It’s cold and snowy. You want to be inside a place. The Corner Record Shop is a place. Wednesday night, it is also -the- place to be.
From Boston, Bad History Month will be bringing acoustic versions of tracks by Boston band Fat History Month, from the record Sad History Month. If you like Modest Mouse even a little, You’ll love these guys. For those of you who are familiar with and enjoy About A Million, you may love these guys even more. Naked guitar. world-weary vocals. An ever-present sense of despair coupled with the thrill of living a minute at a time. Is this what being beautiful feels like? You be the judge.
If December is Bad History Month, then Kalamazoo is FUZZ TOWN. Crackling drone-noise-guitar by locals Josh (of Forget The Times) and Josh (of Joshualien, AKA Poncho). A favorite of the local experimental offerings, these guys will make you think about how you feel. Maybe even a little too much.
Finally, Local Boulder Saxsquatch will be playing an experimental solo set.
Doors are open ALL DAY because it’s a RECORD STORE. Bring bucks for the touring act! BYOB but don’t act a danged fool! The show will start at 9 and should be pretty cool! Hope to see y’all there.
Speedy Ortiz are a band out of Northampton, MA who have been fortunate enough to have received a lot of positive attention from larger publications. Their hard work and talent has been noticed, and through that they’re getting opportunities to play with bigger indie bands in big venues.
But the thing about Speedy Ortiz is that the four weirdo rockers have an affinity for Kalamazoo, ever since playing here on their first major tour in the summer of 2012. On their way out from the east coast to play several shows with The Breeders, they’re making a quick last minute stop to a dingy basement in our small, snowy college town.
If you’ve seen them, chances are you’re already planning on going to this show. If you’re unfamiliar, Speedy Ortiz are a hard-hitting rock group, packed to the gills with hooks without the cheesy aspect. They bring just the right balance of noise and melody to keep it interesting. You walk away from the show wanting to listen to the recordings, and you walk away from the record wanting to start it over again.
If my words fail you, maybe this will help:
Local support for this rad show will be Cobalt Mexican Wolves – the enigmatic dance machine from the Double Phelix group, fronted by Fiona Dickinson
As well as New(er) to the scene The Uncanny, a retro oldschool vintage throwback surfy instrumental project, comprised of folks from many other local bands, and inspired by the haunted or cursed guitar of another local musician.
This show will start at 8:00 on the dot! Please bring a buck or two as per usual. Please be excellent to everyone around you, and everyone around you will act in kind. Respect the everything and remember how much you like Kalamazoo.
No really. We’re gonna have the furnace running and everything. Also, we’ve got some really cool bands playing. So that will help.
Here’s the scoop:
SEAN & FIONA
Kalamazoo’s duo of Sean & Fiona are reuniting for their first show in over a year! (and maybe their third show ever). Get ready for some improvised Dark Psych Folk sounds with moments of sublime beauty.
Our neighbors from across Lake Michigan are invading. House Sounds are bringing their own brands of Chicago weirdness featuring the sounds of Surf / Psych / Indie Punk
Check it:
LE MUTANT
On tour with House Sounds and coming all the way from FRANCE! We’re lucky to have them here in Kalamazoo. Le Mutant play a sort of back alley Psychedelic Rockabilly. Here to delight yr ears and tickle yr fancy.
As always, shows at Corner Record Shop are All Ages and Donation Based.
Doors are at 8pm and Music starts at 9:30pm
Here’s a link to the facebook event if ya wanna show yr support that way too: https://www.facebook.com/events/329159123891332/
Local art masters, Diamond Wave Press, are celebrating the release of their chapbook at Louie’s this Friday. The book contains works of art and poetry from many Kalamazoo favorites.
The event will be accompanied by the musical musings of Tim Tapper, Alex Quinlan, and Deep Waters. Visual art works by David Spalvieri-Kruse will be on display as part of the November Art Hop. Come check out the art and the music!
Come on out for the Goat House’s first-ever show! Enjoy sweet acoustic goodness in our living room! We have three local singer-songwriters who will delight your ears, PLUS all the way from Scotland, folk-punker Billy Liar! Due to some last-minute Facebook wizardry, we will be joined by BILLY LIAR, “the romantic punk singer, travelling the world with a battered acoustic guitar and writing about everything he observes. He is a whirlwind of acoustic strings, folk poetry and trusty chords.”
Our lineup Thursday will include:
Kalamazoo favorite ARMS AKIMBO, whose songs always get stuck in my head at the most inconvenient times.
Up-and-coming JAIME PENNELLY, who sez: “music, performing, singing, and songwriting makes me come to life.” That’s funny, hearing her music makes me feel the same way.
JAKE NIVALA, whose gorgeous guitar playing and pensive lyrics are perfect for these autumn days.
Make your bummer-time middle-of-the-week Wednesday something more memorable by checking out the dense, heavy, massive, gigantic jams at Milhouse.
Touring in for the evening, LES RHINOCEROS are a band with releases on John Zorn’s label Tzadik (and if that means absolutely anything to you, I’ve probably already sold you on checking out this show) from Washington DC. They are a technical math-rock band, incorporating rhythmic patterns from the middle east, coupled with hard-hitting fuzzed out rock riffs. If you happened to have been at the Joint Chiefs of Math / Reptilian Shape Shifter show at Milhouse earlier this year, you will also enjoy this band almost assuredly.
Backing up this Les Rhinoceros will be local hard-hitters BROWN COMPANY – a band comprised of many veterans in the weird / rock / punk of Kalamazoo. This group creates a hell of a wall of sound, and are a highly compelling live show. This will also be their first house show, so lets give them a warm welcome.
Also on the bill, a combined effort from two experimental groups – PROGNOSIS NEGATIVE and FUZZ TOWN – will be making an appearance. They have never played together, chances are they never will again. Fuzz Town is an experimental guitar / pedal / loops/ beats duo comprised of the birthday boy of the day Poncho, and Josh Miller of many local bands. Prognosis Negative is a saxophone improv duo comprised of local notorious figures Saxquatch and Sean Hartman. Together these groups have something special in mind for the evening.
Show begins at 9:00 on the dot with BROWN COMPANY. Please bring money for the touring group. Strive to be the best person you can be. Tell your friends.
If this doesn’t sound like your sort of deal, not to worry! Fireplace Club and Courthouse will also be having shows this day. Fireplace Club will be starting earlier in the evening (with pumpkin carving!) and Courthouse later, so feasibly you could check out all performances!
FIREPLACE CLUB: Glowfriends (tour kickoff), Deep Waters, Erich Kuperschmidt
COURTHOUSE: Anwar Sadat, White Reaper, SAPPHIC
For any of these addresses, email ditkalamazoo@gmail.com
This Monday, two New York artists, TOLD SLANT and FLORIST will be touring into Kalamazoo to perform in the new(er) house venue, the ithinkyercute house.
This show will incorporate elements of folk, coupled with spacious and intense ambient influence. All the artists are guaranteed to make you feel some feel.
TOLD SLANTis a three piece indie folk outfit headed by distinct-sounding singer Felix Walworth. Though the songs our simple, they have a compelling strong honest feel that is hard to ignore. Plus, their live presentation is unconventional, as can be seen here:
Told Slant is on tour with FLORISTwho play spacey, off-kilter folk music. The sort of music that is perfect for fall, and for sitting in a home self-reflecting with all your friends.
Supporting these traveling folks will be FIONA DICKINSON, a local favorite as far as intense folk songwriting, and a true powerhouse when it comes to an honestly compelling live presence. DEEP WATERSwill also be performing richly complex and thoughtful compositions. Sometimes performed with guitars, sometimes keyboards – just going to have to show up to find out!
This show is starting at 8:00, Please bring money for the traveling acts. Respect the house, the bands, yourself.
ithinkyercute is a fairly new location in town, so if you need the address email ditkalamazoo@gmail.com.
It’s that time again, folks…Kalamashoegazer 7 is upon us, this Saturday, October 12th at Louie’s Trophy House Grill. The all ages shoegaze and dreampop festival starts at 4 p.m. (doors at 3) with Helical Scan from Grand Rapids, followed by Crash City Saints from Kalamazoo, Whales from Chicago, 800Beloved from Midland, Glowfriends from Kalamazoo, Brief Candles from Milwaukee, and closing out with Airiel from Chicago, headlining.
Admission to the show is $10. Advance tickets are still available at Corner Record Shop in Kalamazoo and Grandville, Michigan, and also at Louie’s Trophy House Grill in Kalamazoo. Tickets may be purchased on-line from http://www.brownpapertickets.com, however there is a small service fee. Any person attending the show that presents an advance ticket at the door will receive a free copy of the Limited Edition Kalamashoegazer 7 cassette, that includes one rare and previously unreleased track by each band that is playing the festival. If there are any cassettes left, they will be available for purchase at the show for $5 each. (Cassettes are LTD to 200 copies.)
Here’s a brief description of the history of the festival and the bands playing it this year…
Kalamashoegazer was started in 2007 by April Zimont and her brother, Mark Morris of the glowfriends. They had been touring out on the West Coast in the early 2000’s when the found out about a burgeoning underground shoegaze scene that was going in southern California. After a show they played at the Troubadour on Santa Monica Blvd, April was handed a flyer by someone outside the venue for a “shoegaze night” at Club Violaine. For several years, when they were out that way on tour, April and Mark attended Violaine’s events, which involved DJ’s spinning obscure shoegaze/dreampop/ambient/noise music, along with usually 3 or 4 bands playing that night as well. Fans gathered, danced, traded music, and a good time was had by all. The idea of bringing something similar to Michigan, to invite shoegaze fans from all over the midwest to gather together in Kalamazoo for one entire day celebrating “the scene that celebrates itself” was born.
Helical Scan – The opening band this year is a new band from Grand Rapids, MI, called Helical Scan. Noisy, dreamy, and melodic, Helical Scan have somewhat of a 90’s thing going with a sound that is uniquely their own. Fans of Sonic Youth, Ride, and Slowdive will enjoy the scattered and beautiful waves that Helical Scan create.
Crash City Saints – CCS are one of Kalamazoo’s longest running bands, led by Joshua Garman. The band has seen as many line-up changes as the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and drama to boot. They released an amazing record on a Japanese record label a few years back, and are having a new one mixed and mastered right now by Elliott Frazier of Ringo Deathstarr. The band is currently playing with it’s most solid and consistent line-up thus far, and the songs have got enough reverb and distortion to melt your mind.
Whales – Chicago based band Whales are a Kalamazoo favorite and have a great following here. If you haven’t seen them yet, you’ve likely heard the buzz about them, and ought to do yourself a favor and check out this super sweet, fun, noisy band. Raw, almost punk-like energy that comes out of nowhere and then drifts into blissful melodic and dreamy segments and back again…this band will totally catch your attention live. Their new full length album, “Size and Scale” will be released at the show.
800beloved – The ever elusive 800beloved, from “some suburban Michigan town” is lead by Sean Lynch, who writes unconventionally perfect pop tunes that are darkly melodic and enchanting. This band’s music practically has a smell to it that will take you back to the 80’s or at the very least, the awesome head space you were in when you first heard the Psychedelic Furs or the Cure. If that sounds amazing to you, this 800beloved will totally be your cup of tea.
Glowfriends – Kalamazoo’s own glowfriends are 6 piece dreampop band who make some pretty music that is sometimes really quiet and delicate and sometimes really loud and abrasive. Go figure. The pop sensibilities are all there, the songs are catchy and melodic, yet somehow not predictable, male/female harmonies abound, guitars soar and distort their way through every emotion possible in a 40 minute set. Kevin Dixon from Brief Candles just recorded and produced glowfriends new album, “Gather us Together” which will be released on vinyl sometime in 2014.
Brief Candles – From Milwaukee, WI, Brief Candles are another fan favorite in Kalamazoo…something cathartic happens when they play here, and everyone is ready to dance and throw down to their powerful sound. The band is touring for their newest EP, “Newhouse” which was just released on Guilt Ridden Pop. If you’ve seen them before, it’s likely they’re a top reason you’re going to Kalamashoegazer, and if you haven’t seen them yet, prepare yourself…this band is amazing live.
Airiel – Legendary shoegaze band, Airiel, from Chicago, are the headliners this year, and we’re thrilled to have them! The band has been around since 1997, and are much loved in the shoegaze scene world wide. Fans of Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, etc. will not want to miss!
DITKalamazoo 