Text by Jen Wilson-Farley (Ladyspythenight)
at Crucible, Madison, WI, April 24th, 2024
Bootblacks
Bootblacks is a band on fire. When they hit Crucible for the second time, they were wrapping up a short, sold-out tour with Twin Tribes and Urban Heat. Being some of the nicest people on the road, they were kind enough to give me time for a quick interview that I’ve woven into their show review.
On this tour, the band was made up of founding member Panther Almqvist on vocals, longtime band member Barrett Hiatt on keys and electronic drums, and incredible guest guitarist Nicolas Isner of Berlin’s Alice Gift. And as if to announce their increased electronic focus, they opened with the urgent hard-electro beat of “The Jealous Star (Remix).” Panther stalked his way through the darkly sad lyrics:
When I walk, I walk alone / Deserted heart towards an empty throne.
As Barrett said before the show when discussing his love of depressing music, “There’s nothing better than a sad song you can dance to.” This sad song made a banger, highly danceable opening, and despite sound issues on Isner’s guitar line (which he handled beautifully), it was an exciting way to start our time with Bootblacks.
Photo courtesy of Jen Wilson-Farley
With his signature light-on-his-feet jig, Panther then led the crew into the stellar, “Hidden Things.” Panther’s voice is so hard to describe well, but I’m still going to have a go because it’s what makes it extremely special. His voice almost sounds as if it’s haunting itself—its cadence is both atmospheric and emotive, with a depth of feeling that is exceptionally beautiful and unique.
“Captives” (in video above) took on a heavier industrial-tribal intro beat with Barrett hard at work on the drums and keys. A wonderful pairing with Panther, Barrett’s enthusiasm is infectious and his energy endless.
“Decoys” (video above) was a heavy synth joy that even the reluctant dancers found themselves dancing to. A post-apocalyptic love song of sorts, its later half had Panther pleading in its final refrain:
Meet me outside/to see the sky is falling/meet me outside/to see the cities burning/meet me outside/
to hear the ruble yearning/meet me outside/there will be no tomorrow/meet me outside/I could be
closer to you…
New single “When You Want” sounded amazing live (in video above). One of their sexiest songs to date, the beat has a depth and immediacy that is incredibly infectious. I imagine this is making it onto many DJs sets at the moment.
Finishing up the set was “Forbidden Flames.” Like biting into a warm marshmallow dripping with chocolate, the song’s sound is delicious and reassuring. Its lyrics, however, leave you yearning for something while feeling slightly unsettled.
Asleep at the wheel, steady spin/The world is upside-down, I’m ready to win/I’ve gone too far, I’ve made my bed/So lay down my love and teach me to sin
Bootblacks’ sound is immediately recognizable, and stands out among many of its contemporaries. When talking with me about the development and evolution of their sound, Barrett explained, “I always admire artists that sound like themselves. We love it when people say, ‘what do they [Bootblacks] sound like,’ and they go, I don’t know, they sound like Bootblacks!”
Photo courtesy of Jen Wilson-Farley
Barrett explained that they have been putting new singles “What You Want,” “Wilderness,” and “Forbidden Flames” out over the past year, unlike their previous habit of releasing full albums. They expect to have the whole album out by sometime this summer. I for one cannot wait.
Bootblacks’ setlist
The Jealous Star (Remix)
Hidden Things
Captives
Erosion
Decoys
Hold & Dissolve
When You Want
Traveling Light
Forbidden Flames
Upcoming shows:
Terminus Festival, Calgary, Alberta: July 25-28, 2024
East Coast, West Coast, and European dates for 2024 to be announced soon!
Carrellee
Carrellee has been taking the scene by storm ever since her debut release Scale of Dreams (Negative Gain Records) and Rescaled, remixes from her debut from 2023. She is not new, however, to music, coming from an accomplished singer-songwriter folk background under her previous work with
Kivi & Pray, and as Sarah Pray. Like Bootblacks, she was kind enough to do a short interview with me before her set.
She started out the set with her album intro song “Can’t Explain It.” This song is dreamy, like all her music, and shows off her softer folky roots. When asked about coming out of that tradition and into electronic/darkwave, Carellee explained the transition. “I was doing music with my ex-husband together in a duo. And so it [coming back to darkwave] was just like a nice little sanctuary for my own thing to go back to my place a little bit, because I always liked that kind of sound, but you know, he liked folk music.
I wanted to have fun with music again, and like something that people can dance to maybe, or just feel something a little more emotive than maybe what I was doing before.”
Carrellee showed off her exciting new single, “The Journey,” (video below) one of the songs in a flurry of collaborations she’s been involved in recently, this time with Cagedbaby. This was an absolute banger that had an incredible final chorus that showed off her vocal skills beautifully. She said this about collaboration in general and on the recent album, “it’s very satisfying to experiment to see how two sonic worlds may collide in unexpected ways.”
Carrellee says her influences go back to the 80s primarily, and this is very evident in her work and her live performance style. As she launched into “Stay,” I was struck by how this song feels like an 80s-style romantic plea that you don’t hear very often anymore. This is the emotion she said before the show that she’s going for, and it’s powerful. The lyrics show her exposed and vulnerable—which is very much interpreted through her vocals—at their loveliest and most dramatic on this song. Soaring towards the end of the first verse and finishing in a whisper, she sings, like a movie, there’s no way out of here…. The song has a long final chorus and outro I wished you’d stay/forever repeated in a desperate plea that settles on resignation. It’s heartrending stuff that I imagine slow dancing to at the prom I never attended.
When talking with Carrellee about Scale of Dreams, she was very happy with the work Brett Bullion did with her demos, especially running it through scorched and crumpled reel to reel tape machines and adding a rich, organic warmth. She mentioned that he also sped up the tempo, which she appreciated. But she looks forward to making a faster tempo, dance-focused album next time. When she started into “Heaven Or,” I felt like we were seeing a glimpse of this new direction. Its slower tempo verses are sped up by an incredible earworm of a chorus asking the listener what their choice is, Heaven or/ Hell? The driving beat that bridges after choruses also gives a peak at a heavier, grittier sound to come. It works beautifully. This trend continued as the gentle throbbing of her final song, “Morning Sun,” closed the set.
Immediately noticeable since I last saw her opening for IAMX, she’s stepping away from behind the keyboard, moving more, and showing more physical interpretation of her music. This feels like she is ready to become more expressive visually, and more vulnerable, as a performer, like the music she writes. This reminded me of a comment she later made about Scale of Dreams, “The songs seem extra special to me, more direct and vulnerable because they marked a transition personally and musically for me.”
With all the other recent collaborations with people like Hvppy Devth and Jason Alacrity, as well as a set at this year’s Cold Waves festival in Chicago, Carrellee has a lot of momentum. Look out for her new album or EP sometime this fall.
Carellee will be on a short tour this summer and doing guest slots on a European tour this summer. Catch her in the Midwest in July!
7.6 Madison, WI: Mickey’s
7.11 Kansas City House Show
7.12 Iowa City, IA: Gabe’s
7.13 Dubuque, IA: The Lift
7.14 Davenport, IA: Raccoon Motel
Cold Waves, Chicago: Metro (9.27)
Carrellee setlist
Can’t Explain It
Smile
The Journey (unreleased collaboration with Cagedbaby)
Bonnie and Clyde
Stay
Heaven Or
Mirror
Where I Once Loved
You
Death Dance
Morning Sun
https://carrellee.bandcamp.com
Lorelei Dreaming
You can see the joy of performance in Lorelei Dreaming’s sets from song one. As Lorelei (Laura Bienz) points out, she used to travel and perform at churches as a child and is a pure theater kid who still loves and finds inspiration from musicals such as Beetlejuice and Wicked. She launches into the lovely, slow synth throb in “Of Stars” in a sparkling swirl of light and color that never really slows down. “Yeah that is me being me,” she says of her swirling dance style. It reminds me of her comment that she’s always been the girl that jumps in to start the dance floor. She is ready to enjoy the hell out of her performance.
Laura was backed up by bandmate (and partner) John Freriks (also of I.X.XI and Sensuous Enemy) on guitar, keys, and backing vocals, and Reuben Surrender (of Rachel’s Surrender) on keys. She had a stage beautifully lit by John’s programming, topped off with a rainbow laser extravaganza (otherwise known as Unity Laser). All of this together made for a lush presentation, accompanying beauties such as “Night Drive”’s dreamscape and energetic chorus delightfully.
An area in which Lorelei really stands out as a performer is the fact that she’s not afraid to show that she’s genuinely happy to be on stage, dancing with her audience, telling them stories through her beautiful vocals. In a sea of often grim-faced and static performance styles in the darker genres, Lorelei pushes back with her dancing joy on full display. As she says, “my passion project is to inject these things that are uncommon in our scene, and I think our scene deserves it as much as anyone else’s.”
Inspired by female artists such as I Ya Toyah and Brittney Bindrim, among many others, Lorelei is eager to keep supporting women artists in any way she can, from stage costuming to who she chooses to work with musically. On this night, she wore a sparkling piece by Madison, Wisconsin artist Brenda Smage
(of B True Creations). When considering who to approach for her most recent album of remixes, Retold Fables, she chose a wide variety of female artists, from Kanga to Eva X. She explains that this came as a reaction to the Trump era we all found ourselves in.
Laura embodies her music beautifully throughout the set, inviting us to join in with club favorite “Scream With Me” midway through. She finished up with the exciting, building pulse of “Edge of the World” (feat. Digital Gnosis). During this last song (video below), Laura jumped off the stage to dance with the audience, continuing her role as the girl who starts the dance floor. I’m always so impressed with artists who want to create such an intimate connection and sense of community with their audience. It also shows a great deal of trust in your people.
Though she says a new album might not be on the horizon as albums feel like they “might be going the way of the dinosaurs,” she does have songs that might be released more as singles in progress. She looks forward to collaborating with Freriks on new music. As Lorelei says, “I try to make timeless songs that anyone can read and hang their hat on and see what they need to see of themselves and whatever they’re going through at the time.” I can’t wait to see what Lorelei Dreaming comes up with next!
Lorelei Dreaming’s Setlist
Of Stars
Miracle Parachute of Gold
To Leave This Heaven
Night Drive
Scream with Me
Edge of the World (Digital Gnosis remix)
https://loreleidreaming.bandcamp.com