LIVE: Mucca Pazza w/Golosá & Aleks and The Drummer - 06/02/07 - Chicago, IL
Performer: Mucca Pazza / Golosá / Aleks and The Drummer
Location: Empty Bottle / 1035 N. Western Ave. / Chicago, IL
Date: 06/02/07
Admission Price: $12.00
Review: Who out there wouldn’t want to experience a self-described “Astounding Circus Punk Marching Band?” Those of you who said no need not apply for the Consumatron internship. Everyone who was at the chock-full Empty Bottle last night is already hired (sorry, the position is unpaid).
My first thought when I heard that the 20+ member Mucca Pazza was playing the Bottle was: “where are they going to put all of the band members?” Then, when I found out that the opener, Golosa, was a 15+ member Russian folk choir, I wondered where they were going to put the audience. The two member Aleks and The Drummer may have been the supersaturating element to the solution.
Golosá took the stage without, at first, taking the stage at all. A group of fifteen people who had just been drinking and smoking and chatting in the middle of the bar simply broke into a song sung in a clear and hard edged harmony… that I couldn’t understand. Regardless of comprehension, the music captivated the sweaty and fidgeting audience of the Empty Bottle. After finishing their opener, the casually dressed University of Chicago Russian Folk Choir took the stage with an air of excitement about them. Traditional choirs aren’t used to performing in dark and dusky rock clubs to groups of sweaty beer swilling youths. One could view a break like this as either a waste of time or a privilege. Golosá seemed to choose the latter. Taking advantage of the privilege, a few members of the choir decided to take up an electric guitar and try their hand at rocking the traditional Russian folk music up a notch. It worked. Each subsequent song was preceded with a quick synopsis about its origins and a self-deprecating joke about the origin’s ridiculous modern day application. More importantly, the choir members delivered faithful and strong performances of each song. Though most of the crowd did not understand the cultural or historical significance of Golosá’s performance, everyone seemed to appreciate it. It wouldn’t surprise me if the reception received last night at the Empty Bottle was somehow more enthusiastic and genuine than Golosá is used to from audiences who have grown up in traditions which celebrate the songs they sing. Golosá earned my respect for, not only entertaining and competent song craft from a group of extremely talented people, but also for infusing traditional Russian music into the rock scene without resorting to a gimmick or flashy stage show. I will be seeking out future Golosá performances in the near future. You should too. Their web site would be a good starting point.
As much as I could go on about how much I enjoyed Golosá, people were sweating and dancing and drinking in the Bottle to see a CIRCUS PUNK marching band, and not an a capella choir night. There had to be an opening act that would step things up a notch. Aleks and The Drummer were just the act. Before they started, I was unimpressed by the simple setup of a keyboard and drumset that I’ve seen so many times before (Stereo Total, et. al). When Aleks, the pink clad half of the group with a voice trained by many nights of listening to Tori Amos and maybe a bit of At The Drive In, began her simple keyboard riffs and strained opera style of singing, I was unimpressed at first. When the unnamed drummer (Deric Criss) began playing, however, my WTF? reflex switched over to HTH?, as in: How the hell does that guy play the drums like that with only four appendages? I don’t want to downplay the totality of the mixture of simple keyboard parts, elastic vocal experiments and speed metal drumming, but I would pay to see a show that was just “The Drummer.” The general ubiquity and downplaying that the group’s name suggests only serves to surprise the audience with the skill and ferocity that The Drummer displays. Aleks and The Drummer may not be anything new or unique when it comes to genre or style, but amazement is guaranteed once you see Criss attack his drums as if they were threatening his first born. When joined, the throbbing beats of The Drummer and asynchronous octaves of Aleks’ voice and keys create a scene that will have your attention pleasantly torn in two trying to join patterns with melody. Finally, when they do synchronize, you realize that there is something going on here that just may put A + TD above the others who have followed this equation. A more appropriate name might be Aleks and The Drum Machine.
With the crowd sufficiently riled, the 25+ members of Mucca Pazza wasted no time beginning their march from the back of the small club to the stage and beyond. Flashes of brass and freely swinging drum sticks sprouting from a cast of the best kind of freaks and hooligans passed through the crowd in a chaotic parade formation that gave way to a musical call and response orgy. Trombones, trumpets, snares and violin. Saxophones, cymbals, melodica and cheerleaders. These are just some of the energetic elements that made Mucca Pazza’s set an hour of syncopated sweaty bliss. Loosely led and followed by band leader and tuba player, Mark Messing, Mucca Pazza (which means ‘mad cow’) proved that all of those carefully planned formations you see in parades are the absolute wrong way to conduct a marching band.
“Gimmee an M-O-O” shouted one of the cheerleaders, and then demanded we tell her what it spelled.
“Gimmee an S-I-C-K”
“Put them together… what’s that spell?”
“MOO-SICK” screamed the dancing crowd.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another band elicit so much response and interaction from the crowd before. With cacophonous melodies and wandering musicians, Mucca Pazza’s live show can only be summed up with one word… FUN. I have the utmost appreciation for refined musicianship and innovative style. Mucca Pazza showcased both, but also traded in their deadening seriousness for deafening joy. Quick to poke fun at themselves, while simultaneously creating perfectly arranged marching songs, the collective takes ensemble music to a whole new level. Each member of the band was, at one point in the night, singled out for their talents, but in the end, the power of the melody and dissonance lies in the togetherness and spirit of each musician… and each audience member.
It’s almost impossible to convince people that they need to see a marching band perform, which is why you should simply drag the nearest friend with you to Mucca Pazza’s next performance and let them thank you later.
If that doesn’t work, maybe this video will help:
Rating: 4.75 / 5
Band Links:
-Golosá
-Aleks and The Drummer
-Mucca Pazza
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Posted by consumatron on June 3rd, 2007 filed in videobloggers
June 4th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Hey thanks for the kind words on our behalf. But I need to chime in and say “Tori Amos?!” “WTF?!?!” and simply “NOOOO!!!”
haha, take care,
the drummer
June 5th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
interesting…
i find it interesting that so often people say ” keyboard and drums, I’ve seen it so many times before”. No one’s first reaction to a stage of a guitar, bass, drums and mic is “eh, that’s been done”. All of a sudden that would sound, well kind of cocky and jaded. it’d be like “geez, wait for them to start playing”. Same double standard with the keyboard. Most guitar riffs and baselines are pretty simple, chords, individual notes, or whatever. And they are not explained as simple, undercomplicated, etc.. Just because a keyboard is involved, and it’s not peppering the meal but it’s half the meal itself, do people expect BAch or Beethoven? I realize that “simple” isn’t necessarily an insult or anything, but I wonder: I use both hands, I use chords, and often my fingers race quite quickly over non-adjacent notes into non-obvious melodies. And because I don’t have a base guitar, cello, or whatever to layer over the essential that I play, my playing itself can be seen as “simple keyboard parts”. And if it is indeed simple, I wonder if the same melodies on guitar would be judged as simple. NO way they would. I guess it’s fun to guess people’s influences, but you may be amused that i’ve never listened to Tori Amos, or the alkaline trio. If you don’t find us to be anything unique as far as genre or style, I’d be super interested to hear your thoughts on who we sound like, and what our genre is. The few Drummer and keboardist duos I know of , Matt and Kim, Stereo Total, sound nothing like us. If you say who shares our style, I’d love to discover them through your suggestion. Not to sound cockly at all, but you would be the first to pin us down to any genre or name one band or two that we truly do sound like.
We also thought and felt how Mucca Pazza blew our minds.
Thank you very much for enjoying our show too. We always appreciate a response. I’m happy that you’ve figured out the scheme of our name, and In the spirit of reviewing, I’ve just reviewed your review a little. Hope you don’t mind
Cheers!!
Oh and send the sound comparisons over to myspace.com/aleksandthedrummer
aleks
June 5th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Aleks,
First off, thanks so much for this review of the review. I wish everyone/thing I reviewed would make so much of an effort to respond. That’s what this space is all about to me… a space for dialog. Your response takes my reviewing to a level beyond simply whether or not I liked your act (I did). So, in response to some of your response points, in the order they were written:
-re: standard rock setups… No, not a lot of people point out that it’s been done before. It’s taken for granted, which may just be a testament to your uniqueness in a roundabout way. Even though “something new” doesn’t necessarily translate into “something good,” I am sometimes guilty of falling into this all-too-easy way of thinking.
-re: simple… I happen to like simplicity in music much of the time. Some of the worst music is bad because it overdoses on complexity or showy wankdom. Furthermore, I will lay it out plain… you are a far superior keyboard player and singer than I am. Hell, I can’t even sing and strum a simple guitar riff at the same time. To a listener (more specifically, this listener), however, the singing and keyboard come across as simple when compared to The Drummer’s contribution to your music.
-re: influences… I wasn’t trying to guess your influences, but rather convey what your sound reminded me of as best I could in one sentence. If I had more time to dedicate to my reviews, I probably would have come up with something better than that.
-re: genre… Perhaps genre was a bad choice of words. I don’t even like to think of genre as a valid categorizing tool when talking about music. I will stick by “equation” though. And to name others who use your equation wouldn’t be impossible, but would be a bit tough for me because I have seen many acts with setups like yours whose names I don’t remember. Let me say that even without this back-and-forth, I would remember yours. I hope that comes across as a compliment, because that is how it is intended. (and I stick by my guns by saying that there is a little bit of a Stereo Total sound in you…though not overt)
Again, thanks a lot for responding. I deserve to be put in my place when appropriate, and much like you, I always appreciate a thoughtful response. I don’t review music as much as I review everyday purchases, but I’m confident that your comment will help me to become a better music reviewer.
-K
June 8th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Didn’t see that coming, eh.
Never know who’s snooping the Consumo…