Archive for January, 2011
Linkin Park live!
While most rap-rock and nu-metal acts faded as the last decade closed, Linkin Park were wise enough to continually take major risks to expand their sonic boundaries. Their largest evolutionary step took place with 2010’s A Thousand Suns, a release that delves beyond angst and radio-friendly hooks and deeper into anthemic melodies and electronica.
As my uncle Olafur used to say . . .
Upper-crust classical music audiences certainly didn’t enjoy punk rock’s entrance into pop culture, but they got to watch from a distance as beer-guzzling jocks and classic rockers did the dirty work. Well now they have a punk in their house with Olafur Arnalds.
On The Shoulders Of Giants
To become a monolith, one must think monolithic. Very rarely will a band ascend from meek sonic origins and sit atop the mountain (see: Spoon). Young The Giant are of a mind to reach the apex.
Preview: Kings Go Forth
Regionalism used to drive popular music commercially and artistically — certainly more than it does now. Think West Coast jazz, the Bakersfield Sound, Stax . . . all were reactions to something else going on somewhere else in the country.
Jim Peterik And World Stage review!
McAninch Arts Center, Glen Ellyn Saturday, January 15, 2011 From founding Ides Of March through even more success in Survivor, his newest melodic rock project Pride Of Lions, several solo sidesteps and co-writes for Brian Wilson, Sammy Hagar, Cheap Trick, .38 Special, and Lynyrd Skynyrd (to name a handful), Jim Peterik is more than […]
One year of CHIRPing
We suppose with the way the big sports leagues trample on Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s not such a sin to offer you something to do on your day off, Monday.
Double live Weezer!
Aragon Ballroom, Chicago January 7 and 8, 2011 Andy Argyrakis hit both Weezer shows this weekend: one in support of the band’s debut, the next starring Pinkerton. Both albums were played from front to back.
Tomorrow Never Knows 2011
You know a festival’s doing well when people start grousing about how much better it was in the “old days.” Click on for our preview of this year’s TNK package.
Cover Story: Nachtmystium
One Day It’ll All Make Sense Blake Judd is excited again. It’s nearly Thanksgiving in Chicago and, after a mild start to winter, finally getting holy-balls cold outside. Inside Judd’s darkened Humboldt Park apartment, Teitanblood’s Seven Chalices spins on a turntable and Judd
File: The Tops Pop Of 2010
The year in albums, songs, concerts, and geeks? All presented to you by the IE staff.
Interview: Freddie Gibbs
Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere The indie rock scene fuck with me, man, cause I’m grinding like the same way they grind,” explains Gary, Indiana’s premier rhymeslinger, Freddie Gibbs (born Freddie Tipton). “I don’t think that my whole process has been that of a typical rapper.”
Interview : JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
It’s A Dance Dance Dance Dance Dance World He knows how it looks. JC Brooks can’t factor his age, background, and performance style and think there’s no one out there raising an eyebrow and spitting out a toothpick. He’s not quite the blackfacehedging outrage that Jon Spencer Blues Explosion could be, but this is Chicago.
Profile: Rainbow Foundation Music Inc.
With The Help Of My Friends For the past 20 years, the Rainbow Foundation Music Inc. has staged a series of benefit concerts, rock ‘n’ roll auctions, and toy drives to help Chicago-area children and families in crisis. Along the way, the organization has staged shows with a who’s-who of local and national classic rockers, […]
Caught In A Mosh: January 2011
Johnny, 5 Is Barely Alive What a strange year for picking a top-five list. This is the first time I’ve ever had so much trouble choosing my number one, for starters. Usually there is a hands-down favorite and the real fight is duked out for the fifth and final spot.
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