Recent Articles
Wye Oak reviewed
Wye Oak If Children (Merge) Wye Oak’s namesake, a 460-year-old Maryland tree felled by a 2002 hurricane, will posthumously (postarborously?) base many a review for the young band. This won’t be one. But you’ll have to excuse the requisite Yo La Tengo references. Appearing: Saturday, June 14 at Hideout in Chicago.
Bell X1 live!
Bell X1, Brooke Waggoner Empty Bottle, Chicago Wednesday, May 28, 2008 Back home, Ireland’s Bell X1 enjoy the prestige of being labeled a stadium act. On the band’s second American outing in only the last three months, the size of the rooms might be smaller than those normally afforded chart-topping artists — kinda like driving […]
Centro-Matic preview
Centro-Matic Schubas, Chicago Saturday, June 7, 2008 Sunday, June 8, 2008 Centro-Matic’s Will Johnson can’t have just one. Of anything. It’s right there in his halved band name, as if we’d mispronounce it Cen-TROM-a-tic otherwise. Two shows this weekend (but only one club). Alternating headlining slots with The M’s. Supporting a split release (Dual Hawks) […]
Cyndi Lauper preview
Cyndi Lauper Chicago Theatre, Chicago Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 girl-power anthem “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” lives on in both clubs and You Tube and has been known to blare from the hallway PA system of Chicago’s own Mother McAuley, the largest Catholic all-girls high school in the country, during its […]
Tim Fite preview
Tim Fite Lakeshore Theater, Chicago Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Tim Fite certainly isn’t the first artist to attack Western culture, though he has kept his hands and conscience relatively clean. Artists from The MC5 to The Clash to Rage Against The Machine have looked silly by espousing rebellion and pointing fingers at the rest of […]
RIP Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley Dies At 79 Bo Diddley, recently ranked third in our list of the 20 Greatest Chicago Guitarists Of All Time, died Monday, June 2nd, at his Florida home.
Lauren Harris preview
Lauren Harris Allstate Arena, Rosemont Wednesday, June 11, 2008 Opening a tour for Iron Maiden ain’t easy. It might not be as stressful as facing 30 minutes of continous (occasionally life-threatening) “SLAYEEEER!” screams, but tough nonetheless. Most Maiden fans, after all, don’t buy their concert tickets with discovering young, opening talent in mind. They want […]
Hail Of Bullets reviewed
Hail Of Bullets . . . Of Frost & War (Metal Blade) We’re more than a little embarrassed to admit if it came down to some sort of life-or-death quiz, we’d probably know more about the Ben Affleck/Josh Hartnett/Kate Beckinsale love triangle in Pearl Harbor than the actual events of Pearl Harbor and World War […]
Edenbridge reviewed
Edenbridge Myearthdream (Napalm) Goofy heavy metal doesn’t bother us. It bugs a lot of headbangers, who somehow fail to see the humor imbedded in the DNA of the genre they worship, but not us. Austria’s Napalm Records understand, though, and in the last eight months have released some awesome, we’ll say “off-kilter” records, including Scottish […]
Cover Story: Local H
Local H Time Marches On It was fairly early on the fifth night of Local H’s seven-night stand at Beat Kitchen when it became apparent why the two-man outfit are so beloved locally, somewhere around when gruff but affable frontman Scott Lucas spit out “Fall Out Boy’s on the radio,” in the middle of fan […]
Local Indie Label Special
It’s A Woman’s Woman’s Woman’s Woman’s (& Man’s) World Bloodshot’s Nan Warshaw and Southport’s Joanie Pallatto might not agree on every talmudic aspect of running an independent record label, though neither would say being female has made any difference.
R.E.M. Interview
R.E.M. Old Tricks Every iconic act is entitled to a dud or two, and Athens, Georgia’s elite R.E.M. are no exception. The jangle-pop purveyors-turned-alternative rock icons were generally consistent their first 20 years, though 2004’s sleeper Around The Sun was a black cloud. Beyond the project’s sluggish sales and critical lashing, frontman Michael Stipe, guitarist […]
Go Forth And Die
Nathan Explosion, frontman of Dethklok, was supposed to talk to “Caught In A Mosh” this month. As were guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf and drummer Pickles. But a day before the interview I was informed I wouldn’t get to talk to any of the “Metalocalypse” stars (Toki Wartooth and William Murderface complete the band). Seems Explosion didn’t […]
Los Campesinos interview
The Internet Startups Of Los Campesinos A funny thing happened to seven university students in Wales who were well on their way to graduation a year ago: Their fledgling side-project (Los Campesinos) dropped a debut single (“You! Me! Dancing!”) that not only became an overnight Internet sensation, but also the biggest next big thing to […]
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club interview
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club It’s Only Rock And Roll? Not to complain about a job many people consider pretty damn sweet — talking to famous musicians and writing a story about it — but doing a piece on Slim Cessna’s Auto Club is tough. Appearing: Friday, June 6th at Reggie’s in Chicago.
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