Words + Photos by Jack Foley
Unfamiliar with any of their songs or their genre, and only having heard the name transiently, I didn’t know what to expect from the Horsegirl show. The line was about 80 percent Gen X and 10% their children with the remainder being disenchanted twenty-somethings like myself. I braced for the possibility of seeing a folk band or some derivative, but I was wrong in the best way possible.
I found myself enveloped in a wall of sound. The Chicago trio work as one – their performance a conversation of sorts where energy is their primary language for their hivemind of musical intelligence. Melodic noise, drum solos, feedback, and dissonance are unleashed with purpose.
Their sound is familiar, a conglomeration of Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and all the hallmarks of 90s shoegaze. Unsurprisingly, their 2022 effort Versions of Modern Performance was completed in collaboration with Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. As someone who has been a fan of grunge icons such as Kim Gordon since early teenhood, I was hypnotized. Though retro, their sound has a uniquely youthful influence, capturing the anxiety associated with coming of age in a period where there is no shortage of nihilism.
With this concert, Horsegirl has earned a new fan. Songs like “Ballroom Dance Scene,” “Electrolocation 2,” and “The Fall of Horsegirl” invoke the feeling of laying in your bed at 3 A.M., windows open, eyes closed, focused on nothing but the comfort of a blanket of sound. As made apparent in the audience reactions to their music from longtime and new coming fans alike, nostalgia transcends the generation divide. If I had to describe this set in one word, I would refer to a quote from the Gen X couple in front of me – “Wow.”
The Breeders
Two major musical influences of my teen years were the Deal Sisters. Playing Pixies and Breeders covers in a cold basement on a farm with the only musician my age in town defined much of my time in middle and high school. Many old cassettes were recorded over as mixtapes with mp3 files containing songs like Cannonball and Head to Toe among other Breeders hits and deep cuts. We wanted to compensate for something we lacked in a town where the music scene is nonexistent. To witness the energy of The Breeders as seen in their 1993 Pukkelpop VHS has been a dream of mine. What better time than the thirtieth anniversary to chase that feeling?
The first note of “New Year” rings out as Kelley Deal adjusts her settings; she borrowed one of Kim’s pedals to make up for an electrical short in her rig at the previous night’s rained-out tour debut in Cleveland. Immediately, they transition into the hit “Cannonball.” I am mere inches from Kim Deal singing a song I hold so close to my heart. My fourteen-year old self would be freaking out, and twenty-one year old me was – but, internally, of course; the photo pit is no place for fanboying. Jim hits the iconic rimshot fill, and Josephine’s bass cuts in with a riff that any Gen X’er with access to MTV would instantly recognize. The audience is electric; there is no generation divide, everyone is present to witness The Breeders, who have written anthems relevant to the youth even thirty years later. As Flipside ends, Kim gets quiet, talking at a practically inaudible level: “You’re sitting on the couch, and you get up and walk over to the turntable to flip over to side B… the flipside.” It becomes clear that this is not just a concert, but also a step into the album Last Splash. Deal was taking the audience on a journey through their creative process of making the album – song by song.
The first set comes to an end with “Drivin’ on 9” and “Roi (reprise).” The audience cheers them back to the stage. Kim is in tears. Kelley has a smile a mile wide, and Josephine is cool as ever. “Good morning!” Kim exclaims, as the first encore begins with “Wait in the Car.” I’m taken back to being sixteen and listening to All Nerve the day it came out on my bus ride to school. I was hooked yet again. The Breeders made a splash, indeed, but it certainly is not their last. Their unwavering energy and performance show absolutely no signs of stopping.
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