The Modern Skirts play three shows in our area this week. They’ll be at Schubas in Chicago on November 18th, Mad Planet in Milwaukee on November 19th, and the Project Lodge in Madison on November 20th. Please take this chance to catch these guys live if you can. If you have not heard their fantastic 2008 release, All of Us in Our Night (that’s the awesome album art above), please add it to your collection. You won’t be disappointed.

Speaking of great albums, Jo Jo from Modern Skirts was generous enough to share some of his favorite albums with us for our continuing 5 albums feature. Some great selections below, many that I’m excited to revisit.

Belle and Sebastian – Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant
This album was the soundtrack to my years of poverty and depression. Just before Modern Skirts started, the singer and I were living in a house in a bad part of Athens, squeezed between two housing projects. We were working as cart pushers at Wal-Mart, boiling water on the stove so we could take hot baths because our gas was cut off. Dead car in the parking lot, etc. The old piano was out on the front porch, and at night I would drink wine and play as the hookers and homeless people passed by in the street. I would go downtown every night during this time and spend all my money at the bars and come home and read War and Peace cross-eyed drunk and listen to this album. I would sleep three hours and wake up and go into work, and then sneak out to my car and sleep till the managers would call me on the walkie talkie to find out why the carts weren’t getting in. Every time I hear “Fold Your Hands,” I think of boiling my bath water and wishing I could get a girlfriend. It’s hard to get a nice girl to go out into the projects with you at night.

Okkervil River – The Stage Names
“The Stage Names” was the my first road record. It came out during our first year of heavy touring. A lot of the lyrics have to do with being a small touring band on the road, which really resonated with me at that time. Being on the road had gotten really lonely and difficult fir me at that point, and it was nice to have a record to romanticize it for me again. We were in Florida when I realized how much I loved some of those songs. I remember sleeping on our friend Jeanice’s floor in Gainesville, Florida after a show and playing “Plus Ones” over and over again.

M. Ward – Post-War
Post War is my New Orleans album. We had been recording the self-produced songs from All of Us in Our Night for two weeks and all had our first Mardi Gras in the middle of all that. We had gotten really close with our friends down there, and our last night in town we went out in the French Quarter, which was pretty quiet in the wake of all the festivities. We were way back in the back of this bar called the Erin Rose, me and Jay and our friends Mary and Erin, and when we walked out, the sun was rising and casting a bright orange across the balconies on Conti Street. The sky was a deep pink and bright blue and the air was soft. It was a Monday morning and most people on the street were just getting up and getting to work. We got in Erin’s car and headed home and the first song on Post-War came on and it was just the most beautiful moment; sad, because we were going to be leaving the city I was in love with to go home, and beautiful, because we were with new friends on that beautiful morning in the city I was in love with. It occurred to me that I would remember that for the rest of my life. We went home and had a 7 am breakfast of leftover pork loin and king cake and packed our bags and left for Athens.

Tom Waits – Mule Variations
I was in a jeep with with our singer and our friend Bruce on a pitch black dirt road in our hometown of Elberton, Georgia when I heard Tom Waits for the first time. We drove deep into the woods and stopped on an old metal bridge for a while and Bruce played this album for us, and it felt like Elberton to me. Buying beer on a Sunday from an old black man at a shack out in the country with a cooler buried in the ground under an old piece of tin roof. The junkyards with the broken down school buses stuffed floor to roof with discarded clothes. Boiling peanuts in an old oil drum with the goats all around. I could hear the dirt on the floor in those recordings. There are better and stranger Tom Waits records, but this one feels the most like home to me.

Ween – Quebec
I had been listening to Ween for a little while when Quebec came out. It was the first Ween album I was able to anticipate before it was released. I was really taught to appreciate this band by some guys that lived across from my bandmates at the time; they were always taking these crazy drugs no one had ever heard of and watching midget porn and art films (kind of like what it’s probably like being in the studio with Ween, actually…) There was one night where they were putting these drops on their tongues and kind of lolling around the apartment, and they were listening to Quebec. To my ears, it was a different direction for Ween and I was sucked in immediately. I’ve had some of my own weird times with this record.

Buy: Modern Skirts – All of Us in Our Night
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MP3: Modern Skirts – “Soft Pedals”

Set List: Cadillac Ranch / Badlands / Hungry Heart / Working On A Dream / Thunder Road / Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out / Night / Backstreets / Born To Run / She’s The One / Meeting Across The River / Jungleland / Darlington County / Waiting On A Sunny Day / Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town / Loose Ends / Jole Blon / Growin’ Up / Into The Fire / The Rising / No Surrender / Living Proof / Kitty’s Back / American Land / Dancing In The Dark / Rosalita / Higher & Higher

At the end of a three hour performance that included a full performance Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 album, Born To Run, even the harshest of critics would have a difficult time finding fault in last night’s show. Springsteen is no stranger to marathon performances, many will recall his last performance in Milwaukee celebrating Harley-Davidson’s 105th anniversary. Through the course of the night Springsteen crowd surfed, played requests, brought a young kid onstage to sing during Waiting on a Sunny Day, and let everyone know he knew he was in Milwaukee. While those things add to the memories that were created, it was the music and tireless energy that is pumped out night after night by this group that continues to amaze me.

There’s little to be said about Springsteen and the E Street band that hasn’t been said before. This is a band that could be mailing it in night after night, collecting the same amount of money, playing only the hits and dialing in a routine two-hour show. That wouldn’t be Bruce Springsteen though. I heard songs last night that I’d never heard them play before, some whose origin I’m going to have to research. Of course, there are few better live music instances than when you here the familiar sounds of “Born To Run,” Dancing In the Dark,” and “Rosalita.” I don’t have kids or know how long the Springteen express will be in full motion, what I do know is that I’ll be sharing my memories of last night’s show for years to come.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: ‘Born to Run’ just as fresh as in 1975
Shepherd Express: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band @ The Bradley Center
Milwaukee A.V. Club: Bruce Springsteen at the Bradley Center
77 Square: Springsteen takes Milwaukee crowd higher and higher
OnMilwaukee.com: Springsteen and band deliver unforgettable night

Discuss: What did you think of the show? What were your highlights from the show? Drop a comment with your thoughts/reviews of the show.

Buy: Bruce Springsteen

Here are the Wisconsin and Illinois shows we recommend you take in this week. Check them out below and let us know which ones you’ll be attending or ones you think should really make our list.

Upcoming Wisconsin Shows:

11/17 – Bruce Hornsby – Northern Lights Theater, Milwaukee
11/18 – Brendan Benson + Cory Chisel – Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee
11/19 – Surgeons In Heat + Jason Mohr (Juniper Tar) – Sugar Maple, Milwaukee
11/19 – Dinosaur Jr. – Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee
11/19 – Modern Skirts + Skybox – Mad Planet, Milwaukee
11/20 – A Sunny Day in Glasgow + Common Loon – Der Rathskeller, Madison
11/20 – Medeski, Martin & Wood – The Rave, Milwaukee
11/20 – Modern Skirts + Skybox – Project Lodge, Madison
11/20 – Haley Bonar – High Noon Saloon, Madison
11/21 – Common Loon – Cactus Club, Milwaukee
11/21 – .357 String Band – Mad Planet, Milwaukee
11/21 – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – High Noon Saloon, Madison

Upcoming Chicago Shows:

11/18 – 311 – Aragon Ballroom
11/18 – Maps & Atlases – Lincoln Hall
11/18 – Brother Ali – Metro
11/19 – Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Lincoln Hall
11/19 – P.O.S. – House of Blues
11/20 – Brendan Benson – Lincoln Hall
11/20 – Pixies + No Age – Aragon Ballroom
11/20 – Peaches + Amanda Blank – Metro
11/20 – The Mother Hips + Backyard Tire Fire – Schubas
11/20 – Ghostland Observatory – Congress Theatre
11/20 – The Mother Hips – Schuba’s Tavern
11/21 – The Mother Hips – Schuba’s Tavern
11/21 – Pixies + Jay Reatard – Aragon Ballroom
11/21 – Elvis Perkins + A.A. Bondy – Lincoln Hall
11/22 – Harper Simon – Lincoln Hall

Just Announced:

1/17 – Bowerbirds + Sharon Van Etten – High Noon Saloon, Milwaukee
2/17 – St. Vincent – Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee
2/18 – St. Vincent – Metro, Chicago
2/20 – RJD2 – Canopy Club, Champaign
2/26 – Justin Townes Earle + Joe Pug – High Noon Saloon, Madison

+Bookmark our Wisconsin and Chicago shows pages for all your concert announcements+

By Alex Schaaf

Before I went to the Dirty Projectors show this past Friday night at Chicago’s Bottom Lounge, I had heard from some people who saw them earlier in the week that their set was excellent but subdued, as Dave Longstreth and the rest of the band played through the setlist with little movement or visible excitement. But then I saw them play Chicago. Clearly I need to find out why other people were lying to me, as last night’s show was full of intense guitar dueling, excited movement around the stage, and a ravenous crowd that ate everything up with a response normally only seen at a hometown show.

First I want to talk about the opener, Tune-Yards. I arrived to the Bottom Lounge a little late, and I thought that I had missed the opening band. This was almost a relief to me, as I knew I wouldn’t have to wait very long for Longstreth and crew to walk out onto that stage. But then Tune-Yards came on, and I realized the show was starting an hour later than was scheduled. A bit of disappointment hit me, especially as Merrill Garbus, the eccentric-looking leader of the group, started wailing and emitting strange vocal tones into the microphone. My friends and I looked at each other with the same look – “This is going to be an interesting set.”

However, mere minutes into that first song, I was converted. Garbus performs by looping various vocals and percussion parts together, and then singing over them with her diva-like vocals, which went from hushed whispers to wailing R&B in no time. Garbus’ voice was simply incredible; the first thing I thought of was that she sounded like the female version of Animal Collective’s Avey Tare, but she took that even further until I could no longer classify her with one easy catchphrase.

The crowd loved Tune-Yards’ set, paying very close attention, and giving raucous applause after each song. This response was nothing, however, to the way they would respond to the Dirty Projectors’ set.

The Dirty Projectors, led by Dave Longstreth, are certainly an unlikely group to hold the banner of “the leaders of modern indie music” that many people think they possess. Longstreth plays a stuttering, fractured guitar over equally confusing percussion parts, while the female singers of Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, and Haley Dekle add complicated vocal lines that treat their voices as distinct instruments rather than just something to harmonize the melody with. But put all these things together, and it results in a one-of-a-kind sound that Longstreth has been honing for years, and one that has hit something of a peak with this year’s Bitte Orca, an album that many people have been calling “the album of the year” since the day it came out.

The live show was even more powerful and energetic than the album, as the heavy R&B beats translated to the live setting extremely well, setting a booming groove behind the frantic guitar noodling and textured vocals of the rest of the band. Longstreth’s guitar playing, something he does “backwards,” playing the guitar left-handed, is even more impressive in the live setting, as you see how effortlessly he plays the complicated riffs and progressions that sound so impossible on the record.

The vocals of the three women were also quite impressive live, as I could obviously see that the women were singing, but I was amazed that those parts could be produced by live humans with such precision and accuracy. Who needs Auto-Tune when you have these kinds of skills? Amber Coffman certainly stood out the most, as she sang her crowd-pleaser “Stillness is the Move” with the confidence of a musical veteran, someone that knows how good she sounds and is excited to share the song with the audience. She took the microphone off the stand for “Stillness” and took center stage for the entire song, and the crowd ate it up, giving her the biggest ovation of the night.

Overall, the show last night showcased both an up-and-coming band that deserves a closer look, and a more established act that shows us what “indie” music in our time has the potential to sound like. As many people yelled out to Longstreth after the astonishing “Temecula Sunrise,” – “Unreal!”

Buy: Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
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MP3: Dirty Projectors – “Stillness Is The Move”
MP3: Dirty Projectors – “Useful Chamber”
MP3: Dirty Projectors – “Temecula Sunrise”
MP3: Dirty Projectors & David Byrne – “Knotty Pine”

By Jodi Root

My experiences with Friday the 13th are usually pretty tame and unmemorable, the only reminders of this cliché superstitious date is an abundance of lame facebook statuses or overheard generic chit chat on the el. I’m pretty sure this past Fri 13th, however, has succeeded in trumping all past occurrences to date – both as far as an overall eventful evening and on the creepy factor. I have the much buzzed about San Francisco band Girls to thank for this.

Headlining their second consecutive night playing Chicago’s Empty Bottle, Friday’s set was long sold out, packed to the brims with fans eager to see if this Pitchfork darling duo’s performance could live up to the hype. All lame puns aside, it was kind of ironic to see that a group who goes by the name of Girls maybe lured out 5-10 females total in its hipster crammed audience—the stuffy, congested crowd was definitely one mass sausage fest—but no complaints from this gal, I haven’t seen that long of a line to the male’s restroom since the Robyn concert.

Quality conversation with a friend and an abundance of $2.50 312’s fogged my memory a bit and my scribbled notes are definitely what you would consider illegible. As a result, my experience last evening is a bit of a dreamy haze—but this isn’t by any means a bad thing. Flashing back to the dream sequencey set, Girls took to the silver and gold illuminated stage at five after midnight. The four-man line-up kicked off their hour long set with the ever eerie, “Ghost Mouth.” Christopher Owens’ vocals were crisp and piercingly on, creeping the crap out of me as he channeled the Buddy Holly like 50’s nostalgia rock vibe and desperately crooned, “I’m too scared to get out and get into heaven.”

Owens’ repetitive references to fear and god can’t help but get under your skin when you remember his past growing up as a member of the cult Children of God. I’ve read that the debut “Album” was heavily influenced by both Owens’ aforementioned past as well an influx of drug abuse—and both the song content and delivery makes this abundantly clear. There were some moments in last night’s show where I felt like I was in a graveyard. Or at a Raveonettes show—but if they were both dudes on a lot of smack. Or at a 50’s surf shop beach party, but if David Lynch had taken hold as the host of festivities.

The music was loud, soft, melodic and flat. The performance itself may not have been the most memorable—the guitarist definitely seemed more of a lifeless prop, barely pulling his weight at times, but Owens’ presence and the overall presentation was definitely an experience. The combination of unease, nostalgia and desperation delivered were bone chilling and the sound quality helped perfect the message. At one point I had turned to my friend and slurred, “Are we in Twin Peaks? I swear this would be the perfect soundtrack to Laura Palmer’s demise. . .” to which he simply smiled and pointed at a group of dudes behind me who were contemplating the exact same theory.

Following opening track “Ghost Mouth,” the majority of “Album” was accounted for, with additional tracks including “Headache,” “Summertime,” “God Damned,” “Laura,” “Big Bad M**********r,” and single “Hellhole Ratrace.” Of course, the ever poppy “Lust for Life” closed off the set, prior to Owens taking the stage solo for a few remaining numbers. I went into the show hoping for a deeper appreciation to one of 2009’s most hyped records, and after last night’s performance that’s exactly what I got. Not everyone will get the novelty of catching such a fantastic night of music on one of the year’s spookiest calendar dates, but I recommend it thoroughly regardless.

Buy: Girls – Album
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MP3: Girls – “Lust For Life”

By Tyler Fassnacht

The evening started out light and clean and ended pretty gritty. Now I am not insulting any of the bands that played, but it was a noticeable progression as the three bands performed.

The first act was a guy named Dent May, who played ukulele and crooned cute songs. There was also another guy on stage playing tambourine and singing backup, which added a lot to the otherwise empty sound. His songs were catchy and it was fun watching him jump around with his ukulele, but I am sorry, I couldn’t stop thinking of Hawaii during his performance. Besides the tropical thoughts, the songs also didn’t differ all that much, which is why I was a little glad that his set was short and sweet.

The next band was called Cryptacize, who were actually here last month opening for Sufjan Stevens. Their music was arty rock, with a jumble of tempo changes, guitar effects and jazzy chords, all with a female singer who’s voice was poppy, soft and bright. They were quite good in their own right and they also set the mood for the Fiery Furnaces’ set.

It seems as though each Furnaces’ tour, they have a different stage setup as far as instrumentation goes. This time around it was drummer, bass, vocals and guitar, but no keys whatsoever, which seems a bit strange because they were abundant on the new record. Eleanor came out seeming a little shy in front of everyone, but throughout the night she commanded that stage and had the audience anticipating every word she sang. In comparison to the singer for Cryptacize, Eleanor sings in a deep alto register and sits behind a force of a voice and her lyric phrasings are just as complicated as the music arrangements. All the while her brother Matt stood off to the side playing guitar and leading the other musicians through tempos slowing down, speeding up and starting and stopping. He played guitar licks so quick that I’m sure some people missed them.

The set list relied heavily on their new record, I’m Going Away, but there were songs sprinkled in from every album. Highlights for me were “Chris Michaels” from Blueberry Boat, “Evergreen” from EP and “Duplexes of the Dead” from Widow City. Oh and did I mention how almost all the songs were different? Something the Fiery Furnaces are known for, are their reworking of their own songs. Since there were no keyboards and the only guitar effect was distortion, many of the layered, psychedelic songs on their albums were played with a harder rocking vigor, but also with an element of improvisation and free jazz like parts here and there. They added extra measures to choruses and changed up rhythms to songs, which was all a very pleasant treat for the songs off their newest album, which were played with a fresh sound. Their new takes on songs like “The End is Near,” “Drive to Dallas,” and “Staring at the Steeple,” made them almost brand new. However pop oriented and straight forward some of their songs are on albums, when played live they are weirder and much more experimental. Next tour these guys go on, I am definitely going to try and catch them again.

Discuss: What did you think of the show? Were you a fan of Dent May or Cryptacize? Drop a comment with your thoughts/reviews of last night’s show.

Buy: Fiery Furnaces
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Myspace: The Fiery Furnaces
MP3: The Fiery Furnaces – The End Is Near