Chicago's Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary Party

[WaronWar]

I shall be there (as long as I do get a ride back from college in time). We should meet up and talk music since we didn't get much of a chance when we met briefly at Pitchfork.

[LouieB]

I shall be there (as long as I do get a ride back from college in time). We should meet up and talk music since we didn't get much of a chance when we met briefly at Pitchfork.

Yea..that was true. You barely introduced yourself at that point. Let's talk offline. PM me.

 

LouieB

[LouieB]

Last night was very fun and very uncrowded. Tonight at 7 (first slot) Tortoise is making an appearance, previously unscheduled. Also don't forget Califone and Eleventh Dream Day (and Frequency for jazz fans.) The sound was moderately okay. I think the problem is less the room and more that the sound folks have no clue how to mix for the room.

 

Highlights last night for me, Archer Prewitt, Sea and Cake (rocking out), Firey Furnaces and Fred Anderson. All good stuff. Meanwhile the musicians were all walking around watching other bands.

 

LouieB

[renic]

Tonight at 7 (first slot) Tortoise is making an appearance, previously unscheduled.

 

 

 

[LouieB]

Tonight at 7 (first slot) Tortoise is making an appearance, previously unscheduled.

 

 

 

Wanna go?? There is an echo in here.

 

LouieB

[renic]

the timing just doesn't work out for me. its not like they won't ever play chicago again.

[LouieB]

Wow, last night was cool too. Really energetic sets from Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day and particularly Califone. Frequency was good as well with a smaller group than usual, just Ed Wilkerson and Nikki Mitchell and a drummer. I loved Ed's comment at the end of their set "Now back to your regularly scheduled program." Although the groups were pretty eclectic, needless to say, the jazz type groups were a bit more out of loop. Jeff Parker and Wilkerson were chatting it up earlier in the evening.

 

MVP of the series was Doug McCombs on bass and guitar who played with his own group Brokeback, Tortoise and of course his original group Eleventh Dream Day.

 

Evening two was mellow as well and the biggest crowds materialized out of the snow for Tortoise and Califone, both of whome were more animated than I have seen them in the past. I think it was a real kick for them to be playing for Thrill Jockey despite the somewhat short sets. There is lots more to say, but frankly there are so few people interested, I don't have the energy to go on.

 

LouieB

[echo]

Sounds like a great evening. Thanks for the write up.

 

You guys are lucky to have such an awesome hometown label!

 

e

[LouieB]

Sounds like a great evening. Thanks for the write up.

 

You guys are lucky to have such an awesome hometown label!

 

e

Thanks for caring...some day if I get the energy I will do a real write-up (you know I can). There were some really lovely touches and performances. I guess if I had to sum it all up it was great to see many of the artists walking around watching the other acts and talking to both fans, friends and colleagues. Bettina herself was walking around alot and talking to people (I said thanks before I left at the end of the second night...she kinda looked at me like I was crazy...). Tim Rutili was particulary animated and downright funny during Califone's set, something I had never seen him do before in the half dozen performances of the group I have seen. Even Tortoise, a usually deadpan kind of group was grinning like crazy and interacting. Rick Rizzo, now a middle aged high school English teacher was jumping around like a kid and Fred Anderson responded by playing a short encore and showing real joy in playing in situation that was probably somewhat confusing for him.

 

There is a 70 minute mix of a whole bunch of TJ artists all mashed up that I believe is for sale (they gave it away free at the door.) I have not listened to it yet. There is also a set of 7 inchers that are TJ artists covering material by other TJ artists which is pretty cool too and is available through their website. Not shilling for them, just in case you are interested.

 

LouieB

[WaronWar]

Yeah, I was there too with Lou and renic (she was only there Friday) and both nights were great.

 

But overall, I enjoyed almost all of the performances and the standouts I would say were Fred Anderson Trio and The Sea and the Cake on Friday and Tortoise, Califone, Frequency, Eleventh Day Dream on Saturday (espeically as Lou mentioned seeing Rick Rizzo a middle-age man rocking out and playing some rad guitar).

 

Moreover, I enjoyed talking music with Lou both nights and talking with renic on the subway ride back on Friday night.

 

So all in all it was a great time.

[LouieB]

Some other notes.....

 

It was great hanging with WaronWar (Phil), who is well versed (and chorused) on music beyond his few years. This was a spectacular opportunity for him (and me) to see a wide variety of groups, particularly some I had not seen before and would not have gone out of my way to see (such as Firey Furnaces) and may not see again. One of the reviews commented on how animated groups like Tortoise were as well.

 

If anyone is interested in getting the Thrill Jockey megamix...a word of caution. I listened to this today and frankly it is not all that exciting; having been mucked up by the rhythm track, which I think eclipses the music that is picked. With so much cool stuff to pick from, the mixer decided to favor some artists and buried some pretty great stuff in the mix. It would have been far more fun if a whole bunch of mini-clips had been sequed together, preserving the integrity of the individual artists. Some of the sections accomplished this, but too much was muddied up in the production. I recognized small snippets of the artists I like such as the jazz type groups and even Califone and Sea and Cake, but much of the rest was a muddle. It is fun enough I supppose, but a long review of these groups mixed together in other ways would have been more fun. Also the main part of the mix (the part with somewhat identifiable clips) is only 55 minutes, with 5 minutes of silence and then 10 minutes of assorted sounds that are NOT identifiable as any group (and could pass for Metal Machine Music), therefore wasting a good 15 minutes that could have been dedicated to a wider variety of TJ artists. Actually a section with dueling sections of intrumental groups such as the Chicago Underground Duo, Isotope 217, Tortoise, Frequency, 8 Bold Souls, Fred Anderson, etc. would have been a gas. Same with some of the rock type groups or vocal groups. I have no clue how to do any of this, but with hundreds of hours of music on 200 releases, I was sort of disappointed.

 

LouieB