It's the hap-happiest season of all

Standard fare are Sheffield, England trio who deserve more renown than they have. Emma Kupa's songwriting puts a dry, postmodern spin on the kind of classic female singer-songwriter style influenced by Ani DiFranco. I don't know whether releasing a Christmas song will help them, but it couldn't hurt. So will the March release of their first full-length album on Bar/None.

"Tinsel Politics" is no Bing Crosby; Kupa's tone is that of someone who's scratching her head about why she's writing about Christmas to begin with. Among carefree mandolins and jingle bells (naturally) she waffles about where to spend Christmas Eve and harping on her partner about trivialities. By the time she gets around to adding "I don't even know why this is on my mind/I'm not even a Christian," she's probably come closer to capturing the peculiarities of 21st-century Gen-Y holiday angst than anything else you'll hear this December.

Mp3 - Standard Fare - Tinsel Politics

The late show: It's a-Maze-ing, uh, so a-Maze-ing

By the way, in case you were thinking the Maze is just a name, and that it's probably just another art installation, you could not be more wrong. It is a Maze in every sense. You will turn wrong corners, you will get lost. You will not know who's playing next or where they are playing. You will not know what the hell is going on. At one point in the night I turned around a corner and met a wild-eyed guy who asked me if I knew whether White Suns had played yet.

Also I am NOT the first person to come up with the clearly brilliant and original pun used in this post's title. That was all Nicole Schneit, whose set with Air Waves was so breezily beautiful and laid-back that I couldn't believe I wasn't missing something pretentious somewhere in there. Schneit's pop songwriting is enigmatic but revealing, showing slices of a rich inner life you know she has.

Poor Emma Kupa of Standard Fare needs a pat on the back and a reassurance that had, in fact, an absolutely brilliant set. I was informed by her rep at Bar None records that it was one of her first-ever solo shows, which explains why seemed a bit upset afterward. She doesn't have anything to worry about should she choose to do more in the future. Her confessional songwriting, tongue-in-cheek humor and Dido-esque singing voice, with songs about such things as missing long-distance friendships and sleeping with younger boys (how old is she, 25? She should know I can totally relate to that).

Of course the showmen-and-women of the night were Eskalators, a pack of about ten or more people in farm animal costumes, literally bombarding everybody with their pop-punk-ska-jazz insanity, consisting of songs entitled "Hand Jobs?" I was informed later by DBA's Edan that they were lucky nobody was killed, being that the flimsy Maze walls aren't designed to support the weight of a full-grown cow-man.

If you haven't gotten lost in the Maze, yet, you've got one more shot: tonight at 8, with Zs, Excepter, Mick Barr, and no doubt a bunch of weird shit it would be impossible to try to predict. Let's get lost.



Mp3 - Air Waves - Knockout

This weeks Chikpiks: Featuring The Mazex2!

Photo via Nate Dorr via E4E1

Wednesday, September 30
You Are Here: A Maze
Death by Audio

How do you decide between your children? Well, you can't, and it's a little like deciding which night of You Are Here: A Maze to go to. Every night is different, and like it or not, you're going to be missing something whichever night you don't go. Luckily there are intrepid writers and photographers (like Nate, who has more beautiful photos where that came from) documenting it religiously. So far, I have not been one of them. But luckily, I've been struck with a stroke of brilliance (or as you might call it, e-mail) and have decided that Wednesday, Sept. 30th, will be the day. Not only will that night feature Emma Kupa of the UK-based, Camera Obscura-influenced indie-poppers Standard Fare (below) playing solo, but lovely, laid back, local lo-fi lady Nicole Schneit and Air Waves. Not to mention Nymph, Ava Luna, Eskalators, and Aldertone, all playing in one spontaneous, messy explosion of sound.

8 PM
All Ages
$7

Mp3 - Standard Fare - Dancing

Friday, October 2
You Are Here: A Maze
Death by Audio

But (and this is where the 2x comes in) I decided that it's not enough, having waited for this last week, to take it in once and be done with it. No, the Maze of course lends itself, like the medieval carnivals in the mazelike streets and canals of Venice, to mysterious midnight rendezvous, exotic elixirs and one-time-only discoveries of dark and glittering secrets.

So I will also attend the noise-infused finale on Friday, Oct. 2, when Zs, Excepter, Mick Barr, DJ Rubin, Noveller (members of Parts & Labor) and Dome Theater will be present, with delicious beverages aplenty. And then it will be finished. And then I can sleep.



8 PM
All Ages
$7

Mp3 - Excepter - Kill People