IOWA CITY ALIVE

Chicago’s Panoramic & True to play Iowa City May 9th

Chicago folk artist Al Scorch to play The Mill on 5/22; will play Daytrotter on 5/22

Al Scorch’s is touring the country in support of his newfull-length album, Tired Ghostly Town (out May 21 on Plan-It-X South).  He’ll be playing in Iowa City on 5/22 at The Mill.  He also has a confirmed date with the illustrious Daytrotter early that day! 

Tired Ghostly Town

(free + legal for download/posting)

Stream/download full album here: 

http://soundcloud.com/deus-ex-machina-publicity/sets/al-scorch-tired-ghostly-town/s-1WwFD

MP3 single “Working Dream” download here: 

http://soundcloud.com/deus-ex-machina-publicity/working-dream-al-scorch-the/download

In his new full-length CD release, Tired Ghostly Town (out May 21 on Plan-It-X South), Chicago-based songwriter and instrumentalist Al Scorch and his backing band, the Country Soul Ensemble (featuring Elephant 6 collective member Laura Carter on clarinet), chart a new musical topography with a five-string banjo.  Grafting literate, character-driven song craft and Mid-American roots with a post-punk DIY attitude, Scorch delivers jubilant anthems and poignant reflections in 10 songs populated with a cast of vibrant characters that has drawn comparisons to artists like William Elliot Whitmore.

5/22 - Rock Island, IL @ DayTrotter

5/22 - Iowa City, IA @ The Mill

Biography:

The protagonist wishing for a pair of gold cuff links to accompany his beau to her daddy’s funeral; the deserting Civil War soldier headed across destroyed cotton fields beckoning to “Miss Rosie”; or a hearse driver bound for the cemetery accompanied by a sonorous clarinet.  Scorch doesn’t just introduce these denizens, he inhabits them.

 “It’s all composites – myself and people I see on the street,” he professes. “As I watch people walk by, I can stare at each of them and come up with a story of who they are, where they’re going, why their jacket is that color, why the stain is on the front of it, why they’re holding that stack of papers in front of the retirement home. I think my characters come from creating this feeling I want to get across when I write songs.”

Both solo and with a close family of musicians, Al Scorch is very much a live performer at clubs, festivals, and other venues.  He embraces the independence of house concerts –a loose circuit that extends from New Orleans to Portland; Missoula to San Francisco and all points in between. 

Creating songs for Tired Ghostly Town, Al woodshedded in a Georgia farmhouse, jogging in the morning, drinking copious cups of coffee and working for up to eight hours a day. “Songs and ideas float in the air past your mental eye until you’re struck with a feeling that is summed up in one phrase,” he says of his writing process. “It’s been said before, but sometimes a song can write itself in 20 minutes.”

As a student of musical history, Al Scorch appreciates tradition, but he is not bound by it. “Sitting in on an old time session, the musicianship is incredible, but it’s almost like there’s no mystery to it. I don’t want to know, that’s what gives me chills and makes the eyes well up –It sounds like an Irish ghost on a gypsy pirate ship drinking beer with a cowboy – what the hell is it? Where is it coming from?”

The same might be said of Al Scorch and a traditional instrument brought to these  shores by African slaves. With sepia glimpses of the recent past, the high definition immediacy of the present and kaleidoscopic visions for the future, Tired Ghostly Town reveals a young man with an old soul and something new to say.

Quinton’s still remains One of Iowa City’s most rapeable bathrooms. Coming in at a close second is The Library and Brother’s.

That Damn Choir at The Mill, Now

I’m running a little late, but The Damn Choir is currently playing, or about to play at The Mill on Clinton and Burlington,

It is 19+ and I believe $8, so get on that,

here is my last review on The Damn Choir

So, I need your help with a project I’m working on for my boss. What are some good French bands right now?

Someone want to be a correspondent?