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Contraphonic's Winter of Love 2010
Hideout; Sat 16
Chicago’s Contraphonic imprint eschews convention, as you’d expect of any upstart record label operating within an industry in flux. Its clever Chicago Sound Series finds inspiration in the ambient noises of our city’s neighborhoods, while its roster of artists consists of mostly regional musicians flying under the radar. The growing volume and variety of those CSS field recordings show a label getting its legs, as does its second Winter of Love showcase, featuring three of the label’s flagship artists.
Michigan native Tobin Summerfield is familiar to Midwest postpunk enthusiasts for his former vehicle Crush Kill Destroy. Now firmly a local fixture, he’s drifted even further toward the musical left, and his meditative solo debut, Working Up to Full Reflection, captures just one facet of the towering guitarist-bassist’s hearty musical appetite.
The moody and melancholic musings of Pillars and Tongues have haunted the confines of the Hideout many times before. Led by soft-spoken frontman Mark Trecka, the trio haunts the byways of the underground with a warm, psychedelic chamber concoction swooning with bowed strings and swelling percussion. It’s a charming vessel for Trecka’s abstract narratives.
Frank Rosaly’s latest for Contraphonic, Milkwork, captures the polyrhythmic workouts that have defined his remarkable prowess. One of the most in-demand jazz drummers in the city, Rosaly’s one-man balancing act finds the 35-year-old maneuvering among spare percussion, synths and electronics as he relentlessly tweaks textures from behind his kit. He’s yet another unique addition to the expanding arsenal of a growing local force.
