Allen Toussaint, Brandi Carlile, Secret Machines, Sunny Day Real Estate

ALLEN TOUSSAINT
Allen Toussaint’s soul is the soul of New Orleans. Born there in 1938, he is recognized as one of the originators of the now-distinctive R&B sound that has grown out of that embattled city. The award-winning pianist and singer has been recording and producing records since the age of 17, while also making hit records for others when he wasn’t making them for himself. Coming off a recent collaboration with Elvis Costello on the first major recording project in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, The River in Reverse, Toussaint shows no sign of slowing. The 71-year-old just released his newest album, The Bright Mississippi, showcasing even more of his fiery piano and honeysuckle voice that seems to not have taken on any of the aging that his body has. Allen Toussaint is a musician who deserves our attention not only for his talent, but for the unique American culture that he represents. Don’t let him — or his city — slip away. (Appearing at the Old Town School of Folk on September 26) –text: Diana Novak

BRANDI CARLILE
Brandi Carlile’s flawless voice is huge, room-filling, moving, and ancient. Judging by the way in which the 29-year-old sings, one would believe that by the time you turn 29 you already know everything there is to know about life. On tour in preparation for the release her upcoming album Give Up the Ghost, Carlile cannot help but bring her youthful but somehow wizened experience to the stage. She is accompanied by longtime touring partners Tim and Bill Hanseroth, who do all they can to help add to Carlile’s intensely personal sound. While it might be nice to say that Carlile makes her art effortlessly, that would sell short the unchecked passion that makes this performer one that is not to be missed. You may feel unsettled or intrusive listening to her extremely private reflections, but you shouldn’t be. Hers are words that simply need to be heard. (Appearing at House of Blues on September 25 & 26) –text: Diana Novak

SECRET MACHINES
Secret Machines know a thing or two about side projects. The New York-by-way-of-Texas trio has dealt with them since the band’s conception. In their early years, Secret Machines came together as a temporary offshoot of acts such as Tripping Daisy and Comet. And years later — more than a half-decade into its spacey, long-reaching take on psychedelic hard rock — frontman Brandon Curtis is feeling a side project’s effects in a much different way. His Secret Machines co-founder and brother, Benjamin Curtis, packed up his guitar and bolted before work on Secret Machines’ third LP began last year so he could front School of Seven Bells. That left Brandon Curtis’ Pink Floyd-style rock alone to echo throughout that 2008 self-titled release with towering anthems and skyrocketing crescendos — despite his childhood collaborator’s backing vocals and swirling riffs taking a side seat. (Appearing with …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead at Logan Square Auditorium on September 25) –text: Derek Wright

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE
Some call this influential Seattle band the originators of modern-day emo, but they sound more hardcore than depressed. While grunge music was starting to emerge in the Pacific Northwest during the quartet’s early-’90s beginnings, Sunny Day Real Estate decided to carve its own path. In true rock star fashion, they only gave one interview and refused to play in California. Their first album, Diary (1994), made them stars but they soon hit choppy waters which resulted in their first breakup halfway through the recording of their second album, LP2. Like any good breakup, SDRE got back together only to break up again. Lead singer Jeremy Enigk embarked on a successful solo career while the others joined Foo Fighters. The past is now forgotten as SDRE has finally reunited again, this time with all of its original members. (Appearing with The Jealous Sound at Metro on September 24) –text: Garin Pirnia–photo: redandblack.com

Beach House

Pop is music that makes you feel, and we have always responded to sounds and melodies that made us instantly feel something right inside of our chests.

story by Andrew Clayman
photo by Liz Flyntz

As evidenced by the discrepancy in the font size of the marquee in front of Metro, Beach House is merely opening for Grizzly Bear during the bands’ two-night stint at the mid-size Chicago venue this month. However, fans of the fast-rising Grizz should be warned: when Beach House’s Victoria Legrand starts to sing, it’s easy to forget that anyone else is on the bill (or on the planet for that matter…)

Legrand (vocals, organ) and Alex Scally (guitar) started Beach House back in 2004 and have since risen to the forefront of a thriving Baltimore indie scene. Both their self-titled 2006 debut and 2008 follow-up Devotion were hailed as dream-pop classics, with most of the emphasis falling on the duo’s classical training and ethereal, almost trance-inducing combination of organ and slide guitar. Chicago Innerview caught up with Legrand and Scally on tour in Europe, where they emailed us from what was reported to be a lovely hotel in Amsterdam.

Chicago Innerview: Back in December, in this very publication, I proudly ranked Devotion the top album of 2008. Was I correct, or did I totally miss the boat on something far superior?
Alex Scally: Well shucks, thank you very much. There were so many records released that were really unique and great in different ways. There’s no way that I could get my brain to decide which was number one.

Chicago Innerview: A lot of critics tend to fixate on Beach House’s ‘dreamy’ sound and classical background, but your skills as pop songwriters tend to get overlooked I think. Do you see Beach House as a ‘pop’ band?
Alex Scally: Yes, we do. I am so glad that you say that because we do fancy ourselves to be pop writers. I think that every song that we’ve made has had that energy.
Victoria Legrand: Pop is music that makes you feel, and we have always responded to sounds and melodies that made us instantly feel something right inside of our chests. The classical knowledge is a great tool. But your natural instincts take over when you hear something right.

CI: Do you think it’s fair that you tend to get labeled as a ‘melancholy’ band, or is that a mischaracterization?
VL: The melancholy thing is okay, but I think many other colors in the emotional rainbow are coming. I hope to start hearing new words [to describe our music] other than ‘languid’ and ‘sleepy.’

CI: What are you looking forward to about touring with Grizzly Bear?
AS: They’ve been kind of like an older brother to us — we’ve learned a lot from them. I suppose I’m just excited to play in larger rooms and try to make it feel intense for ourselves, even with the loss of personal communication.
VL: Killer bros, those guys. We are looking forward to driving thousands of miles while they soar by in the big old bus. All joking aside, they have been nothing but natural from the start — kind and thoughtful. [Grizzly Bear lead singer] Ed [Droste] is always blowing my mind.

CI: As one of those much-ballyhooed ‘Baltimore bands,’ are you proud ambassadors or does the association start to become a bit limiting?
AS: I’m fine with it. We really love the community we’ve found in Baltimore. Everyone is making such drastically different stuff, really.
VL: Yeah, Baltimore is just fine. I live there, my stuff is there. So is my cat. I come and go. Great friends. It’s never limiting — just every couple of months I want to run screaming into the desert.

Beach House :: with Grizzly Bear :: Metro :: September 27 & 28.

Busdriver

Underground rap is an anachronism. What it is and what it was about is kind of gone. It’s lost its ability to truly and really be, although a lot of people still perpetuate it.

story by Matthew Partington
photo by Brian Tamborello

When Ragen Farquhar (a.k.a. Busdriver) declares that “underground rap happened ten years ago,” you might begin to wonder what exactly is left for the movement — and for one of its most prodigal students. Since 2002, Farquhar has embodied many derivations of the underground hip-hop scene: creative lyrical assaults, do-it-yourself musicianship, and intellectually honest sociopolitical commentary. What Busdriver does not embody, however, is the self-congratulatory patting on the back bullshit which is unfortunately so commonplace in much of underground rap. On the contrary, some of Farquhar’s music even features him dissing himself as much as others.

“Underground rap is an anachronism. What it is and what it was about is kind of gone. It’s lost its ability to truly and really be, although a lot of people still perpetuate it,” Farquhar said. The aforementioned line in which Farquhar disses himself “is just a self-deprecating roar and stab at myself and something I find funny at the time.”

This type of ironic creativity has defined Farquhar’s music since 2002’s Temporary Forever, cementing Busdriver’s reputation as an incredibly quick-witted and quick-spoken representative of independent hip-hop. For many listeners, Farquhar’s speed-of-light meter and dadaistic references are as polarizing as they are enjoyable, but the man’s lyrical talents and eccentricities are hard to ignore. With Jhelli Beam, Busdriver’s most recent release for Anti Records, Farquhar has created what he considers to be the spiritual endpoint to the music that he has been making since Temporary Forever.

“I think that it’s a bookend to the things I have been doing since 2002. This’ll be the last record that will sound like that in a particular way with more difficult grabs, irreverence, and cluster-fuck writing styles. I think the records after that will be a slight shift,” Farquhar said. While he says he’s not quite certain of the direction his future music will follow, Jhelli Beam was perhaps Busdriver’s easiest album to produce. Instead of focusing on heavily conceptualized ideas, which formed the basis of 2007’s RoadKillOvercoat, Jhelli Beam was brought about from a more instructive creative place.

“It didn’t take much prodding to make this record. I just ignored some of the outside pressures that would normally guide the final product and made a record that I really wanted to make. It wasn’t anything unusual; I just pushed it towards where I went,” Farquhar explained. “These are the songs that my skills have led me to, without leaving any serious guidance…I just wanted to challenge myself and make sure I was still able to do things I was doing five or six years ago. It wasn’t as goal-oriented as the last [record]; I just let myself freely do whatever I wanted.”

The end result? A distinctly Busdriver album full of juxtaposed pop-culture references, self-referential insults and inspired wordplay. Jhelli Beam also features the work of electronic producer Daedelus, Farquhar’s longtime friend and collaborator. The two combined on the 2003 album The Weather and serve as interesting compliments to one another, layering Farquhar’s breakneck vocals with Daedelus’ buzzing synth loops.

“In most respects, we are kindred spirits,” Farquhar said. “One thing he definitely taught me was that songs should not have the rigid confines that people give them, especially in rap music. Those rigid confines don’t need to be there.”

Busdriver :: with Abstract Rude :: Empty Bottle :: September 8.

Datarock

Being an artist is very one-dimensional. If I didn’t put my spare energy into the label, I’d go crazy.

story by Derek Wright

George Orwell didn’t think too highly of the year 1984. Published six months before the English writer’s death, Orwell’s famous novel 1984 remains a prophetic call-to-arms in the arena of modern civilization’s collective social awareness. Orwell’s anti-establishment magnum opus is a cautionary tale of blind acquiescence, with the author’s 1984 portrayed as a restrictive era — void of the intellectual liberty for artistic imagination and without the physical freedom to love, to laugh, or to dance.

Orwell’s 1984 stands in stark contrast to Fredrik “Rock Steady Freddy” Saroea’s 1984. As half of the Norwegian electronic duo Datarock, Saroea has carved out a jumpsuit-clad niche around the year in which Ronald Reagan cruised to a landslide re-election victory. Saroea and bandmate Ketil “Ket-Ill” Mosnes are two LPs into a minimalist, groove-savvy catalog that is chock full of the exact type of optimistic tongue-in-cheek charades that defined so much of new wave’s golden age. And Red, the band’s sophomore release, ups the hindsight ante with an album made entirely with pre-1984 instruments. “On our first album, we definitely were inspired by the early ’80s,” said Saroea. “Which is why I wanted to emphasize on this album that it’s more about the late ’70s.”

Compiled entirely with instruments manufactured between 1976 and 1983, Red’s infectious rock tunes are even more encapsulated than those found on Datarock’s dance-worthy 2005 debut. Although recorded primarily in the band’s hometown of Bergen, Norway, the duo utilized three studios in two countries, with five co-producers working alongside Saroea. And to generate a coherent sound amidst this locale and personnel carousel, Datarock found consistency in the equipment. In doing so, the band crafted a raucous, sarcastic rock ‘n’ roll album built upon solid dance-floor aesthetics. The 13 tracks play out like an ode to the heydays of London, Manchester and New York’s CBGB, calling upon everyone from Devo to The Fall.

It’s an endearing album aimed at lifting Datarock from a cult status they have built upon their expansive live shows, as well as their newfound gaming audience — which Datarock collected after putting their songs on 18 different video game soundtracks. “The story about ‘the difficult second album’ is true. There’s a lot going on with the tours and then using our current status to help as many other Bergen bands as we can,” said Saroea, who promotes concerts as one of the heads of the Young Aspiring Professionals record label. “Fucking up your own career is one thing, but there’s a lot of pressure when you might fuck up someone else’s.”

Saroea’s label is poised to release a singles series humorously titled Datarock’s Patriot Act, and the YAP roster continues to grow under the tutelage of its breakout figureheads. “Being an artist is very one-dimensional. If I didn’t put my spare energy into the label, I’d go crazy,” said Saroea, whose town has also been home to acts such as Royksopp and Annie. “As musicians, we become blasé because you can’t let yourself get effected by everything people say. But with the label, we get so excited to see these younger bands charting on radio or getting booked at bigger shows. It energizes us to see how excited they can get.”

That energy has kept Saroea and Mosnes sounding fresh, even as their debut spun in obscurity for almost three years before garnering international acclaim. And it’s that same vigor which injects Red with the revolutionary degree of self-awareness that Orwell’s most timeless characters also possessed…both in 1984 as well as in 2009.

Datarock :: with Esser :: Double Door :: September 11.