Weekly
Eve 6 preview
Eve 6 Chicago City Limits, Schaumburg Friday, January 25, 2008 Eve 6 are an all-too familiar music industry horror story: They scored a big hit on each of their first two albums, but were abandoned by their label nonetheless when their third was a dud. Now, after a three-year hiatus, the pop punk band return.
Supersuckers preview
Supersuckers Brauerhouse, Hillside Thursday, January 24, 2008 Friday, January 25, 2008 Supersuckers will never lack for identity. Even when they made a “country” album, their whiskey-drenched, biker-punk rock had a habit of baring its teeth. And though for a while it seemed they wrote songs simply to go with new song titles, their intensity never […]
State Of The City Address
How does Chicago rank as a music town compared to industry havens New York and Los Angeles and smaller, yet powerful centers of the biz like Austin and Nashville? Find out at a panel discussion sponsored by the nonprofit Chicago Music Commission on Thursday, January 24th at 6 p.m. in the Harris Theater For Music […]
Rhymefest reviewed
Rhymefest Man In The Mirror mixtape (self-released free download) Who knows what kind of megalomaniacal festivities we’re in for with the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller this year (there’s already a masturbatorial video tribute on his homepage) — maybe Neverland Ranch will transform into a spaceship and finally take Jacko home. Chicago rapper Rhymefest, […]
T. Duggins preview
T. Duggins, Nate Van Allen Beat Kitchen, Chicago Friday, January 18, 2008 The Tossers will officially celebrate St. Patty’s Day with a hometown blowout at Metro on March 14th, but fans should consider frontman Tony Duggins’ solo gig Friday night for a sampling of the band’s past and present.
A Verse Unsung preview
A Verse Unsung DePaul University, Chicago Sunday, January 20, 2008 Some kids spend their senior year of high school applying to colleges and the following summer gearing up for the big move/life change that inevitably comes with heading off to a university setting. The fellas in A Verse Unsung did, in fact, experience some life-changing […]
Wu-Tang reviewed
Wu-Tang Clan 8 Diagrams (Wu Music/Universal Motown) Fourteen years removed from their debut, Wu-Tang Clan’s fifth album was undercut upon release by protestations within the band about 8 Diagrams‘ direction and the false-alarm announcement it contained a cleared sample of The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
Thomas Ian Nicholas reviewed
Thomas Ian Nicholas Without Warning (self-released) The fact Thomas Ian Nicholas played “Kevin Myers” in the American Pie movies shouldn’t lead you to disparage his music. (He was also in Radio Flyer, Halloween: Resurrection, and some “Party Of Five” episodes if you think you need extra help forming your opinion.) The songs themselves are ammo […]
The Dresden Dolls live!
The Dresden Dolls Vic Theatre, Chicago Saturday, January 5, 2008 When you describe your music as “Brechtian punk cabaret,” like The Dresden Dolls do, you very well might be relegating yourself to underground, or cult status, for the length of your career. But something weird is happening with The Dolls: More and more people are […]
Lacona preview
Lacona Empty Bottle, Chicago Thursday, January 10, 2008 Since releasing two not-so-telling singles back in May, local outfit Lacona finally have a full-length release in hand. And the results curiously span a spectrum from glossy numbers akin to fellow area Ashlee Simpson-courting groups (minus the bombast, of course) to D.I.Y.-ethos barn burners.
Tomorrow Never Knows preview
Tomorrow Never Knows Festival Schubas, Chicago January 16 – 20, 2008 Schubas’ annual “January sucks” festival might be its deepest yet, featuring headliners John Vanderslice, Bobby Conn, The Redwalls, White Williams, and The Walkmen.
Lupe Fiasco reviewed
Lupe Fiasco Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool (Atlantic) It would be hasty to call Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool a sophomore slump, yet the second album from the righteous hometown rhymer isn’t as sonically satisfying as his 2006 debut.
Leigh Marble reviewed
Leigh Marble Red Tornado (Laughing Stock) Rootsy Portland singer-songwriter Leigh Marble has a crossbow full of rusty arrows ready for his second album, though its bookends have to duke it out with a soggy middle.
Back in the new year
Weekly Non-Update Illinois Entertainer would like to wish you and your family a happy holiday. Our next online update will be Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008. We hope to see you then.
Duran Duran live
Duran Duran Chicago Theatre, Chicago Friday, December 14, 2007 For those who think Duran Duran went off the deep end by working with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake on its new CD, step outside the ’80s and consider the basics. To start with, Red Carpet Massacre (Epic), is loaded with robust beats destined for the dance […]
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