As she’s done in the past, Case exhibits stellar taste in cover tunes, including Sparks’ “Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth” and Nilsson’s “Don’t Forget Me.”
New kid on the block Daphne Willis (who is playing in Columbus Feb. 27) blows in on a playful bluesy vibe on the opening track of her debut disc What To Say (Vanguard). By the delightful “Bluff,” “Far Away” and “Love and Hate,” the versatile singer/songwriter has moved on to a warm island breeze. “All I Know” manages to both rock and be brassy, while Willis asserts herself as a modern folkie on “Swirl,” “Still Tryin’” and “Jim Thornton.”
Like the previously mentioned Neko Case disc, I’m Going Away (Thrill Jockey) by The Fiery Furnaces moves the brother/sister duo in to more approachable territory. Not that they’ve abandoned from their avant-garde pop style, just made it a little more user friendly. The fuzzy title track stomps like a lost White Stripes cut. “Drive to Dallas” has a subtle whiskey-soaked twang, while the keyboards on “The End is Near” are pure 1972. “Charmaine Champagne” bop-bop-bops like a drunken doll, while “Ray Bouvier” is more swagger and strut. “Take Me Round Again” is a modern day march and “Even In The Rain” would be a hit single in a perfect world.
One of the lone survivors of the major-label raid of the 1990s Wilco, not only endured but consistently improved. Exhibiting a refreshing sense of humor right from the get-go with “Wilco (the song),” the opening track on Wilco (the album) (Nonesuch), in which the band declares that “Wilco will love you baby” no matter how bad things get in your life. How can you not love them for that or for songs such as “Deeper Down” (sound effects and all), “You and I” (featuring a guest vocals turn by Feist), the pure pop of “You Never Know” and the retro bounce of “I’ll Fight.”
On their debut disc Ordinary Riches (Wind-Up), the trio Company of Thieves don’t sound like anyone else currently on the Chicago scene. Imagine Fiona Apple fronting Silversun Pickups and you’re on your way. Company of Thieves had an unexpected hit on their hands with the bumping “Oscar Wilde” (from which the album’s title is drawn) which affixed an irresistibly funky beat to the band’s modern blues guitar style. Other highlights include “The Tornado Song,” “Even In The Dark,” and “In Passing.”
Of all bands for the suburban Painkiller Hotel to emulate, it seems odd that they would bypass Chicago’s own suburban grown Smashing Pumpkins and Fall Out Boy for Orlando’s Matchbox 20, Atlanta’s Collective Soul or Tempe’s Gin Blossoms, but that’s mostly who they sound like. Ultimately, that’s the problem with Black Roses (Rock Ridge). Painkiller Hotel needs to check out of the Vicodin villa and find their own musical identity.
Chicago may be the birthplace of house music, but the funky dance-oriented tunes on Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky (Capitol) by OK Go owe more to Prince than Frankie Knuckles. The disc is a far cry from the power pop of OK Go’s first two full-lengths, including “Oh No” which yielded the hit single (and popular “treadmill” music video for) “Here It Goes Again.” Sure there were hip-shaking Cars-flavored hints, but nothing could have prepared listeners for this shift. Prince is bound to be purple with envy when he hears “WTF?,” “All Is Not Lost,” “Skyscrapers,” “White Knuckles” (which is begging for a Frankie Knuckles remix) and “End Love.”
Daphne Willis is performing on February 27 at 8p at Victorians Midnight Cafe in Columbus.
