Archive for March, 2009
Miniature Tigers preview
Miniature Tigers
Reggie’s, Chicago
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Setting the music aside – can we talk seriously for a second? – the premise of miniature tigers is exciting. Would they be scrappy like bobcats? Could you bring them home as pets, like certain sharks? We might be on the verge of a breakthrough here.
Bell Orchestre reviewed
Bell Orchestre
As Seen Through Windows
(Arts & Crafts)
Step right up, step right up! Gather ’round and see if you can guess what the new Bell Orchestre albums sounds like! Need a clue? The band are from Montreal! They’ve toured with The Arcade Fire! It was recorded at John McEntire’s Soma Electronic, here in Chicago!
P.J. Pacifico preview
P.J. Pacifico
Uncommon Ground (Wrigleyville), Chicago
Friday, March 27, 2009
Though we trust P.J. Pacifico’s name to be legitimate, their ought to be some sort of formula – like the middle-name/home-street porno-name builder – to create singer-songwriter stage names.
La Coka Nostra live!
La Coka Nostra
House Of Blues, Chicago
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Big B? Blaze Ya Dead Homie? The Kottonmouth fucking Kings? These are the kinds of acts Everlast used to blame for giving white rappers a bad name, yet here he and his fellow La Coka Nostra members are on the Bring Tha Noize tour, sharing a stage [...]
Greg Laswell live!
Greg Laswell, Jay Nash, Anya Marina
Martyrs’, Chicago
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
It was a satisfying (if a bit long) evening of acoustic/quasi-acoustic fare Wednesday evening – the perfect kind of night for Martyrs’. A group of West Coast buddies had been on tour for five weeks already, mixing and mellowing the show like a nice, locally grown [...]
Kid You’ll Move Mountains preview
Kid You’ll Move Mountains
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Friday, March 20, 2009
Once we figured out where the pieces of suburban Troubled Hubble landed, it was natural for us to locate frontman Chris Otepka first, whose Heligoats dropped a debut on Greyday last year.
Pagan Knights Tour preview
Pagan Knights Tour
Pearl Room, Mokena
Friday, March 20, 2009
This whole Pagan metal/Viking metal/folk metal thing is becoming awfully confusing, and you need look no further than the Pagan Knights tour for proof.
Serpentcult reviewed
Serpentcult
Weight Of Light
(Rise Above)
Rise Above Records released Blood Ceremony’s self-titled debut late last year and promised anybody who would listen a female-fronted version of Black Sabbath. What we really got was a female-fronted version of Jethro Tull. Far less cool. The label comes substantially closer with Serpentcult.
Destruction & Mantic Ritual preview
Destruction, Mantic Ritual
Pearl Room, Mokena
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Old-schoolers love to gripe about the “new wave of thrash metal” — what gives kids who weren’t born when The Legacy came out the right to play this music? –but that’s a whole article in and of itself. Whether you do or don’t like bands like Warbringer, Toxic [...]
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives preview
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
Double Door, Chicago
Friday, March 13, 2009
There are 24 hours in a day, so why not 24 songs to commemorate them? That’s the thinking behind The Soundtrack Of Our Lives’ double album (unless they’re playing down a Fox tie-in).
Red Red Meat preview
Red Red Meat
Empty Bottle, Chicago
March 17-18, 2009
Following their own 20th-anniversary, Sub Pop Records celebrate the double-decade reign of Nirvana’s Bleach by re-releasing Bunny Gets Paid from Chicago’s Red Red Meat. Eh?
Mazes reviewed
Mazes
Mazes
(Parasol)
This side-project from the South Side’s 1900s should naturally feel lonely without most of the members present.
Appearing: Thursday, March 12th at Schubas in Chicago.
Shiny Toy Guns live!
Shiny Toy Guns
Gallery 1028, Chicago
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Click here to see more Shiny Toy Guns live pics.
It can be nearly impossible to keep a secret in our leak-friendly world these days, but Grammy-nominated dance rock act Shiny Toy Guns decided to try it anyway. In a cross-promotion with NBC, they offered a “secret concert” at [...]
Jimmy Eat World live!
Jimmy Eat World
Metro, Chicago
Saturday, February 28, 2009
In 1999, a little-known college radio act out of Mesa, Arizona released an album entitled Clarity. To say the record received no fanfare, let alone even any notice, and landed without a sound would be an understatement, just as it would be to note Clarity would stand as the [...]
Asobi Seksu preview
Asobi Seksu
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Where a host of bands smear gallons of washed-out guitars and challenge their ethereal vocals to fight through, Asobi Seksu brandish a love for Tin Pan pop and girl groups.
