Recent Articles
No Respect
Quickly: Welcome to the first “Caught In A Mosh,” the Illinois Entertainer‘s new monthly heavy music column penned by me, associate editor Trevor Fisher. While you won’t read much about Korn or Godsmack here, I’m not too snobby – underground or mainstream, if worthwhile I’ll talk about it. I never have nor will claim to […]
Riff Raff
TASCAM MP-GT1 Tascam is finally shipping its MP-GT1 Guitar Trainer it introduced with much fanfare at the Winter NAMM Show. The company calls it “the first MP3 player designed for musicians.”
Please Mr. Postman
Small, independently owned publications such as No Depression and Punk Planet could face financial ruin if a proposed rate hike goes through July 15th.
Come Knock On Their Door
Taking a cue from legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, Chicago’s Handwritten Recording allows artists to come in for as little as 30 minutes to lay down tracks. Open since April, the Belmont storefront studio caters to musicians who find the “normal” studio setting intimidating.
Carey Bell: 1936-2007
Blues vocalist and harmonica master Carey Bell died of heart failure on May 6th at Kindred Hospital during a visit to Chicago. He was 70. Bell was one of the last of the classic Chicago blues harp players. Steeped in the traditions of Mississippi and Chicago blues, Bell developed a signature harmonica style characterized by […]
The Arcade Fire live!
The Arcade Fire Chicago Theatre, Chicago Friday, May 18, 2007 Toward the end of the first night of a three-night stand, Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler made a rather crafty, self-conscious joke: “Well, we’ll see you tomorrow night!” Part of it was disbelief he could sell-out such a hall for a weekend; the other half […]
Two Cow Garage live!
Two Cow Garage The Hideout, Chicago Thursday, May 17, 2007 For the rusted-out, ’85 Camaro of a band they are, Two Cow Garage still packed a brass-knuckled punch at a packed Hideout on Thursday. Micah Schnabel’s perpetually hoarse, steel-wool howl scraped through the layers of guitar while drummer Dustin Harigle pounded the dusty rug of […]
ALO preview
ALO Martyrs’, Chicago Thursday, May 24, 2007 Hanging out with surfer-dude-to-the-extreme Jack Johnson isn’t all fun and games. Or at least that’s the vibe emitting from the new album by ALO, Roses & Clover (Brushfire).
Joss Stone, Ryan Shaw preview
Joss Stone, Ryan Shaw House Of Blues, Chicago Wednesday, May 30, 2007 The story behind the title of British soul singer Joss Stone’s third album, Introducing Joss Stone, is easy enough to understand: “It’s the first album that is truly me,” she says in the album’s press materials.
Joe reviewed
Joe Ain’t Nothin’ Like Me (Jive) Chart-topping loverman’s sixth album is a slow jam from start to finish.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony reviewed
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Strength And Loyalty (Interscope) Five years and some member subtractions later, the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony comeback goes easy on its title theme.
Björk live!
Björk Auditorium Theatre, Chicago Saturday, May 12, 2007 Björk gets a lot of leeway because of her insatiable musical ambition and thorough reinventions, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t dump a lot of scrap in her fans laps. Saturday at the Auditorium the inconsistencies of her latest album, Volta (Elektra), carried into a set that […]
Mastodon live!
Mastodon Riviera, Chicago Saturday, May 12, 2007 Mastodon’s 2006 release, Blood Mountain (Warner Bros.), left a gigantic footprint in the heavy metal landscape, causing some to believe the Atlanta four-piece just might rock hard enough to propel the genre back into the collective consciousness. Even hailed by some as the savior of heavy metal, Mastodon […]
Regina Spektor live!
Regina Spektor Riviera, Chicago Sunday, May 13, 2007 Regina Spektor’s sold-out performance at Riviera on Sunday night won’t go down as historic for either her, personally, or the grand annals of pop music. It did, however, poke a lot of holes into two primary genres. Click here for a Flickr gallery of Spektor from Sunday […]
El-P live!
El-P Abbey Pub, Chicago Tuesday, May 8, 2007 The title of El-P’s new album, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (Definitive Jux), says a lot about this Brooklyn native’s work ethic. Everything about the rapping producer’s dark, intricate hip-hop sounds like it was carefully crafted into the early a.m. hours . . . the same can […]
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