Filed under: Chicago, Magazine, Music, PLAY, Profile | Tags: Albert Schatz, Bird Names, Chicago, Colin Hartz, David Lineal, Empty Bottle, Eric Siegel, Music, Naomi Caffee, Noise Pop, PLAY, Profile, Wooden Wand
“We’ve played three or four shows where a cool dad is usually the most enthusiastic responder,” says David Lineal, frontman of Chicago’s Bird Names.
It’s not something new for the quintet – which also includes co-founder Colin Hartz, Albert Schatz, Eric Siegel and Naomi Caffee – to receive what is generally considered an atypical crowd reaction to the band’s performances.
After Bird Names played a set at Grinnell College, the band discovered a less-than-enthusiastic reaction on an attendee’s LiveJournal: “The second band, Bird Names, sucked. They sucked hard, and they knew it, and they loved every second of it. They were so bad that they went beyond funny into tedious. There were some drunk people in the audience who must have come just for Bird Names, because they left right afterwards, but they danced amazingly. They were like floppy dancing zombies.”
During a phone interview, the band – with the exception of the “token girl,” and only member with a paying job, Naomi – described the complaint as “beautiful,” pointing out that “they loved every second of it.”
“It gets to a core of the band, which is an attitude kind of like rock – it’s all about the attitude,” Lineal says.
The band also conceded that, “it didn’t really surprise (them) to get that kind of reaction; it’s a pretty usual response from audiences or people.”
Unable to draw a comparison between Bird Names’ music and anything else I’ve heard, I asked Lineal to describe his band’s sound for me. His response: “I like to think of the band’s music as noise-pop, or at least pop in general – the term ‘noise’ being kind of like a buzzword these days – kind of navigating the tension between your sort of being repelled by it but also your liking it. Sometimes gearing into a shit-rocking domain where it’s shitty but it rocks, you know? Teetering back and forth between ‘Oh, man, this music is obnoxious’ and ‘This music is fucking my head.’”
You’ll just have to hear it for yourself when Bird Names plays a free show Jan. 16 with Wooden Wand and Friends at the Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave.
The band name, “Bird Names,” is not one the group necessarily likes; it’s just the next step in an evolutionary cycle that has gone from “The Culinary Arse,” “More Dangerous Than Spiders” and others since their inception in June 2004. “Bird Names,” Lineal says, was better than the other options – such as “The Dads” and “Church Rape” – that were considered at the poker game where they were named – which, according to Lineal, may or may not have involved cocaine.
Described as “arty deconstructionists” on the Empty Bottle’s Web site, perhaps the unenthusiastic response to Bird Names can be attributed to their relaxed attitude and disregard for negative comments, which can be falsely associated with poor performance and musicianship. Don’t be fooled: While Bird Names may come off as peculiar for a group of mostly-unemployed and struggling artists, the members – like so many others in local, underground scenes – are dedicated to their music.
The band goes quiet in the background as we wrap up the interview and they prepare to move forward with the practice I have interrupted. Finishing with an analysis of concert crowds, Lineal guesses that about 70 percent hate Bird Names’ music.
“Most people are indifferent depending on how bad we sounded and two or three people really like it,” Lineal says. “I would guess it’s like that for most bands, which is okay,” he adds. “I mean, try not to get defeated.”
Filed under: List, Magazine, Music, SHEER | Tags: Andrew Bird, Broken Social Scene, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple, Gimme Fiction, Illinoise, List, Magazine, Music, Picaresque, Set Yourself On Fire, SHEER, Spoon, Stars, Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, The Go! Team, The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
Artist: The New Pornographers
Album: Twin Cinema
Label: Matador
Release: 2005.08.23
Twin Cinema, the third album from Canada’s nine-piece group The New Pornographers, is yet another rock-driven indie masterpiece. The debate will always rage over whether Carl Newman, Neko Case, or Dan Bejar is the centerpiece of the family-band style collective but it doesn’t matter. All of the members work well as one unit and the only downfall is that with each of those three possible leaders working on other material, it is impossible to predict when the fourth album will hit shelves.
Artist: The Decemberists
Album: Picaresque
Label: Kill Rock Stars
Release: 2005.03.22
Often called the best writer in the music industry of his generation, frontman Colin Meloy led his band through the construction of their smash success third album, Picaresque. Probably one of the smartest groups around today, The Decemberists — obviously a collection of grown high-school nerds and bookworms — create a powerful sound with their less-than-standard rock group instruments: the upright bass, theremin, and accordion all making several appearances on each album, earning them the label as chamber pop connoisseurs. Sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll are not just for the cool kids anymore.
Artist: The Go! Team
Album: Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Label: Memphis Industries
Release: 2005.10.04
So much energy. The combination of chanting and female-rap with piano, harmonica and samples from the good ol’ days is the stuff that has made this spirited U.K group a hit on both sides of the ocean. Their mostly instrumental and sometimes adolescent music is fun. It’s happy. We could always go for some more of that in a genre where, more often than not, melancholy lyrics and slow beats bring about a mood of longing and depression. I usually despise the use of exclamation points but this group is living up to their title.
Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Album: Illinois
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
Release: 2005.07.05
Don’t let the length of the song titles turn you away; Illinois is a beautiful and moving album that Sufjan Stevens has put together with a variety of musical styles ranging from minimalist folk to complex orchestral arrangements that maintain the light feeling that is consistent throughout the entire set of 22 songs. Michigan was great, Illinois is better; I can’t wait for the third installment in Stevens’ substantial undertaking.
Artist: Spoon
Album: Gimme Fiction
Label: Merge Records
Release: 2005.10.04
This album, as simple as it is, was enough to launch Spoon into a cherished group of my favorite artists. Before Gimme Fiction, the Britt Daniel/Jim Eno duo was defined by sporadically released singles (“Chicago At Night,” “The Way We Get By”). With their 2005 release — following a three-year hiatus — the anticipation was high and it lived up to every expectation. Gimme Fiction is a meticulously constructed album: slow-building instrumentals, considered lyrics and a strong, ever-present beat — the influences in this album can be attributed to so many forms of rock it can only be classified as indie.
Artist: Andrew Bird
Album: Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production Of Eggs
Label: Righteous Babe
Release: 2005.02.08
Chicago-based Andrew Bird has put out more than a handful of albums and it looks as though that is what it took for him to become a recognized force in an industry that tosses its artists to the street after one grand performance. By handling both violin and guitar duties during his live performances, Andrew Bird (also described as a whistler) sounds like two different people depending on whether you hear him from a stage or a disc: both great. This multiple personality description is not something new for the artist that has successfully tackled many genres throughout his career. Add whichever genre you associate mesmerizing albums full of airy vocals, simple chords and gripping violin backed by brushed drums with to the list.
Artist: Stars
Album: Set Yourself On Fire
Label: Arts & Crafts
Release: 2005.03.08
With developed and intense instrumental sections composed of a mix of guitars, horns, strings and synthesizers this Canadian quartet comes off sounding a lot like contemporaries Broken Social Scene. Vocalists Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell set Stars apart from the rest: their attention-demanding voices coupled with sharp lyrics puts Set Yourself On Fire among the best of 2005.
Artist: Broken Social Scene
Album: Broken Social Scene
Label: Arts & Crafts
Release: 2005.10.04
Another Canadian group, Broken Social Scene, makes the list and, after wowing fans and critics alike with their 2002 release, the band has used their popularity to get out a third album, this one self-titled. With a sound that comes off as less conventional than their previous LPs the personality of the musicians shines through with their powerful performance on Broken Social Scene. Hopefully, BSS will be allowed the same creative freedom with their next project. The album speaks.
Artist: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Album: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Label: Self-released
Release: 2005.09.13
This album, a debut album nonetheless, was self-released and still made it on all of these end of the year lists and was deserving of the many glowing reviews it received from heavy-hitter music critics. Enough said.
Artist: Fiona Apple
Album: Extraordinary Machine
Release: Epic/Clean Slate
Label: 2005.10.04
Oh, Fiona. Her first full album in several years, Extraordinary Machine, has accomplished two things. The album sparked the creation of freefiona.com — a Web site from fans for fans to petition for the release of a shelved album deemed ‘uncommercial.’ Extraordinary Machine also pulled Fiona out of her grouping with other 90’s female vocalists (Sheryl Crow, Alanis, both Natalie’s: Imbruglia and Merchant, you get the idea) when it was finally finished with producer Mike Elizondo of rap fame and released to the public as an artsy, monumental plea. For what? Who knows.
- Originally published: SHEER 2006.01.01
