There are a few constants worth betting on in rock ‘n’ roll. 1) Robert Smith will wear black. 2) Paul McCartney will wiggle his head when holding a note. And 3) a great Alex Chilton melody will get stuck in your head. Since his days as the teenage frontman for The Box Tops, Chilton has […]
If the hyper-intellectual members of the U.S. Supreme Court can’t define something as controversial as “pornography”, what chance do a bunch of record store clerks have at defining something as inconsequential as “emo?” Nevertheless, as the appointed judges of America’s highest court spend time dissecting the legal meaning of one word, bespectacled rock snobs exert […]
The media area at Chicago’s Lollapalooza feels a lot like Brazilian Carnaval. One side of the enclosed vicinity is lined with small tents, each wallpapered with countless logos of their respective outlets. MTV banners might bump up against the WXRT radio tent, which could border the Fuse broadcast booth, and so on down the seemingly […]
It’s two hours before Ben Kweller’s Chicago gig in mid-October, but the singer still has quite a bit to do. With sound check having just wrapped up, he has a pair of interviews to squeeze in between dinner and a meeting with the band to determine the evening’s play list. The January release of his […]
A half-hour before Girl Talk’s performance at this year’s Lollapalooza, there’s a girl sitting within earshot of the stage, leaning against a small fence. As the size of the Sunday night crowd doubles – then triples – in anticipation for the laptop artist’s slot, she rests cross-legged about 50 yards from the speaker towers. For […]
A decade and a half into their career, The Crystal Method’s California electronica continues to provide an ample counterpart to their European brethren a la Paul van Dyk and The Chemical Brothers. Combining rock ‘n’ roll undertones to their hypnotic dance beats, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland have compiled an impressive back catalog of singles, […]
The title of Eagles of Death Metal’s 2008 LP, Heart On, might be a subtle nod to the secret emotions that frontman Jesse Hughes harbors beneath his sleeve, despite the alpha male bravado that runs throughout the band’s testosterone-driven guitar anthems. Or it might just be a phallic pun. Either way, it’s a title befitting […]
There’s a certain school of thought that defines acoustic music as simplistic. According to this theory, there’s not much of a disconnect between a heartfelt performer strapping on a 6-string and that guy at the party who breaks out his roommate’s instrument several beers into the evening. Luckily, not all acoustic music is created equal. […]
It’s been 25 years since the Chicago punk mainstays first brought their thrashing brand of rock ‘n’ roll and Universal Monsters-style spooks to their home city. But two-and-a-half decades in — with dozens of LPs, EPs and compilation releases — isn’t any time to change, despite the band’s last studio output being 2004’s The Dwarves […]
Despite Growing’s prolific catalog — 13 albums in five years — everything about the fuzzy electronic duo reeks of minimalism. Whether it’s Kevin Doria and Joe Denardo losing the band’s third member before relocating to Brooklyn from Olympia, Washington or their tendency for cassette-only releases, the pair’s sludgy instrumentals are rife with DIY aesthetic. Given […]