Friday, January 6, 2012
Crickets / Music From the ashes of Cacaw: Oozing Wound
Posted by Luca Cimarusti on 01.06.12 at 01:00 PM
The Cacaw members in question are Kyle Reynolds on drums and Zack Weil on guitar, but Oozing Wound drops the weirdness of their previous band and dives straight into intense, repetitive, disorienting, industrial-tinged thrash metal. As with pretty much everything these dudes do (the lineup also includes former, current, or sometimes members of Bad Drugs, Zath, Unmanned Ship, Ga'an, and like 200 other bands), it's big, loud, and scary. Combined with the synthy melodrama of Fielded and the Gypsy prog of Mayor Daley, it's sure to make for a fun, weird night. Just double up on socks, at least if you're gonna need to use the men's room at Crown—for some reason it's always flooded.
I checked YouTube for video of Oozing Wound's first show early last month and got smacked in the face with page after page of nauseating medical footage. I wouldn't suggest anyone follow in my footsteps. Instead, listen to one of their demo tracks here.
Comments (55)
Showing 1-50 of 55
Boring. Chicago Reader please stop writing about Cacaw and their many many awful side projects. Please stop writing about Alex White and her awful side projects. Please stop writing about VeeDee...and Mannequin Men...etc
You would think there are only 8 bands in Chicago. You continual write about the same lame shit. It is very sad. Stop helping out your pals bands.
like
dislike
Don't worry ...when the Reader isn't covering a band like Ca Caw (which I'm shocked anyone cares about in the first place)...they are also covering CoCo Coma, Tyler Jon Tyler, or Disappears. Add that to your list ratatat.
I love how the Reader throws out Mayor Daley again too. Another awful oh so awful band that just happens to be friends / roommates/ etc with Zach and Kyle. Keep on helping out your friends instead of covering new fresh bands. It really is difficult to seek out new music huh guys?
"Gypsy Prog"??!!! Really dude?! I'm done reading the Music section if this is the best you have to offer.
Can we read about new people doing new things? Nobody in Chicago gives a fuck about Alex White. You are terrible music journalists.
Miles Raymer, if I read one more Disappears article I'm going to raid your wife beater collection.
Give these people what they want! Full write up on Voice of Addiction's next gig at the Mutiny OR ELSE.
You guys are fucking stupid. This shit slayed. Also, they "threw out Mayor Daley" because they were playing the show, you dolt. Also, it was their second show. I'd consider that new. Kill yourselves. :)
Scene politics is what this is and we readers are tired of it. I don't give a rats ass about Ca Caw or there many lazy side projects. Who are you writers trying to impress here? You really want Cary and Anya Davidson and Zach and Kyle to "like" you and be your best pal??? This is why the reader has gone downhill. Myles and Jessica Hopper etc etc all want to benefit there pals. SCENE POLITICS!!
Wait, did Miles or Jessica write this post?
Paranoid fantasies about "scene politics" aside, people write about bands they like, and we're fortunate at the Reader to have a variety of contributors with varying tastes.
If you don't like, say, Oozing Wound, may I recommend any of the other local acts the paper has covered in the past few days? King Louie, Sweet Cobra, Quicksails, Damp Hay, ShowYouSuck, Paper Mice, Autonomy, Tito Carrillo, Dave Rempis & Frank Rosaly and Tres Hongos (a little overlap there), even the dang Lyric Opera doing "The Magic Flute."
If you really believe that everyone who covers music for the Reader does so to benefit "there pals," you must imagine that our writers have an awful lot of pals in an awful lot of places. So thanks!
The amount of time you have spent here "hating" you could of spent making your craft a bit more successful. Take the time you have to not watching other people's work in a jealous manner but to focus on your own work. I think your mom called to change your diaper.
This thread is oozing Chicago...and it is good. In all seriousness, there really should be a haterz-only section on this site. Traffic would increase tenfold.
You whiny babies complain about the Reader not covering new bands. Wasn't this article about how Oozing Wound was playing it's second show? Is that not new enough?
Also, this article is placed between articles about the Byrds and an event at the Lyric Opera. Are you guys going to accuse Luca(and Miles and Jessica or whomever) of just trying to help their friends with those articles?
And third, at the top of the comments field, Luca asked for suggestions on bands to write about. Despite all your pissing and moaning, none of you ding dongs had anything to say. Fucking fuck off already!
imho, Oozing Wound isn't a horrible band . . . just derivative and completely unimaginative. The only reason someone would/should even remotely entertain writing about them is their "pedigree".
If someone was really itching for a taste of warmed-over trash they'd be better served by heading to countless metal bars in the suburbs were there are plenty of 16 year-olds rehashing [at worst] or referencing [at "best"] the genre much more competently and convincingly.
I caught their Empty Bottle set and was hoping for something with some bite, or ingenuity of some sort, perhaps a little left of center but no, not even a shadow of any of that. Their music was unbelievably generic with the lone standout being the ridiculously amateurish guitar playing.
When are you going to be friends with Shakira? Hook it up... I like to party...
ChicagoMusicFan.......That's right JOURNALISTS....what the fuck do YOU do?????
LOL. Funny comments.
Hey Luca, here's a suggestion. D Rider. Underrated like US Maple.
Also how about an official article on Bad Drugs. And why did Cacaw break up?
I don't understand all the hate at Cacaw. They were a small band, like most bands. Mostly just friends at their shows. Nobody cares about them. I thought they were good.
Bad Drugs are really good. I like them a lot. Another band nobody knows or cares about.
My problem with the Reader is it doesn't do a good enough job in supporting its own.
Nobody is getting rich doing this.
Lupe ain't rich. Cool Kids ain't rich. Tortoise ain't rich. Kanye don't count, he hasn't live in Chicago for years. I don't think Billy Corgan is rich anymore. A band can get a million hits on youtube or a million Facebook friends and be broke. It means nothing.
Anyway Pitchfork has abandoned ship. Brooklyn's a joke. There's better bands in Chicago than Brooklyn.
Hey Philip! How about READER FEST (metal bands, Bogus Boys, Lupe, etc) let's get away from the PC Pitchfork shit. That's the problem, I noticed. Everybody is turning into Pitchfork (look at the Village Voice). Remember when Animal Collective were hot? lol
I hear At The Drive-In is getting back together.. MAN they suck..
Voice of Addiction actual song lyrics..
"September Remembered"
Lets stop pointing fingers and stop calling names You know our sins were forgiven 2000 years ago,
But we've all forgotten our history's only miseries What was lost and forgotten those last and fateful days.
You'll never extinguish the fire Cuz september is remembered as the best days of my life,
Bombs were exploding as people revolting Nobody gets out of here alive tonight.
Lets all raise our hands and make sure that they count We've all got our opinions that they can't take away,
Though they'll try and contest as we struggle Why can't we all live equally. Just have to see to believe.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Peter Margasak wrote very favorably about Dead Rider in May: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/sound…
The Reader also covered the band on its first album, though that piece seems to have fallen into one of the holes in our archives.
The idea of a Reader music festival has been rattling around the office for a while. Thanks for the vote of confidence, and watch this space . . .
As one commenter stated above, it seems that the pedigree of certain Oozing Wound members is sufficient to justify an article in the Reader's music section. If the exact same music was being written and performed by members who were not former members of Cacaw, it's extremely likely that Oozing Wound's music would not show up on the Reader's collective radar.
The reason being that Oozing Wound's music is entirely unoriginal in the sense that there is no attempt to, at the very least, explore or push the boundaries of the metal genre. Of course, one could argue that "there is nothing new under the sun," however, this ill-perceived constraint on creativity has not stopped numerous other Chicago bands from attempting to push the boundaries of the genre they work in or cross-pollinating ideas and approaches from other genres. I will not provide a list of examples but we all know that they are out there.
Furthermore, I argue (from first-hand experience of their set @ the Empty Bottle) that Oozing Wound, within a frame of reference centered on Chicago's DIY heavy music scene, is the sonic equivalent of a pop band--aesthetically innocuous and uninspiring. To use a culinary analogy, it is like the choice of either having a ham sandwich or some kind of dish with a complex flavor profile which attempts to provide an experience that is somewhat novel. As a caveat, I do enjoy a good ham sandwich once in a while, but I still find that it is journalistically tired to devote precious print space (or bandwidth) to people that are known for only making ham sandwiches.
I'm sure that someone will argue that if I don't like Oozing Wound then "I should shut up and get the f___ out." Indeed, I agree with that sentiment (barring this particular instance). So, if you are like me or several of the commenters above, feel free to ignore "ham sandwich" bands and instead support more aesthetically interesting and provocative bands instead.
Also, I did give Bad Drugs some attention a couple of months back here on the Bleader: http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archi…
"Also, it was their second show. I'd consider that new. Kill yourselves. :)"
It is their second show yeah...BUT they are the same band...the same members!!!
If it has members of the Coughs or Cacaw...OH Boy we better run out and write about them because they must be amazing. So lame.
I love how delusional the editors/writers for the reader have become. They honestly don't believe they are favoring anyone. It amazes me. Yeah Myles didn't really want to write about Hollowz (even though at the time his girlfriend was in the band). And Brian Costello really didn't want to help out Mickey, Daily Void, etc (though he was a member of Functional Blackouts with the members of gee ...who else? ...yep DAily Void and Mickey). I don't think people are being haters....they are just finally fed up with this shit. I will say I am pleased they finally wrote about DEAD RIDER!!! Now that is real music that Todd Rittman put his heart into writing, mixing , etc. Unlike these other shit bands who claim to be "Nowave" or "lofi" on purpose. Lazy talk.
"I don't think Billy Corgan is rich anymore"
Corgan is fucking rich.
Samboner, are you the same person who keeps bringing up the Hollows thing? If you are--and I'm pretty sure it's you, since you keep grinding the same axes--then you already know it's a malicious lie. Miles was not yet dating Maria from Hollows when he covered the band in his column, and he never wrote about them afterward.
Concerning Brian: In the absence of evidence that he's trading favors or writing about undeserving bands--and I've seen none--I won't penalize him for his relationships in the Chicago garage scene. You don't have to let him write for you.
And delusional? Nope. I know perfectly well that we're favoring some artists over others. That's what music writers do. What you're wrong about is the reasons.
Three quick points:
1. Why won't the Reader pay more attention to the things to which I think their attention should be paid?!?
2. Why does the Reader pay so much attention to the things to which I do not think their attention should be paid?!?
3. Waaaaah!
-- MrJM
"The reason being that Oozing Wound's music is entirely unoriginal in the sense that there is no attempt to, at the very least, explore or push the boundaries of the metal genre."
Exploration and boundary-pushing aren't the only commendable options. You don't have to always push forward towards some utopian ideal of creativity. Another option is simply to play the old folk forms with fire and force, so that they can be renewed, which is what I hear Oozing Wound doing. I'm new to these guys, I've never heard Cacaw, but I prefer this ratty trash to the more professional and acceptably boundary-pushing NPR Metal that's around these days.
oops meant to say "ratty thrash" - thrash metal being the folk form I was referring too
I'll take NPR metal. I dislike the lethargic approach to music exploration. You can call it "folk" or "organic" or "lo-fi" but what it comes down to is you as a musician are too lazy to take the time or spend even the smallest amount of money on a decent mic to record a quality record. It is a sad sad excuse. Put some effort into the music you believe in.
The Chicago REader is a subtle form of MTV back in the 90s. Instead of playing the same video every hour...they write about the same bands every week. IT makes me wanna puke
These are not new bands!! They are brother ,sister, and cousin bands. You are pretty much writing about the Coughs. Once they broke up you wrote about Ca Caw, Gaan, and Oakeater, ONce Cacaw broke up you wrote about Oozing Wound. Once they split and the members form new bands, you will just write abhout them. You writers are so pathetic and clueless.
I find it baffling that this blog post, (which is different from an article, by the way) has stirred up so much emotion. The author is not claiming that Oozing Wound are the best band, or have a particularly "complex flavor profile", he just says they are "big, loud and scary".
Cacaw, (not to be confused with Caw! Caw!) were not a particularly popular band, despite playing hundreds of shows in Chicago and across the U.S. for the past several years. However, some people, (myself included), liked them quite a bit, and would be happy to know there is a new band featuring two of the members. I don't think Oozing Wound are trying to re-invent the wheel, but they are playing honest music that is pissed, and I had fun watching them at the Bottle. Unfortunately, I missed their set at Crown, but from a video I watched, there was a marked improvement upon the first show. There are plenty of thrash bands more technically proficient than Oozing Wound, but I certainly wouldn't consider them to be straight thrash. I find bands playing at the edge of their abilities to be really interesting, their riffs are pretty badass and bass player does really unique things.
I agree that it can be frustrating to see certain bands in Chicago ignored, while others seem to get written up in the Reader all the time, but the Reader is not a crowd-sourced publication - it is a weekly with a hired staff that writes the things about which they know.
. . . so here is Diamond Plate, some barely out of high school youngsters hailing from Worth, IL. playing some totally retro trash with utter conviction and enough skill. Their last record showed up on a bunch of metal blogs' and mags' year-end lists, do a google search . . . why aren't you writing about them instead of Oozing Wound? It's essentially the same music with the exception of one band being substantially better at it [in all aspects: songwriting, performance, ambition, etc.] than the other. One example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkHdKmU2TUI
You don't even need to venture that far outside city limits to find high schoolers going to town on trash metal like seasoned pros.
I like the Reader and I think it often showcases a wide variety of talent from all corners of the local musical world and all shades of the musical spectrum too, but this particular article spotlighting a band who has barely played 2 shows . . . it just reeks of glad-handing scenesterism, and it certainly taints journalistic reputability.
You've got me there, Evan. Aside from music listings, Diamond Plate has only turned up in the Reader twice, and those were both very brief mentions in Gossip Wolf. They're definitely a band I'm looking for an occasion to cover properly.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/kanye…
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/music…
I tried to write about 'em in Three Beats in advance of their album release, but Earache was apparently going through some personnel upheaval and nobody ever got back to me to hook me up with music. So it goes.
Tyson, I completely agree with you in regards to the bass playing in this band but would also add that his take on the material is the only element that keeps the music from being completely straight trash and generic at best. His talent is completely wasted in this band.
I'll happily go on record stating that Bad Drugs and Unmanned Ship are fantastic and amazingly solid bands but come on . . . old school trash revival? Seriously? If this were a band comprised of folks no one had heard of, who'd [including myself] give a fraction of a flying shit?
Perhaps I may be too foolishly naive in my thinking/believing/hoping that music journalism would/could hold showcasing and nurturing new talent as a mission statement of sorts.
i'm only 17 but noise rock is sooooo 1994. why dont u write about pop music for a change (also... shitty garage rock is NOT pop music).
Tyson
I do not think anyone is saying Oozing Wound is the greatest band. They are saying enough is enough. People are tired of the same bands being reviewed. Myles clearly prefers only garage rock. Why? I have no idea.
Hey Evan, did you guys see this?
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bongr…
I know your bandmate Joe Conserti. He is a demented fiend of a bass player.
Wazmo Nariz! Dang! Is that guy still making music?
Everyone here is entitled to their own opinion. But I find your method of discussion to be uninspiring and unproductive. It is ridiculous to be so harsh to a band that has only just played their second show. Assuming that you are all contributing members to this music scene, would you want someone judging you based on what you sounded like at YOUR first and second shows? (Personally, I caught them at Crown Tap and liked what I heard) I think that every one of you snarks should post links to your own music so that you can experience what your level of judgement feels like. On a side note, I have yet to meet very many other bands in Chicago with the work ethic of Cacaw, from putting out their own records to screen printing by hand all their artwork to booking their own tours, the people in that band deserve every positive piece of press they have ever gotten.
Related Locations
-
Crown Tap Room
- 2821 N. Milwaukee, Chicago Avondale IL
-
773-252-9741
- (based on 2 user reviews)
