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Preview Thu Aug 25 2011
An Aesthetic Anaesthetic CD Release Party
Tomorrow night (8/26) Chicago's own An Aesthetic Anaesthetic celebrate the release of their first full-length album--Before the Machinery of Other Skeletons--at the Beat Kitchen.
It would be easy to compare the music of this four-piece instrumental act to the sludgy, heavily distorted churns of Chicago brethren Pelican or Russian Circles, but then you'd be ignoring the playful, mathy guitar lines that flow seamlessly in and out of BTMOOS, the types of fretboard-tapping breakdowns that call to mind yet another set of Chicago veterans, Maps and Atlases. Case in point: "Fortune Animal Cookie." And, if you focused too heavily on the influences these bands had on AAA's first full length, you might not be able to appreciate the seemingly effortless theatrical reveries that its songs possess--the types of sonic beauty that are most commonly traced back to genre standouts Explosions in the Sky.
It would be easy to chalk An Aesthetic Anaesthetic up to be an amalgamation of these bands, but it would be more accurate to say that they have set themselves apart from many of their instrumental rock contemporaries by creating a genre that not only combines elements of its predecessors but creates fresh new variations on these elements. The music on BTMOOS is that of a new genre, the group claims. A genre they have deemed "ghost rock."
And when you finish with this record, it's not hard to imagine why a new genre title was needed to describe it. When one considers the range of feelings and emotions that are present on BTMOOS, it's clear that one style of music wasn't enough. This foursome has mastered the art of emitting emotion by use of instruments but when strings and cymbals aren't enough, AAA does what it takes to elevate their tracks. After a nearly six-minute, absolutely frantic drum solo, the band takes the chaos present on "Redline Massacre" to another level by erupting into screams as passionate and urgent as any other note on this album. It's the only vocal presence you'll hear on Before the Machinery of Other Skeletons but An Aesthetic Anaesthetic seem thoroughly comfortable letting their music do the talking for them.
Tickets are still available for Friday's show and they'll only set you back $10. The show is 17+ and starts are 9pm. Openers include Electric Hawk, Good Work Johnson and Heroes Rust. Beat Kitchen is located 2100 W. Belmont.
