Avant garde rock legend Gary Wilson has given us a cool gift. He’s released a 7″ single of two tracks from his first band, Lord Fuzz, from 1967. These psych-rock tracks are wild, weird, and wonderful. You owe it to yourself to pick up the limited edition vinyl record (only 300 copies) or download the digital files if you’re a fan of Gary Wilson (and if you’re not, what’s wrong with you?).
Keep your mind open.
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I headed to Chicago’s Thalia Hall after a fine Mexican dinner in time to see Vadaat Charigim, who put on a fine set of shoegaze dream-rock. Yuval Haring‘s spaced-out guitar sounds like he’s playing it from across the street yet it’s still loud enough to hear. Yuval Guttman has some of the best cymbal fills I’ve heard in a long while, and Dan Fabian Bloch looks like Julian Cope and plays bass like Peter Hook.
Up next was the avant-garde legend himself Gary Wilson and the Blind Dates. Let me say right away that the Blind Dates are a killer band who can give anyone a run for their money. They’re probably the closest I’ll get to seeing the Mothers of Invention. Mr. Wilson came out in a floor-length smock, scarf, and his ubiquitous sunglasses and dishwashing gloves and carrying a large piece of thin plastic tarp and a female mannequin’s head. He started with a classic, “6.4 = Make Out,” and went on to tear through a stunning set with songs like “Linda Wants to Be Alone” and “Gary’s in the Park.” He freaked out a girl to my left, who couldn’t bear to look at him as he nearly crawled off the stage toward her while holding the mannequin’s head in his hand. I will see him whenever possible, as should you.
My night ended with Health, who flattened the place with a big set of booming industrial rock and some of the best drumming I’ve heard from any band in a long while. I seriously don’t know how Benjamin Jared Miller makes that much sound with a snare, kick drum, floor tom, one mounted tom, two cymbals (one with about a 3″ x 3″ piece missing from an edge), and a high hat.
It was a good time, and Thalia Hall is a nice venue. Tonight Nite Fields, Blanck Mass, Ryley Walker, and Lightning Bolt are on the list for me.
Keep your mind open.
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Gary Wilson is an experimental / avant garde musician who dropped one album in the 1970’s (You Think You Really Know Me) and a few singles in the 1980’s and then disappeared from the music scene and pretty much everything else.
He was, and still is, a major influence on Beck and even played with The Roots on The Tonight Show a few years ago. He’s enjoyed a resurgence and will be playing a rare Chicago gig at Levitation Chicago on March 10, 2016.
Keep your mind open.
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