TGIF Hodge Podge – Mazes + Fruit Bats + Jesse Matheson + Jane’s Addiction

Before I say anything else today, I want to apologize for over-hyping last Sunday’s Elvis Perkins performance at Wicker Park Fest.  If you were there, you know what I mean.  Elvis and the boys all did their thing, no doubt, but the sound people at the festival really dropped the ball and let an otherwise excellent set go completely to waste.  The vocals were nonexistent, the guitars weren’t right at all, and the whole thing was generally a mess.  I don’t go to an outdoor street festival expecting great sound, but I do expect it to at least be listenable.  That’s all for the rant portion of today’s column, but if you are one of the sound people on the north stage last weekend and you are reading this, I have to ask: WTF?

As for this weekend, there isn’t a whole lot going on around town in terms of free live music.  The main festivals going down are Retro on Roscoe and Northalsted Market Days.  While both are formidable destinations for getting blackout drunk, unless you are into 80’s cover bands and other such garbage neither is going to satisfy your craving for aural pleasure.  Your best bet in that department is going to be the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival, which kicks off its inaugural year later this afternoon.  Centered at the monument in the heart of Logan Square, the fest sprawls along an enormous chunk of Milwaukee Ave. from California to all the way past Kimball.  I can’t imagine that the entire street will be close, but who knows since this is the first time they are putting on the event.

Either way, the highlight of the weekend will be Citizen Dick favorite Mazes playing Sunday at 7pm on the Whistler stage, which I imagine will be set up somewhere near The Whistler (a bar, for those of you not hip to the area).  On a side note, if you have never been there for a drink before and you head up this weekend for the festival, I strongly suggest you stop by as they tout some of the best cocktails this side of Violet Hour and at about half the price.  Anyways, Mazes excellent self-titled debut has been one of my favorite records of the year since I first laid ears on it back in March and remains on that list today.  Their live show is equally good as well, as you may remember from my review of their show at The Hideout several months ago.

Mazes – Cat State Comity

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Starting out the day is a mini review of the new Fruit Bats record The Ruminant Band, due out this coming Tuesday on Sub Pop.  This will be the band’s fourth record overall and their first release since 2005’s Spelled In Bones.  A long layoff to be sure, but with Eric D. Johnson having recently joined former label mates The Shins fans should be quite pleased just to have some new Fruit Bats material to enjoy.  The first thing that I noticed about this new record is that it marks a return to the more rustic sound of the band’s past, especially when compared to the more polished and poppier sound of their previous album.  Having recently expanded to five members, The Fruit Bats rip through eleven new tracks that touch on nearly a dozen different sub-genres of folk, each sprinkled with a touch of the AM Gold qualities the band has come to be known for.  From the simplicity of “Tegucigalpa” and “Beautiful Morning Light” to the many layers of “Hobo Girl,” Johnson shows that he is still growing and pushing the envelope musically.  “My Unusual Friend” could have been a hit in 1970, while the weepy guitar and eerie melody of “Feather Bed” is a very modern take on traditional southern rock styling.  Overall, The Ruminant Band is a hearty reminder that having a new Fruit Bats record to digest is good for the soul and good for music as a whole.

Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band

Fruit Bats – My Unusual Friend

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I’m not sure exactly what to say about this next track, other than that it is catchy as hell and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since it hit my inbox.  To be honest, I had never heard of Jesse Matheson until earlier this week, but after just a few minutes of research I was able to conclude that he is my kind of guy.  I didn’t find a whole lot of biographical information, but according to his MySpace page he is “a singer/songwriter who can eat more flapjacks than you can.”  Not only that, but his latest record, called Pleasure Pounds, is all about sex and food, two of my favorite things.  The first song on the record, “Make Out,” is all about, well, making out, which seems to be right in line with the theme of the album.  Musically the track is a straight up blast, with Jesse getting down on the acoustic to a backdrop of handclaps and hyperactive synths while singing about eating take-out food and kissing women on a Friday night.  What can I say, I like the dude’s style.  The record is out August 25th on Copperspine Records, so be sure to check it out.

Jesse Matheson – Make Out

Today’s visit to the vault is inspired entirely by the return of HBO’s Entourage.  Yes, I know that the new season debuted several weeks ago, but I’ve been busy on Sundays lately and just got around catching up on DVR a few days ago.  While the show is something of a guilty pleasure for me, I do get completely sucked in by it can never seem to get enough of Vince and the boys.  Part of the attraction for me comes from the kick-ass theme song, Jane’s Addiction’s “Superhero” from their 2003 release Strays.  Not to say that “Superhero” is in my personal upper echelon of JA tracks, that list is topped by “Mountain Song,” for the record, but it just works so perfectly in the context of the show.  So perfect, in fact, that I now associate it almost exclusively with Entourage.  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it is what it is.  I even find myself singing it aloud days after watching an episode, often dreaming of the LA lifestyle and warm weather.  For a band that embodies Los Angeles perhaps more than any other, I suppose there are worse shows they could be associated with.

Jane’s Addiction – Superhero

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