Recent Articles
Web-exclusive Spins!
Wye Oak and Funeral Party are in town this month, and we also have Burzum, Edwyn Collins, Human Improvement Process, Green Day, and Frank Sinatra for you!
Queens Of The Stone Age live!
Read any industry rag and you’re likely to see that record companies are dying on the vine. In the scramble to generate income, the big trend has once again become the reissue. That means attempting to sell you again what you already own or entice you by adding to your collection something you may have […]
Cover Story: Beady Eye
In many ways, it smacked of the old boy-who-cried-‘Wolf!’ yarn. Mouthy Mancunian siblings Noel and Liam Gallagher — the guitarist and vocalist of legendary Britpop combo Oasis, respectively — had gotten into so many knock-down, drag-out scraps, and walked out on each other mid-tour so many times that it was starting to feel routine.
Interview: Ezra Furman & The Harpoons
Vulgar Display Of Power Pop music needs a magic story to stir our imaginations again. Enough talent shows, “leaked” tracks, and teen boys prancing in front of a Web cam. What would it take to find a local band on the cusp with a bit of fantasy behind them? From whom can the sweat-pantsed masses […]
Interview: Raphael Saadiq
Soul Power Raphael Saadiq’s recent single, “Radio” — the last song he wrote for his new album Stone Rollin’ (Columbia) — speaks volumes on his unusual place in the music industry.
Interview: Mogwai
How Not To Die For naysayers, it might be difficult to believe that Mogwai still exists. Launched by guitarist Stuart Braithwaite, bassist Dominic Aitchison, and drummer Martin Bulloch in 1995, with the intent of making “serious guitar music,” Mogwai etched the outlines that would become the blueprint for countless imitators.
Hello, My Name Is Corporate
Q&A with Macabre’s Corporate Death IE: We want to give you a little grief, because you took eight years to put an album together, which conveniently landed you on your 25th anniversary.
File: April 2011
Oil-ty Payments Conventional wisdom says that if record companies are so miserly when it comes to doling out royalty monies, the only real way for an artist to make bank is through appearance and performance fees. Corporate events and celebrity/billionaire birthdays have long been part of the circuit, but, while North Africa burned, it emerged […]
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.
Caught In A Mosh: April 2011
Total Relapse I have a love-hate relationship with Relapse Records. On one hand, the label never, ever, ever sends me music. Never. Ever. And I’ve asked. Many times.
Digital Divide: April 2011
Just as spring hits the Midwest, perhaps the most talked about film of 2010 hits the Blu-ray shelves: Darren Aronofsky‘s Black Swan (Fox Searchlight).
Gear: April 2011
Since its birth in the mid-’70s, the guitar synthesizer has taken the long road to respectability. Brave, early adapters were troubled by technical glitches and Moog-like novelty tones, more aligned to experimental music than mainstream sounds.
Media: April 2011
Jay’s Chicago In an era of tight budgets and strict bottom lines, locally produced TV shows are a rarity. Good ones are even harder to find.
Studiophile: April 2011
Pinetop’s Final Sessions Pinetop Perkins‘ final recording sessions for his Grammy-winning album, Joined At The Hip, took place in Chicago at JoyRide Studio by Blaise Barton and mixed at Tone Zone Recording by Michael Freeman. Last fall, Freeman commented on those recording sessions in an interview with Grammy365.com. “I worked on a new record for […]
Sweet Home: April 2011
The Iron Man Cometh Blues guitarist Michael Burks earned his “Iron Man” moniker honestly, through non-stop touring and exhaustive shows featuring fiercely intense guitar licks. But there’s a deeper meaning to his nickname. After putting his guitar down for 11 years to support his family, he picked it up again and faced down a dwindling […]
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