Recent Articles
Come To España!
Spain Colored Orange Hopelessly Incapable Of Standing In The Way EP (Lucid) Well now’s the time to be a Cuban jazz fan and in an indie rock band.
Playing The Field
Field Music Field Music (Memphis Industries) Apparently there’s only 10 or so musicians in Sunderland, England, and they’re in either The Futureheads, Maximo Park, or Field Music here. Sometimes more than one.
Superelectropreview
Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid Empty Bottle, Chicago Wednesday, April 5, 2006 “All tracks are live takes with no overdubs or edits.” This sentence seems to be the mission statement of The Exchange Session Vol.1(Domino). It appears on both the CD insert and press release. A completely improvised, unedited blend of drums, percussion, and electronics, […]
Cover Story: Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys Street Fighting Men The buzz hadn’t officially begun yet. But already you could hear it, bumblebee-droning. Getting louder by the minute. The time: A few short months ago. The place: A hip, Anglophile-oriented nightclub in San Francisco during an early-evening soundcheck. The cast of characters: Colorful, to say the least, including a long-haired […]
Beth Orton
BethOrton Stranger Things Have Happened Talk to musicians enough, and phrases reminiscent of sports cliches make their way to the fore. It only makes sense: we have our stock questions; they have their stock answers. Only instead of giving 110 percent or taking one game at a time, there’s “We really love coming to your […]
Editors
Editors Out Back There’s a bit of a misconception about Britain’s bell-tolling new Quasimodo-combo Editors (no “the,” thank you very much — just Editors), and guitarist Chris Urbanowicz would like to clear this up in short order. Judging by the grim funereal pall swirling around The Back Room — the quartet’s hazy debut for Kitchenware/Epic […]
Ben Harper
Ben Harper Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell No one can blame Ben Harper for not wanting to discuss his personal life with a stranger. He’s embarking on a tour that will enliven his 18-song, two-disc Both Sides Of The Gun (Virgin), which follows the Grammy-winning album he made with The Blind Boys Of Alabama in 2004. […]
Buckcherry
Buckcherry What Happens In Buckcherry Stays In Buckcherry Like the hourly commercials you now see on TV prodding you to get into trouble in Las Vegas, Buckcherry is the Sin City of rock ‘n’ roll, egging you on to stop shoegazing and have some fucking fun. What once might have been too raunchy, too racy, […]
Just A Fire
Just A Fire Stop Don’t Start You could almost mistake it for intention, and think Just A Fire were just another indie rock band poking fun at conventional rock ‘n’ roll. The Chicago band’s debut album, Light Up (Asian Man), was recorded almost immediately after they formed, punk pragmatism at its best. But the next […]
Just A Fire cont’d
Click here to return to page one. That’s not to give the impression Just A Fire’s songs even approach such levels of the vanguard. Chaotic on the surface, where Chris Daly (ex-Check Engine) probes with asymmetric guitar figures in between staccato power chords, Erskine and Adamson play stop/start, left/right but never venture off the map. […]
Good Night, And Good Luck/Network
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK / NETWORK “SPECIAL EDITION” Warner Brothers In a 1961 speech to the National Association Of Broadcasters, FCC Chairman Newton Minnow challenged those in attendance to watch what they were producing and really look at what was on the air. If they could “keep [their] eyes glued to that set until […]
Build A Guitar!
If You Build It, They Will Strum The Chicago School Of Guitar Making Everybody plays guitar, right? Any musician’s classified section will turn up 10 or more guitar players for every bassist and keyboardist. Now, try to find someone to setup, maintain, or rewire all the instruments belonging to all those guitar players and the […]
Hello, My Name Is Jack
Q&A with the former Dire Straits guitarist, who put together this spring’s Guitarmageddon at Guitar Center. IE: Guitar Center’s Guitarmageddon contest is focused on finding the Next King Of The Blues? Jack Sonni: It’s never been focused on a particular genre like this, something we decided to do because it had become an exercise in […]
File For April
SO YOU WANNA BE A ROCK SUPERSTAR? On Saturday, March 11th, perhaps the first truly beautiful day of the year, a line outside the Elbo Room in Lincoln Park stretched all the way down the block. The gathering might not have looked particularly out of place at the venue except that it was mid-afternoon, not […]
Introducing The Blues
By Beverly Zeldin-Palmer During the month of February, a slice of Chicago’s rich musical history was revisited in the Vittum Theater’s musical production, I Dream In Blues. The play, dubbed a “bluesical” was conceived by singer and storyteller Katherine Davis and Tom Arvetis, artistic director of the Vittum. It is Davis’ autobiography in words and […]
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