Archive for April, 2008
Cover Story: Ministry’s Farewell
Ministry
Jour Gonna Miss Me
On a sultry August 18th, 1995, Chicagoans and pilgrims stuffed the Riviera Theatre for a last chance to catch the Ramones live. Opening act Gren, a grunge-era also-ran, had the word “ignored” redefined for them while all anyone wanted to hear was that iconic “One! Two! Three! Four!” 30 more times. As [...]
Flosstradamus live!
At this point in the game, predicting the continual advent of the next generation of Chicago hip-hop talent is hardly a new or groundbreaking call. Nearly every music magazine in the country has written about at least some, if not the majority of the talent that has emerged the last few years. In fact, many [...]
Atmosphere live!
Atmosphere
Metro, Chicago
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
It doesn’t seem much of a stretch to see life imitating art in the case of Minneapolis hip-hop outfit Atmosphere. After all, the group’s just-released record is titled When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, which might explain the impressive level of output released by co-conspirators Slug [...]
Earth live!
Earth
The Note, Chicago
Friday, April 25, 2008
“Dude, I’m bored,” announced a friend of a friend in a Venom-themed Boris T-shirt. “Are you guys going to leave soon?” It was a damned good question. After six songs of blandly introverted, lightly amplified twang, many at the quaint Wicker Park bar were starting to come to grips with [...]
International Pop Overthrow Wrap-Up
International Pop Overthrow
Various clubs, Chicago
April 15th – 27th, 2008
Back in 1998, when David Bash organized the first International Pop Overthrow in Los Angeles, he probably couldn’t have imagined how much his low-budget, annual celebration of power pop would flourish. By 2001, International Pop Overthrow, named after a Material Issue song and album title, had branched [...]
Neva Dinova preview
Neva Dinova
Schubas, Chicago
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Saddle Creek Records has always seemed a youthful label, largely because of Conor Oberst but also from recent signings like Tokyo Police Club. Neva Dinova, new to the imprint as well, have been around the block often enough to sketch its topography from memory.
The Myriad preview
The Myriad
Park West, Chicago
Friday, May 2, 2008
Despite the band’s name, The Myriad fail to encapsulate a wide variety of styles and influences on With Arrows, With Poise (Koch). The Seattle-based quartet must have latched on to English atmospheric rockers Muse a few years ago and just never let go, which isn’t altogether a bad thing, [...]
Tokyo Police Club preview
Tokyo Police Club
Metro, Chicago
Monday, May 5, 2008
We music critics aren’t so good at math. If we were, we wouldn’t be music critics; we’d be providing some sort of real service to the world. Probably making real money too. But even us right brainers know 28 minutes divided by 11 songs equals not very much at [...]
Cedarwell preview
Cedarwell
Subterranean, Chicago
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
If you believe everything Wikipedia says (and we do), NCAA basketball coach Rick Majerus, comedian Jackie Mason, and death metal band Morbid Angel are all from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. And those are the highlights! Sheboygan native Erik G. Neave should be optimistic his name might someday be included on such an illustrious [...]
Mariah Carey reviewed
Mariah Carey
E=MC2
(Island)
Before Amy Winehouse was arrested, Britney Spears shaved, and Ashlee Simpson taped “SNL,” Mariah Carey fell apart on MTV and began one of the most spectacular celebrity flameouts the world had seen.
Century reviewed
Century
Black Ocean
(Prosthetic)
Carson Slovak’s tightly wound Century manage to create space for themselves on their third album, though, in accordance with some prevailing scientific theories, that space is finite.
Jason Miles & DJ Logic reviewed
Jason Miles & DJ Logic
Global Noize
(Shanachie)
Fusion/bop veteran Jason Miles and the man largely credited with funneling jazz into early hip-hop, DJ Logic, are joined by Meshell Ndegeocello, John Popper, Vernon Reid, Bernie Worrell, and more in a largely frustrating, bland world blend.
Counting Crows interview
Counting Crows
Two Days A Week
“As far as I can tell — and I can’t guarantee this — I am real. It has often seemed to me like this was all a part of my imagination. Which is largely the problem. The fact that my life has seemed like a figment of my imagination to me [...]
Panic At The Disco interview
Panic At The Disco
No Exclamation Reqired
For the particularly ghoulish among you, the British video is still floating around on You Tube, as creepy as it was when it was first filmed in the summer of ‘06. It’s a particularly chilling clip from that year’s Reading Festival, showing ebony-garbed, eyelinered Panic At The Disco frontman Brendon [...]
Dimmu Borgir interview
Dimmu Borgir
Lords Of Commercial Chaos
For their first band photos in 1993, Dimmu Borgir wore foot-long spikes on their arms and posed with medieval swords and homemade clubs at night in the woods near Oslo, Norway. In the tradition of one-time Mayhem vocalist Dead, who committed suicide two years earlier, they smeared their faces with shock-white [...]
