Jacket required
In honor of the near 35-year wait Chicago has endured to lay eyes on them, we’ve waited ’til the weekend to preview The Raincoats’ appearance on Monday.
For a band constantly name-dropped in reference to Nirvana, it’s a little surprising more Americans aren’t feverishly anticipating this tour. This will be — despite lasting for several years and enjoying a brief, grunge-era reunion — The Raincoats‘ city debut, which sounds absurd. They were one of the first and one of the only female post-punk bands in London’s crowded class of ’77, a context that perhaps deceives newcomers into preparing themselves for a banshee attack. Combine it with the fact Kurt Cobain wrote the liners to the reissue of their self-titled debut, Hole covered one its tracks, and the ’90s riot-grrrl scene was rooted on its foundation . . . you see where this is going.
Not that it’s smart to lump their records together, but the remarkable thing about them — including Kill Rock Stars’ fresh reissue of 1981’s Odyshape — is their restraint. Unorthodox arrangements, acoustic instruments (in punk rock?), and ultra-personal lyrics were all laid out by a quartet with almost no experience playing music. And the sounds just so happened to launch a thousand ships. Some, including their own, have arrived later than others. (Monday@Double Door with Grass Widow and Brain Idea.)
— Steve Forstneger
Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly
