Recent Articles
The Right 1?
Martin 1 Series Due to a slowing economy, C.F. Martin & Co. is bringing back its acclaimed 1 Series of acoustic guitars.
Local Record Reviews
Conveniens is a drum-and-keyboard duo that worked in the 1980s and is currently reissuing its catalog. Clear was its third and final album and is filled with Conveniens’ trademark new age/space/jazz vibe. Funny thing is, the stranger the group gets, the more interesting it is. This is not pop music by any means, but is […]
Around Hear Pg. 2
Frontman Dewey Dunlap has that perfect, smoky, lazy voice for The Dunlaps‘ dusty alt-country, and he lays down some nifty licks on songs like “Get Quicker,” but is there room in Chicago for more insurgent country? Of course. On its debut, Here Come The Dunlaps . . . , the group gets bogged down in […]
Miniature Tigers preview
Miniature Tigers Reggie’s, Chicago Tuesday, March 31, 2009 Setting the music aside – can we talk seriously for a second? – the premise of miniature tigers is exciting. Would they be scrappy like bobcats? Could you bring them home as pets, like certain sharks? We might be on the verge of a breakthrough here.
Bell Orchestre reviewed
Bell Orchestre As Seen Through Windows (Arts & Crafts) Step right up, step right up! Gather ’round and see if you can guess what the new Bell Orchestre albums sounds like! Need a clue? The band are from Montreal! They’ve toured with The Arcade Fire! It was recorded at John McEntire’s Soma Electronic, here in […]
P.J. Pacifico preview
P.J. Pacifico Uncommon Ground (Wrigleyville), Chicago Friday, March 27, 2009 Though we trust P.J. Pacifico’s name to be legitimate, their ought to be some sort of formula – like the middle-name/home-street porno-name builder – to create singer-songwriter stage names.
La Coka Nostra live!
La Coka Nostra House Of Blues, Chicago Wednesday, March 11, 2009 Big B? Blaze Ya Dead Homie? The Kottonmouth fucking Kings? These are the kinds of acts Everlast used to blame for giving white rappers a bad name, yet here he and his fellow La Coka Nostra members are on the Bring Tha Noize tour, […]
Greg Laswell live!
Greg Laswell, Jay Nash, Anya Marina Martyrs’, Chicago Wednesday, March 11, 2009 It was a satisfying (if a bit long) evening of acoustic/quasi-acoustic fare Wednesday evening – the perfect kind of night for Martyrs’. A group of West Coast buddies had been on tour for five weeks already, mixing and mellowing the show like […]
Kid You’ll Move Mountains preview
Kid You’ll Move Mountains Empty Bottle, Chicago Friday, March 20, 2009 Once we figured out where the pieces of suburban Troubled Hubble landed, it was natural for us to locate frontman Chris Otepka first, whose Heligoats dropped a debut on Greyday last year.
Pagan Knights Tour preview
Pagan Knights Tour Pearl Room, Mokena Friday, March 20, 2009 This whole Pagan metal/Viking metal/folk metal thing is becoming awfully confusing, and you need look no further than the Pagan Knights tour for proof.
Serpentcult reviewed
Serpentcult Weight Of Light (Rise Above) Rise Above Records released Blood Ceremony’s self-titled debut late last year and promised anybody who would listen a female-fronted version of Black Sabbath. What we really got was a female-fronted version of Jethro Tull. Far less cool. The label comes substantially closer with Serpentcult.
Destruction & Mantic Ritual preview
Destruction, Mantic Ritual Pearl Room, Mokena Thursday, March 12, 2009 Old-schoolers love to gripe about the “new wave of thrash metal” — what gives kids who weren’t born when The Legacy came out the right to play this music? –but that’s a whole article in and of itself. Whether you do or don’t like bands […]
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives preview
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives Double Door, Chicago Friday, March 13, 2009 There are 24 hours in a day, so why not 24 songs to commemorate them? That’s the thinking behind The Soundtrack Of Our Lives’ double album (unless they’re playing down a Fox tie-in).
Red Red Meat preview
Red Red Meat Empty Bottle, Chicago March 17-18, 2009 Following their own 20th-anniversary, Sub Pop Records celebrate the double-decade reign of Nirvana’s Bleach by re-releasing Bunny Gets Paid from Chicago’s Red Red Meat. Eh?
Mazes reviewed
Mazes Mazes (Parasol) This side-project from the South Side’s 1900s should naturally feel lonely without most of the members present. Appearing: Thursday, March 12th at Schubas in Chicago.
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