dirty times in chicago

the low down

FRI. 7/13/07 (9:30pm; $3 (limited), $10)
The Empty Bottle, Struggle Inc & Turntable Lab present We (heart) Chicago featuring:
Gravy Train!!!! label: Spam, Cochon, Gimme Gravy Train, KRS
The Cool Kids label: C.A.K.E Recordings
Gutter Butter DJs label: Dooka related: Logan Bay, Ben Fasman
Join us for the first evening of the three day We (heart) Chicago festival. Curated as parties first and shows second, the event features nine bands, deejays and emcees that we've brought in specific to the event, the sorta folks that know how to rock a room…and keep it rocking, in a way Chicagoans expect and one that can only be expected of a hard-partying city like Chicago. Queercore four-piece GRAVY TRAIN!!!! ably blend old school raps with theatrical new wave, creating a highly conceptualized fusion of danceparty madness that is truly their own. They’ll be playing material from new Cochon Records release All The Sweet Stuff. Local rap duo THE COOL KIDS is up on the reals, for sure. Their tracks have been hyped by Pitchfork and URB Magazine, among many others, and their steez – old school by-way-of new indie – is fully, fully on point. Making a great party better still, GUTTERBUTTER DJs LOGAN BAY and BEN FASMAN will spin throughout. In response to IPods and MP3s, the two felt compelled to return to “two turntables, drunk cut mixing and balls-to-the-walls live blends.” They’ll be playin’ them raw gully shits, yo!


SAT. 7/14/07 (9:30pm; $3 (limited), $12)
The Empty Bottle, Struggle Inc & Turntable Lab present We (heart) Chicago featuring:
Chromeo label: Turbo, Vice
Flosstradamus label: Koko B. Ware related: Kid Sister
Vyle label: B.E.A.R., iheartcomix, Trouble and Bass related: Nacrobats
Synth pop revisionists CHROMEO compose “slick-ass lover’s funk” a sound thoroughly in evidence on their two releases, She’s In Control and Fancy Footwork. Spin has called their sound “addictive,” Alternative Press “perfect” and they’ve prompted the always-overwhelmed NME to wonder, “How can something so wrong be so right?” Hometown deejay phenoms FLOSSTRADAMUS take the night off from owning the world, to spin throughout here. The two are pure fire these days, crisscrossing the globe to bring that dance floor heat, a style that the Reader claims is such that it attracts folks that would never be caught in the “bourgeois environs of a club club.” We can’t figure a night that’ll get much hotter, no doubt.


SUN. 7/15/07 (9:30pm; $3 (limited), $10)
The Empty Bottle, Struggle Inc & Turntable Lab present We (heart) Chicago featuring:
My!Gay!Husband!
Yo! Majesty label: Out There
Mahjongg label: Cold Crush, K related: Bobby Conn, Waterbabies
‘Punkpartykid’ MY!GAY!HUSBAND! will spin throughout here, a deejay known in underground clubs the world over for his trashy mashups and mixes. M!G!H! has spun alongside all the major indies – everyone from DJ ASSUALT, HOLLERTRONIX, INTERPOL and MSTKRFT, to name but a few – and his talents have earned him invites from most of the world’s major cities. This’ll be his Empty Bottle debut. And what can we say about YO! MAJESTY? Can them shits be any, any hotter? Vice has called their sound “absolutely timeless” and “brilliant,” while Mixmag has acclaimed, “At last – punk-funk-crunk rap!” This has to be, we’re telling you, one of our most anticipated sets of the year. Notable locals MAHJONGG will open, a sprawling, free form quintet concerned with ‘fusing sensuous beats with brittle Casio keyboards tones, committing tunes to tape with lo-fi ‘techniques’ that instantly imbue them with bleeding-edge currency.” The group will be previewing material from a forthcoming K Records release.