Mutts is not your ordinary Chicago band. Keyboardist and lead singer Mike Maimone has an eerily familiar growl reminiscent of Tom Waits. Couple that with aggressive rythyms, highlighted by a B3 organ, and the result is sheer abandon. Mutts' live show has become legendary on the local Chicago music scene. A new album "Separation Anxiety" has just been released and the band will visit the Dragonfly Lounge in Madison for a record release show. Also on the bill; Suns, Hewn and Savage Boys.
We caught up with Mike Maimone for a couple of questions:
Avey Tare of Animal Collective takes on a clown persona in a dune buggy, with severed arms, for the video of "Today's Supernatural" from the new album Centipede Hz. Was someone hitting the peyote out in the desert? The follow-up to Merriweather Post Pavilion has been over two years in the making and promises to be a more high energy affair. The album was produced by Ben Allen.
It was bound to happen. Nardwuar vs. Skrillex. The meeting of two unique personalities.
Sonny John Moore, aka Skrillex, has come a long way since his Mac hard drive crashed before a sold-out gig at the Majestic Theatre two years ago. In the aftermath of the show cancellation that night, the bewildered Skrillex hid in a corner of the venue while angry fans booed, nearly erupting into a full scale riot.
Evidently due to the reliability of Apple Macs, Skrillex had never backed up his hard drive which basically contained his entire show plus new material. Just think, lose the hard drive that night and we wouldn't have the Skrillex of today! The laptop was sent to the Madison Apple store who in turn shipped it to Seattle where the Apple experts eventually recovered the hard drive. These days, I'm sure Skrillex is using the cloud for backup with a paid employee dedicated to the task.
Shirley Manson’s hair is even a redder-red now, tightly pulled back and stacked atop her head in an erect cylinder. She has followed the band on stage and is beaming. This smiling Scot strikes a stark contrast to the v1.0 Shirley Manson who always seemed to me more Manson than Shirley. I and the rest of the world were first introduced to Garbage back in 1995 with their pink-feathered covered self-titled debut.
Who is this PHOX band? A common question from Madison music affectionados over the last few weeks. Anchored by the the stunning vocals of Monica Martin, the six-piece collective expresses a dynamic spontaneity that is both original and captivating. The type of sound that raises eyebrows, with unbridled excitement, from musicians near and far.
Madison is a liberal political bastion that attracts activist musicians from around the country. The recall election between Governor Scott Walker and his Democratic opponent, Tom Barrett, has fired up the grassroots revolutionary spirit. Tom Morello, Jackson Browne, Tim McIlrath, Brother Ali and Mike McColgan stopped by the Labor Temple in Madison to play for a "Get Out The Vote" rally.
