22
Jul
2003
After a staggered and protracted soundcheck – to a nearly full audience, no less – the Marlboro Chorus finally hit the stage in earnest roughly an hour after its scheduled start time. This is no sweat for me because it’s my first visit to the Quad Cities Brew & View and I’m just sort of touring the joint – a great venue for live bands, and for movies as well, I’m sure.
The staff, like the clientele, is kindly, stylish, and unpretentious, the ambience neatly bohemian, clean, and mercifully smoke-free. I’m sure it will be a regular haunt for me, and it should be for you, if it isn’t already.
The Quad Cities-based Marlboro Chorus offers up a solidly revisionist Mod’s Pop, replete with hooks and echoing a certain mid-’80s stoner-punk feel at the band’s most sonic – think Sebadoh or something slightly more precious. I dig their sincerity and melodicism, and even envy the lead singer/guitarist’s ability to traverse step-ladder scales on his ax while belting free-floating choruses at the same time, à la Big Star. Impressive and authentic, Marlboro Chorus is a band whose evolution definitely merits tracking.
Even over the course of the set, I noticed a gradual warming-up and –into more raucous material – more Dionysian, shall we say – and as the Chorus loosened up, so did the crowd. Both these bands seemed to set this place bristling with energy.
Chicago-based but with Quad Cities connections (including being on the Future Appletree label), Tenki is an ensemble joint with a broad sonic vocabulary, great songs, and a firm grip on dynamics. A well-balanced mix of dual guitar frontage, moog and synth players who double on horns, and button-tight, highly intuitive bass and drums, Tenki manages to sustain six layers without one wasted decibel; everyone knows where and when to lay out. Evoking everything from John Barry/Ennio Morricone-style filmic atmospherics to a polished yet soulful Happy Funk, and seeming to belie an interest in Kraut rock as well (not unlike Stereolab in its Chicago incarnation), Tenki is a damn fine band with lots of creativity and the unhurried chops to see it through. Definitely a must-see-again, and again.
Tenki also stretched out as its set developed, shifting from the more minor-key, melancholic fare to full-on avant-rock abandon. We were even treated to some wry comedic banter from the band’s drummer during a string-break lapse – “So what’s with all this ‘Battle of the Bands’ bullshit, anyway?” Ditto that.
So, a message to all you carpet-bagging college kids (and you know who you are) who get your degrees here in the Quads but only manage to spend your dosh at the Corporates and Meat Markets: Support locally based, original live music in the towns that host you, and you won’t be disappointed. The Brew & View is a great place to see it, and by the time you read this, Tenki, Marlboro Chorus, and local heroes Driver of the Year will have already played Chicago together. So be hep, kittens, and get in on the ground floor.
For video of the Tenki show at Brew & View, visit (http://www.rcreader.com/video/tenkiMPG.mpg).
Tenki Readies a New View
Tenki keyboard and trumpet player Jeff Wichmann reports that his band’s new record, View of an Orbiting Man, should be available on the local Future Appletree label in October.
“Amazingly, we recorded all 12 songs in the first marathon 36-hour weekend” in February, Wichmann wrote in an e-mail message. “It’s just taken six months to tweak.”
Wichmann promised the album will show how the band has grown since its debut EP last year. “If Red Baby was a Tenki intro, View is a coming-of-age recording that is both reflective and futuristic in content. … It’s got more epic-like orchestrated songs, a few pop quickies, and some spacey nuggets. And, of course, it rocks. Almost everything we played Friday night will be on the new album.”
Wichmann, who lived in the Quad Cities and has performed with Multiple Cat, isn’t the only local Tenki connection. Guitarist and vocalist Jamie Toal is from Davenport and played in Tripmaster Monkey.
– Jeff Ignatius
The Quad Cities-based Marlboro Chorus offers up a solidly revisionist Mod’s Pop, replete with hooks and echoing a certain mid-’80s stoner-punk feel at the band’s most sonic – think Sebadoh or something slightly more precious. I dig their sincerity and melodicism, and even envy the lead singer/guitarist’s ability to traverse step-ladder scales on his ax while belting free-floating choruses at the same time, à la Big Star. Impressive and authentic, Marlboro Chorus is a band whose evolution definitely merits tracking.
Even over the course of the set, I noticed a gradual warming-up and –into more raucous material – more Dionysian, shall we say – and as the Chorus loosened up, so did the crowd. Both these bands seemed to set this place bristling with energy.
Chicago-based but with Quad Cities connections (including being on the Future Appletree label), Tenki is an ensemble joint with a broad sonic vocabulary, great songs, and a firm grip on dynamics. A well-balanced mix of dual guitar frontage, moog and synth players who double on horns, and button-tight, highly intuitive bass and drums, Tenki manages to sustain six layers without one wasted decibel; everyone knows where and when to lay out. Evoking everything from John Barry/Ennio Morricone-style filmic atmospherics to a polished yet soulful Happy Funk, and seeming to belie an interest in Kraut rock as well (not unlike Stereolab in its Chicago incarnation), Tenki is a damn fine band with lots of creativity and the unhurried chops to see it through. Definitely a must-see-again, and again.
Tenki also stretched out as its set developed, shifting from the more minor-key, melancholic fare to full-on avant-rock abandon. We were even treated to some wry comedic banter from the band’s drummer during a string-break lapse – “So what’s with all this ‘Battle of the Bands’ bullshit, anyway?” Ditto that.
So, a message to all you carpet-bagging college kids (and you know who you are) who get your degrees here in the Quads but only manage to spend your dosh at the Corporates and Meat Markets: Support locally based, original live music in the towns that host you, and you won’t be disappointed. The Brew & View is a great place to see it, and by the time you read this, Tenki, Marlboro Chorus, and local heroes Driver of the Year will have already played Chicago together. So be hep, kittens, and get in on the ground floor.
For video of the Tenki show at Brew & View, visit (http://www.rcreader.com/video/tenkiMPG.mpg).
Tenki Readies a New View
Tenki keyboard and trumpet player Jeff Wichmann reports that his band’s new record, View of an Orbiting Man, should be available on the local Future Appletree label in October.
“Amazingly, we recorded all 12 songs in the first marathon 36-hour weekend” in February, Wichmann wrote in an e-mail message. “It’s just taken six months to tweak.”
Wichmann promised the album will show how the band has grown since its debut EP last year. “If Red Baby was a Tenki intro, View is a coming-of-age recording that is both reflective and futuristic in content. … It’s got more epic-like orchestrated songs, a few pop quickies, and some spacey nuggets. And, of course, it rocks. Almost everything we played Friday night will be on the new album.”
Wichmann, who lived in the Quad Cities and has performed with Multiple Cat, isn’t the only local Tenki connection. Guitarist and vocalist Jamie Toal is from Davenport and played in Tripmaster Monkey.
– Jeff Ignatius
