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Around Hear Page 2
The four guys in Feature Presentation seem destined to do their small town of Manteno proud. The 10 tracks on their sparkingly produced debut CD, To You The Past, And The Questions Left Unanswered, bristle with energetic, ultra-tight pop power-punk. They separate themselves from the Fall Out Boy aesthetic with more technical guitar skills among […]
Around Hear Page 3
O’Neill And Wean are so syrupy with their acoustic, barstool wisdom, but they’re also tricky, convoluted popsters. The You Are Beautiful EP plunges through the sweet of the heart while mining for bile. “I Found Out” spits deranged eulogies for the still-breathing: “We’ll be dead,” cries lead singer Billy O’Neill (oh my god) before “Na […]
Sing With The Band
DigiTech Vocalist Live 2 DigiTech‘s Vocalist Live 2 harmonizer aims to make “chipmunk” harmonies a thing of the past by employing musIQ technology, which reproduces multi-part harmony by analyzing guitar chords.
A Third Down & Ten
Trent Modglin had the idea of starting a cultural magazine years ago. “I was close to turning 30 and said, ‘If I don’t do it now, I’m never going to do it,’” says the DeKalb-area native. “I didn’t want to look back when I was 40 and say, ‘I wish I’d done that magazine about […]
Shirk Music – Not Duty
Great things happen at the annual South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Between the bands on every street corner and the consumption of Lone Star beer, networking on a massive scale takes place and big ideas are born (usually within the vicinity of a bar). During such a BBQ-drenched night, a few Miami […]
Like Father, Like Son
Renowned actor Stan Shaw (Roots, Harlem Nights, The Great Santini, Fried Green Tomatoes) helped kick off the Bronzeville Film Festival in June, at the Carruthers Center For Inner City Studies at Northeastern University. Shaw was there to talk about his upcoming film Roots Of My Father, Blues Royalty, a documentary about his famous father, Handy […]
Mos Def, Talib Kweli live!
Zune Presents: Live At The BBQ Union Park, Chicago Sunday, July 22, 2007 It’s tempting to dismiss corporate-related shows. This is particularly true when the host is a mammoth like Microsoft’s Zune trying to recreate the community aspect of hip-hop by throwing the “ultimate park jam experience.” On the second stop of Zune’s Live At […]
Ra Ra Riot preview
Ra Ra Riot Beat Kitchen, Chicago Thursday, July 26, 2007 Ra Ra Riot supposedly hadn’t even practiced when they booked their first gig – an example of how rapidly things took off for the Syracuse chamber pop group. Barely more than a year after forming, Riot had all the hippest rock publications all but fist […]
Bat For Lashes preview
Bat For Lashes Schubas, Chicago Friday, July 27, 2007 She has Thom Yorke’s seal of approval, and really that’s quite a feat in itself. In addition to rock’s favorite falsetto-drenched experimentalist, Natasha Khan (a.k.a. Bat For Lashes) has won over a slew of heavy-hitting musicians with her debut, Fur And Gold (Caroline/Echo), including Björk, Pulp’s […]
The Subdudes preview
The Subdudes Beverly Arts Center, Chicago Saturday, July 28, 2007 New Orleans, for the most part, has not recovered from Katrina yet. The Subdudes are more than back on their feet, however, and show the kind of fundamental strength a building or levee could never match.
ZibraZibra preview
ZibraZibra The Note, Chicago Saturday, July 28, 2007 What do a band mentored by pudgy, white, R&B crooner Har Mar Superstar sound like? Apparently ZibraZibra.
The Race & The New Mastersounds preview
The Race Wicker Park Fest, Chicago Sunday, July 29, 2007 In mid 2004, Chicago Reader columnist Bob Mehr wrote an article on The Race, subtitled “finally starting to get somewhere.” Rather amusingly, it has been attached to the press kit for the Chicago band’s fourth album, Ice Station (Flameshovel).
Great Lakes Myth Society reviewed
Great Lakes Myth Society Compass Rose Bouquet (Quack) Nobody’s complaining, but with the purging of the Old Town School vaults, a separate Folksongs Of Illinois collection, and Sufjan Stevens’ treatises on Illinois and Michigan, the region might be overexposed. Appearing: July 27th at Martyrs’ in Chicago.
Billy Bob Thornton reviewed
Billy Bob Thornton Beautiful Door (New Door) The actor’s fourth album in six years is yet another country-roots affair, the sound of a beat-up LTD cruising an empty highway.
Mr. Gnome preview
Mr. Gnome Ronny’s, Chicago Friday, July 21, 2007 What if the White Stripes decided to eschew their blues influences and concentrate solely on metal and hardcore material and switched the lineup around with Ms. Meg White taking lead vocals and saddling Jack with the drum kit? The result would sound a lot like Cleveland, Ohio […]
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