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Around Hear Page 2
Tempering their jittery new wave urgings with a solid pop sensibility tweaked by an ever-so-slight emo turn gives July Fourth‘s five-song Curtain Of Stars a richness that belies the band’s power trio line-up. Solid drumming keeps these guys’ faces from falling into their shoes or getting too sloggy-proggy for their own good, such that the […]
Around Hear Page 3
On Conversations With A Chamelion Pugs Atomz proves he has moved well beyond his days as a punchline-driven rapper. The chipmunk soul beats provided by Colin Response and others may not be innovative, but they surely set the stage for Pugs to paint verbal portraits of life in a complex city (“The Outlaw”) and equally […]
Crack Music
Jason Novak is busy right now. Really busy. It’s 11:30 a.m.-ish on a Thursday morning in September and the Acumen Nation frontman/guitarist/songwriter is tending to his sick daughter, who is home from school with the flu, supervising the painter working on a new addition in his house, trying to finish some Flash web work (Novak […]
An Apple A Day
APPlE. Inc iMac Somewhat lost among the hoopla of the iPhone and the new-generation iPods, Apple Computer “quietly” introduced its newest iMac last month.
Jazz Hands
WNUA-FM (95.5)’s Ramsey Lewis is not the only game in town when it comes to jazz musicians moonlighting as DJs. Sax player Bruce Gibson and bass guitarist Nick Calabrese co-host a show called “Local Jazz Focus” each Tuesday night from 7 to 9 on Triton College’s WRRG-FM (88.9). They’ve had a whole host of musicians […]
Paradise Behind The Console
Michael Kolar recently took one of the biggest leaps in his five years of owning Soundscape Studios: moving from a hidden space within a factory on Fulton Street to a bustling building in the recently revitalized near South Side. Sitting in the deluxe, custom-designed Red Room of his new studio on South Wabash, the engineer […]
Bringing It All Back Home
Eric Bibb comes from a musical place. His father, folk-singer Leon Bibb, made a name for himself in the 1960s New York folk scene, his uncle was John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and the legendary Paul Robeson was his godfather. Bibb grew up surrounded by musical icons. Bob Dylan advised him to “keep […]
Cover Story: Common
Common Forever And Ever It’s hard not to treat an interview/lunch with South Side-born rapper Common like a solemn occasion. He prays before he eats (mahi mahi with a side of fries). He’s impeccably dressed — pink dress shirt, grey vest, striped tie, self-promoted Sofi newsboy cap — and his speaking voice is considerably lower […]
The Magic Numbers interview
The Magic Numbers Shyness Follows Prone to fits of giggling, Michele Stodart is just returning from her brother Romeo’s flat where the two 20-somethings engaged in a bit of a spat. While the occasional temper flare-up between siblings doesn’t surprise anyone who has one, the Stodarts’ unique position puts them in continuous close range and […]
Peter Himmelman interview
Peter Himmelman PIGEONHOLED! Peter Himmelman used to be famous for three reasons: 1) being a critically acclaimed rock ‘n’ roll singer-songwriter signed to major labels (Island in the 1980s, Epic in the ’90s), 2) being an observant Jew who became the first performer of note since the Scottish Olympian Eric Liddell to jeopardize his career […]
Hello, My Name Is Tom
Hello, My Name Is Tom Q&A With Tom Smith of Editors IE: The lyrical phrases that keep popping up on your new An End Has A Start are bones, flesh, and death. Tom Smith: Heh-heh. Yeah. A lot of the songs do have me mulling over or thinking about things coming to an end. But […]
Michael McDermott interview
Michael McDermott Born Again, And Again, And Again It’s a flashback to the summer of 1991 — meeting in an Irish pub where everyone seems to know Michael McDermott, listening to stories behind the songs on his latest record. But there is something distinctly different about McDermott since we sat down for a cover-story interview […]
Colette Interview
Colette When Push Came To Shove As a DJ, Colette performs more than a hundred shows a year from the diverse worlds of Coachella, The Grammys, and an ongoing residency at Chicago’s very own Smart Bar, while simultaneously setting trends for females behind the turntables. As a recording artist, the switch hitter from Chi-town (who […]
Qui interview
THE LIZARD KING OF QUI David Yow, Resurrected David Yow spent the ’90s laying waste to the alternative scene he grew to represent. As frontman for Chicago noise-rock kingpins The Jesus Lizard, Yow made a career out of sadomasochistic stage antics. He mocked Soundgarden, hurled cans of beer at fans, rubbed strangers, and wrenched his […]
File: September 2007
I mean It This Time Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen swears his new album, The Last Sucker (13th Planet/Megaforce; September 18th), is Ministry’s last. At least until they release their very last record, Cover Up, an all-covers set planned for 2008. Among the tracks included will be previously released material such as Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut” and […]
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