Columns
Around Hear: October 2012
Counterfeit I takes pride in being unconventional on A Glimpse, An Eclipse, right down to using titles like “. . .” and “(r)this.” The band opts for a harder guitar sound than on its first two releases, creating a sonic landscape marked with battlefields, industrial beats, shouted vocals, and abrupt tempo changes. The fast-paced “Smile” […]
Caught In A Mosh: October 2012
It never fails. Friends grow up, record stores shutter, liner notes shrink, columnists retire, and servers get hacked. But one tried-and-true way of discovering underground music will always remain: the cover song. This writer had never heard of Death In June – possibly the darkest folk group – before Nachtmystium covered “Rose Clouds Of Holocaust” […]
Digital Divide: October 2012
The Cabin In The Woods Lionsgate The Avengers Lionsgate If anyone had a better summer at the box office than Joss Whedon, I sure couldn’t tell you who it was. Not only did he direct the highest grossing film of the year, but another one of his projects finally saw the light of day after […]
File: October 2012
TO COMMON, WITH LUV Common urges Chicago’s youth to stop the violence. This comes mere weeks after local rapper Lil Jojo (Joseph Coleman, 18) was gunned down on the streets of Englewood and inflammatory tweets posted on musical rival Chief Keef‘s (Keith Cozart, 17) profile caused police to investigate the rising star in connection to […]
Gear: October 2012
Steve Vai Ocean Way Mic Locker App With Apple’s new iPhone 5 release flooding stores this month, the timing is right for guitarist/composer Steve Vai (in collaboration with acclaimed microphone expert Allen Sides and Metal Sidecar, LLC) to release the Ocean Way Microphone Locker App. The company calls it an “indispensable and vital tool for […]
Media: October 2012
I recently had a driveway moment while listening to Loyola University’s WLUW-FM (87.7). The host was doing an in-depth, hour-long retrospective on Daft Punk – whom I’d never heard. Yet I couldn’t stop listening. The way the show’s host, Steve Damien, used live and pre-recorded interviews with full-length versions of songs to tell the story […]
Studiophile: October 2012
Following the untimely death of legendary Grammy-winning songwriter and studio boffin Joe South, the owner of SONGWERKS RECORDING in Addison, Robert Mackey, took time to reflect on his professional friendship with South (pictured above left, with Mackey) who performed on his band’s (AVM) cover of “Hush,” (made famous by Deep Purple), recorded at Songwerks. “It […]
Sweet Home: October 2012
With the decidedly testosterone-filled focus of contemporary blues, it’s easy to forget that the genre was popularized at the beginning of the last century by a handful of spirited women. Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, and Ida Cox all helped usher in the era of recorded blues records and Memphis Minnie, with her finely-honed […]
Hello, My Name Is Elliot
IE: How difficult is it to collaborate with your sister [Natalie Bergman] in Wild Belle? Isn’t the point of growing up to escape your relatives? Elliot Bergman: There’s benefits and drawbacks because we’re very close. We’re pulling from all the same reference points. We grew up knowing all the same songs. She grew up stealing […]
50 years of the Rolling Stones in pictures
Veteran music journalist Hanspeter Kuenzler can pinpoint the exact date The Rolling Stones came rushing into his life with the bravado and swagger that still defines the iconic rock band.
Sweet Home: September 2012
There’s no question that the blues serves as the foundation for traditional American music genres, but it’s easy to forget that it doesn’t necessarily have to take a musical form. The blues can flow through words, movements, and sensibilities. It can inform literature, dance, visual art, and theater. The eta Creative Arts Foundation illustrates this […]
Media: September 2012
Chicago is one of the most talented cities in the country as comedians, actors, artists, bands, indie filmmakers, etc,” says Craig Erpelding, creator and writer and co-producer of the new, independently-produced local sitcom, “Two Flat.” “I felt it was a tragedy that sitcoms that are supposed to take place in Chicago are really produced in […]
Digital Divide: September 2012
The Hunger Games Lionsgate Full disclosure: The latest and hottest young adult works of fiction have never quite been able to make an appearance on my reading list. Not because I’m a literary snob mind you (O.K., I’m a bit of a snob, sue me), but I stopped being the target audience more years ago […]
Caught In A Mosh: September 2012
We’ve been on that path for many years,” says a voice seven hours in the future. In Sweden, it is already dark. Ola Lindgren, vocalist/guitarist of Grave, assumes nothing while fielding foreign questions in preparation of Grave’s North American tour with Morbid Angel and Dark Funeral. He is referring to the no-frills gravel road his […]
Studiophile: September 2012
Chicago-based Empires recently finished recording their second full-length album, Garage Hymns at HEDGEHOG STUDIOS in Chicago. The band’s self-produced debut album, Howl, garnered a considerable amount of attention when it was released in 2008, and now (with its new release) the band feels that they have found the sound they’ve been searching for all along. […]
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