Shows to see: Black Breath, Fiona Apple, Mister Lies, and more

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Monday, July 9, 2012

Do This / Music Shows to see: Black Breath, Fiona Apple, Mister Lies, and more

Posted By Miles Raymer on 07.09.12 at 11:26 AM

Fiona Apple

Congratulations to everyone for making it through the First Great Heat Wave of 2012, as it will probably come to be known in whatever history books manage to get written between now and the point when catastrophic climate change and ecological collapse force humankind to regress to a precivilized state such that history books aren't good for anything but chucking at the heads of neighboring tribespeople from whom you're trying to steal pre-apocalypse cans of Spaghetti-Os. Don't worry too much, though—scientists say this inevitable destiny is still several decades away.

In the meantime we have live music to distract us, and Soundboard has several notably distracting suggestions.

Mon 7/9: Black Breath and Burning Love at the Empty Bottle

Kevin Warwick is hella stoked on Seattle's Black Breath, whom he praises for their "tuffness, heaviness, tightness, speediness, double-kickness, flaming lickness, and hatefulness," and if you like d-beat hardcore and have anything even approaching common sense you should feel the same way. Directly under them on the bill is Canadian outfit Burning Love, whose recent Rotten Thing to Say Warwick says is "full of hooks and flashy rock 'n' roll guitar solos and shines with sweaty glitz and a haze of sleaze."

Tue 7/10: Fiona Apple at Chicago Theatre

Fiona Apple's first album in seven years, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, boasts blunt lyrics, raw vocal performances, and sound design that Peter Margasak calls "astonishing, with shifting details and wild dynamic range." It's pretty much the best thing she's ever done. Rumor has it she's already at work on a follow-up album, tentatively titled I Love Miles Raymer So Much Because He's My Boyfriend and I Want to Have a Weird Make-Out Session With Him and Then Send Him Supercryptic Text Messages.

Wed 7/11: Mister Lies at Empty Bottle

Is it possible that dubstep's been around long enough for it to experience a back-to-basics roots-revivalist movement? Apparently so, since Leor Galil compares local producer Mister Lies's Hidden Neighbors EP to "an early Hyperdub compilation"—that is, "something from just a couple of years ago." He opens for B Side cover boys Supreme Cuts at a release show for their Whispers in the Dark LP.

Wed. 7/11: Lumber Night IV at the Hideout

If you prefer your bass on the acoustic side, head over to the Hideout for its annual celebration of the "big, boxy, and unabashedly pre-Edisonian" (according to Bill Meyer) double bass. The sounds on display are diverse: "Harrison Bankhead provides classical delicacy and shades of rootsy blues; Kent Kessler, pure-sound abstraction; Nate McBride, rock energy and pinpoint precision; and Joshua Abrams, a connection to the trance element that underlies genres as diverse as Moroccan ceremonial music and hip-hop."

Tags: Black Breath, Burning Love, Fiona Apple, Mister Lies, Supreme Cuts, Harrison Bankhead, Kent Kessler, Nate McBride, Joshua Abrams, Soundboard, concerts, live music, Image