Great, forgotten bands of Chicago's past. . .

Last night my band played a show with their old drummer's new band. Does that make sense? Either way, the show was fun, and all the bands sounded great. My band's old drummer's new band (whoa) features Chicago punk icon Al Burian. It was exciting to see Al kicking ass again. The first thing I did this morning was throw on the band that made Al a well known figure around these parts, Milemarker. Milemarker was really one-of-a-kind, and it seems as if they have been forgotten over the past years.

Back in the late 90's and early 2000's every band in Chicago was striving really hard to sound like Alkaline Trio. But Milemarker showed up and kicked everyone's perception of the "Chicago-sound" into outer space. Blending angular, post-punk guitar work; heavy, distorted synths; and vocals that alternated between vocoder-laden screams and angelic female croons, this band seriously sounded like something from another planet. I remember going to see this band at the Fireside right when I obtained my driver's license. I marveled at their intensity. I marveled at the girl's hairy armpits and nappy-ass dreds. I marveled at how fucking loud they were.

Over the past years, everyone who loved this band seemed to have forgotten about them, which is really sad, because this band slayed. Download the provided mp3 from their 2001 Jade Tree release, Anaesthetic. It's spacey, it's noisy, it's intense, and it somehow is also catchy and (dare I say?) "dancey". Enjoy.

Milemarker - Shrink To Fit