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Concert Wed May 04 2011
Upping the Ante
This Friday is your chance to catch more than one buzzworthy local band at the Empty Bottle. Headlining is the reverb-friendly Disappears, who recently scored a spot on the Lollapallooza 2011 roster. They're a band that seems to revel in a sound that's hard to pin down: a lot of messy garage rock and Krautrock with a dose of shoegazer and psychadelic woo-woo to round out the mix.
Opening for Disappears is Wumme (a Chicago duo) and The Eternals, a band that for over a decade has thrived on creating complex, unclassifiable music. The Eternals' latest album, Approaching the Energy Field, dropped earlier this year on the local Addenda Records label, and it has been garnering attention and propelling an already out-there band even further afield. After the group lost their drummer, Damon Locks (vocals and keyboards), Wayne Montana (bass, guitar, synths, drum machine) sallied forth and took the opportunity to expand the band's sound. Approaching the Energy Field takes the usual list of Eternals ingredients — underground dub, funk, hip-hop, rock, Afrobeat, jazz, and world music — and ups the ante to reach hypnotic, and at times a little claustrophobic, new heights.
The band wastes no time diving right in with the CD's first track, "The Energy Field," featuring a deceptively spare synth funk groove. Locks' P-Funk-addled vocals on the track are just the tip of the iceberg; although much of Approaching the Energy Field appears to toe the band's oft-visited themes of dystopia and distress, Locks has impressively expanded his vocal range. Sure, much of it is with the aid of some tech tricks, but the guy is also naturally able to fly between a deep bass bark and an operatic falsetto (featured in the haunting electro-latin track, "Canção Do Silêncio").
(The Eternals perform "Alarms!" from their new album.)
Overall, Approaching the Energy Field isn't easy listening — there are folks who will be looking for the typical Eternals groove and find the Sun Ra space-freakouts and the looping, wandering styles intimidating or even boring. But then there are those who like their music challenging, expansive, and full of color. This album is for them.
The Eternals open up for Disappears on Friday, May 6, along with Wumme. Tickets are $10 (adv)/$12 (door). The Empty Bottle is located at 1035 N. Western Ave.
Kelly Reaves / May 6, 2011 12:25 PM
I love love love The Eternals. I am really going to try to make it to this show. Hopefully they don't go on too early...