Tag Archives: already dead

Kalamazoo Throwbacks and Favorites – PROBLEMS THAT FIX THEMSELVES, THE NEW DIET, FORGET THE TIMES @ Milhouse 11.29

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If you haven’t heard, former Kalamazoo project turned Chicago project PROBLEMS THAT FIX THEMSELVES have released a new album. You can read all about it right here, on a lovely earlier DIT post. You can also go to the listening party at Satellite 10697266_10102636338802822_2225884409184879828_oRecords on the 29th, at 6:00PM, where you could win a free copy of the record!

Problems is a long-standing but ever changing noise project from Josh Tabbia, the Chicago counterpart to the Kalamazoo/Chicago tape and record label ALREADY DEAD, which you may or may not be familiar with from the Already Dead Family Reunion – a yearly musical event that happens in the fall based around the label.

Sean Hartman, the Kalamazoo counterpart to the label, will also be performing at the Milhouse show in his full band noise collective FORGET THE TIMES. A large difference in sound and performance style from Problems, this show is sure to illustrate variance of noise music to you, if you are still yet unfamiliar.

Finally, Kalamazoo favorites out of Chicago THE NEW DIET will be making another appearance. Though you may or may not have seen them before, rumor has it that this show will be somewhat of a departure from the stuff your familiar with. If you’re curious as to what that means, you’ll just have to come and find out. Here’s a snippet of an earlier performance of theirs at Milhouse.

Please please please bring money for donatin’ the outta towners, and be sure to take a look at the merch if you’re into that sot of thing! Be excellent to each other. No time for punk time, so be there at 9:00. Email ditkalamazoo@gmail.com for the address.

 

The Aptly Named ALREADY DEAD FAMILY REUNION 4 – Day One – Milhouse/Satellite 9.24

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As someone who has been on the periphery of involvement in Already Dead Tapes & Records, and in the Family Reunion, I have often felt that Family Reunion VS Festival is such a fitting title for the event. If your friends are your family, like so often is the case in my life personally, you may feel similarly. Many of the artists who have played this fest have a vested interest in Kalamazoo – they live here currently, they’ve played here, they’ve ADstickfound meaningful relationships here, and they’ve all been honing their craft for the year to showcase to you, and to the rest of the family/friends/aacquaintancesnewcomers in attendance.

But if you feel like you don’t know anyone on this list (and that might be true, this event focuses on some fairly unknown or under-praised artists) the structure allows for you to not even get to know some art you’ve never heard, but to get to know the people involved. This is what Kalamazoo does best and what keeps people coming here, the open mind about all sorts of music, and the openness to new people from near and far. Come meet the family – chances are it’ll actually be less awkward than an actual Family Reunion.

DAY ONE of ADFR will ease us in with a potluck gathering and (weather permitting) acoustic acts on the Milhouse porch (contact DITkalamazoo@gmail.com for address)

VICTORIA BLADE (Chicago) will showcase her talents for the first time as a solo artist in Kalamazoo. This former resident

AXEL QUINLAN (Kalamazoo) is an unsung hero of modern folk music, and there’s little chance you wont be taken in by his writing and steadfast presentation.

PLUS SHOW AT SATELLITE (starts at 9:00)

ARGERN (????) I can’t find anything about this artist, you’ll just have to come and see!

FORGET THE TIMES (Kalamazoo) are noise guitar/drums abstract expressionists .

DUMBELIEVERS (Kalamazoo) are highly hyped bizarre guitar

CELLULAR CHAOS (Brooklyn) a project of Weasel Walter of The Flying Leuttenbachers  that plays some of the best freakout jazz punk you’ve never heard or will ever hear.

Find more info about the entire fest at http://familyreunion.alreadydeadtapes.com/ / http://alreadydeadtapes.storenvy.com/products/8859087-family-reunion-3-day-pass (1 day passes available as well, but this is the best deal!) or stay tuned for more individual posts on DITK about individual days!

Fast And Angular Anxiety Music – Forget the Times, U SCO (Oregon), Anybody But The Cops – 8.29 – Milhouse

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This Friday at Milhouse, expect to hear some loud, fast, experimental and instrumental kaseygnar – from near and far.

U SCO, traveling all the way from Portland, Oregon, are making their first trip to Michigan, though one member previously played Milhouse in the band Duck, Little Brother, Duck! If you are a fan of Hella, Spelling Bee, or any of those other technically precise yet overwhelmingly chaotic bands, it is imperative that you check this band out. They have just released a new album, Treffpunkt, which they will have on tour.

if U SCO  was not enough, local leaders in West Michigan noise music, FORGET THE TIMES will be making their first Milhouse appearance of 2014. If you’re unfamiliar, you’ll more or less have to check it out live because this improv collective is a different deal every time.

Finally, the band that is essentially Milhouse’s house band for angular bullshit punk, ANYBODY BUT THE COPS will also be making an appearance. A grab bag of highly planned music that sounds like a bunch of mistakes in a row, or 30something songs played as a medly. Expect a new track if you can find it!

THIS SHOW STARTS AT 9:00. THIS SHOW ALSO IS DONATION BASED WHICH MEANS BRING SOME ¢A$H DOLLARS. THIS SHOW SUPPORTS NO JERKS AND WISHES FOR THE DISBANDING OF THE JERK RULING CLASS. BE EXCELLENT.

for the address email ditkalamazoo@gmail.com

Already Dead Family Reunion 3: Already Dead-er

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Kalamazoo is fortunate enough to hold split-custody with an excellent tape and record label – Already Dead Tapes & Records, to be exact. Well, they treat themselves a lot like an extended family, and so every year, like to hold a bit of a Family Reunion. This weekend marks the 3rd one. I’ll spare you the talky-talky and get down to the details:

DAY 1: Thursday Sept. 19th at the Kalamazoo Collective Arts Center (511 W. Vine)

6/6:25 – Fuzz Town (MI)
6:25/7:05 – Cape And Cowl (MI)
7:05/7:45 – Kevin Greenspon (CA)
7:45/8:25 – T.J. Borden & Pat Cain (NY)
8:25/9:05 – Saxsquatch (MI)
9:05/9:45 – Ultralight (MN)
9:45/10:25 – Radiator Hospital (PA)
10:25/11:05 – Big Waves Of Pretty (WI)
11:05/12 – Not The Wind, Not The Flag (Canada)

DAY 2: Friday Sept. 20th @ The 411 Club (411 N. Westnedge)

6/6:30 – Anybody But The Cops vs. Seventeen Again
6:30/7:15 – Invisible Trails (MI)
7:15/8 – Frankie Teardrop (OH)
8/8:45 – Video Daughters (NY)
8:45/9:30 – Chat Logs (NY)
9:30/10:15 – Electric Nature (GA)
10:15/11 – Forget The Times (MI)
11/11:45 – The New Diet (IL)
11:45/12:30 – No Monster Club (Ireland)

DAY 3: Friday Sept. 21st @ The 4aa Club (411 N. Westnedge)

6/6:30 – Boring People (MI)
6:30/7:15 – U.S. Tribes (IL)
7:15/8 – Lore City (IL)
8/8:45 – Britches (MO)
8:45/9:30 – Ou Ou (MO)
9:30/10:15 – About A Million (is the greatest) (PA)
10:15/11 – Nesey Gallons (GA)
11/11:45 – Problems That Fix Themselves (IL)
11:45/12:30 – Teenage Tasteless (Germany)

There are also a pair of most excellent after-parties at WAYNE MANOR. with Friday night featuring Morseville Bridge, Bill Tucker, and The Grow Fangs. Saturday night will feature Mezzanine Swimmers, Spelling Bee, and and The Wrap.

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Tickets are $10 per night at the door, or you can buy a weekend pass for 21 bucks. There will be plenty of excellent music and swag to purchase from the various touring bands. The people will be wonderful, the friends will be fantastic, and the music, of course, will be outstanding.

Pleased join in, y’all. After all, it’s an extended family.

Already Dead Family Reunion Preview: Emperor X

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Emperor X

With the days counting down to the second Already Dead Family Reunion, we here over at DIT figured we’d do an extended preview of sorts about a few of the artists that are near, dear, or just plain cool. On each day of this week we are going to be posting a new artist. saying  a little bit about them, and why they are going to make this year’s AD Fest just that much more unmissable.

Los Angeles-based artist Emperor X has only twice visited Kalamazoo in three times as many years (ADFR will be his third time to the city), but with a passion for touring and physical musical media, the Already Dead Family seems a proper fit. The dedication for the original, creative, and representation of physical music is so intuitive, that with the latest Emperor X release Western Teleport (2011), 41 purple cassette tapes were hidden around  North America as part of a meta-game which would unlock extra MP3s. Only 15 of them have been found.

While founder Chad Matheny first came to Kalamazoo years ago with a full band behind him, Emperor X has since simplified into a solo set that has toured all over the United States– it was a show in Willimantic, CT with Forget The Times that initially introduced Matheny to Already Dead Tapes co-founder and festival starter Sean Hartman. While designs for a 4-way split featuring Emperor X on Already Dead Records were thought up, they have since been changed to a normal split twixt Dan Doyle and the Hermit Thrushes, Hartman has assured that “we’ll get something with him eventually.”

Though reduced to the company of himself, Emperor X‘s sound is not by any means meager. The one-man-show is rounded out with loop pedals, multiple microphones, and song lyrics pumped full of  science-savvy terminology, geek-culture references, and heart-throbbing angst that provide oodles of experimental-pop sound. Everything is as catchy as fish-hook strung through Ben Gibbard’s upper-lip, and as hauntingly vexing as a Sam Beam solo set.

Those that want to sneak a peak at Emperor X can check out his song “Erica Western Teleport” from Western Teleport below.  For a more intimate feel, listeners and viewers can witness him live at Louie’s Trophy House and Grill, this Saturday from 10:30 p.m. to 11:15p.m.  as part of the Already Dead Family Reunion. Tickets $7 now,  $10 at the door, or $12 for the whole weekend.

Respect the Bar, Respect the Crowd, but don’t forget to enjoy yourself.