Recent Articles
Cover Story: Umphrey’s McGee
The Taming Of The Stew This year won’t be the first time Umphrey’s McGee end a year playing sold-out shows in Chicago. In fact, it will be the fifth consecutive. The venues differ (Vic, Riviera, Auditorium, Aragon) yet each time that Jam Productions announces the on-sale, it’s a surprise. Like, “These guys are headlining the […]
Interview: The Bad Examples
Put The Kids To Bed This article is an accident. It was spawned by a chance encounter with the FitzGerald’s Web site, where the words “The Bad Examples (Record Release)” were spied on the December schedule. IE’s instinct was to sneer, “Hasn’t anyone in Berwyn ever heard of updating a Web site?” and navigate away.
Interview: The 1900s
The Dawn Of A Century Don’t call The 1900s deserters. The band might have wasted a bundle of positive media buzz and eager fans gained from its promising 2007 debut, Cold & Kind, on two years of near-seclusion (the group did grace a handful of Chicago summer festivals and lent its talents to a benefit […]
Interview: Lee DeWyze
Roughing It Long before he won “American Idol,” Lee DeWyze was slugging it out in Chicago with an eponymous band, having released a pair of albums on WuLi Records, drawing some WXRT airplay, and getting cameos on a sports show called “The Chicago Huddle.” Though that path could’ve maybe/possibly/eventually led the 24-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist to major-label […]
Caught In A Mosh: December 2010
But The Metal Is So Delightful It’s that time of year. The days are shorter. The weather is colder (it’s actually, like, 60 degrees out as I write this, so . . . ). And your neighbors have that really goddamn obnoxious wreath on their door.
Hello, My Name Is Ryan & Dan
Q&A With Sleeping At Last IE: What inspired this “Yearbook” project? Ryan O’Neal: We were tired of the wait between records and it gives us more of an opportunity to make music. I heard an interview with [producer/film composer] Hans Zimmer who was talking about how being in a band means you talk about music […]
Sweet Home: December 2010
When Mike Raspatello was thinking about what was missing in Chicago’s crowded music-festival calendar, he immediately considered the lack of roots music. “There was nothing offered in the winter months at all,” he adds. “The roots genre was relegated to the summer months.”
File: December 2010
Fair Is Life While the blues figures greatly into Cheat You Fair: The Story Of Maxwell Street, its own greatness wasn’t enough to save the fabled Chicago marketplace.
Media: December 2010
Third Coast Festival Johanna Zorn got the idea to start a showcase for documentary radio back in 2000, when she was producing the WBEZ-FM (91.5) series “Chicago Matters.”
Studiophile: December 2010
A Family Staple You can’t help but hearing it nearly every few hours on WXRT. Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer and soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples recorded her recent album, You Are Not Alone (Anti) at the WILCO LOFT in Chicago.
Digital Divide: December 2010
Music For The Masses Tis the end of the year, and all through the biz, labels and production houses are releasing music DVDs des-igned to grab your nostalgia dollars. What, you really didn’t expect a rhyme there, did ya?
Gear: December 2010
Korg iMS-20 Synth Application Since, according to a Gallup poll, the Apple iPad is the most requested gift this holiday season, Korg and other manufacturers have come up with some great full-size apps for musicians who like to push buttons and tinker.
Around Hear: December 2010
Local Band Reviews You don’t have to be a jazz aficionado to appreciate the bubbly fluidity of cascading notes that percolate through the sultry, hopeful vibe of “Until Tomorrow Comes.” That’s the exuberant skill of Pharez Whitted, trumpeter extraordinaire.
Superchunk
As one of elder statesmen of the burgeoning alternative rock explosion in the early ‘90s, North Carolina’s Superchunk’s speedy, punk-rock anthems captured the imagination of indie-cool slackers and collegiate hipsters reckoning with the all-consuming conquest by Nirvana, and grunge in general.
No Age live!
7th St Entry, Minneapolis Tuesday, November 23, 2010 No Age is at that tenuous career juncture where competing contrasts often tear bands apart. No longer scrappy young upstarts, there are certain divergent expectations that can pull in opposing directions.
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