February 1, 2013

Friday night live at Transistor: Alberta and Kevin Rieg. Sound by Jon Monteverde.

Kevin Rieg (pictured left in photo) is the singer/ songwriter/guitar player of Chicago band Many Places. Their debut album "Another Oath" -- released by Tandem Shop Records last May and written, recorded and produced by Rieg -- is about renewal and repetition, two competing concepts at odds through the record. Rieg's lyrics focus on both simultaneously, and the way the album was put together fits these themes. Rieg wrote and recorded the album simultaneously, lyrics shifting and changing throughout the process, which took place in a 10x8 room in his coach house. The songs themselves date back to 2009 when Rieg first wrote a version of the roomy, eerie "Low Clouds." Gathering sounds on portable field recorder and slowly recording ever since, "Another Oath" takes its musical cues from Simon & Garfunkel and Bonnie "Prince" Billy and is a lovely debut from a new artist sure to make waves in the Chicago scene.

Visit Many Places online.

Alberta is the music of Dave A. Shanaberger. A native of Michigan, he has put out four records, two with his former band Big Livy and two -- "Caves" and "It's A Viral Darling" -- as Alberta. In 2010 Dave wrote, recorded and released a new three-song EP every two weeks for 20 weeks. The resulting 10 EPs have recently been compiled and condensed onto a B-sides release, available digitally. Influences are wide, and include: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Sam Cooke, Al Green, Nirvana, The Strokes, Billie Holiday, Skip James, J.D. Salinger, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Stuart.

Says Jeff Milo of Real Detroit Weekly: "Alberta's anti-folk style blends in a bit of gothic blues; some darker, meditative dirges are warmed by hearty vocals, humming organs and yowling lap steel; minimal at some points, epic at others."

Visit Alberta online: www.albertasound.com.