Recent Articles
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. […]
Caught In A Mosh: August 2011
Four!!! I forgot, and I’m sorry. June was this column’s four-year anniversary, but like a horrible, drunk, stoned lazy, fatfuck of a father, I forgot my own child’s birthday and didn’t even realize it until two months later.
Digital Divide: August 2011
Deja Vu All Over Again D’ja ever find yourself watching the Bill Murray classic Groundhog Day and think, “This is cute and all, but I wonder what the military applications of living the same day over and over again would be”?
Gear: August 2011
From Nashville With Love NAMM’s Nashville music trade show seemed to get back to a “guitars are king” theme not seen in 10 years at the summer event, leaving the button pushers and their iPhones and iPads to last year’s devices. Gear happily takes a look at some of the convention’s new introductions.
Media: August 2011
Best Radio You Have Never Heard Imagine a technically perfect freeform radio show where you’ll hear everything from Arctic Monkeys to Frank Zappa. Add clever drop-ins, seamless transitions, and cryptic humor. Then, imagine that every time you listen, you hear a new artist or song, or a version of a classic track that’s so obscure […]
Studiophile: August 2011
Local H At Million Yen Million Yen Studios owner Andy Gerber was a bit suprised to get a call from Scott Lucas about demoing material for a new Local H record. “Scott had kind of officially declared the ‘era of demos’ as over,” remarks Gerber.
Sweet Home: August 2011
Reflection Eternal As one of the most consistent contemporary bluesmen performing today, it’s a surprise to discover that Grammy-winning Keb Mo (a.k.a. Kevin Moore) doesn’t actually consider himself a bluesman.
This is not a photoshopped mix of Neil Young & Grace Slick
It’s Richard Buckner. And he, Walter Meego, and Alkaline Trio have shows coming up that will take us through the unveiling of our next issue!
Bon Iver live!
Say goodbye to the sad sack Justin Vernon exemplified on his 2008 stunner of a debut, For Emma, Forever Ago. Selling out the Chicago Theatre and surrounding himself with eight multifaceted backing musicians (everything from the violin to the trombone to the French horn was represented) Sunday night,
Jennifer Hudson live!
There’s nothing like playing the home field, especially in a loyal town like Chicago. That’s true for our sports teams as well as our musicians, as South Side native Jennifer Hudson demonstrated in an emotional homecoming at Ravinia on Saturday the 16th. Flaunting her newly trim figure in a neon-yellow blouse and tiny hot-pink skirt […]
Laughing, dead people, and fictional music
This weekend’s menu has so much (little) variety (consistency), it’s a surprise Pitchfork hasn’t sponsored it. It also means one of you out there might have interest in one of The People Under The Stares, Gillian Welch, Air Guitar Championships, intimate Kelley Deal, or Tally Hall. Surely, one of you.
Hotter than a Furnace fan
Why just the other month we were telling you about a Fiery Furnaces show. How they’re all so Oak Park – specifically Oak Park. When they’re of Illinois at all. Those words cut Eleanor Friedberger to the bone. And so she’s back to make amends.
New photo galleries!
We have Tim Hiatt’s shots from Soundgarden/Mars Volta, Steve Forstneger’s from the first day of Pitchfork, and (belatedly) Brian Ormiston’s from Rihanna last month! Visit illinoisentertainerphoto.com!
Hush now, don’t say a word . . .
Falling asleep wearing headphones hasn’t gotten much easier since the proliferation of earbuds, but it’s worth the attempt nonetheless. Despite a frantic rise in sleepy records, King Creosote and Jon Hopkins‘ Diamond Mind is one of the few worth adding to your doze-off collection.
#P4K 2011, LOL
Overheard in Union Park on Friday night, from two separate pairs of people – two girls, then two boys – were the following snippets of conversation: “He has so many girlfriends”; “I have totally compromised myself.” And that seemed to sum up this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival fairly well.
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