Totally Michael preview

Totally Michael
Abbey Pub, Chicago
Sunday, November 16, 2008

Technological advances in the last half decade have drastically changed the music industry. Some for the better (musicians with little-to-no budget can record at home instead of burning money in big-dollar studios); some for the worse (Totally Michael — one guy from Bloomington, Indiana — can tour the country with just a guitar, iPod, and microphone).

It’s hard being too critical of Totally Michael and his self-titled full-length (Iheartcomix) because the guy is just having so much fun. Winona Rider (“Winona I’d like to get to know you/let’s burn Saks Fifth Ave. down,” goes the chorus) love songs (“Winona”), totally awesome summer nights (“Summertime”) as well as totally awkward prom nights (“Prom Night”), and the cheerleader or drillteam dilemma faced by any respectable, popular high-school girl (“Cheerleaders Vs. Drillteam”). (Notice any pattern in song subjects and titles?( Totally Michael is bouncy, feel-good, danceable, upbeat, sometimes-infectious, and almost completely inoffensive (“Casual Satisfaction” and its “ooh girl, you make my dick erect/my dick erect” comes from way out in left field) . . . just never never very good. It sounds like something your college roommates recorded on their laptops while stoned our of their gourds. But hey, that’s technology.

Totally Michael, along with The Delicious, open for MC Chris (Libertyville representin’!)

— Trevor Fisher

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly