Submit to the darkness this Friday, as COME brings their dissonant alt-rock majesty to our humble stage. Led by guitarist/singer THALIA ZELEK, the band creates shadowy atmosphere while playing chords and grooves designed to make you feel literally all the feels. Need proof? The video below is seventeen minutes of raw emotional evidence. With bluesy and bonecrushing riffs crashing alongside ZELEK's powerful howls and dynamic rhythm section, it's hard not to wonder why this band didn't make it as big as their contemporaries in NIRVANA and SONIC YOUTH. Their atmosphere is aching and melancholy, but somewhere within the strata of sadness, there is strength and light.Opening the show will be WREKMEISTER HARMONIES, the minimalistic synth/ambient/drone project of J.R. ROBINSON, who blew us away mere weeks ago at the Bohemian National Cemetery show. Combined with his visual projections, this venture explores some of the murkiest depths of the genre. His performance will include ANNE PATTERSON on cello, ESTHER SHAW on violin, JAIME FENNELLY on harmonium, MARK SOLOTROF on electronics, CHRIS BROKAW on guitar, and of course, J.R. ROBINSON on electronics, guitar and vocals. BROTHER JT, the experimental and psych-minded alter-ego of JOHN TERLESKY, will be following J.R. & co. with his unpredictably bold sonic stylings. Should you like what you hear - and wethinks you will - be sure and grab his Thrill Jockey debut, The Svelteness of Boogietude, released earlier this year.Doors are at 9:00, Show starts at 9:30. Tickets are $15.
We've got an almost-obnoxious number of awesome new shows coming to our stage (& LSA) in the next few months and they're all going on sale this week. Some of them are even on sale now! Check it out ("after the jump") and give a listen to the New Shows Playlist at the bottom of this post. What a world!8/16: Cheater Slicks (9:30pm; $10) *On Sale NOW*9/13: Bare Mutants (record release), Verma, VLLLGE (9:30pm; $10 (advance), $12) *On-sale Friday @ 10am*9/16: Terry Malts, Spray Paint (9pm; Free) *FREE MONDAY*10/5: Quintron and Miss Pussycat, zZz (9:30pm; $10 (advance), $14) *On Sale NOW*10/8: Obits (9pm; $12) *On-sale Friday @ 10am*10/11: The Moondoggies, Rose Windows, Is/Is (9pm; $12) *On-sale Friday @ 10am*10/14: Islands (9pm; $12) *On-sale Friday @ 10am*10/18: The Men, Fuzz, Purling Hiss, CCR Headcleaner @ Logan Square Auditorium (8pm; $12 (advance), $14 – 17+) *On-sale Fri, 7/12 @ 10am*"Shark Pizza" image courtesy of Hobo Lunchbox.
P4K Lolla
UMO
Summer Festival Season is in full swing all over Chicago and two of the biggest fests, the annual Pitchfork & Lollapalooza music gatherings, are just around the corner. Say what you will about the fests (actually, don't), but we think it's great that they allow for us to have Aftershows at our venue. We get to welcome acts that have become popular enough to have outgrown our fair room, and whether you want to stand out in the heat and/or rain, you can still come rock the eff out with totally killer bands in an intimate space. WIN-WIN!This year we've got two more Aftershows to announce, one for Pitchfork and one for Lollapalooza, and we're damn excited for both of em!The Friday of PITCHFORK (7/19) we're hosting the first of three Panache Booking Aftershows, and this one will feature legendary punk band THE ZEROS!Making their first appearance ever on our stage, THE ZEROS will be supported by local psych/garage/rock heroes OUTER MINDS and Minneapolis rockers THE BLIND SHAKE. Tickets are $15 and you can get em NOW - grab em here!For Lollapalooza, we've teamed up with C3 & the Red Bull Sound Select Series to bring UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA back to our stage for their first time since 2011.UMO, as they're lovingly known, released their excellent sophomore album, appropriately titled II, on Jagjaguwar Records at the beginning of the year and tonight they'll be joined by two fantastic, steadily-rising Chicago bands BARE MUTANTS and NETHERFRIENDS. Tickets are on sale NOW and they're going fast - grab some here before they're gone!EB out.
Manic Static is the lo-fi cassette, vinyl, and print label of Philip Lesicko, and we're proud to welcome a handful of the label's bands when they invade the Empty Bottle with their sites and sounds on Wednesday, July 17. Ransom note-style posters and striking textures characterize the minimalist-bordering-on-grisly aesthetic that defines Manic Static; the music is fittingly sparse while still warm and well-composed. Lesicko is also one half of The Funs, who recently moved four hours south of Chicago to renovate an abandoned farm house, in pursuit of a space to host remote shows, record music and continue developing their label. Check out these photos of the monstrosity they’re now calling home:
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manicstaticdeathwalls
manicstaticdeadtoilet
manicstatichouse
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They’re still touring extensively in support of their first LP, released this past Spring.This is a night of two-piece groups: Coffin Ships perform short and eloquent songs and are one of the original Manic Static bands. The Hecks recently put out a 7” on Chicago’s Moniker Records and are one of the most active Chicago bands of this year, receiving “Best New Rock Duo” from the Chicago Reader’s Best Of polls in 2012. Earring opens the show, a new two-piece featuring our own Jason Balla.
Japan has given us sumo wrestling, sushi, and loads of our favorite musicians (Boris, Ghost, Boredoms, etc)... And you can add NHK'Koyxen to the list of greatness. Osaka-born KOUHEI MATSUNAGA is a mysterious musician and illustrator who has been experimenting with the aural arts under several aliases since 1992 (NHK, NHKyx, Internet Magic, Koyxen). He's collaborated with artists like MERZBOW, JUNGLE BROTHERS' SENSATIONAL, AUTECHRE's SEAN BOOTH, and a hell of a lot more. He's even got his own label, Flying Swimming, which aims to publish and curate events of experimental contemporary music and art. MASTUNAGA is a character that must be witnessed to be fathomed, so if you love slick beats, electronic pulses, and weirdness, this should be on your to-see list.Check out some footage of him doing his thang here: http://youtu.be/pwo2yUEV-tELearn more about the show after the jump!A "breakthrough artist" of 2012 in the electro-house world, LEE GAMBLE has been electrifying audiences since the mid-2000's as a member of London's CYRK artist and musician collective. As a teen, he DJ'd on pirate radio and blew up on the jungle scene before moving in a more experimental direction. As Hunter S. Thompson would say, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Exploring the outer realms of abstraction through digital synthesis/resynthesis, LEE's distinct style and unique compositions are nothing short of groundbreaking. Don't you wanna bear witness to that? Of course you do. Listen to him mix shit up on his Soundcloud, and get ready for what he's got in store for The Bottle on Wednesday: https://soundcloud.com/leegambleA DJ set by Chicago's THE-DRUM kicks off this night of electro-house experimental madness, so show up on time. 8:30 Doors, 9:00 Show.$10 to get your mind blown? Sounds like a steal.Buy the ticket, take the ride: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3651864
TORRES & LADY LAMB THE BEEKEEPER co-headline a show this Thursday, June 27th at the Bottle that will leave you swooning, honey. MACKENZIE SCOTT and ALY SPALTRO, respectively, make music that's as rough-and-tumble as it is emotionally lush, as raw and imbued with blues and roots tradition as it is touching and straight to the heart. They have each crafted a singular breed of modern American folk that is distinct from each other and those who have come before. What unites them is an honest delivery, gorgeous pipes, and friendship knives.
lady torres
Brooklynite Lady Lamb dropped her record,
Ripely Pine
, in February on
Ba Da Bing!
Torres self-released her self-titled, debut LP from her home in Nashville in January. This is one of the last few dates these gals have on their brief touring stint together that by the looks of it has been just as fun as you'd imagine it would be. Probably because of those friendship knives.One of our favorite mellow rockin' openers, Chicago's
returns to play their deliciously poignant tunes for your ears' delights.The starts at 9. Tickets are 10 dollas
or at the door.
Written by our trusted intern BEN WILKES
We've got a really special week of live entertainment at ye ol' Empty Bottle, including a whole slew of touring bands that are making return journeys to our humble abode. Tickets to tonight's show with Cold Cave are sold out in advance, but there will be some at the door starting at 8:30pm - they cost $12. Cool!Check out what we've got on tap for the rest of the week and listen to a 32-minute playlist of some of the bands we got this week! See you all here!Tuesday, 6/25 - NUDE BEACH with Canadian Rifle, Split Feet (9pm; $8 (advance), $10)Wednesday, 6/26 - BLEEDING RAINBOW with Fat Creeps, Verma (9pm; $7)Thursday, 6/27 - TORRES + LADY LAMB THE BEEKEPER with Judson Claiborne (9pm; $10)Friday, 6/28 - The Hoyle Brothers (5:30pm; Free)Friday, 6/28 - Beak, Scientist (LP release), Before the Eyewall, Arbogast (9:30pm; $8 or Free with RSVP)Saturday, 6/29 *EARLY* - Throwing Shade LIVE with Erin Gibson & Bryan Safi (7pm; $15 (advance), $20)Saturday, 6/29 *LATE* - WINDY CITY SOUL CLUB (10pm; $5 cover)Sunday, 6/30 - An evening celebrating the life and music of Jay Bennett (7pm; $10)*Featuring songs performed by David Vandervelde, Edward Burch, Ben Clarke, Casey Meehan, Andy Wager, Josh Dumas, Robbie Hamilton, Dan Maloney, Thomas Comerford, Brian Morrissey, Tom Schraeder, Steve Dawson, Stan McConnell*
As you may already know, we announced our Official Lollapalooza Aftershows at the beginning of June and we’ve got some real burners coming to our home that first weekend in August. Each show will all be starting at around 10pm as to not interfere with any fest-attendees travel plans from Grant Park to our humble abode. All three nights have already sold out, but we've got your chance to snag some tickets in this here post...On Thursday, August 1st we welcome Virginia-based dream-pop experts WILD NOTHING, who will be joined by Chicago/Milwaukee soft-rockers CIRCLES and Chicago-based powergazers PINK FROST.Wild Nothing - “A Dancing Shell”We’re welcoming back Brooklyn indie-rock band DIIV on Saturday, August 3rd – the band opened for WILD NOTHING in late 2012 and this will be their first headlining gig at the Bottle. Opening the show are a few local favorites: poppy rock mutants RADAR EYES and minimal synth-babe MATCHESS.DIIV - “Doused”To close out the weekend, we’re getting wet and wild with California alt-punks WAVVES, a band that last played the Bottle as an Official Lolla Aftershow in 2011. This time around they’re joined by Chicago-based space-rockers E.T. HABIT Milwaukee power-rockers CALL ME LIGHTNING.Wavves - “Demon To Lean On”
Like we said, tickets to each show are sold out, but we're gonna be giving away a pair of tickets to each show through this here blog, so now's when you find out how you can score tickets of your own...Now that we're half-way through the year, people are gonna start making their
Best Records of the Year (So Far)
lists - normally we'd mock such a thing and make a snarky Facebook post, and that still might happen in the coming weeks, BUT we're also quite curious about what our friends are listening to. In the comments section, tell us what your favorite record of the year is (so far), along with which show you're trying to see,
by noon on Monday, June 24th
and you'll be entered to win a pair of tickets. GOOD LUCK!
This week we're hosting a show at Bohemian National Cemetery and it's also the night of a Supermoon. It’s going to be perfect. Literally, we could not imagine hosting an evening such as this – experimental melancholy and searing ensemble performances – in a better location. And you know what? We think you'd be into this sort of thing. Come spend your Saturday in Bohemian National Cemetery, as Wrekmeister Harmonies and a renowned roster of collaborators serenade you into darkness.The performance will take place near the Mausoleum (not among the graves – we aren’t monsters!) at the south-east corner of Pulaski and Bryn Mawr. Doors will open at 7 p.m., and WREKMEISTER HARMONIES set will begin at 9:30, one hour after sunset. This is a one-of-a-kind event that is not to be missed!"Reflective drones grow and decay, forming waves of overlapping sound that evolve into a gigantic roar of distorted guitar. Searing, disembodied howls and pummeling drums signal a shift from mournful to harrowing as Robinson and his ensemble lurch forward into the abyss." [Thrill Jockey]Tickets available hereWrekmeister Harmonies - You've Always Meant So Much to Me from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.J.R Robinson is a Chicago-based sound artist who works under the name WREKMEISTER HARMONIES to explore the darkest corners of minimalistic synth, drone, and ambient music, combined with visual projections he creates. His Thrill Jockey debut, You've Always Meant So Much To Me (slated for release on June 11) features a roster filled with the Windy City's experimental metal elite, including SANFORD PARKER, BRUCE LAMONT (YAKUZA, BLOODEIST), JEF WHITEHEAD aka WREST (LEVIATHAN), MARK SOLOTROFF (ANATOMY OF HABIT), JAIME FENNELLY (MIND OVER MIRRORS), FRED LONBERG-HOLM, and more. WREKMEISTER will be celebrating the release of the record by performing You've Always Meant So Much To Me in its entirety on June 22nd at the Bohemian National Cemetery of Chicago, where ROBINSON will be joined by the musicians that perform on the record.Opening will be ACTEURS, an unexpected newcomer of sorts comprised of BRIAN CASE (DISAPPEARS, THE PONYS, 90 DAY MEN) and JEREMY LEMOS (WHITE/LIGHT). Their self-titled debut released this past February is brimming with razor-sharp synth trance-outs and eerie darkness that will create a perfect cemetery soundscape. The NUMERO GROUP's ROB SEVIER will be DJing between acts.List of performers with WREKMEISTER HARMONIES:Bruce Lamont (Yakuza)Jef Whitehead (Leviathan)Ron DeFries (Indian)Dylan O'Toole (Indian)Eric Chaleff (Bloodiest)Mark Solotroff (Anatomy Of Habit)Sanford Parker (Corrections House)Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors)Nandini Khaund (Bloodiest)Anne PattersonEsther ShawPoster for the show:
Courtesy of Kill Hatsumomo Prints
This Wednesday we’ll be screening the documentary, If We Shout Loud Enough, a film about one of our favorite Baltimore punk bands of the 2000s, essential underground legends DOUBLE DAGGER! The event will be taking place at Galerie F in Logan Square, starting at 7pm, and it’s only $7! This is one of those special, don’t miss Empty Bottle Presents events, for anyone “who was there” at one of there shows when they were still around. Galerie F is located at 2381 N Milwaukee Ave.Watch the trailer:If We Shout Loud Enough is an intimate portrait that follows the punk band, Double Dagger, as they complete their final tour and album, tracing the history and growth of both the band and Baltimore’s underground music and arts scene. Along the way, we learn how this charming trio captivated audiences and critics, and why Baltimore has become such a vital and diverse creative breeding ground for the ethos of DIY music and art. In personal and often hilarious interviews, Double Dagger and other members of the Baltimore music scene talk about how and why they create art outside of the mainstream. If We Shout Loud Enough is filled with extraordinary performance footage from Double Dagger’s last tour, much of it shot from amid the sweaty bodies surging around the band. Featuring interviews with: Dan Deacon and members of Wye Oak, Future Islands, Ruiner, Thank You, and many others.Our favorite quote from the trailer: “Most bands now don’t have a personality, they have a haircut. And they don’t have a point of view, they have a publicist. I’m happy as hell you could never say that about Double Dagger.”
Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in an intergalactic wasteland where bands re-emerge out of nowhere like it’s The Year 2000, picking up where they left off like it hasn’t been 12 flippin’ years since they released their last record. That’s the case, at least, with Alabama sci-fi surf-rock revivalists MAN OR ASTRO-MAN?, who returned to release a new kick-ass LP, Defcon 5… 4… 3… 2… 1, on Vessels this past May. Always known as an unstoppably powerful live band, MoAM?’s original lineup of Birdstuff, Coco and Star Crunch reformed to play a series of shows in 2010, and since then, they have been putting on some of the best performances of their career, including two plays with us last summer at West Fest and the Bottle, where they blew the freakin’ roof off this joint. Needless to say, we’re unbelievably stoked to welcome these psychedelic space-punks back to our stage for TWO nights of madness and we want to offer YOU a chance to win a pair of tickets to one of their shows!Listen to their first single “Disintigrate” off the new record. Fill out the form below form by 3pm on Thursday, 6/13 for your chance to win tickets! Sorry, Charles - the contest is over; check your e-mail to see if you won! Or just buy those tickets you want so badly here.Astroset by Astro-Coco
Greetings, Earthlings. Welcome to our new diary... it's a "Blog."This is where you can find the most up-to-date news on all the various happenings at the Empty Bottle. We’ll be using this platform to announce new events, give away tickets to upcoming and sold out shows, post photos and videos from past shows, and generally just riff on what’s going on around da club. We want to share things with you here, and honestly, we want you to share things with us. The comments section is open because we’d love to hear your opinion, as long as it’s respectful (and well-informed). Just don’t be a dick. This isn’t YouTube – all you internet Trolls should go back under your bridge and harass kids on the internet elsewhere. Actually, no – don’t do that. Stop doing that. Go outside and play – you could use some sunshine. Be friendly.Speaking of comments, there's a contest in the comments section of this post! List FIVE THINGS YOU KNOW by noon on Friday, June 21st and you'll be entered to win a pair of tickets to the sold out COLD CAVE show at the Bottle on June 24th. Seriously, just tell us five things that you are sure you know for your chance to win tickets. Good luck...Here’s a video for your eyes and ears...