Tomorrow Never Knows Sun Jan 19 2014
Day Three: Tomorrow Never Knows - Weekend, Bare Mutants @ Schubas, 1/17
Friday night's Tomorrow Never Knows show at Schubas was headlined by Weekend, whose previous Chicago shows have arguably been upstagings of bill mates. Their fuzzy post-punk calls to mind a chugging My Bloody Valentine or, say, a Glasvegas with more oomph. Their two albums are solid efforts and 2013's Jinx shows evolution, but live they are another beast. Hypnotic percussion and pummeling guitars make them an aural delight. A song like "Oubliette" may have noisy pop hints of Slumberland labelmates the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, but it's the life that gets added to songs like "Mirror" and "July" where they're at their best. Singer Shaun Durkan thrashes on stage, sometimes just sitting down for half a song, but never falling out of step with everyone else as they punish chords. A 10-minute long closer that meandered but never bored built into a fury of noise as they left for the night.
Bare Mutants opened with a set mostly from their debut album, The Affliction. The Chicago band's developed over the last few years into something that has a little shoegaze but also borrows nicely from the Velvet Underground's more rock'n'roll years. Their best songs ("Without You," "Crying with Bob," etc.) tend to build to heavy last acts and earworm their way into your head. On Friday, they had a few new songs that fit perfectly with everything else. It seems they are in good shape for the near future and shouldn't be missed.