Chrash
Perhaps some of you out there are familiar with the music site Daytrotter, which spelunks through the underground and digs up new music. Then they record it, post the tracks with commentary from the artist, and preface each day's post with a marvelous little Lester Bangs-meets-Joe-Mitchell intro and an illustration of the musician(s), rather than the usual promo photo. If you do check Daytrotter more than rarely, you will recognize artist Johnnie Cluney's work on the CD cover above; Cluney's style is probably associated more than any other with the Daytrotter aesthetic. Effusive Midwestern cheerleader that I am, I must make note that Daytrotter, and their Futureappletree Studios, are located in the Quad Cities.
So is Chrash (aka Chrash Flood, Chrash Flow, Chrash Cow, Chrash Course, Chrash Pipe, Chrash Money, Chrash Gordon, Chrash Diet, Chrash 4077, Orange Chrash, Chrash Potatoes, Chrash Browns, Chrash and Carry, Chrash Nasty, Plain Chrash, The Chrash, Chrash City Rockers...). Eric, their new guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, sent me a very nice letter and a promo copy of The Names They Change, several weeks ago in anticipation of their February 21 show at the legendary Cicero's. Unfortunately, our deadlines are so long, our February issue'd already gone to press ... so I'm here to blog about it. Eric calls the band a "four piece indie/pop/alt/whatever-rock group." (Their Myspace page carries the tag of "optimist rock," which I rather like, despite having been crowned Doomer Queen/"Harshin' My Mellow" champion of the office.)
My favorite track off The Names They Change is "Aging Aircraft." For some reason, when I listen to it, I imagine Lunar Tool's cavernous machine shop, with the 40-foot-lathes spinning away, and a chunky Soviet-bloc radio in the corner, broadcasting microtonal music from some exotic country; I guess that's another way to say it's "jangly" or "quirky," but I have implemented a self-imposed ban on both those words when writing about music of any sort ("crunchy guitar solos" has also been banned). However, what sounds like jangle to my ears may translate completely differently inside your ear canal, so please note you can listen to "Aging Aircraft" and a coupla other tracks on Chrash's Myspace page. This article in the Quad CIty Times has some nice bread-and-butter information, as well as the photograph that the above illustration is based on.
Here is the show info, which I poached straight from their page, to make sure I don't mess up any of the numerical information:
When: Saturday, February 21, 9pm
Where: Cicero's, 6691 Delmar
How Much: $6
Finer details: "Cicero’s doing their best to warm up the post-Valentine’s cool-down as CHRASH returns to the Gateway City with the powerful pipes of Andi Toppins, Making Movies' sweet-angtsy Latin rock, and electroacoustic pop goodness from Models Need Sleep."
Just to note, Cicero's is one of the few rooms around town that books a really diverse schedule, including not just rock bands, but lots of local hip-hop, spoken word nights and even a beer school. Cheers to that, and cheers to good pizza and plenty of parking 'round back, too. --Stefene Russell
