Nothing says “fun summer concert in a park by the beach” like epic stories of prog-rock posturing, right? What could be more appropriate music for the casual passersby culture of an outdoor festival than intricate storylines based on character-driven tales of the apocalypse? And who is better equipped for Chicago’s sweltering August heat than four […]
There are few things more nerve-racking than the literal translation of this Portland duo. A blind pilot flying a plane? Terrifying. Blind Pilot the band? Quirky and engaging. The band’s balancing act between Americana folk music and pure West Coast pop is the stuff of regional expectations. Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski draw from a […]
If anything is alive today, it certainly is glam rock…which makes Living Things so apropos. With the St. Louis ensemble’s third LP Habeas Corpus only a few months old, brothers Lillian, Eve and Bosh Berlin are certainly no strangers to the glam scene. And neither is their full-on throwback sound recalling the era of big […]
Depeche Mode is at its best when Dave Gahan is at his worst. Not that the mesmerizing frontman is ever bad on stage; audiences have hung on the 47-year-old raven-haired vocalist’s every word throughout his roughest patches. But it’s times when he’s not performing — like during his battles with heroin addiction, his much publicized […]
Lollapalooza is a big place and getting separated from your group is likely, but that’s what cell phones are for. In the case of a dead phone battery, however, I recommend coming up with a special whistle to help signal your friends. For this, Andrew Bird could certainly help. The 36-year-old singer/violinist/whistling extraordinaire sure knows […]
In what was not exactly a ringing endorsement for the way that fantasy rock operas usually translate on stage during a typical mid-August outdoor festival, Jethro Tull declined to play the inaugural Woodstock Festival in 1969. Then again, Led Zeppelin and The Doors also turned down the chance to perform at the historic “three days […]
Frequenting art galleries and nightclubs while moonlighting as a model, Donald Cummings is your regular NYC scenester. Then he locks himself away in his apartment, pens a few new wave-influenced songs, gets a little excitement going, and inks a major-label deal before the band is even solidified. Sound familiar? Of course it does. Cummings’ act, […]
Andy Hull’s small-town upbringing in Georgia’s Bible belt suited him so poorly that the Atlanta suburbanite ended up naming his band after a city 4,000 miles away — releasing five EPs and three LPs in the span of five years. By the time this year’s Mean Everything to Nothing was released, the young indie songwriter […]
There’s nothing Chicago-specific about Tortoise, except Tortoise itself. The June release of Beacons of Ancestorship marked the ensemble’s sixth studio LP for Chicago-based label Thrill Jockey and, throughout the years, band members have popped up in all things Windy City — from appearing in the film adaptation of Hi Fidelity to collaborating with local bands […]
Once upon a time Chicago was the coolest place on the planet. Liz Phair was lambasting our guys, Urge Overkill was saturating our trendiest hotspots while The Smashing Pumpkins were dreaming all over the city. A decade into Metro’s legacy and on the cusp of the Fireside’s brief-but-influential reign, the Windy City’s North Side was […]