Recent Articles
Mastodon Interview
Mastodon Land Ho Mastodon vocalist/bassist Troy Sanders knows all about the classic struggle between man and animal. The topic made his band a household name, after all, when 2004’s Leviathan (Relapse), a concept album that revolved around Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, won the group acclaim from metalheads and indie hipsters alike.Appearing: September 14th at Metro […]
Nina Gordon Interview
Nina Gordon’s Bleeding Heart “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen artichokes grow, but I haven’t [before] and it’s pretty amazing. It’s like a huge beanstalk, and at the top is an enormous globe that is a big old artichoke, and I’m not quite sure when I’m supposed to chop it and eat it, but […]
The Tripwire
Tripwire.com Free Enterprise Back in the dark ages, before everyone and their brother had a blog pimping the hottest new MP3s of some yet-unheard of U.K. sensation or Stateside underground phenomenon, the Internet wasn’t commonplace for pedestrian music lovers to find new artists. However, it was a forum for industry heavyweights to drop new release […]
File: September 2006
Idol Chatter Hot off the heels of last year’s Devil’s Playground, Billy Idol keeps the product chain coming with a concert DVD recorded at the somewhat-rundown-but-oh-so-punk-rock Congress Theatre.
DVD Zone: September 2006
THE ROLLING STONES UNDER REVIEW 1962-1966 LED ZEPPELIN THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES Music Video Distributors You would think when it comes to The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, it’s all been said before. After gallons of ink have been spilled and miles of paper reams have been used to dissect and analyze every tidbit […]
Cover Story: Touch And Go 2
[ 1 ] 2 [ 3 ] CHICAGO The only people Rusk and Pfahler knew here were the members of Big Black. Rusk had met frontman Steve Albini on the panel of the New Music Seminar in New York and, just as he had with MacKaye, hit it off, thus forging a dynamic partnership. Big […]
Cover Story: Touch And Go 3
[ 1 ] [ 2 ] 3 Independent Worms The Butthole Surfers, who left Touch And Go in 1991, found themselves with a sizable radio hit, “Pepper,” in 1996. As Ian MacKaye puts it, “Unfortunately bad people have a way of perverting good ideas. That’s the way it is. I’m not trying to say The […]
Touch And Go Block Party Preview
Hideout Block Party Preview Twenty-five bands in three days? Are the Neo-Futurists involved? Unlike some other gargantuan summer fests, The Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia) and Touch And Go kick things off Friday evening. Then it never stops.
Mississippi Amersterdam
Big Bill Broonzy: Amsterdam Live Concerts 1953 (Munich) is a double-CD package of musical and historical significance. The recordings capture Chicago via Mississippi legend Big Bill Broonzy in an intimate setting before appreciative crowds at the Ons Huis (Our House) club on February 26th and 28th, 1953. The liner notes provide a glimpse of Broonzy’s […]
Studio Happenings
The Countdown recorded and mixed at THE MATTRESS FACTORY in Chicago with Martin Atkins (PIL, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface), owner of Invisible Records. They are working on a full-length album, which will be the follow-up to the 2004 EP Scratch & Sniff. The LP will be released this winter.
Not-So-Sacred Cow
We were never fans of Erich “Mancow” Muller, the libertarian shock jock who started drawing young male listeners to him like flies when he came to Chicago in 1994. But we were not pleased when Emmis Communications-owned WKQX-FM (101.1) dumped his top-rated “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse” in July.
Roll With It
GRETSCH G400JV Archtop Guitar Fresh from his victorious performance at FitzGerald’s, Jimmie Vaughan has a new piece of signature hardware to show off.
A Trip To The Moon
You’re older/shorter of breathe/ and one day closer to death.” Pink Floyd’s overview of how quickly time ravages is certainly true for most everything and everyone except of course, the iconic album from which those verses were taken: Dark Side Of The Moon. Originally released in 1973, the legendary concept album spent almost 15 straight […]
Local CD Reviews
Page [1] [2] Absolutely Perfect deliver an amalgam of lo-fi, guitar-driven rock. With slick, melodic touches such as the agile guitar leads reminiscent of Pretty Girls Make Graves, on “4crease,” and huge, angular riffs on “Burner” and “Ghetto Fabulous,” they show off technical virtuosity that suits their hard rock. Surprisingly, they also toss in phrases […]
Around Hear Page 2
Page [1] [2] Split Series Vol. One (Bone) consists of 11 tracks, the first five by After The Fight, the second six by #HighBall#. Both bands do the emo-punk thing with enough spastic energy and piledriving riffs worthy of any faux hawk-laden mosh pit. But while After The Fight’s rhythm section hit harder, Highball’s hit […]
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