Million Tongues Festival
Encyclopedia
Million Tongues Festival is a Chicago based music festival
organized by artist
, writer
, and musician
, Plastic Crimewave
. The festival showcases national and international folk, experimental and "cult" musicians from the '60s, '70s, '80s and beyond. It has been called Chicago's "annual convergence of freak-folksters and grassroots noisicians" Now in its fifth year, the fest has seen performances by Bert Jansch
, Peter Walker
, Michael Chapman, LSD March
, Michael Yonkers
, Simon Finn
and Terry Reid
, among others.
, LSD March
, Michael Yonkers Band, Six Organs of Admittance
, Jutok Kaneko
/Shimura Koji, Charalambides
, PG6, Plastic Crimewave Sound
with guests, Espers
, Kawabata Makoto
with Kinski
, Matt Valentine, Fursaxa
, Nisennenmondai
, Paul Flaherty
/Chris Corsano
, Josephine Foster
& The Supposed, Taurpis Tula
, Spires That in the Sunset Rise
, The Cherry Blossoms, By Lightning to the Womb, The Civilized Age.
Sidestage: Panicsville, Lichens, Born Heller, Monostripe, Tom Carter, Goldblood, Inner Throne, Frankie Delmane, Nick Castro, Farms, MV Carbon, Davenport.
, Michael Chapman, Charlie Nothing
, Jack Rose
, No Neck Blues Band, Andrew Ortmann, Whitehouse
, Ed Askew, Hototogisu, Gary Higgins, Jackie O Motherfucker, Pearls and Brass
, Josephine Foster
, Miminikoto, Mountains, Haptic.
Sidestage: The Singleman Affair, Traveling Bell, Number None, Chris Connelly, Tim Kinsella
/Amy Cargil, Tar Pet, Birdshow, Hardscrabble, Lux.
, Smegma
, Steve Mackay
with Radon Ensemble, Charalambides
, Michael Yonkers
and the Blind Shake, Spires That in the Sunset Rise
, The Singleman Affair, Burning Star Core, Aleks and the Drummer, White Lichens, Dreamweapon, Nick Schillace.
Sidestage: Th' Exceptional Child, Skog Device, Frankie Delmane, The Joy Poppers, Folk and Violence, Yellow Universe, J. Glenn, Michael Young, Hands of Hydra.
, Neptune
, Alasdair Roberts, Ruthann Friedman
, Up-Tight
, Alela Diane
, Heather Murray, Charalambides
, The Molten Truth Ensemble, Alla, Aleks and the Drummer, Angel Olsen.
Sidestage: Mike Tamburo, Horseback, The End of the World Band/ONO, Outpost, Kohoutek, Scarcity of Tanks, Terminal Lovers.
also organizes one-day-only events under the Million Tongues umbrella.
Sidestage: Gutzeit/Hess duo, Virginia Tate
Sidestage: Bicycle Tricycle, Ray Donato
Sidestage: Plastic Boner Band
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
organized by artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, Plastic Crimewave
Plastic Crimewave
Plastic Crimewave , otherwise known as Steve Kraków, is a Chicago-based illustrator and writer, avant-garde musician, music historian and impresario. He is the editor of Drag City-published magazine Galactic Zoo Dossier, eponymous frontman for Plastic Crimewave Sound, founder of the Million Tongues...
. The festival showcases national and international folk, experimental and "cult" musicians from the '60s, '70s, '80s and beyond. It has been called Chicago's "annual convergence of freak-folksters and grassroots noisicians" Now in its fifth year, the fest has seen performances by Bert Jansch
Bert Jansch
Herbert "Bert" Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter...
, Peter Walker
Peter Walker (guitarist)
Peter Walker is an American folk guitarist noted for dextrous instrumental pieces that reference the Indian classical and Spanish flamenco traditions...
, Michael Chapman, LSD March
LSD March
LSD March is a Japanese psychedelic rock group, based in the city of Himeji. It is led by singer and guitarist Shinsuke Michishita. The group is named after a track by krautrock group Guru Guru. Michishita has also played with Magura Mozart and Doodles....
, Michael Yonkers
Michael Yonkers
Michael Yonkers is an American rock musician from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.His most well known work is a psychedelic rock record from 1968 called Microminiature Love, which was released on vinyl by De Stijl records in 2002, and later Sub Pop, who released it on CD in July...
, Simon Finn
Simon Finn
Simon Finn is an English psych folk musician.Finn was born in 1951 in Surrey, moved to London in 1967, where his first performance was opening for Al Stewart at the Marquee Club in Soho. He released his Pass the Distance LP in 1970, which in later years attained legendary status as it was so hard...
and Terry Reid
Terry Reid
Terry Reid is an English rock vocalist and guitarist. He has performed with high profile musicians, as a supporting act, a session musician, and sideman.- History :...
, among others.
Chronology
- Million Tongues: The Empty BottleThe Empty BottleThe Empty Bottle is a nightclub and concert hall located at 1035 N. Western Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Located in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood, this has been one of the many venues for Chicago's alternative music scene. This venue hosts a variety of forms of music, ranging from...
, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, August 4–8, 2004 - Two Million Tongues: The Empty BottleThe Empty BottleThe Empty Bottle is a nightclub and concert hall located at 1035 N. Western Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Located in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood, this has been one of the many venues for Chicago's alternative music scene. This venue hosts a variety of forms of music, ranging from...
, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, November 3–6, 2005 - Three Million Tongues: The Empty BottleThe Empty BottleThe Empty Bottle is a nightclub and concert hall located at 1035 N. Western Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Located in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood, this has been one of the many venues for Chicago's alternative music scene. This venue hosts a variety of forms of music, ranging from...
, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, November 17–19, 2006 - Four Million Tongues: Av-Aerie, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, November 8–10, 2007
Million Tongues
Simon FinnSimon Finn
Simon Finn is an English psych folk musician.Finn was born in 1951 in Surrey, moved to London in 1967, where his first performance was opening for Al Stewart at the Marquee Club in Soho. He released his Pass the Distance LP in 1970, which in later years attained legendary status as it was so hard...
, LSD March
LSD March
LSD March is a Japanese psychedelic rock group, based in the city of Himeji. It is led by singer and guitarist Shinsuke Michishita. The group is named after a track by krautrock group Guru Guru. Michishita has also played with Magura Mozart and Doodles....
, Michael Yonkers Band, Six Organs of Admittance
Six Organs of Admittance
Six Organs of Admittance is the primary musical project of guitarist Ben Chasny. Chasny's music is largely guitar-based and is often considered new folk, however it includes obvious influences, marked by the use of drones, chimes, and eclectic percussive elements...
, Jutok Kaneko
Jutok Kaneko
Jutok Kaneko was a Japanese guitarist and vocalist, and is best known for his work with Tokyo underground psychedelic rock group Kousokuya , who specialised in rock-based soundscapes characterised by the feeling of infinite space, desolate emotion and imminent chaos.- History :Kaneko was born in...
/Shimura Koji, Charalambides
Charalambides
Charalambides is an avant garde musical group originally from Houston, Texas, USA and lately of Austin, Texas. Formed in 1991 by Tom Carter, Christina Carter and Kyle Silfer, they have followed in the footsteps of other Texas psychedelic music artists such as the 13th Floor Elevators, Red Crayola,...
, PG6, Plastic Crimewave Sound
Plastic Crimewave
Plastic Crimewave , otherwise known as Steve Kraków, is a Chicago-based illustrator and writer, avant-garde musician, music historian and impresario. He is the editor of Drag City-published magazine Galactic Zoo Dossier, eponymous frontman for Plastic Crimewave Sound, founder of the Million Tongues...
with guests, Espers
Espers
Espers may refer to:*Esper, a term used in science fiction and the field of parapsychology*Esper , a class of people from the Akira manga and film*Espers , a Philadelphia based folk group**Espers , their eponymous debut album...
, Kawabata Makoto
Kawabata Makoto
Kawabata Makoto is a Japanese musician and founding member of the band and "soul collective" Acid Mothers Temple.- Band history :Kawabata is chiefly famous for his leadership of Acid Mothers Temple and its variants; however, he has also played in many other bands since the start of his career in...
with Kinski
Kinski (band)
Kinski is a rock band from Seattle, Washington, in the United States. They formed in 1998 in a pub, when bartender and drummer Dave Weeks overheard a conversation between two customers, Chris Martin and Lucy Atkinson about analog recording. Weeks joined the discussion, and they found they also...
, Matt Valentine, Fursaxa
Fursaxa
Fursaxa is a USA-based acid folk or freak folk project led by Tara Burke of Philadelphia. Her home-recordings feature acoustic guitar, simple Casio electronic keyboards, accordion, dulcimer and her heavily overdubbed vocals on a 4-track recorder.She has been making music since childhood...
, Nisennenmondai
Nisennenmondai
Nisennenmondai are a Tokyo-based instrumental trio who make music that's both raw and danceable in equal measure. They formed in 1999 and took their name from the Japanese translation of the then-current phrase "Y2K bug."-Formation:...
, Paul Flaherty
Paul Flaherty
Paul Andrew Flaherty was an American computer scientist. He was a renowned specialist for internet protocols and the inventor of the AltaVista search engine.-Biography:...
/Chris Corsano
Chris Corsano
Chris Corsano is a drummer from New England, USA. He often performs in an improvisation duo with saxophonist Paul Flaherty. He has also recorded material with artists such as Evan Parker, Dredd Foole, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Six Organs of Admittance, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Matt Valentine,...
, Josephine Foster
Josephine Foster
Josephine Foster is an American modern folk and psychedelic rock singer-songwriter and musician from Colorado. As an adolescent she worked as a funeral and wedding singer, and aspired to become an opera singer...
& The Supposed, Taurpis Tula
Taurpis Tula
Taurpis Tula is a Glasgow-based band currently comprising David Keenan, Heather Leigh Murray and Alex Neilson. Initially a duo of Keenan and Murray , they expanded to a trio in 2005 with the Steel Rods Bruise Butterflies CDR on Chocolate Monk being the first document of this incarnation...
, Spires That in the Sunset Rise
Spires That in the Sunset Rise
Spires That in the Sunset Rise is an American Psych folk band from Decatur, Illinois. The four original members of the band grew up together in Decatur, Illinois, eventually moving to Chicago, Illinois where they began to experiment with creating songs...
, The Cherry Blossoms, By Lightning to the Womb, The Civilized Age.
Sidestage: Panicsville, Lichens, Born Heller, Monostripe, Tom Carter, Goldblood, Inner Throne, Frankie Delmane, Nick Castro, Farms, MV Carbon, Davenport.
Two Million Tongues
Tony ConradTony Conrad
Tony Conrad is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer...
, Michael Chapman, Charlie Nothing
Charlie Nothing
Charles Martin Simon , better known as Charlie Nothing, was an American musician, musical instrument maker and writer. He created the dingulator, guitar sculptures made out of American cars, and performed at several music festivals in the United States and Europe...
, Jack Rose
Jack Rose (guitarist)
Jack Rose was an American guitarist originally from Virginia and later based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rose is best known for his solo acoustic guitar work. He was also a member of the noise/drone band Pelt....
, No Neck Blues Band, Andrew Ortmann, Whitehouse
Whitehouse (band)
Whitehouse are a pioneering English power electronics band formed in 1980, largely credited for the founding of the power electronics subgenre.-History and personnel:...
, Ed Askew, Hototogisu, Gary Higgins, Jackie O Motherfucker, Pearls and Brass
Pearls and Brass
-History:The band members began playing together in 1996, but did not officially form the band until 2001. Their first recording came out in 2003, when Doppelganger Records released their self-titled debut LP. The band's style was heavily influenced by 70's classic rock, similar to bands such as...
, Josephine Foster
Josephine Foster
Josephine Foster is an American modern folk and psychedelic rock singer-songwriter and musician from Colorado. As an adolescent she worked as a funeral and wedding singer, and aspired to become an opera singer...
, Miminikoto, Mountains, Haptic.
Sidestage: The Singleman Affair, Traveling Bell, Number None, Chris Connelly, Tim Kinsella
Tim Kinsella
Tim Kinsella is a musician from Chicago, Illinois. He has been a part of many bands including Cap'n Jazz, The Sky Corvair, Joan of Arc, Owls, Friend/Enemy, Everyoned, and Make Believe...
/Amy Cargil, Tar Pet, Birdshow, Hardscrabble, Lux.
Three Million Tongues
Bert JanschBert Jansch
Herbert "Bert" Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter...
, Smegma
Smegma
Smegma is a combination of exfoliated epithelial cells, transudated skin oils, and moisture. It occurs in both female and male mammalian genitalia.-Human smegma:Both females and males produce smegma...
, Steve Mackay
Steve MacKay
Steve Mackay is an American tenor saxophone player, best known for his participation on The Stooges' second album Fun House.-The Stooges:Mackay was familiar to The Stooges from his work in Detroit's avant-rock pioneers, Carnal Kitchen...
with Radon Ensemble, Charalambides
Charalambides
Charalambides is an avant garde musical group originally from Houston, Texas, USA and lately of Austin, Texas. Formed in 1991 by Tom Carter, Christina Carter and Kyle Silfer, they have followed in the footsteps of other Texas psychedelic music artists such as the 13th Floor Elevators, Red Crayola,...
, Michael Yonkers
Michael Yonkers
Michael Yonkers is an American rock musician from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.His most well known work is a psychedelic rock record from 1968 called Microminiature Love, which was released on vinyl by De Stijl records in 2002, and later Sub Pop, who released it on CD in July...
and the Blind Shake, Spires That in the Sunset Rise
Spires That in the Sunset Rise
Spires That in the Sunset Rise is an American Psych folk band from Decatur, Illinois. The four original members of the band grew up together in Decatur, Illinois, eventually moving to Chicago, Illinois where they began to experiment with creating songs...
, The Singleman Affair, Burning Star Core, Aleks and the Drummer, White Lichens, Dreamweapon, Nick Schillace.
Sidestage: Th' Exceptional Child, Skog Device, Frankie Delmane, The Joy Poppers, Folk and Violence, Yellow Universe, J. Glenn, Michael Young, Hands of Hydra.
Four Million Tongues
Peter WalkerPeter Walker (guitarist)
Peter Walker is an American folk guitarist noted for dextrous instrumental pieces that reference the Indian classical and Spanish flamenco traditions...
, Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
, Alasdair Roberts, Ruthann Friedman
Ruthann Friedman
Ruthann Friedman is an American folk singer.Born in the Bronx, New York, Friedman spent her formative years in the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles. She started playing guitar at the age of eight while listening to Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Josh White. Her first song gained her a...
, Up-Tight
Up-Tight
Uptight is a 1966 album by US singer Stevie Wonder. It was his fifth studio release.- Background :Uptight was the breakthrough album for Stevie Wonder, released in 1966 on Motown Records' Tamla label. The album features the U.S...
, Alela Diane
Alela Diane
Alela Diane Menig is an American singer and songwriter living in Portland, Oregon.-Life and career:Alela Diane Menig, she grew up singing with her musician parents and performing in the school choir...
, Heather Murray, Charalambides
Charalambides
Charalambides is an avant garde musical group originally from Houston, Texas, USA and lately of Austin, Texas. Formed in 1991 by Tom Carter, Christina Carter and Kyle Silfer, they have followed in the footsteps of other Texas psychedelic music artists such as the 13th Floor Elevators, Red Crayola,...
, The Molten Truth Ensemble, Alla, Aleks and the Drummer, Angel Olsen.
Sidestage: Mike Tamburo, Horseback, The End of the World Band/ONO, Outpost, Kohoutek, Scarcity of Tanks, Terminal Lovers.
Million Tongues Events
Plastic CrimewavePlastic Crimewave
Plastic Crimewave , otherwise known as Steve Kraków, is a Chicago-based illustrator and writer, avant-garde musician, music historian and impresario. He is the editor of Drag City-published magazine Galactic Zoo Dossier, eponymous frontman for Plastic Crimewave Sound, founder of the Million Tongues...
also organizes one-day-only events under the Million Tongues umbrella.
Million Tongues Events
- 1 Million Tongues Event, The Empty BottleThe Empty BottleThe Empty Bottle is a nightclub and concert hall located at 1035 N. Western Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Located in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood, this has been one of the many venues for Chicago's alternative music scene. This venue hosts a variety of forms of music, ranging from...
, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, November 21, 2008: Terry ReidTerry ReidTerry Reid is an English rock vocalist and guitarist. He has performed with high profile musicians, as a supporting act, a session musician, and sideman.- History :...
, Mark Fry, Ellen Mary McGee, Hans Condor, PissPissPissOnOOnOOnO
Sidestage: Gutzeit/Hess duo, Virginia Tate
- 2 Million Tongues Event, The Empty BottleThe Empty BottleThe Empty Bottle is a nightclub and concert hall located at 1035 N. Western Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Located in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood, this has been one of the many venues for Chicago's alternative music scene. This venue hosts a variety of forms of music, ranging from...
, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, March 25, 2009: Michael Yonkers with Plastic Crimewave Sound, Mannequin Men, Gunslingers, Cave
Sidestage: Bicycle Tricycle, Ray Donato
- 3 Million Tongues Event, The Empty BottleThe Empty BottleThe Empty Bottle is a nightclub and concert hall located at 1035 N. Western Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Located in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood, this has been one of the many venues for Chicago's alternative music scene. This venue hosts a variety of forms of music, ranging from...
, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, July 9, 2009: Ya Ho Wha 13Ya Ho Wha 13Founded in 1973 in the Los Angeles area, Ya Ho Wha 13, otherwise known Yahowha 13 is a psychedelic rock band fronted by Father Yod, spiritual leader of a religious cult/commune called the Source Family. Ya Ho Wha without the vowels and spaces reduces to YHWH, the tetragrammaton...
, Ga'an, The Singleman Affair, Daughters of the Sun, Great Society Mind Destroyers
Sidestage: Plastic Boner Band