BOUND STEMS - Appreciation Night Review

It might be safe to say that Bound Stems' relationship to Chicago is stronger than hotdogs without ketchup, the entire genre of post-rock, and maybe even the Fiery Furnaces' grandma album. If there's one thing the members of Bound Stems want you to remember, it's that they are from Chicago -- musically, philosophically, spiritually, whatever. They are there. And they are taking you with them....full text So, apparently Sufjan Stevens isn't the only guy who can record an album that encapsulates the culture and history of Illinois, or more specifically, Chicago. Bound Stems do a fine job of their own on their debut full-length, Appreciation Night, an album that revolves around the band's hometown....full text Between reprising the announcer at the Grand Avenue El stop ("This is Grand," natch) and reciting a Thax Douglas poem on their debut album, I can't think of a band who wears their city on its sleeve quite like Chicago's Bound Stems. (Just listen to the venom dripping from the opening lyric of the long-distance love lament "Excellent News, Colonel": "I found someone... in New York.") Boasting new singer and multi-instrumentalist Janie Porche-- along with armfuls of tape experiments and wiry, elaborate songs-- Appreciation Night is the work of a complicated, unrepentantly local band....full text