Weekly
Destruction & Mantic Ritual preview
Destruction, Mantic Ritual Pearl Room, Mokena Thursday, March 12, 2009 Old-schoolers love to gripe about the “new wave of thrash metal” — what gives kids who weren’t born when The Legacy came out the right to play this music? –but that’s a whole article in and of itself. Whether you do or don’t like bands […]
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives preview
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives Double Door, Chicago Friday, March 13, 2009 There are 24 hours in a day, so why not 24 songs to commemorate them? That’s the thinking behind The Soundtrack Of Our Lives’ double album (unless they’re playing down a Fox tie-in).
Red Red Meat preview
Red Red Meat Empty Bottle, Chicago March 17-18, 2009 Following their own 20th-anniversary, Sub Pop Records celebrate the double-decade reign of Nirvana’s Bleach by re-releasing Bunny Gets Paid from Chicago’s Red Red Meat. Eh?
Mazes reviewed
Mazes Mazes (Parasol) This side-project from the South Side’s 1900s should naturally feel lonely without most of the members present. Appearing: Thursday, March 12th at Schubas in Chicago.
Shiny Toy Guns live!
Shiny Toy Guns Gallery 1028, Chicago Thursday, February 26, 2009 Click here to see more Shiny Toy Guns live pics. It can be nearly impossible to keep a secret in our leak-friendly world these days, but Grammy-nominated dance rock act Shiny Toy Guns decided to try it anyway. In a cross-promotion with NBC, they offered […]
Jimmy Eat World live!
Jimmy Eat World Metro, Chicago Saturday, February 28, 2009 In 1999, a little-known college radio act out of Mesa, Arizona released an album entitled Clarity. To say the record received no fanfare, let alone even any notice, and landed without a sound would be an understatement, just as it would be to note Clarity would […]
Asobi Seksu preview
Asobi Seksu Empty Bottle, Chicago Thursday, March 5, 2009 Where a host of bands smear gallons of washed-out guitars and challenge their ethereal vocals to fight through, Asobi Seksu brandish a love for Tin Pan pop and girl groups.
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead preview
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago Friday, March 6, 2009 When And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead released Source Tags & Codes, their 2002 major-label debut, it appeared the group would stand as one of the new millennium’s premiere art-rock darlings. Yet underwhelming […]
Those Darlins preview
Those Darlins Metro, Chicago Friday, March 6, 2009 Kelley, Jessi, and Nikki Darlin’s Pabst-swillin’, air rifle-shootin’, Daisy Duke-wearin’ rednecktastic image might be exaggerated to better suite Those Darlins’ old-time country music. They might not be, too. Both Nikki and Jessi allegedly spent portions of their childhoods in electricity-and-plumbing-less poverty – hardships few of us have […]
Ian McLagan & The Bump Band preview
Ian McLagan & The Bump Band FitzGerald’s, Berwyn Saturday, March 7, 2009 Life dealt Ian McLagan a pretty stout hand. As keyboardist for the Small Faces and Faces, he got to contribute some, imbibe a lot, and generally let Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, and Rod Stewart deal with the press. He even got to parlay […]
Susan Werner reviewed
Susan Werner Classics (Sleeve Dog) Adult-alternative singer-songwriter Susan Werner manages something unintended on her latest album. A collection of covers, some of what she calls Classics are nearly proven to be anything but. Appearing: Saturday, March 7th at Old Town School Of Folk Music.
Blitzen Trapper live!
Blitzen Trapper Empty Bottle, Chicago Thursday, February 19, 2009 Which version of Blitzen Trapper do you prefer? The acoustic Dylan worshippers? The stomping students of Neil Young? The feverish punk rockers? The swampy psychedelic love child of a merger between The Black Crowes and Led Zeppelin?
The Submarines live!
The Submarines Schubas, Chicago Tuesday, February 17, 2009 Much like a Chicago summer, The Submarines breeze in and out with little fanfare, a heaping dose of sunshine, and the promise of wishful thinking turning into reality.
Appleseed Cast preview
The Appleseed Cast Bottom Lounge, Chicago Friday, February 27, 2009 Back in college, The Appleseed Cast and me were best buds. We were into the jagged side of Sunny Day Real Estate, a land where bands like Mineral and Joan Of Arc made welts on their arms by tying guitar strings around them. That poppy […]
Burn Halo preview
Burn Halo Allstate Arena, Rosemont Friday, February 27, 2009 I swear (by the moon and the stars and the sky), swear, swear, swear, that when I was plotting the angle of this “Stage Buzz” while listening to Burn Halo’s self-titled debut, I had no idea the group was opening for Avenged Sevenfold.










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