ISSUE #67 / July 11, 2019

Mykele Deville / 📷 : MVM

Logan Square Arts Festival, centered around the Illinois Centennial Monument, caters to every bit of the arts community and boasts a unique art vendor tent set-up better than any typical street fest and includes an eclectic lineup of music. Whether you want to hang out in the street and dance along to the music on the Milwaukee stage, or spread out on the lawn in front of the monument stage, LSAF has you covered. 

With interactive art installations, you can let your creative side loose and showcase it for the rest of the fest-goers to see, but if you feel like taking a break from the music or chowing down on some delicious food, you can mosey on over to the performance plaza and catch some storytelling, tap dance, or comedy. In terms of square footage, LSAF takes up about the least amount space for street fest but offers the most for the fans of art.

-MVM

FRIDAY

Mykele Deville

The Chicago rapper/poet touted as the next big thing in hip-hop fits the bill. Mykele Deville is looking to take the rap game in a different direction and is setting a great example for others to follow. Rapping about opening up and being vulnerable, peace, and knowing that you are enough just the way you are. The continuous message through the performance was about love and positivity. With one of the best choruses, Deville got the crowd involved on his song “Free Soul” and everyone shouting, “Fuck Your Clubhouse Clout.” Deville brought out special guests Rich Jones and Daryn Alexus. Alexus joined Deville in on “Type Love.” Mykele Deville is playing a Thalia Hall “In The Round” show on August 10th. Tickets are $10.

-MVM

No Men

Street fests in the city don’t have much edge. It’s pretty rare to encounter a band that gives you something to think about or who use the platform they are afforded to make a timely statement about the state of the world. A lot of bands on Saturday sounded like they were auditioning for car commercials. No Men, on the other hand, took the stage wearing black t-shirts spray-painted with “F*ck ICE.” (Because seriously, f*ck ICE.) No Men blasted through most of their one and only album, Dear God, Bring the Doom and the 2017 single Cut, tearing a hole through the eye of the festival with the gnash of growling post-hardcore guitar swipes, the impatient roll of concussive rock rhythms, and the biting, icy-heat of Pursley’s indignant, polymorphous howl. I haven’t seen them in over a year, and it is refreshing to know that they can still rip the face off a place to expose the steaming, obsidian homologous that writhes below its surface. Dwelling on the overcharged angst of their set and witnessing their blunt condemnations of our nation’s deeply ugly and inexcusable immigration policies, both in their between-song banter and their wardrobe selection were what that afternoon needed. A dose of dark reality in a rapidly gentrifying area, now a magnet for opulence in a segregated metropolitan area, within a nation that is openly hostile toward vulnerable people both inside and outside its borders. “Hell is real, I’ve seen evil, Now I know the truth.” No Men will be at Schubas on July 17th.

-MDR

Kaleta & Super Yamba Band

The set of the weekend for me goes to Kaleta and Super Yamba Band. Kaleta, properly known as Leon Ligan-Majek, brings his experience of playing Afrobeat with the legendary Fela Kuti. Kaleta took over Super Yamba Band in 2017, and hasn’t looked back since. Super Yamba Band has a great take on Afrobeat in their own right, but adding Kaleta propelled them to new heights. With a dance circle forming down front and a variety of movers and shakers about the audience, the band fed off the crowd’s energy. Playing for nearly an hour, everyone would be in agreement that we could have listened for several more.. Capping off the set with a nod to Kaleta’s former band leader, Super Yamba Band busted out a Fela Kuti cover. 

-MVM

Hop Along

By the time Hop Along took the stage, I was absolutely ready to lose myself in some feels. Festing is draining. It’s easy to feel jaded swarmed by chic-looking vendors hoking Etsy cast-offs, bookended by needlessly expensive Michelin-rated food trucks and sound-tracked by highly forgettable hype bands. Thankfully, Hop Along delivered a refreshing sip of emotional honesty and brash vulnerability, opening up with “How Simple” from last year’s Bark Your Head Off, Dog, a plaintively mincing anthem for growing distances, fealty, fortitude, and new beginnings. The band actually played most of BYHOD. This couldn’t have required much deliberation, as the album represents some of their strongest material to date. Lead singer Frances Quinlan’s voice had a deep rattling timbre to it, showing some strain, yes, but selling the sh*t out of these songs! When her voice would rise, it would sweep over the crowd, capturing hearts and depositing them back on stage in an undulating tribute to the triumph of her performance. Joe Reinhart’s extremely lyrical guitar work worked in conversation with Quinlan’s affected rasp, and her brother Mark’s highly underrated beat cooking carried this emo-enameled freak-folk day-dream like portions of warm, earnest emotional depth, to their absolute heights. This was my first time seeing Hop Along live, and I would absolutely do it again in a heart-beat. 

-MDR

Speedy Ortiz / 📷 :MVM

Sleeping Village always gives me a weird vibe. Is it just me, or does the place just feel a little bit too… clean? Like the walls and counters are made out of some weird anti-microbial soap that can be molded to look like wood paneling, concrete floors, and mustached hipsters dressed like Steve Zissou? I hear a lack of bacteria exposure can be good for your health. But what do I know, I’m just a guy who types words on the internet about sounds he done and heard. I’m the last guy to go to for advice on maintaining the balance of your immune system and/or microbiome. 

So I went to see music on Saturday at the Logan Square Art Fest, and then I went to see more music at the after-party at Sleeping Village the same day. Usually, I’m not the type to chase an after-party when there is cheaper (or free-er) beer waiting for me at a bar near my apartment (or in my fridge), but the headliner Speedy Ortiz was crashing at a friend’s place that night, and I figured I’d stop out for a “Howdy-doo” and a sneak peek at the following day's headliner.

After a sweet young lad playing with a yo-yo out front checked my ID, I entered the venue and headed to the back. I’d say that security at Sleeping Village is on the light side, but I'm also aware that Ancient Filipinos may have used yo-yos for hunting. So if you need a guy to leave you alone at the bar or to down a leopard, you could call to the kid by the door and have him put one between their eyes with a flick of his wrist without his having to leave his post. This is what efficient conflict resolution looks like.

Back to our story... the stage area at the Sleeping Village is basically in an icebox. Upon entering, I immediately regretted not having brought a coat. My survival strategy for the remainder of the evening was to pound enough cans of Hamms that my body would stop registering the hypothermia it was undergoing and allow me to enjoy the show.

I was able to catch the tail-end of locals FCKR Jr’s set before checking in with MVM who was there with his camera for posterity purposes. FCKR Jr was of course great. Their bandcamp bio describes them as slippergaze (or thinkcore if you prefer) but like most things about the band, this feels like wry obfuscation. They’re a smart sounding band for sure, but dwelling on their intellect doesn’t communicate the anything that matter about them. The economy of their songwriting, the quiet but potent uplift of their hooks, or their smirking, snaggletoothed Sloan-by-way-of-Fastbacks melodies. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing a lot more of them in the coming months. Also, they have an album out this August. Don’t space on it.

Froth followed after a mercifully short set up time. I had seen the Los Angeles band play earlier in the day at LSAF proper. This was much better. Froth’s day time set felt more like a shoegaze version of Phish. Just scuzzy jam. Like a piece of toast that you dropped immediately after smearing jelly on it, which of course lands face down in all of the cat hair that has collected on your kitchen floor since the last time you swept. Their set that evening seemed more concise, more controlled, and admirably confident. The buzzy psychedelic chords and washing feedback had a relaxing and tranquil effect on me. Kind of like the outro sequence for Lupin the Third Part II; Fujiko staring longingly into a golden-tinted horizon, the sun low over a vast ocean, waves of cool saltwater crash silently at her feet. I could actually feel the gusts from their amplifiers brushing against my hair and face at times. Something that I always welcome despite my hair likely not being long enough to appreciate the full effect. Maybe I’ll give it a grow before Froth slides through town again.

Most people were at the after-party to feel the big hair squeeze of Speedy Ortiz and the band seemed ready to embrace them in return when they took the stage that night. It seemed comically cruel to ask a band who is headlining a festival the next day to headline a separate show the night before (and play another show in between apparently). But this is Speedy Ortiz. All time cross-country van champs and survivors of the “Best New Music” Pitchfork clout circus. They eat road for breakfast, lunch and dinner and gnaw rubber for a midnight snack. Plus, Sadie Dupuis informed everyone that she had had a cup of coffee before their set, so they were good to go (just one? Girl). The sharp, faded furriness of Dupuis’s and Andy Molholt’s combined guitar duets was prickly good fun, held in uneasy equilibrium by the spooky rhymes and friendly lashes pulsing from Darl Ferm’s bass. Their off-the-mark, in-the-pocket melodies always give the impression that there is something wrong with your inner ear, slightly off-balance and only ever correct their posture enough to emphasize how aggressively eschew they are when in their nature freakish state. Speedy is a rush in the flesh, and I will run, not walk, whole hog run to see them again next time they roll through. And honestly, you should, too. 

-MDR

Missed Speedy Ortiz at LSAF this year? Never fear. They’ll be back in September with Ezra Fruman and Stef Chura on September 7th at Lincoln Hall. Tickets start at $18.

****
sunday

Resavoir

Just two days prior to their set at Logan Square Arts Fest, Resavoir released their self-titled debut album, and their set served as an unofficial album release show. Playing the entire album from start to finish, the crowd was treated to what Will Miller and crew have been working on. After a rainy start to the day, and unsure if the fest would take place, Resavoir kicked off the restart of the day. Missing usually saxophone playerIrvin Pierce, the very talented Sen Morimoto filled in. On the new album, Morimoto is featured on “Escalator” where we hear him rapping on the tune. For the performance on Sunday, the group played this version but changed it up a little and added some rapping from keyboard player Akenya Seymour. To finally be able to hear the album played live in its entirety was a treat, and we look forward to their official album release show at Sleeping Village. Resavoir is playing at Sleeping Village on July 26th. Tickets are $10

-MVM

Speedy Ortiz

After a jam-packed day which included Pride Parade, performing at Quimby’s bookstore, and performing on Saturday at Sleeping Village for an Arts Fest after show, Speedy Ortiz still found the energy to play a blistering headlining set to close out the weekend. Playing a similar set to the night before, Speedy Ortiz saved a little in the tank for this set and cranked it up a notch. Mixing in songs from each of their albums, the music was greeted by a head-bobbing crowd. Bouncing around stage, Sadie Dupuis plays with the excitement as though it were the first time she got to show her fans these awesome tunes. Speedy Ortiz returns to Chicago on September 7th to play at Lincoln Hall. Tickets are $18. 

-MVM