Kyle Gilkeson, Author at ALARM

Concert Photos: Kid Koala @ Abbey Pub (Chicago, IL)

Fresh off a residency at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, a new graphic novel (Space Cadet), and a new album with The Slew, Québec-based turntable king and visual artist Kid Koala is on tour in the USA and Canada. Though this show in Chicago was relatively standard (if you consider a koala suit, projections, shooting bubbles with water guns, and impeccable technique standard), Koala has something truly special planned for future audiences: The Space Cadet Headphone Tour. Attendees will sit in “space pods,” listening via headphones to a performance featuring seven turntables and a piano. Visuals from his graphic novel will accompany the music. Consider yourself warned, and check out these photos from Lauren Herrmann.

Guest Spots: Sharon Van Etten’s ideal drinking partners

Sharon Van Etten: Epic (Ba Da Bing, 9/21/10)

Sharon Van Etten: “Don’t Do It”

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Sharon Van Etten was on the road to becoming a full-blown wine snob. After discovering its magic as a high-school exchange student in Spain, she worked for a time in a wine store and even took classes to increase her vino know-how. Eventually, she decided to pursue music full time instead. The folk singer/songwriter released her second full-length, Epic, late last year. Here, she addresses her passion for wine and explains the five people with which she’d want to share a bottle.

Five People (Living or Dead) I Would Love to Share a Bottle of Wine with and Why
by Sharon Van Etten

The Five People: Anaïs Nin, Woody Allen, Bill Murray, PJ Harvey, and Rainer Maria Rilke.

The Wine: A red wine from Bandol in Southeast France. The Mourvèdre grape adds body and spice; the wine embodies the garrigue landscape aromas of lavender, rosemary, licorice, and thyme. Paired with garlic-based dishes such as aioli. Known as one of the five noble wines. France is a country of passion, expression, and class, as are my five guests.

Concert Photos: Tune-Yards @ Lincoln Hall (Chicago, IL)

Hot on the heels of releasing her second full-length, Whokill, Merrill Garbus (better known as Tune-Yards) took to the stage at Lincoln Hall in Chicago to crank out a few jams in her signature, inspired, on-the-fly style. Garbus builds layers on stage by recording and looping drum and vocal patterns, creating diverse, avant-garde sounds that jump from classic doo-wop melodies to groove-heavy, jazz-influenced electronic pastiches. Photographer Elizabeth Gilmore was on hand for the performance.

Guest Spot: Gutbucket explains how to argue about food

Gutbucket: Flock (Cuneiform, 2/22/11)

Gutbucket: “4 9 8”

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Brooklyn-based jazz-rock quartet Gutbucket released its fifth album, Flock, in February on Cuneiform. The band takes its name from the term “gutbucket,” which means to play jazz in a particularly exuberant or expressive style, and it claims that its unconventional style has been “injecting a shot of glorious spazmitude into the minimalist cool of the New York downtown scene” for the past 10 years.

Gutbucket’s off-the-wall music is the result of its members’ distinct contributions and, inevitably, artistic disagreements and compromises. When it comes to food, Gutbucket engages in a similar, hotly contested discourse. So whet your appetite and embrace the taste-bud-inspired tongue lashings with Gutbucket’s culinary treatise, “How to Argue About Food.”

How to Argue About Food
by Gutbucket

Most bands break up. It’s a fact. Rock bands do this quite a bit, and it’s often not very friendly. Jazz bands might be a bit more civil about it, or perhaps not. If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve been in a band before, so this is not unfamiliar terrain.

Take three or more humans engaged in a creative endeavor, and ideas, visions, aesthetics, and more will clash. So how do you handle this?

Well, Gutbucket has the answer.

Forget about consensus. Don’t pretend you will agree. Embrace the friction, disagreement, discomfort, and argumentative spirit.

But please have other outlets and arenas besides your music in which to behave this way.

That’s why Gutbucket chooses to argue, debate, dissect, and regularly disagree about food. Yes, food. We are a band of music nerds who spend most of our time talking about food instead of music.

Guest Playlist: Alela Diane’s songs to pack a suitcase to

Alela Diane: Alela Diane & Wild Divine (Rough Trade, 4/5/11)

Alela Diane: “To Begin”

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On “Pieces of String,” a track from Alela Diane‘s 2004 record, The Pirate’s Gospel, she sings, “If I had one, I’d play this on piano.” Consider it wishful thinking. Whereas her first few albums, including the self-released Gospel and Forest Parade, are characterized by spare, plucked guitar and airy harmonies about simpler times, Alela Diane‘s newest, Alela Diane & Wild Divine, stretches its legs with a greater sonic palette and higher production value. Despite the warmth and homeliness of her folk tunes, Diane’s a troubadour, and she’s got the playlist to prove it.

Songs to Pack a Suitcase to, with Anticipation for the Highway
by Alela Diane

1. Fairport Convention: “Farewell, Farewell”

A song of goodbye.

Concert Photos: John Vanderslice / Damien Jurado @ Lincoln Hall (Chicago, IL)

The newest entry into John Vanderslice‘s deep and undeniably remarkable catalog is White Wilderness, and it’s a record like no other he’s made before. It comprises nine new songs captured live over three days in a unique collaboration with the Magik*Magik Orchestra, a collective of classically trained musicians in the Bay Area led by artistic director Minna Choi. Images below are from Vanderslice’s recent show with Damien Jurado at Lincoln Hall in Chicago. Photography by Jon Shaft.

This Week’s Best Single: My Morning Jacket’s Holdin on to Black Metal

Guest Spots: The Bad Plus’ pinewood derby

The Bad Plus: Never Stop (E1, 9/14/10)

The Bad Plus: “My Friend Metatron”

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Jazz trio The Bad Plus has made a name for itself by reinterpreting popular rock songs and jazz standards in addition to hammering out energetic originals. Unlike its earlier albums, the band’s most recent full-length, Never Stop, consists entirely of Bad Plus compositions. Its unorthodox, avant-garde approach to creative endeavors can be traced back as far as grade school, as this story from drummer Dave King demonstrates.

The Pine Wood Derby
by Dave King of The Bad Plus

In the autumn of 1981, I participated in a Cub Scout event horizon called the Pinewood Derby. Little cars made of pine that had to be assembled from a kit by you alone, not you and your dad.

You were given a block of pine about the size of a walkie-talkie and wheels. You had to carve it in a shape that would allow the car to go fast down a track. You also had to paint it and detail it with racing stripes or personal flair concepts.

I believe there was a manual that was handed out to guide you in the possibly unfamiliar discipline of aerospace engineering. I didn’t read it because I don’t think it actually existed, and my dad refused to help me because he FOLLOWED THE RULES. I pleaded to my parents that I was sure kids were receiving help on the design and carving front because, like any awkward kid, you are aware that your peers that sort of “have it together” are receiving mysterious guidance and LOVE from many sources not as readily available to you. The Cub Scouts is actually an organization wholly devoted to shining a bright light on these deficiencies and dispensing the insecurity thusly.

Concert Photos: The Kills @ The Vic (Chicago, IL)

The most recent album from The Kills, a bluesy rock duo composed of vocalist Allison Mossheart and guitarist Jamie Hince, is subject of a glowing Pop Addict review and received a coveted This Week’s Best Albums selection. That album, Blood Pressures, spans from straight-up rock ‘n’ roll riffing to more down-tempo balladry with ease. And now, the duo is on the road, playing its lauded tunes to audiences all across the country. Contributing photographer Lauren Herrmann captured these shots at a recent show at The Vic in Chicago.

Help fund Mr. Lif & Brass Menazeri’s new album

Concert Photos: Foals @ Metro (Chicago, IL)

Oxford, England-based indie-rock quintet Foals, which described the sound on its most recent album, Total Life Forever, as “tropical prog,” just wrapped up a worldwide tour that spanned the better part of three months. The band made a stop at Metro in Chicago during the tour’s last leg. Contributing photographer Drew Reynolds was there to capture these moody shots, whose dichotomous qualities of grain and softness reflect the band’s ability to straddle gritty synth pop and more melodic, down-tempo folk.