Recent Articles
File: April 2009
File 2009 Not Quite Better Than The Real Thing Under a shroud of secrecy not seen since the Bush Administration . . . O.K., that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but on Tuesday, March 11th, U2 — arguably the biggest band on the planet — were ushered onto the famed Metro’s stage. Unfortunately, […]
DVD Zone: April 2009
Quantum Of Solace 20th Century Fox After years of stale plot lines and tired formulas (no offense, Pierce Brosnan), not to mention getting its British butt kicked by the superior Bourne series, the James Bond franchise got a much needed re-boot in Casino Royale. Starring Daniel Craig as a much more no-nonsense Bond, the series […]
Something Old, Something New
Listening to Chicago Blues: A Living History (Raisin), a two-CD set that covers 1940 to the present and features an all-star band of blues traditionalists including Billy Boy Arnold, John Primer, Billy Branch, and Lurrie Bell, led me to think about Jimi Hendrix. A space-age bluesman, Hendrix took the genre in a new direction. He […]
Local Studio Happenings
As of March 1st, BOTA STUDIO will no longer be operating at RECORDING ARTIST WORKSHOP in Lake In The Hills. Owner Don Byczynski will open a 2,000 square-foot complex in Grayslake on April 15th. The new BOTA includes a 21x15x12 A Room, 18x15x12 live room, and 13×11 B Room, both connected to five isolation booths. […]
Clearing The Static
You have to feel for The Haunted. The band had a kick-ass North American tour set to kick off this month before, well, shit happened . . . big time. That kick-ass package became significantly less so March 2nd when both Kylesa and Intronaut announced their intentions to join Mastodon‘s spring tour (April 30th at […]
Is Journalism Dead?
In 1991, I met writers Michael Miner and John Conroy after they gave a presentation on independent journalism at an adult-education seminar. In those pre-Internet days, The Reader was the thick, independent weekly everyone picked up on Thursday afternoon, so they could plan their weekend. Miner wrote its popular “Hot Type” media column, and Conroy […]
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.
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