It may have been August of last year when Chicago’s Secret Colours released their self-titled album, but the band is still preaching the gospel of neo-psych fuzz rock. This Thursday, they will spread the good word at Locals Only with We Are Hex. It’s a rare treat for the band to be visiting our city. According to Dave Stach, all of the band members are still in school and touring only happens between classes.  “We are invited to do SXSW this year as it falls on our spring break,” said Stach. “We are really looking forward to that.”

Unleashing their sonic bursts of bright and vivid psychedelic rock in a place like Austin is geographically closer to the source of their West Coast sun-soaked psych-art than, say, the Windy City.  “Chicago is an unlikely setting for us and that is cool,” he said. “A lot of stuff is popping up all over the city, like The Great Society Mind Destroyers and bands fueled on styles inspired by Spacemen 3 and The Jesus and Mary Chain.”

Luckily for Secret Colours, they did not go to the scene - the scene came to them. “The more we play out, the more we find like-minded groups,” says Stach.

Stach played in several bands prior to establishing Secret Colours with Tommy Evans.  From Power Pop to New Wave Punk, Stach has run the gamut, initially playing bass and now guitar. With Evans, he knew things were going to change in a big way.  “Tommy got me into the Neo-Psych sound. The Black Angels and Brian Jonestown Massacre.  These are great bands.”

The two hit it off and began working together. Evans played Stach a bunch of songs he was sitting on and he was not only impressed with the eight-to-ten songs that were already flushed out, but he immediately envisioned doing something more with them.  This is what makes up a majority of their self-titled album.  “It was fairly easy to get that sound going,” Stach said. “It’s straightforward and simple chords.  The hard part to it is to do it in an original way.  It’s really a niche genre with expectations. You have to have a certain guitar sound and a certain reverb.  Getting that and making the songs your own, that was difficult.”

The Britpop scene is one of the more surprising influences the band draws from. The group isn’t shy to mention bands like Blur and the Stone Roses as having an effect on their sound. And despite the up-front noisy demeanor, you can hear the soft influences of that ‘90s sound.  These soft-spoken touches to their music are what differentiates them from others in the scene.  “We are coming from a good place because we skipped that awkward phase. We already had our sound solidified before getting out there and playing live.”

If they felt strong in the beginning, then expect them to pull out all the stops Thursday night with extended versions, spaced-out jams, and a total freak-out party.

To an ex band geek such as myself (okay, who am I kidding; once a band geek, always a band geek) the allure of a “30 piece circus punk marching band” is instantaneous. To others, the thought of trumpets, saxophones, clarinets, and accordions replacing the traditional assortment of electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums is not one easily entertained. If you fall into this category, joining my camp may take some convincing.

Mucca Pazza is anything but typical. First, consider the size. The size of what? One, the size of the band- 30 members, their respective instruments, and the space required to play them. Two, the size of The Vollrath or, more importantly, the size of The Volrath’s performance stage. With knowledge of the above mentioned elements, one quickly realizes that the equation might be slightly out of balance. Amazingly, at any single point in the performance there were always at least 15 or more musicians playing on stage.

But don’t forget the members who were playing in the audience. Whimsical chaos is Mucca Pazza’s hallmark and nobody does it better than them. Occasionally, they formed a train and followed each other through the group of spectators as the leader darted front to back and left to right, never ceasing to play their horns in lieu of audience interaction. More frequently though, were independent ventures into the crowd rubbing shoulders with fans and blasting notes from their side. Multiple times I felt something brush against my ankle, only to find a trumpeter laying on the ground… still playing his instrument.

There were no vocals during the songs; the massive assortment of instruments did all the singing need. But, staying true to their claim of existence as a marching band, there was a bullhorn. Their drum major used this, instead of a microphone, to communicate with the band and crowd.

The music was grand and had a full body, naturally possessing the comprehensive sound of percussion (snare and bass drums, concert toms, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, and various other percussion toys), brass (sousaphone, trumpet, trombone), and woodwinds (alto & tenor saxophone and clarinet). For musical flare, an electric guitar, mandolin, violin, and accordions were added to the mix. Again demonstrating the atypical nature of the band, they covered everything from 60’s television show themes, rearranged rock tunes, and original compositions to Balkan brass, Czech folk songs, and the works of classical composers.

Mucca Pazza embraces the concept of the band geek identity and they wear it proudly on their sleeve… literally. All were dressed in mismatched and pieced together items of band uniforms past, some of antique quality. The thrift store treasures give the band a slightly cohesive, yet very rustic and nostalgic appearance. My favorite? The clarinet player sporting a blue, traditional jacket covered with all the embellishments; a pleated, navy-colored mini skirt; and thick, white, cat eye glasses.

The Vollrath hadn’t seen this much liveliness since The Woodhands performed in May. Mucca Pazza inhabited that same unique level of quirkiness, coupled with raw talent channeled in an awesomely eccentric way. With Mucca Pazza’s unmatchable twist on the classic concept of a marching band, it was impossible not to dance, jump, scream, and shout. And until they stopped playing and disappeared into the dark depths of the Vollrath’s basement, the sweat-soaked and energy-spent audience did exactly that.

It takes a certain kind of talent for a band to exist purely on its own merit without some form of gimmick to help establish a band’s identity or market them in hope that it will make someone notice. But for Yourself And The Air, there is nothing flashy about these four guys — Erick Crosby, James David, Drew Rasmussen, Jeff Papendorf, and Nicholas Sinclair — except for the reflection off of their instruments.

This Chicago group defines the pure essence of indie rock with well-crafted songs that stand out on their own and simply use the music to speak for itself. Known for their heavily guitar-driven sound thanks to their debut Hola Mi Cielo and the 2008 release Cold Outside Brings Heavy Thoughts To Think, their latest EP —Friend Of All Breeds — expands their initially-developed sound of early ‘90s alternative guitar rock with a subtle form of shoegaze and adds a degree of atmosphere through the occasional electronic sampling.

“We are a guitar band, and our CDs are very guitar driven,” said Crosby, lead singer. “At the time, I was getting into music with little things in songs you don’t necessarily hear right away, and we decided to incorporate that style into the EP. It’s these little things in the background that help you better relate to the music.”

Coming from Chicago and a scene that launched the careers of Naked Raygun and Jesus Lizard to 90 Day Men, The Promise Ring and Joan Of Arc, it’s only natural for a band like Yourself And The Air to be pushing themselves out of the norm and into the forefront with what Crosby considers a lacking time for the Chicago scene.

“There have been and are so many great bands and artists in this city,” he said. “But lately, I feel like the scene has kind of fallen. We are hoping that we can change that and would like to be apart of changing that.”

However, when it comes down to it, they are their biggest fans, and it’s the music that matters most.

“We don’t put too much into the music we make,” he said. “The music just makes itself. We are not trying to change the world. We just let things be and craft the music into what it naturally becomes.”

Two years in existence as a band, and a longer history as friends,  it was this band of brotherhood that became the only real constant and got them through all of their obstacles. No money on tour, a broken-down van, and at times almost broken down mentally, the early days were challenging, but they found ways to move forward and get through it all, from sleeping off of the shore in Virginia to scrounging around for a few bucks for gas just to get to their next show. And even now that they are in a much better place as individuals and a group, the idea that they actually “made it” is still foreign to them.

“The DIY aspect was what captivated us to get our hands dirty,” Crosby said. “You appreciate it more when you book your own shows and work through the issues. This is our first real tour, and we are super excited to see the real business side of it. We are very grateful and realize the position we are in right now as a band. It’s something 80 percent of bands never really get to experience. But we still have a long way to go and want to keep this shit moving because if things don’t move forward than we are doing something wrong.”

Their continued journey will bring them back to Indianapolis to play at The Vollrath on July 30th. This will be their second visit to Indianapolis. Their initial experience was a house show, where a few days prior to their arrival, the area was a murder scene.

“Sometime during the show we were approached by this guy who tried to sell us a gun. He told us that he had to get out of the city because they had done him wrong.”

Let’s hope the only thing that is for sale this time around is the band’s merchandise.

Band’s website: http://www.handsorganics.com/

Origin: Chicago
Style: Free Jazz

On this release, Scott Fields has whittled his “Ensemble” (where the Chicago native- turned Madison, Wisconsin resident calls each of his various collaborations the “Ensemble”) down to a trio: himself as guitarist with Vancouver’s Peggy Lee on cello and Dylan Van Der Schyff with the percussion.

With This That, the whole premise of this album flirts with the idea of what is considered improv and what is actual composed material. Fields performs flawlessly in the attempt that you cannot tell the difference between the two states of musicianship. But even with the blurred lines, you get a sense of structure within these pieces as the sonic architecture is very tight knit and space is given a sense of correlation within the songs.

Fields was influenced by the Art Ensemble of Chicago with the goal to make spontaneous music more controlled and This That is an album that obscures the senses as to what is and what isn’t, as well as what you think could and could not be in the musical stratosphere of free form. An even more electrified version of Derek Bailey (you really get that feeling later on in the album), Fields does what he can to the guitar to build a unique perspective as well as preserving a strong tonal quality to his work, although not quite as textured as Bailey was.

Often compared to Eric Dolphy as noted by both Carl Baugher of Cadence Magazine and Steve Goldstein of Midwest Jazz Magazine (http://www.accretions.com/artists/scott.asp), Fields builds a depth and field that not just compliments but contradicts the cello, skewing the level of reality. Sometimes fighting with one another for the forefront (“This Is This”), while other times playfully meandering between the two instruments and dancing up and down scales (“This Is That”), the three round up a unique conceptualization of the abstract that lies today as the outcast of the Accretions label as Fields has nothing to do with the Trummerflora Collective, but remains as one of Accretions strongest.

Cross-Reference: Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Derek Bailey, Eric Dolphy

Origin: Chicago, Illinois
Style: Alternative, Indie Rock

It’s often difficult to make claim to the importance of an EP, especially when many of them are used as simple marketing strategies and the exploitation into what became the extended single. But for Jesus Lizard’s Lash — much like the EP Pure in 1989 — this album was as important a release as the full length Liar was the previous year.

Out of Lash came one of their most important songs of their career and the song “Glamorous.”

Jesus Lizard’s ‘Almost Live’ Performance of ‘Glamorous.’

“Glamorous” is not just typical Jesus Lizard prowess, but it single-handedly signifies everything that makes Jesus Lizard great: tight, abrasive, power-prosed time signature. If this stand-out song is not enough to stake claim on Lash being one of the more important indie albums of the ’90s, then the proof that this band can correlate perfectly between a studio and live recording is flawlessly important to the short list of songs.

Most of this almost 17-minute release is taken from live performances in 1990 and 1992 (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gnfyxq8gldde). Not only is the sound equally competitive, but the power and intensity remains high on both ends. The constant insanity of the conveyor-belt bass thrusting on “Monkey Trick” in syncopated time signatures are enough to put you in an unconditional trance. You can feel just how amazing this band works together under strained musical parallels of form and function, control through chaos.

On the other hand, “Killer McHann” is an epileptic fit of a band on loosing it on the edge.

‘Killer McHann,’ Live in New Jersey 1993.

What’s entertaining about a song of this caliber is that David Yow writes lyrics that reads like a cross between English limerick and prose work from Edgar Allan Poe, that is if Poe had been a fan of John Ford films.

These songs give you an emotional road map as to why this band was often seen as “violent and vulgar” during their live performances (http://bitemefanboy.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/notoriously-reckless-occasionally-violent-the-jesus-lizard/), as well as proving their potential in the independent music world that later led to a full-on live release (Show) and eventually the signing on Capitol with a spot on Lollapalooza in the mid-’90s, many say the downfall to the true potential of this band.

Lash may be a quick listen, but it packs a punch, and if you really want to know what made the band in their prime so great, then it is worth digging up this EP.

Cross-Reference: Butthole Surfers, Big Black, and Melvins

History has shown us that art draws from influence. One aspect to good art is that it takes something from the past and expands on it. Same goes for music, and in an environment where recycling the past has become a means of the future with one wave becoming a third, fourth, or fifth wave, it’s a nice surprise when you stumble on a band like Brighton MA, who create music by looking back without completely replicating it.

“We pay a lot of attention from the ‘60s and ‘70s,” said Sam Koentopp, drummer for the band. “Good music has an eye towards the past. You cannot move forward unless you know where you came from. It comes across in the music and gives it a wider perspective.”

It’s that ideal that leaks into every aspect of their music, from writing to the final output. As Matthew Kerstein puts it on the song “Not Our Fault” — “Things were supposed to change slowly. Somehow things don’t seem to change at all.” So don’t call their music indie rock because Koentopp will tell you different. For him, indie rock is too modern of a term.

“We are modern kind of guys who listen to old music that comes out of that school of rock and roll.”

And from that descends an album like Amateur Lovers (Loose Tooth). The follow-up to their self-titled EP, also on the same label, explores the ideology and concepts of the ‘60s and ‘70s without trying to be that. It’s a fine line that goes back to the days of Ziggy Stardust or Highway 61 Revisited, where the process became just as important as the actual recording.

“Every decision that we made on this record was thought out,” he said.

Take the song “Eskimos,” for example. Tucked within a rich, twangy R&B, soul of a song lies Kerstein’s vocals all spread out and gravelly, like he is at the end of a cigarette-drenched night and the only thing left is for the sun to rise. Makes the lyrics “just got back from the North Pole, must have caught a head cold” more poignant. Kerstein turns into the anti-crooner.

“We know that happens to his voice. Three vocal takes, and his voice is a little gravelly. If we want his voice to sound like rust and gravel, we don’t do the vocal takes for a song like that on the first take. We wait until later. If we want it polished, we get it down immediately. The same philosophy also goes with the drums and guitars. We will go to a studio to get a specific sound from a specific amp. Or, we will pay close attention to those aspects and record specifically to capture those sounds.”

And this is what lies on the surface. To capture the inner-workings of the band’s conceptual being, it takes a pair of headphones and an interested ear to grasp the gentle perks and the simple accentuation that adorn each song from the urgency of “Underground” to the fragile outcry of “Old Parked Car,” like Edward Abbey telling a tale by the campfire.

To come to those results are not easy, Koentopp will admit. “There are so many problems that will arise. I may think that a song needs to be faster, while someone else thinks it needs to be slower. You need to be friends with that person to hash out ideas and write good music. Dialogue is such an important thing. If you can communicate with band members, you accomplish the emotion in music.”

That is why they like to keep it in the family as he considers each member to be a crucial part of his life. When Koentopp, Kerstein, and bassist Devon Bryant left the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, they asked guitarist Jim Tuerk to join forces and form Brighton MA. They all felt that the right decision, and it gave them a better sense of place, something the band name reflects on, a name that refers to Kerstein’s birth place.

“Like the songs, there is a longing in the name,” Koentopp said. “For people, the past is always something that was better and more beautiful. We like the idea that we as humans, are always trying to get back to the past in some form or another. It’s a sense of belonging and familiarity, and a place that does not really exist anymore. It’s there, but it is a part of your life you can’t really get to anymore.”

Between the rich constructs of the music to their simplicity in existence as a group, Brighton MA make music for the people.

“It’s our biggest goal in music, to make that audience feel whatever that song will make them feel. To me, that is the most important part to what I do.”

Origin: Chicago, Illinois
Style: Instrumental, Post Rock

Volta Do Mar (Portuguese for “turn of the sea”) created a quick introduction to the band. Unfortunately, these three songs just demonstrate they are your typical post-rock conglomeration. At the time , the music does not really do much to stand out amongst the Chicago instrumental scenesters.

Bands like Tortoise was still creating prominent instrumental music and even the few instrumental meanderings of 90 Day Men in the beginning of their career was more interesting than the garbage pail of guitars and rhythms bouncing back and forth.

An album At The Speed Of Light Or Day came out later that year racking up about the same effect as this EP (http://www.fakejazz.com/reviews/2001/voltadomar.shtml).

Cross-Reference: Dianogah, June of 44, Slint