No Expectations 097: Dumb Feeling

Four albums from 2024. Plus, I’m hosting an in-person Chicago interview with author Brian A. Anderson, who wrote an excellent book on the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound.

Photo by Codioful (Formerly Gradienta) on Unsplash

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Headline song: Mei Semones, “Dumb Feeling”

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Thanks for being here. It’s been a hell of a week, so I’ll keep it light this Thursday. I hope you’re all hanging in there.

As always, you can sign up for a paid subscription or tell a friend about a band you read about here. Every bit helps and keeps this project going. If you think you’re a paid subscriber but recently acquired a new credit card, double-check your account here. It usually works itself out with new signups every week, but 99% of all turnover here is because of “billing failed.” Though it’s really no big deal, I figured I’d mention it this week to keep No Expectations paywall free.

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Mark Your Calendars, Chicago

On June 19th, I’m interviewing author Brian A. Anderson about his book Loud and Clear: The Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound & the Quest for Audio Perfection at Gman Tavern. It’s going to be such a fun night. I spent a good chunk of my twenties being a regular at that bar and it’s still one of my favorite places in the city. Brian, one of my best friends, is the one who got me into the Grateful Dead. Though we worked together at VICE, we became friends when he moved to Chicago and started his journey writing this book. The first time we ever hung out, he showed me “The Artifact,” the speaker he won at auction that was used in the Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound in 1974. He let me put my head inside the thing—it was sick.

Loud and Clear is so good. I’m already on my second read-through. His exhaustive research and dogged reporting are essential, and I can’t believe how much I’ve learned from him about this band. It’s out June 17, and you can preorder it here. The book event is free but you should RSVP at this link. Beyond the Q&A with Brian, there will be a vinyl DJ set from Friend of the Newsletter Dead Inside Chicago. I can’t wait.

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4 LPs From 2024 Worth Your Time Now

I spend so much time listening to new and old music, but it never feels like enough. Last year at No Expectations, I wrote about well over 150 LPs (and those were just the ones I felt were worth documenting). There are too many great things to wade through. Even if you’re the most diligent music journalist (which usually means you’re either unemployed or full-time at one of the few places with staffed music critics), you’re undoubtedly going to have things fall through the cracks. That’s alright, though. Good music is good music whenever it comes out. We don’t need to be confined to an album cycle. You should champion the albums you love because you love them, not because there’s a news peg.

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Dialup Ghost, May You Live Forever in Cowboy Heaven

As soon as I heard this record for the first time, I texted a friend that it’s like “Built to Spill meets Elephant 6 meets Florry.” If you’re into that kind of thing, that might be the best RIYL description I can muster. The Nashville group excels at ramshackle singalongs, woozy twang, and rambunctious energy. It’s clear they’re some of indie rock’s remaining true believers. Take “Small Deck,” which is pocked by fiddle and a slurring vocal delivery from frontman Russ Finn, who sings, “We’ll listen to our favorite bands while we work away the day/ We’ll listen to Big Thief, Neil Young, and The Replacements/ We’ll listen to Silver Jews, Deerhunter, and Pavement.” Shoutout to Aquarium Drunkard for covering it last month.

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Mt. Misery, Love In Mind

Power pop can either be completely forgettable or the most impressive songwriting around and English trio Mt. Misery’s Love In Mind is a welcome example of the latter. Like Dialup Ghost, this was another recommendation from the essential Aquarium Drunkard (you should sign up for a paid subscription there, too). Contributor Mark Neely puts it perfectly. “If one yearns to take solace in a breezy, hypnotic collection of guitar pop, Love In Mind is the antidote,” Neely writes, noting “a chiming whimsy reminiscent of Teenage Fanclub at their most melodic.” It’s one of those records where you’ll have a new favorite song each time you listen.

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Nídia & Valentina, Estradas

Estradas is the full-length collaboration between Portuguese electronic artist Nídia and London-based Italian drummer Valentina Magaletti, who's worked with bands like Vanishing Twin and Moin. A beatmaker teaming up with a punk and experimental percussionist is an inspired pairing here. Each instrumental is anchored by pulsating, propulsive grooves that lurch forward with palpable intensity. Opener “Andiamo” morphs from hypnotic to pummeling as the rhythm takes hold while the aptly titled “Nasty” gets menacing with its onslaught of drums, sirens, and synths. Even if the sampled moans on “Rapido” are a bit much for my ears, the whole LP is one of the most mesmerizing recent listens I can remember.

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Prostitute, Attempted Martyr

Friend of the Newsletter Nina Corcoran wrote in her excellent Pitchfork review of Prostitute’s masterful and essential Attempted Martyr that “calling the Dearborn noise rockers’ debut “intense” is somehow still underselling it.” This is a record that breathes life and edge into post-punk. Anchored by frontman Moe, who brings a physicality and an unpredictable delivery to these frenetic and blaring songs, this album is righteously angry and a total ripper. It’s always a joy to find a new favorite band from my home state and if their live show even comes close to matching the livewire ferocity of this LP, it’ll likely be one of my year’s best live experiences. There’s an uncompromising, provocative, and endlessly listenable heaviness here.

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What I listened to:

The No Expectations 097 Playlist: Apple Music // Spotify // TIDAL

1. Mei Semones, “Dumb Feeling”
2. Mamalarky, “Feels So Wrong”
3. Dutch Interior, “Fourth Street”
4. Esther Rose, “New Bad”
5. Dialup Ghost, “Shovel Song”
6. Free Range, “Hardly”
7. Waxahatchee, “Mud”
8. The Bird Calls, “Melody Trail”
9. Mt. Misery, “You Call My Name”
10. Casper Skulls, “Roddy Piper”
11. Punchlove, “(sublimate)”
12. Prostitute, “Judge”
13. Nídia & Valentina, “Ta A Bater Ya”
14. Uwade, “Call It A Draw”
15. Macie Stewart, “Spring Becomes You, Spring Becomes New”

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Gig report: Squirrel Flower at Metro’s Top Note Theatre (2/2)

Squirrel Flower’s Ella Williams moved to Chicago in 2021 but it feels like she’s been here forever. Already a centering and essential in the local community, she celebrated 10 years of her songwriting project with two shows in one at Metro Chicago’s Top Note Theatre. (If you’re familiar with Chicago’s Metro, Top Note is the top floor of the building that was once the practice space for Guns N’ Roses and is now a semi-regular event space in that iconic venue where Hazel City and Umphrey’s McGee have recently performed). I went to the late one. The room was so intimate and sounded incredible—think a much older Constellation for the Chicago readers. Her set was totally solo, which ruled because the quiet setting made everyone sit in rapt silence witnessing her powerful voice. The first part of the show highlighted new material, including a song that features Free Range’s Sofia Jensen (the opening track boasted an appearance by recent Chicagoan Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff at the early show). The rest featured the hits and some older tunes that I was so thrilled to see. Williams is a Friend of the Newsletter from her Taste Profile interview in 2023 and whatever she’s recording in Vermont is going to be a future AOTY contender.

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What I watched:

The King of Comedy (dir: Martin Scorcese, 1982)

I got a lot of Joker vibes from this one (just kidding—I actually still haven’t seen Todd Phillips’ DC Comics homage to this film yet). While it goes without saying that Scorcese is one of my favorite directors of all time, there are still, amazingly, several of his movies that I haven’t caught yet (2016’s Silence is likely next on my list). Like his following film, After Hours, it’s amazing how current and relevant The King of Comedy feels watching it this decade. De Niro’s performance is bone-chilling. A masterpiece!

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What I read:

Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

I read this in college, which is the perfect time to read Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. Your emotions are so much more heightened at that age and you’ll relate to the aimlessness of the protagonist a bit more vividly. My first go around, I remember getting to the end, welling up, and thinking, “Wow, what a beautiful, tragic love story.” At 33, it didn’t hit in the same way. It’s an unapologetically horny novel that cozies up with the most maudlin death storylines. Don’t get me wrong, Murakami’s prose is still excellent. He can floor you with a gutting, unexpected line with ease but the plot sometimes felt a little overwrought. Plus, the protagonist felt a little lifeless. While that was likely intentional, I think it cheapens the real emotional depth of what happens to him in the novel. He’s a loser! Of course, being 20 years old felt perpetually overwhelming—you’re barely a person— so I can see why I loved it then. Now, I am eternally grateful that life is really pretty chill and I didn’t relate at all.

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The Weekly Chicago Show Calendar:

The gig calendar lives on the WTTW News website now. You can also subscribe to the newsletter I produce there called Daily Chicagoan to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.