Edited By Mike Breen

· The Strokes bring all the necessary traits to the table: A fondness for vice, a '70s New Wave/Punk aesthetic and, most importantly, catchy, tightly constructed songs. They arrived at a sold-out (before their record was even released, mind you) and steamy Southgate House on Oct. 4 with as much advanced praise as any band in recent memory. Well, the boys from NYC didn't disappoint. They tore through their limited catalog -- the entirety of their debut LP, Is This It? -- with buzzsaw-like precision. Frontman, and sole songwriter, Julian Casablancas was drunk well before the show (I saw him nearly fall into a bathroom urinal during the Moldy Peaches set), but that didn't stop him from delivering a thoroughly effective vocal performance; he was just as convincing as Iggy when Iggy was actually considered convincing. And his bandmates are as tight a unit as their hometown Yankees. And just as effective.

The Strokes ignite in a live setting, not only besting their staid-in-comparison studio output, but obliterating it completely. Each song was a brief burst of propulsive rhythms, monotone yet impassioned vocals and frenzied, interweaving guitars. Want to know what it must have been like to see an in-their-prime Gang of Four or Television or the Velvets or every other band The Strokes have been compared to since their inception two short years ago? Well, this is it. Save for one interlude with an overzealous female fan (with a little help from Casablancas, her face somehow found his crotch area, followed by a bit of tongue jousting) and Casablancas' drunken mutterings about the "150-year-old ghosts" in the room, The Strokes' live "show" was all about the songs.

That's all that was necessary. By the time Casablancas threw down his mike on the well-stained red carpet of the Southgate House stage, all but the most hard-bitten cynic was (or should have been) converted. Saviors of Rock & Roll? I don't know. But they did -- as Casablancas claims is their lone goal -- "rock people's balls off." The Strokes indeed ... The Strokes indeed. (Jason Gargano)

· She sang out of sync with the orchestra a few times. She insists on performing "I've Seen It All," her Oscar-nominated duet alone, greatly damaging a great song. And she seemed a bit tentative on her first few songs. Other than that, Björk put on a great show in support of her new album, Vespertine, at the Chicago Civic Opera House on Oct. 14.

This was no average pop concert. Björk -- backed by a 10-member Inuit choir from Greenland, 54-piece orchestra, the experimental electronic duo Matmos, and a harpist -- obviously went to great lengths to reproduce accurately the details from her latest album, a quieter, more personal work for her. Björk, wearing her increasingly famous swan dress that debuted at the Oscars, seemed completely natural onstage singing her music, dancing a bit in between lines, and chopping the air with her left arm during the more demanding vocals.

The show, like Vespertine, was often understated. Björk opened the show sitting in the dark holding a music box, which is all the instrumental "Frosti" consists of. Then the orchestra warmed up with "Overture," the opener from the soundtrack to Björk's movie, Dancer in the Dark. There weren't even any lyrics until the third song, "All Is Full Of Love." The stage -- white with a background of wall-sized slides of glaciers and icebergs -- was also minimalist.

Björk delved into her earlier work, belting out "Isobel," "Hyperballad," and perhaps the best-sounding of all, "Human Behaviour." However, the electronic duo Matmos -- her backing band for the evening -- had difficulty reproducing the thumping rhythms of "Army of Me." Tentative at first, Björk loosened up later in the show, striding back and forth to both edges of the stage and sometimes playing her jingling second dress as an instrument.

Matmos opened the evening with 30 minutes of experimental audio with pieces (they weren't really formal songs) that involved squeaking the air from a balloon and scraping a hamster cage with some sort of baton. The results were mixed, making it a wonder Vespertine sounds so good with their music all over it. (Doug Trapp).

· An eclectic crowd turned out for the Medeski Martin & Wood concert at Bogart's on Oct. 20. With no opening act, the Jazz trio got the crowd into listening mode by beginning slow, combining some chill jamming on the bass and keyboards with some interesting percussion. Bill Martin created sounds using not only a drum set, but also culling from the two tables full of handheld percussion instruments from countries all over the world. Their songs would begin slower and then build until reaching an almost frenzied pace, resulting in the crowd dancing out of control as if they were outside at an outdoor summer festival. After a 30-minute break, the trio came onstage and blasted the audience away with a version of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire." Everyone cheered as the signature chords sent a tidal wave of musical excitement through the crowd. For their encore, everyone was quiet as John, Chris and Billy came to the front of the stage. John Medeski jammed out on a plastic keyboard powered by a tube he blew into, Chris Wood unplugged his stand-up bass and Billy Martin grabbed a small drum, as the three carried out an extended jam to end the show. An explosion of applause ripped through the small venue, and concert-goers were left with satisfied smiles on their faces and the feeling that they had just been present at an important musical happening. (Heather Jones)

E-mail Mike Breen

Short Takes (November 1, 2001)
Spill It (November 1, 2001)
Locals Only (November 1, 2001)
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