Video: CAVE, “Shikaakwa”

September 24, 2013


CAVE is the repetition-obsessed, instrumental four-piece of guitarist and organ player Cooper Crain, guitarist Jeremy Freeze, bassist Dan Browning and drummer Rex McMurry. "Shikaakwa," a track from the Chicago group's forthcoming Threace LP, is all sharp angles and deft musicianship, Can-like in its nail-on-the-head precision, its obsessive, ornamental embroidering upon its own melodies and counter-melodies. It's so intricate that you kind of can't help but tune everything else out while listening to it, which is why this Nick Ciontea-directed video for the song, which abstracts the band members' movements into a series of abstract, exoskeletal shapes, makes for some appropriately tantalizing candy. "This music video came as an extension of what we had already established as CAVE's live show over the course of 2013," says Ciontea of his working process. "The style known as "vector rescanning" or "raster manipulation" originated with the Rutt-Etra scan processor in 1972. But, with the technology rarely remembered and devices next to impossible to find, we used LZX Industries and Brownshoesonly video synthesizers to "program" these signals and send them out to a vector monitor where it was then "re-scanned" or filmed off the monitor screen." Congratulations if you followed that from start to finish. Threace is out October 15 via Drag City. Tourdates below.

9/28 - Louisville, KY - Cropped Out
10/4 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverwest Public House
10/5 - Madison, WI - Mickey's
10/6 - Minneapolis, MN - The Belmore/New Skyway
10/8 - Missoula, MT - VFW Post 209
10/9 - Olympia, WA - Northern
10/10 - Bellingham, WA - The Shakedown
10/11 - Seattle, WA - Triple Door (Seattle Psych Fest)
10/12 - Portland, OR - Dante's
10/13 - Eugene, OR - The Old Whiteaker Firehouse
10/14 - Eureka, CA - The Ink Annex
10/15 - Sacramento, CA - Bows & Arrows
10/16 - San Francisco, CA - Elbo Room
10/17 - Oakland, CA - LCM
10/18 - Los Angeles, CA - The Satellite
10/20 - Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture
10/21 - Marfa, TX - Padre's
10/22 - Austin, TX - Hotel Vegas
10/23 - Houston, TX - Mango's
10/24 - New Orleans, LA - Siberia
10/25 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
10/26 - Athens, GA - Caledonia Lounge (Athens Intensified Fest)
10/27 - Asheville, NC - The Mothlight
10/28 - Boone, NC - Black Cat Burrito
10/29 - Columbus, OH - Double Happiness
10/30 - St. Louis, MO - Plush
10/31 - Columbia, MO - Mojo's
11/1 - Iowa City, IA - Trumpet Blossom Cafe
11/9 - Detroit, MI - PJ's Lager House *
11/10 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern *
11/11 - Montreal, QC - Club Lambi *
11/12 - Allston, MA - Great Scott *
11/13 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge *
11/14 - Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory *

Video: CAVE, “Shikaakwa”