Windy City Times - MUSIC Bent Nights

{— The Katie Todd Band

— Super 8 Cum Shot }

Seeing Katie Todd play a duo with guitar man Travis Dow is close to a religious experience. Todd, who could be mistaken for an enchanted waif, has an edge on her voice with built-in drama. It's downright creepy how she manages to suck crowded rooms into her scenarios by sounding simultaneously needy and omnipotent. Seeing her with her full band tends to dull her honey-tinged bite, but at the show that I caught at the Bottom Lounge she still had the crowd rocking.

Her latest, Changing Faces, accentuates the problem of catching her charm and allure to the degree of her live shows. The openers, 'Tiger' and 'The Polite' are full of business—busy arrangements, busy band parts, busy everything. Like a swarm of bees all that business obscures not only Todd's songcraft but also her voice. But 'Vacate' (track No. 3) sets Changing Faces on its course. 'Vacate' has skidrow charm to burn ('And it's raining on your head/there's a warrant out for your arrest...') and Todd does wonders with the songs' roomy feel. 'Get Up,' 'Spinning,' and 'Afraid of Love' are all tablespoons of brilliance, but 'Brittle' clicks. It's the point where all of the business snaps into place around her instead of in front of her. Changing Faces doesn't fulfill the promise of Todd or her band, but it certainly sets them up for greatness. A voice and talent to watch. The Katie Todd Band will play their one-year anniversary show at the Abbey Pub May 30.

After turning up in Unzipped Magazine and closing out last year's Market Days in spectacular fashion, Chicago's most notorious gay party band has crossed the last boundary of forbidden territory; Halsted St. On April 30 Super 8 Cum Shot played to an SRO crowd at the Cell Block and to say the band's rowdy raunch went over way too well is an understatement. Super 8 fed the crowd old favorites like 'You Smell Like Dinner' and 'Everybody Loves a Muscle Boi,' while previewing new material like 'Everybody here Wants to Fuck You' and 'Oh Daddy' ('Oh daddy, when you were in jail were you anybody's bitch...?').

Go-go boys, porno giveaways, inflatable beach toys, and lead singer Jinx Titanic shrieking, 'Nice speedos!,' is what Halsted has needed ... for years. Super 8 plays with Vortis at Nevin's Live May 24, the Pride Fest in Toronto in June, and then Jackhammer in July.