Wednesday night in Chicago, you'd be a damn fool to not make it out to the Big Horse Lounge for a spectacular night of rock'n roll. From Austin Texas comes Manikin, (not to be confused with the Manikins or the Mannequin Men) who have a curiously enthralling post-punk slant, but drawing all the good parts from the likes of the Red Snerts-school of midwest avant-garde, and without the overly amibitious dispositions that engulf anyone trying to draw outside the lines of 'punk.' With two full-length albums on Super Secret Records, they have a steady supply of moody and powerful hits that should have no problem rearranging your face and turning you into a believer. The Hex Dispensers are the new vehicle for Alex Cuervo (the ex-Blacktop, A Feast of Snakes, King Sound Quartet renegade), and along with Tom from the Kodiaks and Alyse from Manikin (and previously of the Winks), it sounds like a dirty pop sensation in the making. Marked Men-style hooks, but sung in a purely gutteral style that still tows the line between melody and Texas grit in the best way imaginable. If you didn't know already, Mr. Cuervo's productivity is uncontainable, as he's brought along his other two bands on this tour, but combining the members for an amalgamation of all elements and surely with great results. Brotherhood of Electricity and This Damn Town all throw forth members to build a monster that Alex will conduct to surely destroy and blow minds across the board. Headlining tonight's show are Chicago's pedigreed powerhouse rock'n rollers, the Busy Signals, who had a truckload of new songs at their last show and should blaze the stage at the Big Horse like so many of their predecessors have for the last 10 years. Not since the halcyon days of The Brides have such a tight and rocking band broke waves around Chicago, and with the Busy Signals deep knowledge of all the best nuances of 70s Belgian guitar-gnashing punk, coupled with obscure female-fronted power pop, each show just gets better and better. Featuring Kevin from the Krunchies, Jeremy from the Carbonas and Frankie from the Tyrades, and with a knack for cleverly executed call & response-style dual vocals, you already know how good it can get, and how hard it is to stand still. They seem to do their best in a party/small-room setting so the Big Horse should really get tore up tonight, just like in the good ol' days. Although they'll soon be recording their debut album, be sure to come check out the show Wednesday and catch a few of the Busy Signals new songs, along with their string of hits from their first two 7" EPs on Douchemaster and Shit Sandwich Records. Check out a video by Ernie Quintero for the Busy Signals from the 2005 Horizontal Action Blackout...
Here's a video for "Face The Wall" from Manikin's latest album, Still.
