Crashing Through by Friko (2024)
Feb 17, 2024
How does a music scene develop and flourish? It's something that has been analyzed and considered so often but it seems to be a different answer depending on the time and place and people involved, and sometimes it only becomes clear what happened after the fact.
But that's the question that Friko is making me think about today. They're a part of the emerging new generation of Chicago indie rock bands coming out of the 'Hallogallo Collective' scene, and listening to their new album has me inspired and nostalgic and feeling old -- literally thinking the words 'when I was their age...' about the scenes I've been a part of. But it's awesome to see the youths of this city continuing to pump out this badass art.
Some more jams
I got to see this guy play at the Empty Bottle this week when he returned to Chicago from his home in LA for the first time in 15 years (so I've read). He treated the enthusiastically attentive crowd (of what I assume was mostly other songwriters, musicians, and sound engineers) to a 2.5 hour set consisting of semi-improvised jams with an excellent bassist and excellent drummer plucked out of some Los Angeles studio and a solo acoustic performance of some of his most well known songs, including the linked one. It was fantastic! I left the show feeling inspired and also with many questions, such as -- how did he get all those instruments here from LA? Are they rentals or loaners? How does he choose which one to use on each song - it seems to be a process? And what did he have written down in that spiral bound notebook that he kept picking up and looking at quizically as he puttered around the stage between songs?
Context for this week's jam
Chicago weather: Mainly clear skies. Low around 25F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
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Posted Feb 17, 2024