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Local CD Reviews
On his 10th studio album, East Side Soul, it’s obvious Phil Angotti has logged an awful lot of hours writing, recording, and playing folk music.
Around Hear Page 2
The four guys in Feature Presentation seem destined to do their small town of Manteno proud. The 10 tracks on their sparkingly produced debut CD, To You The Past, And The Questions Left Unanswered, bristle with energetic, ultra-tight pop power-punk. They separate themselves from the Fall Out Boy aesthetic with more technical guitar skills among […]
Around Hear Page 3
O’Neill And Wean are so syrupy with their acoustic, barstool wisdom, but they’re also tricky, convoluted popsters. The You Are Beautiful EP plunges through the sweet of the heart while mining for bile. “I Found Out” spits deranged eulogies for the still-breathing: “We’ll be dead,” cries lead singer Billy O’Neill (oh my god) before “Na […]
Sing With The Band
DigiTech Vocalist Live 2 DigiTech‘s Vocalist Live 2 harmonizer aims to make “chipmunk” harmonies a thing of the past by employing musIQ technology, which reproduces multi-part harmony by analyzing guitar chords.
A Third Down & Ten
Trent Modglin had the idea of starting a cultural magazine years ago. “I was close to turning 30 and said, ‘If I don’t do it now, I’m never going to do it,’” says the DeKalb-area native. “I didn’t want to look back when I was 40 and say, ‘I wish I’d done that magazine about […]
Shirk Music – Not Duty
Great things happen at the annual South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Between the bands on every street corner and the consumption of Lone Star beer, networking on a massive scale takes place and big ideas are born (usually within the vicinity of a bar). During such a BBQ-drenched night, a few Miami […]
Like Father, Like Son
Renowned actor Stan Shaw (Roots, Harlem Nights, The Great Santini, Fried Green Tomatoes) helped kick off the Bronzeville Film Festival in June, at the Carruthers Center For Inner City Studies at Northeastern University. Shaw was there to talk about his upcoming film Roots Of My Father, Blues Royalty, a documentary about his famous father, Handy […]
Hello, My Name Is Paul
Hello, My Name Is Paul Q&A With Paul Stanley IE: You went to high school intending to be an artist, right? Paul Stanley: Yeah, the one that movie Fame was based on. There was two parts to the school. One was performing arts and the other was music and art. So I went there for […]
Cover story: Crossroads Guitar Festival
Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Fest The Last Stand? In the 20th century, only the automobile rivaled the guitar as an American icon of personal freedom, expression, and rebellion. The explosion is more owed to the electric models, though acoustic guitars traveled the pre-war countryside and established blues and country music traditions. Appearing: July 28th at […]
Fionn Regan interview
Fionn Regan Choose, Chose, Chosen Irishman Fionn Regan’s wry sense of humor often gets buried beneath his mystically serious songs and deadpan demeanor. But one look at the music video for “Be Good Or Be Gone,” the first single off his debut album, The End Of History (Lost Highway), shows a 26-year-old with his tongue […]
1997 interview
1997 A Year By Any Other Name “We used to tell people a lot of different things, that, y’know, it’s the year Titanic came out, so we named it after that, just stupid stuff like that. [Or the] year that we all lost our virginity — but, we were 10 and 11, so, it really […]
Jason Isbell interview
Jason Isbell Not Far From The Tree Let’s get the answer to “The Question” out of the way first. Why did Jason Isbell, one of Drive-By Truckers’ three frontmen and the man responsible for songs such as “Outfit” and “Danko/Manuel,” leave the band? “I hate to say ‘creative differences’ because everyone always says that,” Isbell […]
Marnie Stern interview
Marnie Stern Tap Dancing Marnie Stern has some good news and some bad news. The good news: She taught herself how to shred, she built her own Web site, she played South By Southwest alone with her guitar and iPod, and she finally has a CD in stores. Appearing: July 3 at Abbey Pub in […]
Novembers Doom feature
Novembers Doom Dark Waters “I live in pain continuously,” says Novembers Doom frontman Paul Kuhr from an otherwise chipper-sounding home in suburban Lyons. “I’m sorry, hold on one second.”
Can I Get A Reissue?!
Everything Old is…Still Old, They Just Sound Better An unheralded reason for the decline in CD sales is people are no longer replacing vinyl. While some music is still finding its way to digital media, we’ll also help you decide if you should replace the CDs you already have.
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