Music

Andrew Bird & Jeff Parker

Concert Photos: Andrew Bird @ Fourth Presbyterian Church (Chicago)

Whistling, violin-toting troubadour Andrew Bird just finished a makeshift residency at Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church. Bird played three successive dates with Chicago jazz fixture and Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker. It’s not the first time that the cavernous venue has played host to Bird and his classically inspired pop, and judging by the reception — all three nights sold out far in advance — it won’t be the last.

Contributing photographers Sanchez and Kitahara captured these images of the December 15 performance.

Andrew Bird & Jeff Parker

Inquisition

The Metal Examiner: Inquisition’s Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm

Every Friday, The Metal Examiner delves metal’s endless depths to present the genre’s most important and exciting albums.

Inquisition: Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical MacrocosmInquisition: Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm (Hell’s Headbangers, 1/11/2011)

Inquisition: “Crepuscular Battle Hymn”

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Initially formed as a thrash band in the ’80s in Colombia, Inquisition developed a buzz-saw, black-metal sound by the mid-’90s while simultaneously relocating to Washington. Its trademark became lightning-speed, grinding power chords and an atmosphere of ritualistic Satanism.

Since Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult in 1998, Inquisition has stuck to its sound with a Motörhead-like tenacity. Its newest effort, Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm, is its strongest output since Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer in 2004.

Violens

Pop Addict: Violens’ Amoral

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

Violens: Amoral

Violens: Amoral (Static Recital, 11/9/10)

Violens: “Acid Reign”

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From the start of its debut LP, Amoral, Violens‘ strength is clear: revitalizing and embellishing 1980s-inspired new-wave pop.

By rejecting the raw, lo-fi approach so prevalent today in independent music and the all-too-common reverb-drenched sound, this NYC indie group sticks with what it knows best: clean, unabashed, dance rock. Even with the band’s overt arsenal of sounds — outer-space keyboards, calculated drumming, pop-driven bass lines, blissful resonating vocals, and fuzzed-out guitars — Amoral‘s production lets the band’s sound come off as tight and polished.

World in Stereo: Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga!

Each week, World in Stereo examines classic and modern world music while striving for a greater appreciation of other cultures.

Various Artists: Psych Sa-Re-Ga! Seminar: Aesthetic Expressions of Psychedelic Funk Music in India, 1970 to 1983 (World Psychedelic Funk Classics, 12/7/10)

R.D. Burman featuring Asa Bhosie and Kishore Kumar: “Lekar Ham Diwana Dil”

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World Psychedelic Funk Classics has released a mind-bending collection of Indian grooves that draws heavily from ’70s and ’80s Bollywood. A treasure trove for groove seekers, Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! includes a number of wild and tripped-out numbers that speak directly to the melodic wonderland that is India.

Music nerds will be pleased by the limited-edition package, available as a double LP or deluxe digipack CD, and equipped with hefty in-depth liner notes and photos of the thick mustaches and permed hairdos behind some of the the grooviest music that the world has ever heard.

The F-Bomb

Zine Scene: The F-Bomb

Looking for a little anti-holiday cheer? Tacoma-based zine The F-Bomb might just be the ticket. Since January of 2009, The F-Bomb has gathered submissions from writers into themed issues (seven so far, with topics like “Music,” “Sex,” the paradoxical “Unthemed,” and now “Holiday”) that incorporate comics, slice-of-life tangents and charts, interviews, fiction, and even an advice column.

The “Holiday Issue” features such gems as the “Boo For You” column, which recounts a freewheeling conversation about Nilla Wafers, Jesus, and stealing cheese. Other columns include descriptions of favorite Christmas memories in 10 words or less (sample memory: “I unwrapped a box for a phone. It wasn’t.”), and comics featuring adorable, demented animals using and abusing the titular “F-bomb” to discuss Thanksgiving.

On the opposite page of this irreverent story, you can read a chart diagramming all of the winter holidays, who celebrates them and why, and various fun facts and names for Santa Claus. The juxtaposition of the bizarre and mundane — the prurient and the informative — goes a long way in describing just what The F-Bomb zine is.

Mark Jenkins

Mark Jenkins: Startling, Lifelike Street Art

Installation artist Mark Jenkins knows how to provoke a double take. His work, primarily done in tape and plastic, confronts the public with human and animal forms in bizarre scenarios.

Morrow vs. Hajduch

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Oh! Pears’ Fill Your Lungs EP

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Oh! Pears: Fill Your LungsOh! Pears: Fill Your Lungs EP (3/13/10)

Oh! Pears: “Fill Your Lungs”
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Morrow: Guitarist Corey Duncan left indie rockers Pattern Is Movement in 2007, opting to focus on a solo chamber-pop project.  That project turned into Oh! Pears, a 13-piece ensemble that plays Duncan’s classically and pop-inspired pieces.

Released independently earlier this year, Fill Your Lungs is Oh! Pears’ promising debut EP.  It begins with rounds of looping acoustic-guitar riffs and pizzicato, staccato, and legato strings, with Duncan’s deep voices joining to guide the music.  The rest of the five-song release is accented with other sounds, but this marriage of guitars, cellos, and violas best defines the EP.