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Chicago XX

by CHEER-ACCIDENT

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mtsairmass
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mtsairmass Another fantastic album from the legends known as Cheer-Accident. Favorite track: Intimacy.
TheEliteExtremophile
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TheEliteExtremophile Despite hailing from Chicago, there’s a very British sense of weirdness to Cheer-Accident’s work, most comparable to the inimitable Cardiacs. Strains of post-punk and folk merge seamlessly with progressive and pop rock to create something truly distinctive.

Full review here: wp.me/pawrNb-bD
Ori Morad
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Ori Morad Hell, I don't think they ever made a bad album, and this quickly becoming one of my favorites by them.
Brad Hebert
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Brad Hebert I liked the vinyl so much I got the CD! This band is so creative. I recommend anything they've done. It's the Chicago album we don't deserve. Absolutely astounding!!!
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1.
Intimacy 02:10
with a sledgehammer and a pair of tweezers obviously delicate emergency procedures at the bottom of this life after all that occurs has occurred impossibly without combinations existence becomes awareness probably returns obviously delegates emergency procedures
2.
walk through the world of loss all the way to save a place from everything that ever will be gone that's when the crowds arise with their faces brightly shining through the meaningless hidden behind there you are like something to resemble bye-bye, baby
3.
Diatoms 02:56
alone I wait for ways to wear you down so then you know what way I am what weight I have spiral why swim at all? I won I want to Taiwan right onto thigh bone I'm underground amazed I wake from mud amphibian so wait for what? some diatoms? what way I am?
4.
life began with dreams of you but, baby, what have you done with the perfect sky so blue? sight and sound soon cease to be so I took a little ride on the side of the I won't be there I believe in concealing the feeling took a little ride on the side of the I won't be there life rings hollow took a little ride... life rings hollow
5.
arise arise arise life out of time too late to be unborn how has the lie found a place to belong arise out of time when there's no time for now arise and be unafraid of what it means to die arising arising arising arising it's over it's over and over the never ending will never end it's over it's over and over I don't believe it's true
6.
Plea Bargain 04:09
I, I wanted nothing filet my skin sauté my love from within outside of time I come true find, find a way to step inside this time of life I found a way to get around time
7.
Things 05:55
why outside of a room with no door? camera obscured left in the hall in the sediment of evening I killed you while you watched risk averse to a shrouded sunburn ethernet smile while I dissolved in the ashes of the evening I killed you while you watched choke me with mesh to smile on restrain and embrace lie down the stairs blades of glasses we never go outside anymore porch light is smoldering your spite fence crumbling I'm teething rope me into the quiet lights off, I'm bleeding rinse out my mouth burned out and yet not smoking family fire anymore where do the sleepers lie? lacerated goodbye I'm leaving
8.
solitary finds a corner where the face can hide its features from the innocence of those in love rubbing off on broken glances shattered into icon fragments blind as the price of one on one imitation loses reference preying on the frightened senseless now that memory has been undone only after clouds have settled in the place of what could matter will there be another after all

about

"There is a lot to amuse and delight about Cheer-Accident...and Chicago XX continues the band's apparent mission to fold as many abstruse styles into their songs as possible...without collapsing into a nightmare tangle. Chicago XX strikes a keen balance between angularity and tunefulness, neither comforting nor intimidating, but performed with incredible skill and precision." – The Wire, May 2020

"Cheer-Accident, has taken the baton as a band of the now with its eclectic Chicago XX, its 20th album and fourth on Cuneiform, with a terry-cloth “painted shingle” cover image that pays tribute to the Chicago Transit Authority’s distinct front.
Dubbed by one fan as a combination of Chicago meets Art Ensemble of Chicago, the vastly underappreciated Cheer-Accident never made the big time, in large part because its music veers through unpredictable shapeshiftings sometimes within the same tune. No horn choruses like CTA, but terrific singing by Carmen Armillas, Greg Beemster and Thymme Jones.
It’s just a basic prog quartet that likes to rock, play melodic gems and experiment with textures. It offers a trippy soundscape on “Intimacy” filled with cascades of oboes, a dip into noise on “Diatoms,” the melodic beauty of “Like Something to Resemble,” the oddly dissonant “Slowly for Awhile” with an autoharp and glockenspiel backdrop that also includes, according to the liners, “a million and a half flutes,” and the lightly lilting “Things” that suddenly changes gears into a hard-thumping rocker.
What’s impressive about Cheer-Accident is that in its two decades history, it continues to surprise with its power and whimsey and feel vibrant,...." – Dan Oulette

“We’ve made it to XX!! Yes, it took longer than it took Chicago to make it here, but that didn’t prevent us from calling it “Chicago XX,” did it? It’s a potent little sucker, too. Maybe we shouldn’t still be rocking out this much at “our advanced age,” but... well, we are! Harmony and dissonance, love and hate, oboes and drums… they all help to form this delicious and strange bedfellowship.
Maybe this is going out on a limb, but it’s possible that (in addition to the bevy of instruments on this album) this just might be our most gripping full-length to date on the vocal front: Carmen Armillas and Greg Beemster and Thymme all turn in some poignant and varied performances. And let’s face it, Shelby Donnelly’s artwork is something you’re gonna want to stare at…” – Cheer-Ax


Another really great, indefinable C-A album that stylistically veers everywhere and because of that maybe reminds me a little bit of ‘No Ifs, Ands Or Dogs’.


“Cheer-Accident have just released their 20th album, Chicago XX, whose cover pays terry-cloth tribute to the band once known as the Chicago Transit Authority. In terrible times, it’s important to treasure reassuring things, including brilliant but underappreciated local musicians who just don’t give up...not too many artists can make a chant of “life rings hollow” (on the Chicago XX song of the same name) sound so inspiring.
Founded in 1981, with the new Chicago XX, their third full-length in three years, these indefatigable weirdos have hit a hot streak late in the fourth decade of their career. Jones tells me he was delighted by a comment from a fan at a recent show who insisted that the band combine Chicago with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It’s as accurate an elevator pitch as anything I could come up with, honestly, except that Cheer-Accident are far funnier than either.” – Monica Kendrick / Chicago Reader

credits

released February 28, 2020

1. Intimacy (Jones-Rutledge) 2:10
Thymme Jones- guitar, drums, 3% vocals
Carmen Armillas- 97% vocals
Amelie Morgan- many oboes

2. Like Something To Resemble (Libersher-Rutledge) 4:39
Carmen Armillas- vocals
Jeff Libersher- guitar, bass, synthesizer
Thymme Jones- drums, trumpet, b-vox

3. Diatoms (Jones-Morgan) 2:57
Dante Kester- bass, keyboards
Thymme Jones- vocals, drums, synthesizer
Jeff Libersher- guitar

4. Life Rings Hollow (Libersher-Rutledge) 5:38
Greg Beemster- vocals
Jeff Libersher- guitar, keyboards, b-vox
Thymme Jones- drums, b-vox
Dante Kester- bass
Amelie Morgan- b-vox
Todd Rittmann- ersatz mellotron

5. I Don't Believe (Libersher-Rutledge) 7:37
Jeff Libersher- guitar, keyboards, b-vox
Carmen Armillas- vocals
Thymme Jones- drums, b-vox, trumpet
Dante Kester- bass
Sophia Uddin- viola
Mike Hagedorn- trombone

6. Plea Bargain (Jones-Kester-Libersher-Morgan-Rutledge) 4:09
Amelie Morgan- electric piano bass
Dante Kester- bass
Jeff Libersher- guitar
Thymme Jones- vocals, drums, keyboards, trumpet

7. Things (Libersher-Morgan) 5:50
Carmen Armillas- vocals
Thymme Jones- drums, trumpet, piano
Dante Kester- bass
Jeff Libersher- guitar, keyboards, bass, ersatz cello

8. Slowly For Awhile (Jones-Rutledge) 4:22
Maxx Katz- a million and a half flutes
Thymme Jones- autoharp, drums, moog, glockenspiel, vocals, found sound


Recorded and mixed at the Cheer-Ax Haus in Humboldt Park (Chicago, IL),
except "Life Rings Hollow," recorded at Todd's

Mastered by Todd Rittmann
Cover by Shelby Donnelly

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Cuneiform Records Washington, D.C.

Cuneiform Records is an independent record label releasing adventurous, boundary-bursting music by artists from around the world.

Founded in 1984.
Based in Washington D.C.

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