Being in search of legitimate pop punk is no easy task in a time that is littered with computer generated musicians and image driven music, but luckily for the all those on the hunt, Chicago’s own The Blissters are here to make things easy for you. This quartet has been gaining notoriety all over the Chicago scene for sometime, being recognized for their talent in competitions like the Starbucks Avant Garde Music Competition, which they won in 2007, through cross country radio play, and countless articles in notable publications such as the Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune and The Illinois Entertainer [to name a few].
Needless to say The Blissters have been hard at work over the years, creating catchy and cool powerpop under the management of Francesca Campbasso and recording their two EP’s and full length with Mike Hagler [The New Pornographers, Wilco]. Gracing some of Chicago’s best venues including, but not limited to, The Subterranean, Double Door and The Abbey, they’ve also played some major festivals such as The Kostner Avenue Block Party, Taste of Lincoln, and were recently asked to play the International Pop Overthrow Festival for the third straight year.
So what exactly is it about The Blissters that’s causes so much commotion? With a sound that fluctuates between the 80’s influence of new wave and the 90’s brink of power pop, the male-female vocals elude to bands like Letter’s to Cleo, circa-Tragic Kingdom No Doubt, and The Bangles. Arnold Madlangbayan and Erica Corglione create a chemistry in every sound song, bringing life to what would otherwise be overly simplistic and trite lyrics. Songs about teasing trade offs, broken hearts and uncertainty are allowed when you have the where with all to back them up. That’s not to say that lyrically this band is a dud- on the contrary there are some sharp and catchy choruses totally worth singing along to, such as in their ever popular song Just like You: “Desire’s taking over me/I wanna know where this is going/ I don’t wanna be just like you now/I’ll be the love out of you somehow/Go ahead I, I really do not mind/ I don’t see you all the time, but you’re always on my mind” It’s not deep poetry by any means, but sometimes it better to just have a good time and not worry about being reflective.
Just the right amount of synth-y sounding keys and basic bass come together in The Blisster’s music, being classic pop punk without coming off as cliché. As mentioned before, the vocals of Erica Corglione have a hint of The Bangles in them, and its no more apparent than in the song A-OK, where she’s accompanied by smooth male vocals that have all the lightness of a traditional pop punk voice, but with a little more versatility.
Songs like Electric MP3 and Wet Reckless are well formulated and exactly what I imagine being appropriate to listen to on a summer drive, or maybe for a little skip in your step as we cut the long stretch to real Chicago spring.
Instrumentally The Blissters deliver a sound that’s gruff buy polished, an impressive combination of professional mastering and garage guitar. It’s always nice to hear a band that still sounds real despite having all the benefits of studio manipulation, and there’s nothing manufactured about The Blissters.
These four musicians bring an element of lightheartedness to the ever self indulgent persona of local bands calling themselves artists, represent the forgotten element of new wave, and freshen up what has otherwise become a stale genre. Be sure to follow them as they continue to bring fun to the music scene of Chicago, and look out for the new album the band is currently in the process of creating.
The Blissters with be playing Friday, March 27th at:
Reggies Music Joint
2105 South State Street
$5 cover, 21+ show
w/Voice Of Addiction, Burn Sand Burn and Kristen Ford and the Model Ts.
The Blissters go on at 9pm.
