Concert Wed Oct 05 2011

Review: Adventures in Modern Music @ Empty Bottle, 10/2/11

[This review comes to us from Jason P. Olexa. He can be found on Twitter at @TacoHugsPHD.]

"We are a fucking triumphant band" is the house creed of Chicago post-everything guitar army Pelican. They occupy the borderlands between the foggy mountainous kingdom of post-rock and the Viking strewn hills of the tribal metal warlords. Pelican has launched daring goat riding barbarian raids into both neighboring territories and grown into a thundering bombast of metal sinking into the psychedelic haze of post-rock.

Sunday was Wire Magazine's yearly Adventures in Modern music at the Empty Bottle. Headliners Pelican took the stage for their first hometown show in more than a year. In the time since we've last seen them guitar wizard Trevor de Brauw has retreated into the mists with his power ambient ensemble Chord, fellow guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec has been crafting the bar at Big Star into a beer spewing monster, and the brothers Herweg have relocated to LA.

The gathered flock at the Empty Bottle crammed close as Larry Heweg's drums birthed the pragmatic core of Pelican's uber-loud growl. Over top guitars painted pictures of Norse gods suitable for most conversion vans. Pelican sounded as if they were still on a hunting expedition to find the perfect big riff. Phones filled the air as the excited audience tried to capture the two new songs performed by Pelican. The first of the two new songs had a razor sharp post-punk guitar line that rose above the waves of hazy hard rock only to dive deep and infect Bryan Herweg's bass with a rumbling paranoia. The second of the new songs had Pelican expertly packing all of the triumphant majesty of a post apocalyptic movie into five minutes of rippling explosions. The performance ended with a mountaintop searing call to the heavens and Pelican retreated back into the mists. Fans were left hoping that it'll be less than a year before they soar with Pelican again.

Before Pelican took the stage the venue was filled with the smoke of Chicago native Dexter Tortoriello's forest magic project Dawn Golden & Rosy Cross. Spring-loaded beats over beds of mossy field recordings snaked out of the speakers as an animated Dexter slapped out beats on his Akai. As Dawn Golden & Rosey Cross' psychedelic vapors filled the room people began to dance with mythological abandon. Dawn Golden & Rosey Cross' electronic psychedelic folk pop is signed to Diplo's Mad Decent records and Dexter was selling a gorgeous vinyl EP titled Blow.

-Jason P Olexa