Decibelle Festival features Miss Kittin, The Gits, Michelle Tea and more
[Above: Miss Kittin]Running Sept. 23-27, the 2008 Decibelle Festival may have ditched its slightly squirm-worthy former moniker, Estrojam, but the five-day event’s goal of uniting women in the arts and highlighting their accomplishments remains firm.... read more
Live Review: Cut Copy, Presets @ Metro 9/17
“Lights And Music” were on everyone’s mind on Wednesday night as Australian electropop darlings Cut Copy played their hit single and many more from In Ghost Colours to an adrenaline-fueled, capacity crowd at the Metro.... read more
Chicago's World Music Festival spans the globe for 10th year
[Above: Chicha Libre]With enough persistence, cuisine from nearly every world culture can be sampled throughout Chicago within a year, and this weekend, music from nearly every culture can be sampled within a week at Chicago's World Music Festival. Now in its 10th year, the largest and longest running international music festival in the world is accessible to all Chicagoans with its combination of free and ticketed performances.... read more
Hideout Block Party features the New Pornographers, Drunken Spelling Bee, Michael Jackson tribute and more
Home to the out-of-place and in-between, the Hideout welcomes locals and musicians of any and all persuasions to the industrial North Branch along the Chicago River year-round. And even after a summer full of stacked festivals rolling through the city (Lollapalooza, Pitchfork Musical Festival and myriad neighborhood fests), the annual Hideout Block Party is one of the most anticipated by Chicagoans.... read more
Celebrate Bob Gendron's 33 1/3 contribution at Hideout tonight
The 33 1/3 book series, which features noted authors musing on seminal albums, recently released Gentlemen, Bob Gendron's in-depth look at the Afghan Whigs' 1993 LP. To celebrate, the author will hold a book release and signing party at Hideout tonight, Tuesday, September 16th. According to Gendron, a fellow Chicago Tribune freelance music critic, Gentlemen is one of only a handful of 33 1/3 titles that contain original interviews with the band members and those close to them conducted specifically for the book.... read more
Chicago's Albany Park flooded by record rainfall
[Above: Bohemian National Cemetery]Today, my neighbors in Albany Park began a long cleanup after a weekend that dumped a record 7-plus inches of rain on Chicago in 24 hours. The hardest hit of the city neighborhoods, Albany Park’s location next to the Chicago River proved disastrous for many residents as the swollen river overflowed on to Foster Avenue. By early Saturday evening, the entire area was blocked off to through traffic, and by 6:30 p.m. the Office of Emergency Management and Communications was performing reverse calls to area residents informing them of a shelter at a nearby police department.... read more
Kanye West's new album to debut Dec. 16?
Maybe Kanye West wasn't joking about... read more
Local H plays Block Party, hits the road in Angry Months ahead
Chicago scene mainstays Local H will be hitting the road with Electric Six after playing the Q101 Block Party this Sunday. They'll be touring behind their recent concept album, 12 Angry Months (Shout! Factory), which centers on the differing stages of a breakup unfolding throughout a calendar year, and finds the one-time late-era grunge act venturing into more expansive territory, including more vulnerable acoustic fare.... read more
Live Review: Spiritualized @ Metro 9/8
Fire, death, the soul, drugged-up bliss: Jason Pierce, the force behind Spiritualized, navigated his favorite heavy topics at Metro on Monday, but even during the deepest of lyrical explorations Pierce remained composed, hidden behind sunglasses, standing in profile to the crowd.... read more
Dianogah: Qhnnnl
Something new (again) from an old favoriteYou really can rely on Dianogah. Besides the obvious sturdiness of the bass-bass-drums lineup and an established tradition of pushing the envelope of post-rock, the very fact that the band will pull something new out of its formidable hat every time out has become more or less an expectation. This time around, on fourth full-length Qhnnnl, it’s a newfound attitude towards the heavily layered, melodic drive that’s defined the band for the bulk of its 13-year career. Dianogah’s usual propensity towards oscillating rhythms and challenging composition has given way to playful experimentation with vocals... read more
Live Review: Andrew Bird @ Pritzker Pavilion 9/3
[Above: Bird and his flock in a video projection onstage at Pritzker.]Don’t be fooled by the violin: The mild-mannered Andrew Bird is actually a badass superhero, capable of launching NASA missions from his loop pedal. Looking like Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther and sounding like his namesake avian counterparts, the diminutive multi-instrumentalist captivated a rapt crowd at Chicago’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion on Sept. 3.... read more
"Keep the Fire" with yacht rock (on an actual yacht) this Saturday
Ah, smooth jams. Hall & Oates, Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Steely Dan, The Eagles: For some, the songs inspired slow dancing, and for others it’s the very music that brought them into this world. “Yacht Rock,” a surprise hit web TV series that spins the hilarious (fictional) tales behind those come-on tunes, gave the genre a new name and also inspired DJ nights across the globe. Chicago was no exception.... read more
Smashing Pumpkins to release single via Guitar Hero
The Smashing Pumpkins will release their new single, “G.L.O.W.,” as part of the Guitar Hero: World Tour video game, before releasing it to the public.... read more
Drag City dredges archives for celebration of art and music
[Above: Detail of Emily Price's original embroidery for the cover of Joanna Newsom's The Milk-Eyed Mender.]Launched in 1989 and now home to time-honored, rock-solid acts including the Silver Jews, The Red Krayola, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and comic freak Neil Hamburger, Chicago's Drag City is a label with a distinct personality: Playful, colorful and amorphous, but weary of the pains and struggles of the world that cheery pop music can't mask. In that same vein of duality, Drag City isn't just about music, but also the visual art with which it runs hand in hand: Album covers, show posters, even the... read more
Sugar, We're Going Down Running: Paste:Local Takes On the Nike+ Human Race
[Above: The author celebrates an unlikely accomplishment to the sweet sounds of Fall Out Boy.]On Sunday, 25 cities around the world participated in Nike+ Human Race. Billed as the “World’s Biggest One-Day Running Event,” the 10K jaunt culminated in music concerts held in each city: Chicago got locally-grown Fall Out Boy, while hometown boy Kanye West teamed up with Common in Los Angeles. Joining close to 14,000 other Chicago runners, the largest turnout of any U.S. city participating in the global run, was one of the most exhilarating and intimidating things I’ve done in a long while. For a 30-something... read more
Nike+ Human Race takes off on Sunday, Fall Out Boy to serenade exhausted 10K-ers
On Sunday, more than 10,000 runners are expected to participate in the Nike+ Human Race Chicago, being touted as the "World's Biggest One-Day Running Event"-- and it's not too late to join them. The 10K course flanks the Field Museum campus, routes around Lakeshore Drive and culminates at Soldier Field where runners can see Chicago’s own Fall Out Boy in concert. Middle distance runner Dathan Ritzenhein will also attend the local festivities. While several cities are already sold out, Chicagoans can still register at NikePlus.com.... read more
Live Review: Mahjongg, Yea Big + Kid Static @ Schubas 8/28
Local acts Yea Big + Kid Static brought the funk and Mahjongg brought the noise to Schubas on Thursday night, but the music was put on hold while another Chicago-based act, Barack Obama, accepted the Democratic party's presidential nomination in Denver.“We'd like to thank Obama for opening for us tonight,” Stefen Robinson, aka Yea Big, humbly said a few songs into the set. Yea (pronounced "yay") Big embodies geek hip-hop: His scraggly beard and nerdy glasses are topped off with a sweatband to hold back his thick, short curly hair, while his track short-shorts and tube socks assure you this... read more
Gallery 400 offers "A Visual Introduction to Drag City"
Only one year away from 20 in existence, local label Drag City has established itself through both the audible and visual art produced by its roster of musicians. Now through October 4, Gallery 400 hosts "Chances are the Comets in Our Future: A Visual Introduction to Drag City," featuring artwork, album covers and more from Drag City artists new (Singer), old (Gastr del Sol) and eternal (The Red Krayola).... read more
Live Review: Ezra Furman & The Harpoons @ Schubas 8/25/08
The slight, exceedingly quirky, and often rambling young frontman may have appeared awkward in-between his songs, but Ezra Furman displayed all the confidence and swagger of a pro while playing them. As the final performance of Furman and his bands' month-long Schubas residency, the show, featuring almost all new material, was sold out. Not too shabby, considering that it was a Monday night that began sparsely with opener J-Roddy Walston, who delivered a raucous and revved-up piano-driven set to, unfortunately, only a handful of people.... read more
Andre Williams learning to Deal With It at age 72
Meeting the charming, lanky and surprisingly subdued underground legend Andre Williams, one would never guess the many lifetimes he has lived. At the age of 72, he has spent a half-century making music, with some estimated 300 tracks registered to BMI. Yet, Williams' longtime struggle with drug addiction rendered him homeless in the 80s, stalled the recording of his most recent album and nearly cost him his life.... read more
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