Archive for February, 2008
Horrorpops preview
Horrorpops Metro, Chicago Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Is Hamlet a Danish national icon? When their cartoonists aren’t provoking Islam, does Shakespeare’s brooding anti-hero cast a pall over the panels? Because Copenhagen’s biggest rock exports, The Raveonettes and Horrorpops, have a relationship with darkness that extends beyond fashion.
Sheryl Crow reviewed
Sheryl Crow Detours (A&M) A number of Sheryl Crows are at work on Detours, though they don’t all get along.
Antietam reviewed
Antietam Opus Mixtum (Carrot Top) Antietam’s latest album, like the Civil War battle from which the band take their name, gets a little sloppy.
The Kingston Trio reviewed
The Kingston Trio Once Upon A Time/Twice Upon A Time (Collectors’ Choice) As an historical reference, Collectors’ Choice’s simultaneous release of Once and Twice Upon A Time is a smidge overzealous. It’s two phases of folk heroes The Kingston Trio: early July, 1966 and late July . . . 1966.
Exodus preview
Exodus, Warbringer Pearl Room, Mokena Saturday, February 16, 2008 Exodus’ influence on the origin of thrash metal is being pushed hard to promote the group’s new album (eighth overall), The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A (Nuclear Blast). We are, after all, in the midst of a full-blown thrash revival. But consider this: In 1986, the year […]
L’Ocelle Mare preview
L’Ocelle Mare Fuck Mountain Loft, Chicago Friday, February 15, 2008 Thomas Bonvalet don’t wanna work. He just wants to bang on his guitar all day.
A Place To Bury Strangers preview
A Place To Bury Strangers Schubas, Chicago Sunday, February 17, 2008 By Sunday you should have Valentine’s Day out of your system: Drained of the inner pain and humiliation; ready to exact revenge on a society that places vacant companionship above all else; looking for A Place To Bury Strangers.
Danny Burns preview
Danny Burns’ Defectors Martyrs’, Chicago Tuesday, February 19, 2008 Hailing from County Donegal in Ireland, this Chicago-based singer-songwriter, on first listen, sounds like the next coming of longtime local staple, South Sider Michael McDermott. On Danny Burns’ Defectors debut, Grace & Mercy (TL), the 26-year-old does, indeed, channel a young McDermott, but shades of fellow […]
CDs For You Lovers Out There
Beautiful Ballads & Love Songs (Legacy) For its seemingly annual contribution to the Valentine’s industry, Legacy compiles Columbia, RCA, and Arista recordings of Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Barry Manilow.
Gallows live!
Gallows Metro, Chicago Sunday, February 3, 2008 The Super Bowl and a snowstorm proved a lethal combo for Gallows, as the U.K. punks played to a nearly empty house Sunday night.
Todd Rundgren live!
Todd Rundgren Park West, Chicago Thursday, January 31, 2008 It has been four years since Todd Rundgren’s last proper studio CD, Liars, but he has been far from inactive during the gap. Outside of embarking on an extensive solo tour (which spawned the Liars Live DVD in 2005) he became the unlikely though fairly well-fitting […]
Joe Henry live!
Joe Henry Old Town School Of Folk Music, Chicago Saturday, February 2, 2008 A rare tour by producer/songwriter Joe Henry found him in “Storytellers” mode at the Old Town School on Saturday night. During the first of two shows, he mocked his role in the world while quietly lamenting the country’s.
MGMT & Yeasayer preview
MGMT, Yeasayer Schubas, Chicago Friday, February 8, 2008 Sometimes a band just can’t get out of their own way. MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular (Columbia) is an ELO-sized fiesta, a Swedish-pop spectacular that’ll rack up year-end top-10 points* while maintaining indie-band-on-a-major buzz.
Will Hoge preview
Will Hoge Double Door, Chicago Friday, February 8, 2008 Listening to Will Hoge’s “Dirty Little War” is like digging your heart out with a spoon. The Nashville-based singer’s husky vocals break as the song ventures down a weary path with no end in sight from enclosing doom. In other words, it’s glorious.
Machine Head preview
Machine Head Pearl Room, Mokena Friday, February 8, 2008 Machine Head had a pretty killer 2007, no thanks to us. By us, I mean me. I more or less trashed The Blackening (Roadrunner) in a “Spins” review last summer, saying Machine Head “failed to write engaging material” and that none of the songs were memorable […]
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