All Entries in the "Around Hear" Category
Around Hear: May 2012
With equal influence from The Allman Brothers and Jeff Beck as Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, The Flyin’ Ryan Brothers offer a plethora of dueling guitars throughout Under The Influence.
Around Hear: April 2012
NTD Records’ HiFi Superstar continue to refine their power-pop hooks on their third long-player, One Hit Wonder. Maturing as songwriters and as tight as a band that performs nearly 150 shows a year
Around Hear: March 2012
Local Band Reviews
Rich Ryan (a.k.a. Richie Rich) brought in some heavy hitters to record his debut album From The Streets with his Chi-Town Blues Band. Featuring Grammy-winning guitarist Billy Flynn, Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, and pianist Barrelhouse Chuck and the Tommy Dorsey horn section,
Around Hear: February 2012
Veilside’s sophomore effort, This Time . . ., mixes Godsmack riffs with Sevendust grooves. It’s six-songs of modern rock with huge power chords, multi-layered vocal harmonies, and well-thought out guitar leads.
Around Hear: January 2012
Richard Anthony is much more gifted as a songwriter than he is as a singer throughout Connected Part One, an odd but occasionally endearing synth-pop project where 100-percent of the proceeds go to foster-children’s charities.
Around Hear: December 2011
Downers Grove-based Rollo Time, brainchild of singer/songwriter Jon Raleigh, carry on a tradition of smart Chicago power-pop blueprinted by bands like Material Issue and Green. Rollo Time occasionally tosses in more interesting elements of harder-rocking, obscure Brit-pop bands like The Boo Radleys and Thurman on Victims Of The Crown,
Around Hear: November 2011
Local Band Reviews
You don’t find many musicians revving-up their professional musical careers after 50, but Bill McAlister is that anomaly. With a voice that’s a dead ringer for Waylon Jennings, McAlister strips his country music down to its simple beauty plus a few outlaw-era blemishes along with his band I-57 South on Illinois Opry.
Around Hear: October 2011
Local Band Reviews
After kicking off his career as a straight-forward singer/songwriter, Kyle Andrews turns toward the dancefloor (channeled from his bedroom studio) throughout Robot Learn Love. Mirroring the likes of Cut Copy or a subdued Shiny Toy Guns, expect plenty of groove-saturated indie rock over lyrics of romantic longing and arrangements that switch from fluffy [...]
Around Hear: September 2011
Local Band Reviews
Music-wise, Clara May’s debut CD, Hush, is a bit all over the place – which is perhaps a reflection of its chief singer/songwriters being first and foremost a filmmaker/corporate executive/grad student and religious/equal-rights activist/author, respectively.
Around Hear: August 2011
Local Band Reviews
Lyrical, if edgy note-phrasing binds the originals and covers on blues-rocker Joe Becker’s Hot As Love. The instrumental, stripped-band recording vacilates from open-nerve rawness (“Nightshift”) to a demo quality that could stand some polish (“Who Do You Think You Are?”), which poses a lot of questions about the intention of this release. If [...]
Around Hear: July 2011
Local Band Reviews
In just six songs, Automata packs an atmospheric soundtrack in its debut EP. Microcosm is a genre-defying pastiche of psychedelic guitar, swirling keyboards, and shuffling rhythms supporting Rachel Sarah Thomas’ soulful crooning.
Around Hear: June 2011
Local Band Reviews
What separates the men from the boys among old school Chicago guitar heroes is a dash of humility. Of course T.D. Clark has the chops on his new CD, Shreddtime Stories, but his web site won’t be the one
Around Hear: May 2011
Local Band Reviews
King Sparrow’s fusion of bluesy garage-rock and spastic, new-wave punk will undoubtedly draw favorable comparisons to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, as its self-titled, full-length debut
Around Hear: April 2011
Local Band Reviews
Fans of jazz/rock fusion will find a lot to like in Zachary Biggus‘ eight-song Jusqu’â Présent, wherein, aided by able bass and drums sidemen, he displays not inconsiderable prowess on guitar.
Around Hear: March 2011
Local Band Reviews
Logan Square’s Love Raid carry on a tradition of Chicago bands who have an affinity for Brit-Pop of all eras, ranging from Village Green-era Kinks (“Superstar Serenade”) to Pulp (“Present Tense”), and Parklife-era Blur
