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oken ear record
THE NEW ALBUM • 09.06.05 - cd & vinyl
ON TOUR IN SEPTEMBER
1 0 . 0 4 . 0 5 - c d & v i n y l
the days of mars
a lush atmospheric listening experience, recalling the ambient
work of Eno and Manuel Gottsching, filtered through the
history of electronic dance music.
WWW.ASTRALWERKS.COM FOR MUSIC & MORE
ED’S RANT my chicAgo
XLR8R Editor Vivian Host raving in a
Midwestern field with 34” Grind pants
from Untitled (Even Further, 1997).
Grinnell, Iowa. Northfield, Minnesota. It was May of 1995 and I was on a
tour of Midwest liberal arts colleges with my mom. After mile after mile of
cornfields, sullen cows and Cracker Barrel restaurants, Chicago finally rose
out of the prairie like an oasis. I heaved a sigh of relief when our rental car
finally rounded the corner onto Lakeshore Drive, Navy Pier twinkling on
the right and over 1,700 feet of Sears Tower looming on the left.
I’d like to say I fell in love with Chicago then and there but it actually happened
the next night. After looking around Northwestern (the “Midwest ivy
league”) in the beautiful suburb of Evanston, then perusing the selection of
fat pants at Untitled–renowned at the time for having the largest leg openings
in rave pants, at 45”inches–I stumbled across a flyer for a party with
Danny Breaks and AK1200. I remember being amazed that one of the top
producers in the British jungle scene would be playing in Chicago instead of
Los Angeles. The party raged all night in the best setting possible: an abandoned
factory; as a harsh dawn broke and my cab sped past the supertowers
of the Cabrini Green projects, I was convinced of the Midwest’s magic.
I didn’t get into Northwestern. I didn’t get into Grinnell or Carleton
College either–although spending four years in a one-Dairy-Queen town was,
by that point, totally out of the question. I ended up in Berkeley, California,
but I still visited Chicago at least twice a year to DJ. It never got any less awesome,
from the mundane–combing through the racks at Gramaphone, eating
massive quantities of lasagna with techno DJ Acidman, late-night stoner runs
with junglists Snuggles and Slak to the White Hen Pantry–to the extraordinary,
like the breathtaking underwater views of the Shedd Aquarium and
being able to see Paul Johnson, Traxx, Funk, Milton and Deeon all DJ on the
same night at the now-legendary Route 66 roller rink. In two days there, I
once saw MF Doom play at The Metro, went to a banging BassByThePound
drum & bass party at Big Wig, saw Derrick Carter spin and pounded cheap
beers with Slug and Kathryn from Biz 3 at the Rainbo, an indie rock dive bar
that looks like something out of Laverne & Shirley.
I always look forward to visiting Chicago. It’s like an old friend–no matter
how much it changes on the exterior, it always feels familiar. And the
people I know I there are refreshingly down-to-earth. They’re not out for
fame–truth be told, there’s not much to be had–so there’s little left to concentrate
on besides music, friends and having fun.
In the decision-making process for our fourth annual city issue, Chicago
won by a landslide over cities in Europe and Canada–and putting together
this issue was exciting. Everything except the reviews section is Chicagofocused,
and art director Brianna Pope pulled off an amazing feat by using
only Chicago-based graphic designers and nearly all Chicago photographers.
I dare say the look and content of this issue will be enough to convince even
the most hardened coastal cynic that the Midwest rocks. Don’t sleep.
- Vivian Host, Editor