Archive for the kamar tag

Red This Ever: Selfless

Three years ago, Kamar and I were asked to play the Baltimore Music Conference. Aside from playing at Sonar (one of my favorite warehouse-style clubs), the highlight of our trip wasn't the conference at all. Our friend Michael stole us away for a night to take us to The Depot, a venue that, if you're from Chicago, I would describe as sort of a cross between Darkroom and Liar's Club. The bill included DJ Medic, kindred soul to our new wave/synthpop/industrial focus, and the fantastic all-female Depeche Mode cover band Violator. But the best part was the headliners; Red This Ever absolutely blew us away with their energetic guitar-fused synthpop. I have since kept a Red This Ever button on my purse, and Kamar and I never forgot them.

You can imagine how excited we were when Michael told us they were coming to town. We jumped on the chance to book them, and so this Sunday, Atomic takes its first leap into live music. I couldn't ask for a better lineup, and Kamar and I hope that when you see Red This Ever, either at the show in Chicago or somewhere else on their long tour, that you're as impressed as we were that night in Baltimore.

RSVP to the facebook event page for a discounted-cover password

Selfless by Red This Ever

official website

A new chapter for Atomic

As of next Thursday, I will be quitting my residency at Neo. Along with me goes Atomic. This wasn't an easy decision to make, and Kamar and I are not really happy about it, but circumstances being what they are, it's for the best.

Looking into the future:
• Kamar will continue his residency at Neo on Thursdays under a different name.
• This blog will remain and continue to be updated.
• There will still be Atomic events, though they will be less frequent and at alternate venues.

In other words, not a whole lot is changing, aside from me not being in the booth on Thursdays. If you go to Atomic, I encourage you to continue to go to Neo on Thursdays to support Kamar, and if you read the blog, then keep reading the blog. Join our facebook group to be invited to future Atomic events, one of which I'll be posting about soon.

I've been at Neo for over four years, and it's been a great time. I've made a lot of new friends and learned a lot about the place, the music, and the people, and I'll carry that with me as I leave. Thanks to everyone who came and drank and danced, not just at Atomic but at all of my gigs at Neo over the years. I hope to see your faces again on my next dance floor.

-Qbot

The Cure: Disintegration (Live from Entreat)

I was eleven when I accidentally found The Cure’s Disintegration in a pile of my brother's cassettes along with New Order, Depeche Mode, and Nine Inch Nails. This may come as a shock, but I thought it sucked. I liked "Pictures of You”, “Lovesong”, and “Lullaby”, but the second side of that cassette... man was it long and boring. I tried numerous times to get through “The Same Deep Water as You”, but every attempt failed.

So how did Disintegration become my favorite album? That was an accident as well. I got really into The Cure around 1992 (Wish) and backtracked to the older albums. I also started to collect Cure stuff: magazines, posters, and singles. I bought the “Pictures of You”  single, and one of the B-sides was the live version of "Disintegration". It blew my away like nothing before or since. I went back and listened to Disintegration. Maybe my taste matured, or maybe I was discovering that life sucked, but I connected with the second half and the whole album like I had found my one and only true love . I knew it would stand the test of time, and in high school I introduced it to as many people as possible. If they didn’t like it, I would insist they listen to the live version of “Disintegration”.

It worked on my friends Jill and Tony. Jill and I would stay up all night trying to decipher the lyrics. There were a bunch of lines added  and a few missing from the album version, and it drove us crazy. Jill suggested I buy Entreat at Reckless Records since the live version of “Disintegration” and almost every album song was on the live disc.  I couldn't afford it, until the lucky day I found a used copy for $34. I ran to Jill's car and as I ripped open the case, found tucked into the sleeve inlay card a sheet of handwritten lyrics to the live version. I screamed louder than I have ever before in my life. The coincidence, the luck, the idea that someone out there loved the song so much they figured out all the lyrics and hand wrote them onto notebook paper...and the sadness and shock that this person had parted with it, made me realize how much I loved The Cure, loved that song, and how it made me give that album a second chance and falling in love with that too.

Crazy to think that after all that I went through to save $34 to buy Entreat, it’s now being given away as a bonus disc as part of the 3CD re-release of Disintegration for $32.99. For me and millions of people around the world, this album means re-living great memories, but I hope that some kid out there stumbles upon this release, listens to it for the first time, and is blown away with the greatness of it all.

official website
Pre-order the 3CD deluxe edition of Disintegration

Panic! 4 year anniversary / Aztec Camera: Good Morning Britain + The Smiths: Panic

Tonight, Panic! celebrates their fourth anniversary at Darkroom. I don't even remember how Kamar and I met Pogo and Arturo, but it's no surprise that the new wave djs with the Blondie-named night and the Britpop djs with the Smiths-named night were fast friends. I don't think Debbie Harry and Morrissey ever hooked up, but if Atomic was a girl, Panic would be our quirky British boyfriend. We're there almost every month -sometimes in the booth- and Arturo is one of our favorite regulars and guest djs at Neo. In either case, it's always a good time, and we're glad to help them celebrate their fourth anniversary.
In honor of Panic, I've chosen the oft-overlooked Aztec Camera single "Good Morning Britain", featuring vocals from Mick Jones of The Clash, from their 1990 release Stray. And of course this post wouldn't be complete without "Panic" by The Smiths. See you tonight!

Arturo, Kamar, Qbot, & Pogo

Buy Stray on Amazon
Aztec Camera on MySpace

Buy The Smiths on Amazon

Atomic’s 2 year anniversary / Cut Copy: Sands of Time

Join us tonight to celebrate two years of the best new wave party in Chicago with special guests Dark Wave Disco.
facebook event page

How time flies...
People ask me sometimes how we get so many people to come out to Neo on Thursday nights. There's a lot of factors involved (remnants of a built in crowd, people really like Depeche Mode, Neo's new wave-steeped history), but the short answer is that Kamar and I knew what we wanted to do; we had a good idea, we executed it, and it worked. We've never gotten a whiff of press coverage. We're more likely to pluck our guest djs off of our own dance floor than book a big name. At the end of the night, what brings people back every week is the energy of the music and the crowd, the feeling that everyone is welcome, and that anyone can be and dance how they want.

The first thing we decided, and the one thing we've very much stuck to our guns about, is that it's not an "'80s night". We've all been to '80s nights. There's nothing special about most of them and we've all heard more than enough cheesy pop for our lifetimes. It's not what Atomic is about. There is an astonishing number of current acts in the new wave/synthpop/new romantic genres, and the best way to keep the music -and the crowd- fresh week after week is to include that.

The one band that matches our style perfectly, hands down, is Cut Copy. Their New Order-reincarnate sound has been a staple every week for the last two years, right in there with all the Soft Cell and Human League where it belongs. Now if they would just get a little more prolific...

official site
"Sands of Time" is unreleased; buy Cut Copy on Amazon

Lykke Li: Little Bit [CSS remix]

It's 6am and the sun is coming up. Kamar just dropped me off and these potato things from Dunkin Donuts are soooo good, you have no idea...
Such a great evening at Panic! I got there way too late to hear Arturo, but caught a rare Britpop-ish set from Chicago-legend-via-Berlin Scary Lady Sarah, who had the place so packed with friends that my head was spinning even before the Maker's Mark got to me. We moved on to Late Bar, Dave Roberts' new place, with Peroxide and Stormy, and made some new friends there, too.

I should probably go to bed, but I can't stop listening to this Lykke Li remix lately, which may have something to do with me starting off my set with it Thursday night.

Here's to hoping your weekend is going as well as mine.

Youth Novels on Amazon
Official Website