Colin Smith thinks that Chicago right now is the place to be for music. He works for Illinois Humanities, is a freelance writer, and plays psychedelic-pop songs with his band.
If you’ve never heard of Treehouse Records, you’ve probably listened to some of the bands they’ve recorded. Besides recording full-length records with Chicago bands like Twin Peaks, they’ve also taped […]
When Foxygen’s Sam France walked on The Vic’s old vaudeville stage, it was like Tim Curry waltzing within Rocky Horror’s castle: he looked tall, pale, and unkempt. Amid a full torrent […]
The phrase “Chicago record fair” is nearly synonymous with the nonprofit community radio station CHIRP. Just Google search it. In addition to spinning records for the city and introducing listeners […]
Joi Ito often hears the same question: How did a two-time college dropout become the director of MIT’s Media Lab, one of the coolest jobs in media? By jumping from […]
The Walkmen never blew up in the same way as their garage-rock contemporaries did. Most of us remember the Saturn commercial with the Ion driving past the highway signs that […]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9FILAkKinQ] The Walkmen announced their hiatus three years ago. Since then, singer and songwriter Hamilton Leithauser hasn’t stopped crooning. Leithauser released his debut solo album in 2014, another record […]
Alec Baldwin will take a break from wearing orange this spring to speak at Chicago Ideas’ Curiosity Series. The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor and writer will be talking about […]
The headliners at the Empty Bottle wore black Sharpie X’s on their hands. They also donned blazers: one wore a tie, the other sported a turtleneck. The elder member of […]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4nqnVOfMo] Elton John’s favorite new band is coming to town this weekend. Two brothers in Long Island formed The Lemon Twigs based on a shared love for sanguine, sheen pop and gritty, […]
At CHIRP Radio, one of our favorite things to do is to play tracks by the amazing local artists who fill our community. 2016 was a banner year for Chicago […]
Chicagoans carried a heavy heart this week after President Obama delivered his Farewell Address in the very town where he began his political career. Last weekend, Meryl Streep quoted Carrie Fisher during her […]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oopzYgvydg] The London duo Ultimate Painting wrote a song called “Song for Brian Jones,” and that might be all you need to know to know anything about them. They’ve […]