Weekly
Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara preview
Millennium Park, Chicago Thursday, July 16, 2009 Robert Plant isn’t the only member of his band to have a feel for African and Middle Eastern sounds. Of course, you could credit guitarist Justin Adams for merely being sold on the idea of Juldeh Camara’s weapon of choice: the west African spike fiddle.
Pitchfork Music Festival preview
Union Park, Chicago Friday, July 17 to Sunday July 19, 2009 While we’re still waiting for Pitchfork to hire one of the black-metal bands they wrote so much about in 2008, there is a change in store for this weekend’s festival that proves they’re paying attention.
Judson Claiborne preview
Schubas, Chicago Monday, July 20, 2009 Former Low Skies frontman Christopher C. Salveter and band Judson Claiborne continues their July Schubas residency, spilling stories and playing covers that, for one reason or another, were ill-suited to his former band’s swooning dynamics.
Dave Matthews Band reviewed
Big Whiskey & The Groogrux King (RCA) Big Whiskey & The Groogrux King will go down as the album Dave Matthews Band were making when saxophonist LeRoi Moore died, not that you’d know from the recording. Appearing: July 18th and 19th at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI.
Brand New live!
Subterranean, Chicago Tuesday, July 7, 2009 In the first half of the decade, a new class of sensitive artists emerged and were quickly embraced by wristband-clad teenagers everywhere, epitomized by vulnerable acts like Chris Carrabba’s precious, whisper-laden Dashboard Confessional. Yet among all the new sensitivity and tales of boys with broken hearts, Levittown, New York’s […]
Balthrop Alabama preview
Reggie’s Music Joint, Chicago Thursday, July 9, 2009 When this ragtag batch of Alabaman New Yorkers opened for Dawn Landes at Hideout last year, it was hard not to daydream a sequel to Waiting For Guffman, where Corky grows disillusioned and moves to Brooklyn.
Cryptacize previewed
Hideout, Chicago Friday, July 10, 2009 It’s ludicrous to guess the intentions behind anyone’s art, but with Mythomania it feels like Cryptacize actually see a future in what they’re doing.
Micachu & The Shapes preview
Schubas, Chicago Monday, July 13, 2009 Though the “chu” attached to Mica Levi’s first name refers to her hybrid guitar, it’s also an appropriate description of her music. It’s as if, short on ink for a Rorschach test, she sneezed on staff paper instead.
Ryan Bingham reviewed
Roadhouse Sun (Lost Highway) Of the criticisms levelled against Ryan Bingham’s major-label debut, Mescalito, was its obsession with establishing the author in a fabric of hobos, grifters, and drifters, an attempt to build cred through self-mythology. Appearing: Saturday, July 11 at Martyrs in Chicago.
Sonic Youth live!
Vic Theatre, Chicago Saturday, June 27, 2009 Sonic Youth have always seemed like a band who shouldn’t exist. Or, more specifically, should no longer exist. In their embryonic stages, the New York-based quartet (stretched into a five-piece for this tour by adding ex-Pavement bassist Mark Ibold) could barely play their instruments. So they improvised […]
The Horse’s Ha preview
Schubas, Chicago Friday, July 3, 2009 Chicagoans Janet Bean (Eleventh Dream Day) and Jim Elkington (The Zincs) have made their Horse’s Ha side-project official. Sommeliers across the county can relax, as they’ve moved on to more salt-of-the-earth venues like Schubas.
Cage preview
Reggie’s, Chicago Tuesday, July 7, 2009 Cage has never really been the typical MC, but within the past four years, the New Yorker has moved further into his own alternative sonic existence.
Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood live!
United Center, Chicago Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Considering the nucleus of Blind Faith hadn’t toured together since 1969, it was particularly monumental when Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood performed a short set together at Bridgeview’s Toyota Park in 2007 as part of the Crossroads Guitar Festival. Given that evening’s rave reviews and the pair’s unfathomable […]
Better Than Ezra preview
House Of Blues, Chicago Saturday, June 27, 2009 Most people you’d ask either love or hate Better Than Ezra, but the reason is probably the same: they’re full of hooks and they’re pretty good at fishing an audience with them. The band have never taken themselves too seriously, opting instead to show their fans […]
King Sunny Ade & Femi Kuti preview
Ravinia Festival, Highland Park Wednesday, July 1, 2009 Nigeria might be notorious for constant political turmoil, but there’s another constant in Nigerian culture that everyone should experience at least once: participating in a raucous Nigerian party with non-stop music. If you don’t have any Nigerian friends, not to worry, Ravinia is throwing a blockbuster Nigerian […]
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