It was only fitting that Ezra Furmen and his band, The Boyfriends, would land smack in the middle of last week's The Tomorrow Never Knows Festival.
As he cracked on his last full-length CD, the 2015 breakout Perpetual Motion People ( on Belle Union Records ), 2016 was a "Restless Year." Finally coming out as gender-fluid, Furmen developed a whole new audience while embracing his old one, hitting last year's Taste of Chicago for a headlining gig dressed in Dior while pinging Mick Jagger's radar. Apart from spending a chunk of the year on European stages, he moved back to Chicago and dropped a new EP, Big Fugitive Life ( on Belle Union Records ). With all that momentum behind him, it came as something of a shock to watch an unknown Canadian band give him a run for his money at this highly anticipated, sold-out show at Lincoln Hall on Jan. 12.
The opener, Dream Version, set the tone with a helping of noisy nerd pop-punk that was highly enjoyable if not a touch obtuse. For the life of me, I can't figure how a song entitled "Bathtub" has anything to do with the apocalypse—but such mysteries seemed beside the point. With Alec Jenson ( vocals/guitar ) braying with all his might in front of Eric Brummitt ( guitar ) and Mike Kunick ( drums ), the band's debut-in-progress may actually be fun.
Then Jasmyn Burke of Canadas Weave strolled on stage—and Lincoln Hall went up for grabs.
Seeming to gently stumble on stage, Burke looked mildly drugged; however, once she opened her mouth to sing, it was clear that she was anything but that. Wielding a disarmingly smooth elastic voice and a lazy, gently lilting tone that is at once off-putting and alluring ( think of Minnie Riperton, Billie Holiday and Lene Lovich as a single voice ), she immediately enchanted the rowdy crowd—but that was only the half of it. To set that off her bandmates—Spencer Cole ( drums ), Zack Bines ( bass ) and Morgan Waters ( guitar )—conjure a sharply angular abrasive soundtrack behind her, making music that is adventurous, hypnotic and beguiling.
Between Burke's warped vocals and coy glances, Bines' violently flopping poodle cut and Waters' habit of whipping out deranged, squawking solos from thin air, Canada Weave's seemed designed to mess with the audience members' brains while creating a new spin on art rock/jazz. "Coo-Coo" and "Hula-hoop" were loopy, catchy and brilliant, but "Shithole" and "Motorcycle" were pungent all-out rockers played and sung with careless abandon. Of course, all the members of Canada Weave were having way too much fun whipping this on the untutored crowd.
By the time Furman got on stage, the bar was set impossibly high but it was actually the perfect set up for his open hearted sincerity and sweetly oddball character. Opening with "Anything Can Happen," "Haunted Head" and "Tip of A Match," he opened up about the threat of the oncoming political horizon and the general dread of living in this day and age. Then he lit into "Little Piece of Trash," from the new EP, which manages to capture the feeling of inadequacy and deep-seated misery but with enthusiasm of a ticker tape parade.
Granted, the show was geared to please, with songs from later in his career ( a pounding rip through "Day of the Dog," a decidedly mid-tempo and un-melancholic "My Zero," an articulate jolly bop through the doo-wop "Lousy Connection," a sweet take through the gender freedom valentine "Body Was Made," and a muscular sloppy rampage through the new "Teddy I'm Ready" ) but the mix had something for everyone.
On a somewhat different note, we have the unveiling of musician, video and performance artist Dorian Electra's witty, all-inclusive ( literally ), spectacular new video 2000 Years of Drag; A Musical Odyssey. The video is exactly what the title claims, but comes loaded with an all star cast of Chicago's youngest and more avant-garde "drag" artists.
Lucy Stoole, The Vixen Tony, Imp Queen ( who also did the make-up ), London Jade and Eva Young help Electra chart the course of drag down through the ages with an explosion of vocal styles ( an unexpected thrill ), witty visuals and vulgar Technicolor. ( Think of what '50s film director Frank Taslin did for Jayne Mansfield and you get the picture ). What really tickles me is that the video is so energetic, comical and eye-popping, it seems to appeal to people who are not specifically into drag ( myself included ); however, also like some of Electra's previous musical videos ( "Clitopia," "The Dark History of High Heels" ), it hilariously chronicles history with an appropriate splash of glitter and knowing mirth
