Recent Articles
Chris Isaak live!
Chris Isaak Morton Arboretum, Lisle Saturday, August 16, 2008 Few artists are capable of tapping into a winning formula that doesn’t significantly evolve as the years progress, but colors just enough outside the lines to attract repeat customers. Enter veteran singer/songwriter Chris Isaak, the debonair crooner who’s made a killing channeling the outfits of Elvis […]
Koufax preview
Koufax Bottom Lounge, Chicago Saturday, August 23, 2008 Koufax’s fourth album, Strugglers (Doghouse), belongs to Kansas City jazz-meister Mark Southerland. Head Koufax honcho Robert Suchan at turns delivers sweaty Jack White-isms and even shares a range with What Made Milwaukee Famous’ Michael Kingcaid, but when the 10-track disc ends, it’s Southerland’s horns that will continue […]
Indigenous preview
Indigenous Martyrs’, Chicago Saturday, August 23, 2008 Indigenous frontman/guitarist Mato Nanji’s past, upbringing, and musical journey are not only interesting stories, but unusual. Too bad the same can’t be said for his band’s music.
Rebuilt Sir Miles Davis Academy Bows On South Side
A handful of the late Miles Davis’ family members and musicians will be on hand to open the Sir Miles Davis Academy magnate school on Tuesday, August 26th.
Bigelf reviewed
Bigelf Cheat The Gallows (Custard) Bigelf’s cup runneth over with bombast. Their overzealous ode to big-top rock might not be very original, but it’ll overpower you in the end.
Pas/Cal reviewed
Pas/Cal I Was Raised On Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura (Le Grand Magistery) After years of teasing indie pop enthusiasts with lip-smacking EPs, Pas/Cal manage a full-length that survives as a 12-track spread.
Shannon McArdle reviewed
Shannon McArdle Summer Of The Whore (Bar None) Former Mendoza Line frontwoman Shannon McArdle lies back on the couch and drops truckloads of divorce-flavored pathology.
Extreme reunited
Extreme House Of Blues, Chicago Saturday, August 13, 2008 Despite a 13-year absence, not much has changed for Extreme. The adjective that is their name has been repurposed for nu metal-listenin’, Red Bull-drinkin’, X Games mayhem and, obviously, mainstream tastes have run their cycles. But Saturday, for the most part, the Boston band’s Frankenstein funk […]
She & Him live
She & Him Park West, Chicago Tuesday, August 5, 2008 While most actress-stabs at musical careers usually fall flat (Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lindsay Lohan, and most recently Scarlett Johansson), Zooey Deschanel (The Happening, Elf, and Almost Famous) manages to pull off the impossible by not only receiving heaping praise, but also garnering a following that […]
Racebannon preview
Racebannon Beat Kitchen, Chicago Friday, August 15, 2008 The rise of MP3s has precipitated the demise of album artwork. Rebelling against thumbnail incarceration, Kanye West’s Graduation used anime to hint at its electro contents, and Miley Cyrus’ Breakout distilled the oppression felt by teenage multi-millionaires. But rarely do you see anything as iconic as, say, […]
Hawthorne Heights preview
Hawthorne Heights Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI Saturday, August 16, 2008 Tragedy, strife, legal woes, and bitter divorces – all can lead to stellar artistic output. Just ask Bob Dylan. The brilliant Blood On The Tracks stemmed from Dylan’s wife Sara handing him divorce papers after little more than a decade of marriage. Sure, it’s […]
Faun Fables, Festival preview
Faun Fables | Festival Schubas | Empty Bottle, Chicago Friday, August 15 | Monday, August 18, 2008 Two psych folk groups, both female-fronted and predominantly female-filled, and each with some level of connection to Drag City (Faun Fables is on the label; Drag distributes Festival’s music) play Chicago within three days of each other. We’re […]
Scars On Broadway
Scars On Broadway Scars On Broadway (Interscope) He might not like it, but from here to forever, any music Daron Malakian creates outside of System Of A Down will be compared to that band. That band who, in less than a decade, scored five platinum records, three no. 1 records, and redefined the rules of […]
Chrome Division reviewed
Chrome Division Booze, Broads And Beelzebub (Nuclear Blast) If anyone in heavy metal deserves to kick back and have a good time, it’s Chrome Division guitarist Shagrath. His full-time job fronting Dimmu Borgir, after all, demands he be dead serious all the time about Satan, pentagrams, corpsepaint, The Lord Of The Rings, and hating your […]
Lollapalooza ’08 roundup!
Lollapalooza Grant Park, Chicago Friday, August 1 — Sunday, August 3, 2008 It takes a certain type of person to do the whole three-day festival thing. The lines, the prices, the sun . . . the portable toilets. It’s not easy, or always fun. Lucky for IE we have Andy Argyrakis, Jamie De’Medici, and Timothy […]
Recent Comments