Recent Articles
Holy and unholy
Alela Diane‘s gift for conveying traditional folk songs has led some people to believe she’s some divine vessel, a cipher drawing together influences from British and American sources. David Bazan made his name because of his literal holiness.
Janelle Monae and Bruno Mars live!
Halfway into the 24-city Hooligans In Wondaland tour, everywhere-on-the-charts Bruno Mars and leftfield multitalent Janelle Monáe hit Chicago, performing before a crowd as varied as the sounds on stage.
Combo platter
Monomynous indie-pop stars don’t grow on trees. (There’s a joke, What do you call people who only go by one name? Famous.) If two were to conjoin, you’d think artistic curiosity would necessitate they came from different fields. Thao And Mirah look to do the defining on their own.
Cover Story: Dispatch
Stop Making Sense Even serious music fans pass through life without ever hearing certain pivotal artists. Usually it’s a lack of awareness; often it’s willful, but always unfortunate. Appearing: Tuesday, June 7th at Pritzker Pavilion (50 S. Michigan Ave.) and Wednesday the 8th at UIC Pavilion (1130 W. Halsted) in Chicago.
Interview: Sam Roberts Band
Here Comes A Regular Sam Roberts always wanted to be Norm Peterson. Not in the portly beer-chugging, barfly kind of way that George Wendt so eloquently portrayed on “Cheers,” but the Canadian singer/songwriter long fancied walking into an establishment to the sounds of a familiar greeting and being seated to find a plate of “the […]
Interview: Interpol
Welcome To The Enormodome Scoring an opening-act slot on the highest-grossing tour of all time might seem like the perfect opportunity for mainstream domination, but in the case of Interpol riding shotgun on U2’s 360 juggernaut, it’s just another natural step in the group’s ascendance from indie obscurity.
Interview: Matt & Kim
The Crush Of Love Constantly in the company of his girlfriend/bandmate, one might think Matt Johnson would relish the chance to tell his story: She abuses me. I can’t take it anymore. Appearing: Saturday, June 25th and Sunday the 26th at Vic Theatre in Chicago.
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
Caught In A Mosh: June 2011
The Coroner’s Report For various reasons (some sensible, some stupid), metalheads are skeptical of reunions. Especially wary are death-metal fanatics, who just can’t seem to decide whether they love or hate the current comeback trend. It was lame-as-fuck, apparently, when Carcass (disbanded in 1995) toured in 2008 but awesome that Exhumed (hiatus since 2005) is […]
Digital Divide: June 2011
Take A Number And Get In Line I Am Number Four Touchstone No one ever said high school was easy. In fact, there are many who subscribe to the theory that “the greatest days of your life” are nothing but a constant series of kicks to the teeth. However, no matter how bad things get, […]
File: June 2011
June Buggin’ As if Middle Easterners don’t have enough problems in this country, the term “Arab Spring” will become the opposite of “Indian Summer” and signify a relentless, wintry malaise. (You say it means revolution, well, you know . . . ) But at last it’s June, and you can smash that icy lake breeze […]
Hello, My Name Is Cathy
Q&A With Cathy Richardson IE: What led you to forming your new group, Macrodots? Cathy Richardson: I met Zack [Smith, also of Scandal fame] when I was living in San Francisco and we started writing together. He’s a very prolific writer and producer and he had a lot of great tracks without lyrics or vocals. The […]
Gear: June 2011
Digitech Whammy DT Guitar Pedal DigiTech‘s new Whammy DT guitar pedal does the original model one better by adding capabilities including drop tuning, capo tuning, and true bypass coupled with original features like pitchshifting effects.
Media: June 2011
Still Dying To Tell The Story Amy Eldon‘s 1998 documentary, Dying To Tell The Story, focuses on her photojournalist brother, Dan Eldon, who was stoned to death by an angry mob while covering a bombing in Somalia in 1993, shortly after the “Black Hawk Down” incident.
Studiophile: June 2011
Rapture Recordings When Chicago’s newly formed Dashing Assassins went to the record at MOTHERSHIP STUDIOS in Chicago on May 21st, they weren’t sure if they’d come out alive after laying down tracks during the not-to-be Rapture. While tracking a six-song LP due this summer, guitarist/vocalist Erik LaVergne tells IE that, despite the pending armageddon, “The […]
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