Seattle Subsonic

Chain & the Gang Might Satisfy Your Anti-Capitalist Hangover TONIGHT

July 6th, 2010

Chain & the Gang has been on my list to see for awhile now, and tonight I think I might head down to the Crocodile to check ‘em out. Word has it that the K Records collective’s live show is pretty righteous. On the band’s sole LP, Down With Liberty…Up With Chains!, chain gang chief Ian Svenonius posits himself as a sharp-dressed street corner evangelist, proselytizing on the cultural ills of Liberty, Freedom, the Pursuit of Happiness and every other “democratic” ideal you probably just celebrated this past Independence Day. Really, he’s just griping about money, greed, the government, and celebrity culture like the rest of us. Only, his gripes come swathed in hokey, hair-raising gospel (“Cemetery Map”), anti-Capitalist beatnik blues (“What Is A Dollar?”), feet-shuffling garage slop (“Reparations”), and swaggering don’t-give-a-fuck guitar funk (“Interview with the Chain Gang”). Not to mention the soulful piano pop of “Room 19″ and the 60s-beset conspiratorial delirium of “Deathbed Confession”, where he cryptically “outs” the mythical culprits of the JFK, MLK, and Malcom X assassinations.

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The sonic palette might be varied, but the message certainly isn’t. Of course, hyper-cynicism is dripping from his every word. Can ya dig? Produced by masterful misfit Calvin Johnson, Svenonius (aptly hailing from D.C.) surrounds himself with a cavalry of Olympian musicians including Johnson, Faustine Hudson (formerly of the Curious Mystery), Karl Blau and Arrington de Dionyso, among others. Hey, I can listen to a well-tuned Socialist argument any day of the week.

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Hardly Art’s Golden Triangle will also be on stage tonight. I wasn’t completely taken upon first listen, but upon more recent inspection, I suspect their hazy trashcan rock will make for a fine opening act. They sound not dissimilar to Sub Pop’s Dum Dum Girls, but with a bit more bratty angst and less discontented cool. You can download a bunch of .mp3′s here.

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$8 adv
8pm
21 & over