For a portion of the 90s, Chicago spawned an impressive horde of idiosyncratic rock bands. The “now wave,” as it was sometimes termed, represented by such groups as the Flying Luttenbachers, Scissor Girls, US Maple, and many others, made a small dent initially, but soon even the New York Times caught on, and featured a lengthy article about the scene, as it were, and its participants. Slowly, however, the resurgence of Windy City jazz began to obscure some of its more worthy rock-based acts in the national eye, and most of the original (and even second-wave) groups began to break up and move away. All’s not lost, though. Coughs, a contemporary six-piece, seem to have, purposefully or not, revived some of the spirit of the times in their splat and clatter. Fright Make Right, initially released in a much smaller pressing, but anyone outside of Chicago can now snag the debut much more conveniently, thanks to Load.
Weasel Walter once called them “the last good band in Chicago,” and though this statement’s extremity may have couched a bit of Walter’s frustration with his former home, it’s no exaggeration to say that of the bands who have emerged form Chicago in recent memory, few make a first impression like this sextet. Comparisons can easily be made to bands of Chicago past, as well as the sparse clatter of Confusion… era Sonic Youth and their contemporaries, but Coughs aren’t a retro revivalist troupe or stuck in the past. Any nods to their predecessors are purely coincidental within the group’s acerbic aesthetic. Their insistent percussion, both of the conventional and clanging metal sort, becomes the group’s most obvious hallmark, along with Anya Davidson’s ragged screams. Kate Gronner’s guitar harps on repetitive melodic fragments and accents until they’re twisted into a tight coil, distorted into a dirty snarl along with Carrie Vinarsky’s bass. Jail Flanagan adds saxophone or keyboards, sometimes rather absent from large chunks of the songs, other times forming their structural base. Rather than specific instrumentation, though, the atmosphere and general feeling of Fright Makes Right is more of what makes Coughs memorable. What they do isn’t new, but their combination of emotionally distanced hypnotics and brazenly aggressive scorchers achieves a mix that’s been largely absent from most bands’ arsenals for the past decade. And while their sound may not be en vogue these days, Coughs stake a claim as one of their city’s most exciting current exports. Coughs make no concessions, and that can be cause for a rocky ride; when a song doesn't work, there's not much ornamentation to disguise it, but when they're on, there's nothing to get in the way. In an era where theatrics and affectations are often (though not always unfavorably) as much a part of a band’s presentation as their music, it’s refreshing to hear music this naked and straightforward.
