The Stock Market Crash Preview

The Stock Market Crash
Beat Kitchen, Chicago
Friday, August 18, 2006

These fine chaps are apparently from the dank, nonexistant Greenwich Village of Oklahoma City.

If The Flaming Lips represent what can happen to you if you’re out on the Panhandle and fried to the gills on acid, The Stock Market Crash are all vodka and barbiturates in the wee hours of a house party. Matthew Bacon’s pinched croon seems ready to belt “Is This It?” at any moment on Geology (TSMC), while the rest of the band floods the lo-fi production with a romantic synth undercurrent. “Tokyo” walks with its head down while catching its heels on the subway steps; “Beggars” turns a Television groove into a lush chorus; and opener “Don’t Walk” finds what it wants in The Strokes’ catalog and dumps the pissy anger. It’s ultra urban and burnt out, even if it fails to convince every third track or so.

The Fame open. This is Friday’s late show at Beat Kitchen, beginning at 10:30 p.m.

— Steve Forstneger

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly