Upcoming Fredonia Shows

There's a show this Friday night at the Foxhole in Fredonia. It features Balto, along with two bands from Buffalo: Dirt Eyes and VWLS. VWLS is a late edition to the line up and didn't make the poster. Since the Foxhole is a house with a great live set up, you are just going to have to ask around for the exact location and directions. There's no need to accidentally tip the man off about this. No jerks allowed either.

Also there's a show on Wednesday night at the Spot in the Williams Center on the SUNY Fredonia campus with Before We Get Old and Campus Emergency Procedure. It starts at 8:00 PM and is free. This one is open to the general public, too. The Spot is located on the first floor of the Williams Center in the back of the building. You can probably Google it or something.

I swear we're going to get back to telling stories about bands real soon.

5 Rue Christine

I was organizing some of my CDs the other night and found a couple of things that I hadn't listened to in a while. This included Hair Police's The Empty Quarter and No Neck Blues Band's Qvaris. I brought both discs to work the next day. As I was listening to Qvaris, I flipped the jewel case over and saw the ≠ that 5 Rue Christine used for their logo. This reminded me that the label is no longer an active entity and how much I liked them back in 2005 and 2006.



5 Rue Christine was a record label that was assisted by Kill Rock Stars. It was started in 1997 by KRS founder Slim Moon and put on hiatus in 2007 when Moon left to take a job at Nonesuch Records. Not to pigeonhole 5RC, but it was the home to all the unusual bands that wouldn't necessarily fit on Kill Rock Stars. Looking over the KRS roster, I really don't see much of a reason to separate the two groupings, but it must have made sense back in the day. I think there might have been the mindset in the late 1990s of the general punk/indie/hardcore scene not to fully accept weirder bands on established labels, so maybe a little subterfuge was needed to get the Xiu Xiu and Deerhoof out to the masses. Or maybe Moon just wanted to start a new project for fun. Whatever the case may have been, I'm glad 5RC happened.



I've always been a fan of more experimental music, thanks in large part to the dearly departed Brave New Waves radio show on the CBC. My level of fascination has varied a little over the years and in 2005 I was bored with a lot of the more popular indie rock. I had been keeping up with some of the newer bands like Hella, Lightning Bolt, Six Organs Of Admittance and Deerhoof from Brave New Waves. I wasn't exactly sure how much I liked what they were doing, but I was more than willing to give them a chance. At that point, I was the photo editor at the local paper. Two of the reporters, Nick and Justin, were younger and into those bands, along with Xiu Xiu, The Advantage, The Locust, Sonic Youth and Pavement. (I'm only throwing those last two in as a reference to connect the old with the new.) Anyway, now I had some people to talk to about these bands and could get a better sense of what they were about. They could help keep me up to date and I could fill them in on older stuff. And/or vice versa.

As a result, I started buying anything that 5RC put out until they closed up shop. In addition to Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu, I picked up Hella, Metalux - pictured, No Neck Blues Band and Excepter, too. I also got the Sur La Mer Samp-le-mer, which had a bunch of unreleased tracks along with a few classics, if that is the right word. There's a great Amps For Christ song on that CD. Of the bands on the label, I probably like Metalux and Hella the most, although that is subject to change depending on what sort of mood I'm in.



One of best things about the label was their artist statement:

1. 5RC gambles in inspiration. It throws out ideas engineered to provoke you. We can't help you understand how they make you feel. We are not here to aid or entertain you, but try to rifle out some kind of reaction.

2. We are nobody's poor cousin. We are not interested in hand-me-downs or castaways. We are not the branch of some other record label, we're a whole fucking forest. Soon you will recognize this.

3. Irony is dead and useless. We don't like irony.

4. Community is important to us. We want the people on our label and our friends and our consumers to be all swimming about in the same pool. We'd all live together in a big house if we could. But we can't.

5. There is nothing we aren't afraid to do. Music is fine but that's just the keystone in this organization. Today we release an album. Tomorrow we're dedicating a bridge in Tangiers. Friday we are all going to the sea-side. You get the idea.

6. We like noises and we like the spaces between noises and words and the sounds of words. We like the sounds of fax machines and static and babbling brooks and drive-thru's. Now that's what i call music.

7. Success has no place in our organization-as long as there's bread on the table and gas in the car that's enough. Sell four records we'll press you to our bosoms-sell a million and we'll gun you down.

8. People we would like on the label-Balzac, John Fante, Alexander Trocchi, all of ESP-Disk, E.S.G., Felt, Sam Fuller, all of EL, John Fahey, No Neck Blues Band, Gertrude Stein, all of cash money records, Balthus, Thomas Wolfe, anyone from Scotland, the whole medway sound, Leonard Cohen, Sunny Murray and The Beatles.

9. It is tasteless to talk about parameters, or to impose any kind of ideology or substance to any form of creative outlet. And so, much of what you come across should be ignored. Gaughin didn't start painting until he was 50, Kafka didn't have a thing printed in his lifetime. John Grisham releases things daily and he's an abortion.

10. "Chaos comes before all principles of order and entropy, it's neither a god or a maggot, its idiotic desires encompass and define every possible choreography, all meaningless aethers and phlogistons: its masks are crystallisations of its own facelessness, like clouds."-Hakim Bey.

11. It is better to be on 5RC than Kill Rock Stars, or anything else.



Maybe 5RC will come back some day. Maybe not. It was a good run while it lasted and made my life more interesting.

Note: The Metalux photo is from their show at Soundlab in Buffalo on July 8, 2009.

For more information:
Kill Rock Stars

Wolf Eyes

"We're trying to bring the good times to the noise, totally. There's a really good vibe going on right now, where it's a bunch of kids who want to have fun but want to listen to interesting music." - John Olson

I've been on a big Wolf Eyes kick as of late. It might have to do with it being winter, but probably not. I don't need an excuse or a reason to justify my listening to them. I like loud noises, dammit. And Wolf Eyes certainly are no strangers to making a gawd awful racket. The truth is that they aren't limited to just loud, but explore the notions of noise and sonic textures as well. Having a quiet build up before the storm can be even more effective than jumping right into a head splitting cacophony. Creepy drones, no wave saxophone, broken electronics and tortured vocals all fill out their arsenal. The band has built quite a vocabulary to work with over the years.

Wolf Eyes is currently the trio of Nate Young, John Olson and Mike Connelly. They operate out of Michigan. Aaron Dilloway was an original member until he was replaced by Connelly in 2005. Young started the band in 1997 and Dilloway joined the following year. Connelly is also a member of Hair Police.



I've seen Wolf Eyes twice in Buffalo. The first time was in September of 2005 at the Mohawk Place. This was when they were still riding a wave of popularity from Burned Mind and there was a decent crowd. The set they did was more song oriented. It reminded me of a hardcore show in a way, minus the dumb crap that can go with those. Black Dice and Et Sans also played. The second time was at Soundlab in October of 2007. The turnout was much smaller for this show. I think there might have been one or two other things happening elsewhere on the same night. The band went with a more subdued batch of songs this time around. Not to say that it wasn't brutal and loud, but it was also more atmospheric.



Like many noise artists, the group is extremely prolific with countless limited edition tapes, CD-Rs and a few seven inches. The 2002 CD of Slicer has a discography with over fifty releases spanning the years from 1997 to 2002. Factoring in solo projects and the collaborations of various members, it is virtually impossible to collect their complete discography. That's probably a good thing, too. It should be noted that in addition to cranking out the tunes, Young and Olson are accomplished visual artists as well. Many of the limited edition releases feature custom spray paint art and/or paintings. The band is a well executed mix of both visuals and sound, even though they would probably tell you otherwise. There is a distinct Wolf Eyes look.

Noise has always been a dweller on the edges of the so called indie rock universe. It's one of those things that many people into the scene like or can at least appreciate. Of course there are just as many folks who aren't into it, like your average Wilco fan for example. Wolf Eyes were taken from the shadows and put into the small spotlight in 2004 when Sub Pop released Burned Mind. If I recall correctly this generated a few complaints questioning the musical nature of what they were doing to go along with an 8.0 rating on Pitchfork. Wolf Eyes even got to open for Sonic Youth, which I'm sure delighted and pissed off an equal amount of people. The fact of the matter is that if you have an understanding of what Sonic Youth's history is and why they continue to endorse all sorts of weird bands, then a band like Wolf Eyes will start to make sense.

For more info:
www.wolfeyes.net
americantapes.us

An interview with the band:
Dusted Magazine

Pitchfork's Decade In Noise:
The Decade In Noise

Justin's Top Ten for 2010

This list is ten of my favorite albums of the year. I picked out a bunch of albums that I have spent a lot time listening to and enjoying. That's always been my main criteria for making any of these lists. I tried to avoid some of the bigger names that dominated the indie rock universe in 2010. This would include Titus Andronicus, No Age and Surfer Blood for example. Nothing against those bands because I like all three a lot, but they have already made a variety of other lists by now.

I'm at a point now where I find lists where the author picks out the more obscure albums that mattered to them a bit more interesting than every major publication and website declaring Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the greatest of the year. Is Kanye even that good? In five years from now is this selection going to hold up as a worthy critical pick? I don't know and my money is on the answer of no for both questions.

I've been taking in to consideration more about how tastes change, including my own, and what sounds great might not sound so great later on down the road. I'm also considering the opposite, when an album takes a while to grow on you. I'm finding more value in the records that hold up over time and putting in the effort to collect music like that. Not that I won't pick up the occasional flavor of the month, but I'm trying to be reasonable about that sort of thing. Sometimes those flavors of the month end up sticking around a while. Finally, I'm making every effort to stay current with new bands because nostalgia is cool and all, but it isn't that cool.

Hence, my list. In alphabetical order for no real reason.

1. AIDS Wolf - March To The Sea - Skin Graft
2. The Body - All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood - At A Loss
3. Grass Widow - Past Time - Kill Rock Stars
4. Maserati - Pyramid Of The Sun - Temporary Residence
5. Outer Space - s/t - Arbor Infinity
6. People Of The North - Deep Tissue - Jagjaguwar/Brah
7. Rangda - False Flag - Drag City
8. U.S. Girls - Go Grey - Siltbreeze
9. Werewolves - Someday We'll Live In The Forest - self released
10. Woods - At Echo Lake - Woodsist

Season's Greetings

Happy holidays from the staff at Radish White Icicle. We've got ideas that we actually plan on writing down and posting online in the months ahead. Things started off strong and then the holidays happened, people got busy with their day job or reviewing restaurants in Chicago or finishing up with college. But yeah, next year, we plan on being your twelfth or thirteenth source for independent music news. Or something like that. Cheers.

Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney played BJ's in Fredonia back in December of 2004. The band had been in town during November recording at Tarbox Studios. These songs would become their album The Woods. This was their first album on Sub Pop after several years of releases on Kill Rock Stars. It would also turn out to be their last album, as the band went on hiatus in 2006.

The show happened on a snowy Thursday night. It was December 16th, which was probably the last day before the college closed for winter break. There was a brief power outage in the downtown area at about 10:00 PM, which could have jeopardized the whole evening. Luckily the lights came back on and things could go on as planned.


Carrie Brownstein

Since Sleater-Kinney had just finished a new album, the BJ's show was a tune up for a New Year's Eve concert at Madison Square Garden. They were opening for Wilco and the Flaming Lips. Every so often a band that records at Tarbox will play a show at BJ's. This has happened before with Mogwai, Phantom Planet, Longwave and MGMT.


Corin Tucker

There was a good turnout for the show. It wasn't the most packed that I've ever seen the bar, but Sleater-Kinney certainly weren't playing to the bartender and the walls. The crowd was supportive because they were hearing new songs many months before they were officially released.


Janet Weiss

I'm not a huge Sleater-Kinney fan and at the time of the show I only knew their One Beat album. The then new songs sounded pretty good. The band was solid and put a lot of energy into the show. I guess there were some complaints from long time fans that their favorite older songs didn't get played, but that seems to be a moot point six years after the fact.

And that's the story behind another show in Fredonia from some time ago.

Notes:
1. Sleater-Kinney were the only band that played. There was no opening act.
2. In going through my old photos, the walls used to be a lot cleaner at BJ's.

Drainolith

Drainolith will be at Soundlab in Buffalo on Monday, November 22nd. The band is the solo project of Alexander Moskos, guitar player for AIDS Wolf. Moskos uses guitar, synthesizers and electronics to create lo-fi noisescapes. He is doing a short tour around the Lake Erie region:

Nov 22 - Buffalo, NY at Soundlab
Nov 23-25 - sesh in Cleveland
Nov 26 - Cleveland at Cool Ranch
Nov 27 - Toronto at Taranga
Nov 28 - Montreal at Cagibi with Emily and AJ, IDMTheftAble.

Downer, Jacobian and UVB76 are also scheduled to perform.

Soundlab is located at 110 Pearl Street. The doors open at 9:00 PM.

For more info:
shesellsrecords.blogspot.com
aidswolfs.blogspot.com
theeouternet.blogspot.com

Note: The flash going off in the video is from my camera.

The Progress

Taken from the band's myspace:

"The Progress was a band from 2001 to 2008. We were four grade school friends who learned how to play music (and our instruments) together. In our lifespan, we wrote two EP's and a LP. We spent the majority of our time as a band winning the hearts of guys in their 20's and getting booked on metal shows that we didn't make any sense playing. Live and learn".

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/theprogress#ixzz14norf7bC

Honestly, I cannot remember where/when exactly I first came across this band....
It was definitely in my first few years of college when I started to really get into their first EP Golden State (2004), which later led me to their full length Merit. They share a bit in common with Counterfit, playing catchy and angular shit, and they were both on Negative Progression Records. I remember talking to Evan about The Progress briefly when Damiera came though in 2007 and he was playing bass for them, but it was a drunken "hey I really like your old band..." Yeah, lame and embarrassing...

Anyways, despite seeing Evan in numerous incarnations (Damiera, Into it. Over it.), I don't really have much else on this band. Although I think part of the reason I was so inclined to post on them was the short bio they gave (above). Being a part of a band from high school to college with the same group of friends, learning your instruments together, and playing shows that you had no business being on were all points I could relate to in a waaay too familiar sense (like on tour this summer when a 6'7'' dude in a floorpunch tank top from NJ talked my ear off on how good The Progress was). But I also think it shows in their music. There are great dual vocals from Evan and the "lead" singer Eric(?), that really emphasize the conversational aspect of their music and really showcases how they were working out these issues like singing, learning an instrument, or putting a song together, while still remaining autonomous. All of the members display a level of musical skill, specifically in the other guitar player's lead parts (check out "Backwards From Ten" on Merit, or the boner-riff in "Straight Shot From St. Louis" on the Golden State EP). I know I'm beginning to champion a certain aesthetic here on this blog, but I think that with the recent interest in this type of music/bands, it would be a crime not to include The Progress, even if the material is sparse and a bit tough to find.

Also, be sure to check out Evan's new project Into it. Over it. The Snack Town 7" he did with Castevet has a great song called "Summerville, SC" that really sounds Progress-y. And if you see IIOI and like The Progress, request a Progress song! Apparently he'll do "Merit", but for fear of having another "that guy" episode like I did when he was in Damiera, I backed off and kept my mouth shut when he came and played this summer.

You can get their old demos and EP's here: http://theprogress.peekok.com

I'll post a video later, this library computer is giving me some problems.

Counterfit

Counterfit was a four piece band that started in 1999 and broke up in 2004. They released 2(?) EP's (On The Downside, and From Finish to Starting Line), one full length (Super Amusement Machine For Your Exciting Heart), and toured forever. They were on Negative Progression Records, home to another band and future post, The Progress.
I guess what amazes me about Counterfit is how polished they are, and how much they bring to the table with so little. What I mean is, they don't really use a lot of intricate guitar leads or complicated instrumentation. Instead they take basic chords and delicate picked sections and somehow manage to combine it with precision and energy. A few of my friends and I joke that Counterfit is most impressive when they're not playing anything. Their stops, starts and transitions are seamless, without compromising songwriting or melody like some technical/mathy stuff tends to suffer from. If you're a fan of Mock Orange, Park, or No Knife, check this band out:

http://www.myspace.com/counterfit

Unfortunately, like many bands, Counterfit's largest tour (with Recover and Finch in 2003) was also their last. They released a DVD/CD in 2007 entitled "Managing the Details of an Undertaking" documenting the tour, the entire farewell show, tons of unreleased songs (including a cover of "Million" by Jawbreaker), and old performances.

Bass player Justin Rodriguez and Guitar player Dan Reed both have current solo projects, while brothers Marc and Adam Allen started Helen Earth Band, who happen need your help with a van! If you want to see them, toss them a few bones or pick up their album Our Own Ghost City. It rules.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/helenearthband/put-helen-earth-band-in-a-van

Helen Earth Band - "(We All) Talk With Knives"


Counterfit - "From Finish to Starting Line"

Pond

It's probably a good idea to explain a little about the background of this website to provide a degree of context for anybody who is reading that doesn't know us personally. As it stands right now, Radish White Icicle is the product of three people: Matt, Dylan and myself. It couldn't exist without the town of Fredonia, NY. Fredonia is a small college town about an hour southwest of Buffalo. The Bills used to have their training camp here, if that helps you find it on a map. Matt and Dylan met while attending SUNY Fredonia. I got to know them from this being a small town and having a mutual interest in many of the same bands. Matt finished up college in May and moved to Chicago. Dylan is in the final stages of getting his degree. I'm the older local guy who tells them what albums from Chavez and Guided By Voices they need or that I saw the Archers Of Loaf back in 1997.

All of that brings us to Pond. Dylan posted their video for "Spoke" on Facebook a couple weeks ago. I was like, "Wow. Pond. There's a name from the past. They played Fredonia with the Screaming Trees and Poster Children in 1993 or 1994." After digging through my tickets stubs, I found the one for the show. It would have happened my freshman year of college at Allegheny College. I came home often because there weren't many shows going on there and Fredonia has always had some degree of a relevant music scene.

This tour featured the Screaming Trees, Poster Children and Pond. The Screaming Trees were riding their big MTV hit song "Nearly Lost You." It almost seems hard to believe today that heavy airplay of a video could make or break a band. Nowadays you have to hope your video goes "viral" on YouTube. And that just sounds lame. Things like that along with the radio and actual written press coverage mattered. I'm not saying that to be judgmental, but merely to point out the differences. Both the past and present have their positives and negatives without either one necessarily being better or worse.

As for the show, I don't remember all that much about it. The Screaming Trees were awful. I wasn't familiar with Pond or Poster Children, but I seem to recall that Pond were the best band of the night. My friend Dan bought their self titled debut album on Sub Pop and I taped it from him. (Side A of the tape has L7's Smell The Magic, in case you were wondering.)

I listened to the Pond tape again recently out of curiosity. They definitely fit the Sub Pop "grunge" sound of the time. It's a style that I have a rather low tolerance for and I generally find anything grunge to be about the most painful thing ever to listen to. Their album is decent and veers more toward the indie/post-hardcore side of things. After checking out their website, I'm sort of inclined to investigate the Poster Children's back catalog a little.

Now everyone knows some background about this here website and about one show that happened in Fredonia a long ass time ago.

Pond:



Poster Children:



Screaming Trees (I won't feel bad if you don't watch this.):



Note:

If you look at the bottom of the ticket, the location given is the Campus Center. This is the building now named the Williams Center. Since I grew up in Fredonia and spent a lot of time at the university because my dad worked there, I will always call the building the Campus Center out of force of habit.