Like a busted gutter after a torrential downpour, an interminable stream of great music poured out of Chicago during the five years that I considered that city home (God I miss the Empty Bottle). Among the most visible groups were Savemoney, which produced tons of great hip-hop artists including Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa, and Kids These Day, the now-defunct jazz-funk-pop group that also included Mensa. Though members of either group have gone solo or formed new groups or provided help to one another on tour in a revolving door kind of way, one performer I always thought was going to pop off and still do is Macie Stewart. She is a compelling, versatile vocalist/keyboardist who sounds good in a wide range of genres.
That is why I was so stoked when I heard that she had a new band named Marrow. Comprised of a couple former Kids These Days members (Liam Cunningham, Lane Beckstrom, Stewart) and a new drummer (Matt Carroll), Marrow has refined and streamlined the sound of their previous band, sounding tighter and more confident (granted, they were high-school-aged when their last band got noticed). “Paulson” is my favorite of the two songs that currently populate their SoundCloud page (though you can hear more if you dig a lil) because I have a weak spot for unabashed, barebones rock jams with simple, slightly distorted guitar riffs. At certain points while listening to this song I sort of felt like I was listening to one of the more straightforwardly rock tracks on No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom.
The music video for “Paulson”, directed by Austin Vesely, is like a Jane Fonda Workout VHS/Wes Anderson film gone gravely awry. A fat, hapless man named Billy gets a workout video from his ex-wife after he got into a “near death experience, getting stuck in an inner-tube in the lazy river at Wacky Waters” Lol, tight. Madness ensues when bloodlusting children start savagely murdering the workout instructors in the video. There is no way Billy will ever shed all that milk-weight with such an erratic regimen of running in terror.
If you are digging their sound, be sure to catch Marrow on their current, albeit brief, tour.
Tue. April 21 – Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy
Wed. April 22 – New York, NY @ The Studio At Webster Hall
Thu. April 23 – Washington, D.C. @ Backstage @ Black Cat
