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Bottom of the Hill October 1, 2002 Review by Jake Thomas I had been looking forward to this show for some time. Both times I had seen eE previously I thought they were on track to being one of the top bands in the area, at least in my book. But that had been a year ago, and with the new line up of the band being given a chance to solidify even more (I never saw them with the old line up, but just after the new one had formed), there was no telling what might come of the live music that I was about to hear. But first, Emily Sparks. I got there a bit early to see what she was all about. I had heard one mp3 from her label's website (Wishing Tree), and it was nice enough to warrant checking out. Although I've never been crazy about female singer/songwriter type stuff as it usually comes off to 'cutesy' for my tastes, there are exceptions to the rule and I'm willing to give anything a listen. And even though I wasn't moved enough to purchase her CD, I was glad I got to see Emily Sparks play some songs. She had a beautiful voice that matched her good looks, and songs that kept me interested even if they didn't make me go ga-ga over her. She was playing an acoustic guitar, and was accompanied by some gentleman who played bass, additional guitar, keys, and various bleeps and bloops on a laptop. It sounded exactly like you would expect it to, sounding like everything and nothing at once. Yeah, I know, real fucking descriptive. The key that made this enjoyable was her voice though, as it was quite soothing. I could see using her music as make out music if you are the type that listens to music while you're making out. Now it was time for eE, and the otherwise sparse crowd filled in considerably. They put on a good, rocking show for the most part, but something about it seemed less rocking than previous shows. Not that it wasn't good, just different than what I remembered. After the first two times I saw them, I used to describe their sound as a cross between Seam and Mogwai (for those that don't know, part of the new line up for the band includes the addition of Sooyoung Park from Seam, one of the greatest and most underrated bands of the nineties; and even though Sooyoung doesn't sing for eE, it still manages to remind me of them - I think it's the combination of the music and the delivery of the vocals, which is similar). During this show, although there were elements of the old sound, they seemed more subdued now. The thing they reminded me of most this time around was what I always think of as 'the Chicago sound', bands like Dianogah, Sea and Cake, etc. Now they didn't sound like any of these bands at all, just seemed to have the same type of vibe. I think I prefer the louder, more bombastic sound they previously held, but what I heard this night was still nice enough to bring me back the next time they play. On a less positive tip, as I was about to leave, I wanted to buy their new record. Unfortunately, the merch guy didn't have any change, so that means I couldn't get the new cd. I left feeling pretty disappointed about this, as I always prefer buying my new CDs directly from the band as opposed to the record stores, cause I like to see that additional profit go directly into their pocket. But alas, I left empty handed this night. So note to merch guys - make sure you have plenty of change!!! Don't let the fans leave empty handed if they don't want to! Ok, enough bitching. Go check out eE next time they play out, you'll probably like it. ©2002 playinginfog.com |