Wicker Park Fest: Kill Hannah, AM Taxi, The Baseball Project, Magic box

Wicker Park Fest: (4/6)The festival itself was simply amazing. I’d never really been to the heart of Bucktown and it felt so artsy and thriving. Seeing the local artisans and artists out was a lot of fun and they managed to make the music and the art feel equally important. The space was small enough to be comfortable, but big enough that there wasn’t interference between the stages. The two stages I visited , well, they were outdoor temporary stages with all the pitfalls thereof. They were good temporary stages, albeit, but they had the distortion and poor sound balance of so common in that kind of set up. Surprisingly, the smaller central stage had better sound quality than the larger north stage.

I’ve stopped talking about the quality of the audience, but damn I’ve not seen a Kill Hannah crowd that active in years.

The Shows

Magic Box (center stage)(3/6): (partial set seen_ I wasn’t particularly a fan of their country overtones so my response is a bit colored) They sound almost completely different recorded, much more coordinated and less twangy. It still had more of a jam session feel than a show feel. The guitarist is just a little behind the beat, which is distracting.

AM Taxi (North stage)(4/6)—AM Taxi has always hovered at the peripheral of my radar, but never quite fully caught my attention. They seem to float around as a second tier band in a lot of the genres I follow. While I wasn’t mind blown, I was impressed. (Front dude) has a gravely voice that lends maturity to an otherwise standard Midwestern post-punk sound. He also enunciates better than most in the punk genera, which I like. On the whole AM Taxi has a sophistication that doesn’t happen often in their genera. Their musicality was not 100% though I attribute some of that to the venue (Outdoor venues have notoriously bad speakers, this was no exception) In order to make it really good, they need to tighten things up just a frication.

The Baseball Project (4/6)- While The Baseball Project were talented and the instrumentation was spot on, I personally just was not a fan. They were clearly professionals with both energy and enthusiasm, but they felt like has-beens, deceptive being on their up climb. They had the style that most bands the play for bigger abundances put forward, but without the experience backing them up. I also found their music immature, it felt like it was meant for children and had an utterly superficial flavor. Their sound was goofy. While there is nothing wrong with fun, bouncy music, this all just felt hackneyed and cheesy.

Kill Hannah (4/6): I have been a long time supporter of this little band. Mat Divine isn’t kidding when he says Kill Hannah has the most loyal fan base around. Devoted fans, and a band that puts all of its heart into giving back to them tenfold makes Kill Hannah feel more like family than anything else. Kill Hannah have always been accessible and gracious.
Their music is both fearless and romantic; Divine’s voice is alternately a whisper and a wildcat screech. He is as talented as he is gracious. And willing to speak with conviction and without any fear of what someone else will say. While he wasn’t 100% on his game musically he made up for it by putting forth an energy I haven’t seen from him in years. He was on fire up there.

They recently acquired a new guitarist who has style. He doesn’t look like much, a puppy face with shaggy hair that all but covers his face. I believe he’s the other guratist’s younger brother, but don’t quote me. That boy can shred like its no one’s business. He is still learning to look up and make eye contact with the audience, but he has great deal of potential.

Bassist Greg Corner has both talent and personality. Off stage he is friendly and a talented DJ. On stage he’s the strong undercurrent in a band with a lot of high-end work, so he often goes unnoticed, but his sound really round things out.

Overall, the band is always fun live. I look forward to more from them.

Summerfest, Last Day: Ducky and the Vintage, Ours and Bush

Stage: The US Cellular Stage(4/6) I would call this the best stage outside of the Marcus Amphitheater on the Summerfest grounds. A relatively clear sound system, beautiful lighting and a restricted number of people make for a much more enjoyable setting than the larger stages. However, it is also large enough to accommodate some of the more popular bands

Acts:
Ducky and the Vintage (3/6): Seeing on the fedora and vest, I expected a pretentious indie sound (witch is more prevalent in their recorded stuff) Instead it was something that more closely resembled alternative rock. Ducky and the Vintage had a lot of accidental noise in their instrumentation. I attribute this to their lack of coordination and utter lack of training on their instruments. Maybe I caught them on a bad day.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t mind the lo-fi sound. I grew up on bands like Nirvana; I am quite acquainted with that style. Rather than the slurred, gravel of grunge, Ducky had muddy, sloppy vocals and imprecise guitar work. There was talent under there somewhere, but I feel that front man (dude) should either play or sing, not both. I have no doubt he could do either, but lacks the coordination to do both.

The set also had too many gaps in it, for an opening band that is a death sentence.


Ours (Flash warning!) (5/6): (shortened, as I was distracted during much of the performance)
Hello, dolly. Jimmy Gnecco has a young voice and a fresh face with stellar presence and confidence. I was shocked to learn this band had been around since the 90s as Gnecco looks so young. Carrying a distinctive voice and a confidant presence, it is no wonder Ours draws the number of fans it does. The instrumentation was polished and coordinated as well as being innovative.
Where they lose points is the lack of energy. While there was a lot of movement on stage they didn’t draw the crowd in particularly well.


Bush: (4/6)
Over this Summerfest, I have seen two genre defining legends—the foo fighters and bush. Front man Gavin Rossdale has wonderful presence and grace. His smile is infectious when it appears and utterly sincere. The show felt both intimate and expansive. With their deep roots in 90s grunge, Bush’s guitar work was art and the deep bass was palpable under the skin. While I can hear echoes of Nirvana in their earlier work, Bush has continued to be a powerhouse of post-grunge self-discovery. Rossdale also worked with the crowd like a true professional- constantly among the audience, playing directly to them, working with the crowd sings and gracious. I think that nearly losing his career really made him step up his game. It was an honor to hear them play.
Where I was most suppressed was that Bush is still talented a decade after their heyday. Rossdale has lost none of his talent, if anything age has made his voice more gravely lending itself further to the post grunge sound.

Chris Traynor and Rossdale had a surprisingly strong report considering that he is a newer member. They played together as though they were old friends.

Corey Britz’s bass work was magical and held together large portions of the set. Including a bass solo, not something that is common at all.

Their drummer was positively amazing and rounded out the pounding low end that makes grunge what it is.

I look forward to them making a comeback.

Summerfest day 4: Makeshift Prodogy and Art of Dying (Summefest Rock Stage)

Venue: The Summerfest Rock Stage (4/6):

I have discovered this tiny, far away from everything else stage is fast becoming my favorite stage. While many of the bigger bands come to the Miller Light Oasis, I have had repeated problems with that stage. This stage often has better acts, and doesn’t have the overcrowding problem the Oasis and Harley Davison stages have.

Show:

Makeshift Prodigy: (3/6)

Ouch.

Makeshift Prodigy is one of my pet bands from back home in Chicago (I tangentially know their manager) however they have never quite made the leap from being decent to being really good. I’ve struggled to figure out exactly what didn’t quite click for me. I loved their style, their amicable nature, the lyrics were wonderful, the presentation fun.

But the frontman consistently does a few things that make is performance not quite solid.

First, he sings just a little outside of his vocal range. Which can be fine, however he does not have the breath support to hit some of the higher notes he aims for. The result is breathy and will break his voice if he doesn’t learn to support it. The second thing is easily corrected. Part of Anthony Banagara’s charm is that he’s shy-natured it lends to the intimacy of a lot of his shows; however, he does not pull the audience in. There is no eye contact. This gives the impression of a child rocking out in his bedroom, rather than an actual performer.

However, the talent is there, and the stage antics are positively adorable-- Banagara spent a lot of his time making his upright piano his personal jungle gym (doing flips over it, climbing/standing on it) and was very bouncy. He has a good sense of how to use his honed skill on the keyboard and the addition of a bowed guitar was a very nice touch and he managed to pull it off well.

The backup vocalist/keyboardist/tambourine player(yes really), however, had presence in spades and charm to spare. He also had vocal talent, which was wonderful.

Overall, these guys have always had promise, but in the two years I’ve been following them they have yet to really gain momentum. Good luck to them.

Art of Dying (flash warning) (4/6 recorded, 5.5/6 live):

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to put on a good show before sunset at a festival, doubly so to nearly earn a 6 from me. These guys did both.

Art Of Dying is feel good arena rock with a positivity that is rare in rock and roll these days without going soft and hackneyed.

This is my third Art of Dying show and they have consistently improved their act. I feel like their album at this point does them a disservice. While it is a great album, it lacks the arena rock style and charisma that Art of Dying bring live. Jonny Heatherington has charisma and a knack with the crowd that I’ve not seen in a long time. Gracious, but not humble Heatherington gives a dynamic show and has the ability to get even a lazy crowd on its feet. He is also very good about actually disappearing from the stage to let his band mates have their big moments--Including a killer drum solo and an extent guitar solo

The guitarist is also a very talented and has a powerful dynamic with the front dude

However, there were too many set breaks for an opener. Often bands that are well known enough to be the last opener forgets that they are intact still openers. You only have one hour tops, do your thing fast.

Another thing that went a long way with me was how courteous and friendly the entire band was and what a  fun sense of humor Heatherington showed.

I look forward to meeting them again. 

Album Review: Matchstickmen -A Change in Season, EP—(5/6)

Matcstickmen came across my radar in the middle of Summerfest this year on a down day. Hailing from Liverpool this little band packs quite the kick while still sounding like the professionals they are.

It is a refreshing change to hear a baritone in alternative rock. While I am certainly not complaining about the recent trend toward tenors, Front man Lewis Wright’s vocals stand out a from the rest of what’s on the radio these days with depth and a gravelly yet melodic sound. Wright also enunciates clearly, which is an uncommon thing these days. Matchstick men also lend a sexy twist to their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Give in to Me.”

In addition to the delicious vocals, the guitar work has personality and matches the vocals nicely while still sounding distinctive.

There is a degree of polish to this album that a lot of young artists simply don’t have, I would definitely like to hear more from these guys.

As per request here is a link to their EP and site. Enjoy this, folks. It’s good stuff.
http://www.ourstage.com/epk/matchstickmen