Joel Berk

Pitchfork’s annual music festival returns to Union Park in Chicago on July 17 – 19 for three full days of eclectic bands (and presumably lots of tight jeans and small pins). Hidden Track will be there covering the good, the bad and the ugly with a full review to follow the fest. In the meantime, we’ve put together a list of the top five bands we’re most excited to catch. From the genius soundscapes of Tortoise on Friday through the closing circus of the Flaming Lips on Sunday, this promises to be a great event.

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1. Tortoise [Friday 5PM @ the Connector Stage]

Any day I can see Tortoise is a great day. Their set next Friday night is part of the “Write the Night” series where fans vote for what songs the bands playing that night will tackle. For a band whose catalogue runs as deep as Tortoise’s this is quite an exciting prospect. Personally, I’m hoping for gems – tunes such as Gamera, Djed and Onions Wrapped in Rubber. I’m also quite interested to see if any tunes off of their recently-released Beacons Of Ancestorship will make it into the set. Prepare Your Coffin would make a particularly nice addition to a set of classics and rarities.

READ ON for four more bands to catch at the Pitchfork Festival…

First opening in 1889, the Auditorium Theater has seen an immense variety of top-notch art. From the Chicago Symphony’s debut performance in 1891, to rock shows by the likes of The Who, The Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa, the room always seems to bring the best out of its performers.

It is no surprise that Umphrey’s McGee chose to step up from the familiar confines of the Aragon Ballroom to this landmark venue for their 2008 New Years Run. And step up they did. The little band from the Midwest has grown into a formidable powerhouse, maturing better than I think anyone could have hoped. Last week’s New Years run was truly a professional display of a band once again on the rise.

I first visited the Auditorium Theater in 1994 to see the Broadway adaptation of The Who’s Tommy, and it warped my 10-year-old mind. From then on, I was obsessed with The Who – a factor that in many ways set me down my current path. Had I not seen Tommy, I wouldn’t have started playing music or developed as a listener, and would most likely see things differently than I currently do. Needless to say, I was very excited to see how Umphrey’s would utilize a room with such amazing sound and sight lines.

READ ON for more of Joel’s thoughts and photos from UM in Chicago…

It’s hard to explain the effect Frank’s music has had on me.

At its simplest, it amuses the hell out of me. At its most complex, it forces me to think about my own life’s endless possibilities and whether or not I’m living up to my full potential. Something happens once all that is Frank clicks for you – it fully colors how you view the world around you and your place within it. Once the infamous “it” reveals itself, there is no going back and you will probably find you are, at the very least, a marginally better person for it.

The biggest lesson that I have learned from Frank is to not be afraid to try anything, no matter how absurd, ridiculous or insane it might seem. Frank teaches that anything is possible and acceptable, as long as your execution is flawless and you carry yourself in a professional manner. He didn’t encourage free reign to act like an asshole, but rather the sovereignty to explore the potential of your own mind. Have I taken this sage advice to heart? Absolutely. Do I act on this lesson? Probably not as much as I should. Self-confidence is not always easy to come by and self-doubt is a natural part of the creation process. Frank teaches us that if you believe in the end result strongly enough, you can and will do what is necessary to get there.

I find it important to look at Dweezil’s Zappa Plays Zappa project through a similar lens. Is ZPZ a cover band? Sure, but simply in its basic definition. Yes, they play only Frank’s music, which they did not write, but what they offer the world is so much more. Gail, Dweezil (and, of course vaultmaster / drummer Joe Travers) have presented an opportunity for bringing the life, lessons and most importantly the music of Frank Zappa into the contemporary landscape. I, for one, am incredibly grateful they have done so.

READ ON for more on Zappa Plays Zappa in Chicago…

On Thursday night at the Park West in Chicago, former Tombstone Blues Band bassist Mike Gordon treated fans to a show that was unbelievably strange, even for eccentric Cactus. Gordon brought out stilt walkers with human puppets, jugglers, a hula hooper and other circus performers to help him act out the story behind Andleman’s Yard from his latest album, The Green Sparrow.

[All Photos By Joel Berk]

Joel Berk was on hand at Park West and here are his amazing photos:

Mike Gordon
9/4/08
Park West
Chicago, IL

O: Andelman’s Yard > Dig Further Down, Cruel World > Ain’t Love Funny, Andelman’s Yard > Morphing Again > Andelman’s Yard > Traveled Too Far, Things That Make You Go Hmmm > Andelman’s Yard > Voices, Andelman’s Yard > Another Door

READ ON for more photos and videos from the Mike Gordon Variety Show…

For most of 2008, Howlin Rain’s sophomore release Magnificent Fiend has completely dominated my listening. For those of you who don’t know, Howlin Rain is Ethan Miller of Comets on Fire’s other band. The record came out at the beginning of March, but I’d received an advance copy early in the year and took to it immediately.

Howlin Rain’s 2006 eponymous debut was damn good, but in retrospect laid the groundwork that was undeniably built upon with this release. Where the debut was cautiously and deceptively unadorned, MF is full of vintage goodness, sounding like a lost gem from the golden era of album-rock. It brings us back to an age when organic chemistry and clever arrangements lead to an album sounding like a complete, cohesive thought. Ethan Miller’s marathon vocals lie atop a rich tapestry of organs, pianos, horns, and overdriven guitars set against a rock-solid rhythm section. Long story short – Magnificent Fiend kicks serious ass.

After 2+ months of immersing in the record, I was ready to see those tunes live. I finally got my chance March 27 at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. I’d spent so much time with the studio output that I’d conveniently forgotten about how the songs might play out differently live. From the opening moments of Death Prayer in Heaven’s Orchard off the debut, I was quickly reminded that Howlin Rain is a living, breathing organism just beginning to find its legs and navigate through life. Throughout the course of their hour set (which was WAY too short), there were moments of absolute brilliance and moments where the whole thing was hanging on by a thread. The biggest thing I noticed watching Ethan and company navigate through the set was how real it all was. Read on for more…

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of catching Brooklyn’s Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears at the Subterranean in Chicago. I was not very familiar with the material going into it, but had heard of the band through a close friend who checks them out down South. Said friend played me their new Flight of the Knife (out April 4 on Black and Greene Records) earlier in the week, and a surprisingly large amount stuck after only one pre-show listen.

Flight of the Knife is a sprawling epic about The Knife, “the greatest flying machine to ever sail the skies” which no one had seen. The record follows Venus Ambassador on his quest to save the flying machine from the “furthest reaches of the world” where it teeters on a cloud. I don’t think I’ve listened enough to fully grasp the continuity of the plot (which I can only assume is there), but the songs themselves are delightfully poppy while remaining musically interesting and grounded in familiar sounds. They tumble and shift in erratic ways that end up making perfect sense, providing for an incredibly diverse listen.

On the whole, this record plays like Alice Cooper and Ziggy Startust arguing over McCartney melodies, while listening to Frank’s Freak Out having just finished some Gabriel-era Genesis and Beatles (you know, just as George was starting to become a forceful songwriter). Read on for more about this exciting new band…

Armed with a new record and a new guitarist, The Black Crowes brought their “One Night Only” tour to a capacity crowd at the Park West on Friday. For seven nights across the country, the Crowes will perform the new Warpaint record in its entirety along with a brief set of classics and covers.

In times of change, the band always seem to revert back to a club tour to get their bearings. They had a similar setup on the East Coast to kick off 2005’s reunion, and this run proved to be a similar situation – allowing the band the comforts of intimacy while road-testing the material before delving into their usual outdoor summer plans.

These shows also provide a means for new recruit, Luther Dickinson, to ease himself into the mix – a transition that is more than already under way. Luther’s stamp is all over Warpaint, making it a surprisingly focused record whose weak link appears to be Chris Robinson’s lyrics. The songs themselves are the most interesting to come from the Brothers Robinson since 1996’s Three Snakes and One Charm, something which Dickinson and bassist, Sven Pipien can be given a lot of credit for. Pipien finally seems comfortable in his role, and is downright assertive on the new material – a welcome change from his playing during the awkward By Your Side days. Read on for more…

Today, local blog Chicagoist reported that the Metro has decided to ditch Ticketmaster, and move all ticketing services for the Metro and SmartBar in-house. This is a huge move considering

Hidden Track started as a New York City-centric blog, but we’ve always aspired to bring you content from around the country. Today we’re excited to announce that we’re expanding our reach towards Middle America.

Please welcome the newest member of our team, Joel Berk, who will head up our coverage of the Midwest. You’ll be hearing about a wide range of music from our new Chicago Bureau Chief, but he’s gonna start by recapping Wilco’s Riviera run:

Alt Country rebels…folk rock heroes…pop darlings…sonic explorers…

All of those clichés were probably used to (correctly) describe Wilco at various points of its career, but during the band’s Riviera Residency in Chicago last week, one thing became clear: Wilco is a rock band.

Photos by Joel Berk

Over the course of five sold out evenings, Jeff Tweedy and company worked with precision through every song to appear on an official Wilco release and sprinkled in a smattering of other rarities. A daunting task as each record has a different sound and lineup. But the band rose to the challenge with an ease that can only come from being at the top of one’s game.

The current sextet is unbelievably focused and locked in as a unit. They dusted off gems like A.M.’s Dash 7 and Being There’s Hotel Arizona, making them sound as fresh and vibrant as ever. The comfort with which the current incarnation handled the older/out-of-rotation tunes was shocking at times, most notably on Monday’s Summerteeth gem, My Darling. Urging the band into unfamiliar territory, Tweedy reassured “we can do this” before introducing the song as “a lullaby” to close the second set. Read on for more including downloads from the Wilco run…