By: David Schultz

Not Midwesterners, the confusingly named Illinois seem ready to rise above such pithy discussions over their geographically inapposite moniker. With What The Hell Do I Know?, their recently released EP, and their subsequent buzzworthy performances at this year's South By Southwest, the rawboned rockers' music has become omnipresent on the Internet, even if Google tends to divert interested parties to Sufjan Stevens or Fighting Illini web sites. Earlier this week, Illinois, who hail from the Philadelphia suburbs of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, came to the equally misnamed Cake Shop - they don’t have cake or any other deserts for that matter - for a brief Monday night set.

Fronted by Chris Archibald, who rotates between guitar, keyboards and most interestingly, banjo, Illinois played a hard hitting set that possessed an edginess and excitement that doesn't immediately come across from the mp3s circulating around the blogosphere. Illinois focused their set on material from their current EP, playing with such fervor that many of the songs didn't end; they just ran out of steam. The gloriously ragged band matched their surroundings perfectly.

Named one of ten best rock clubs by Playboy magazine, Cake Shop, a basement dive with an excellent beer selection, makes up in attitude and intimacy what it lacks in nearly everything else. The place emits a distinctly Lower East Side charm even if the dimensions posed some unique difficulties for guitarist Andrew Lee who managed to get his guitar tangled in the Christmas tree lights that decorate the low ceiling of the stage. To get the distanced megaphone sound Illinois applies to a couple of their songs, Archibald uses a modified mike gimmicked into a phone. On a larger stage, it gives a nice theatrical effect, matching well with the lyrics; in Cake Shop's basement, only those up close really caught the stagecraft. Plus, Archibald didn't quite need it to get the subtly distorted effect; the Cake Shop's sound system is far from first rate.

The excitement of Illinois' live performance far exceeds their recorded output, which is but the tip of the iceberg of their vast catalog. Archibald is an entertaining front man, showing his charisma while bantering with some friendly hecklers. His banjo gives Illinois something radically different: Archibald uses it as an instrument of rock and doesn't trying to force a bluegrass or country twang where it doesn't belong. Without a trace of hillbilly, Archibald works the banjo nicely into the mix with the rest of the band, meshing really nicely with often time band mate Kyle Goldbach's Dobro. When not providing backing vocals with bassist Martin Hoeger on the Sixties-pop "Screen Door," Andrew Lee retreats into himself, dry humping his guitar while cranking out heavy riffs. Perched above his drum kit, JohnPaul Kuyper keeps the beat with his entire body, his body moving herky-jerkily in time with the band. He comes at his kit from nearly every angle, the most intriguing being his affinity to sideswipe the drums.

Recently signed to Ace Fu Records, Illinois will play some sporadic shows along the east coast before heading out west to commence a cross-country tour opening for The Kooks.

Labels: Cake Shop, Illinois, Philadelphia