Robotic voices, arena rock guitar lines, and keyboard bleeps à la Beck’s Midnite Vultures: this is Of Montreal’s 14th album release in a nutshell. On Innocence Reaches, Kevin Barnes returned to the high-sugar diet of electronically led dance music and, more importantly, he…
The sun god answered our prayers on Sunday. Union Park was cooler than Saturday and sunnier than Friday, and it stormed long after Oneohtrix Point Never ended his set. While the previous days offered plenty of indie rock and…
Saturday at the Pitchfork Music Festival felt like a different place from Friday. Unlike the previous cloudy and slightly rainy day, the sun warmed Union Park and the crowd seemed to have doubled overnight. No more easy wandering around…
This year’s Pitchfork Music Festival features a rich lineup of new up-and-comers, maturing indie rockers and songwriters, and a few reunions. Unlike many previous years, this weekend is off to a breezy and cool start. Writers Colin Smith and Julian Ramirez are scouting…
The Pitchfork Music Festival was our first alternative to Lollapalooza. It’s smaller, less expensive, and the lineups pretty much reflect the publication’s “Best New Albums” list with the addition of one or two indie rock juggernauts. Basically, it’s the festival…
As Kevin Parker donned his signature Rickenbacker guitar, the band opened their set at the UIC Pavilion with the wobbling pulse of “Nangs.” Tie-dye colored lights projected spiraling designs onto the band. Tame Impala transported us to one of…
When three shaggy-haired teenagers bonded over their Iron Maiden t-shirts and their shared love for all things rock ’n’ roll, they decided to do the only logical thing: They formed a band. The Dirty Nil started in 2006 among three…
Papers, pamphlets, and publishers filled the auditorium of the Plumbers Union Hall last weekend. Writers, artists, and readers celebrated the community and spirit of self-publishing at the seventh annual Chicago Zine Fest last Friday and Saturday. Nearly 200 zinesters sold self-published works…
Celebrate the art of self-publishing this weekend at Chicago Zine Fest. It’s one of the city’s largest independent festivals. The seventh annual festival is happening this Friday and Saturday. All-ages events will kick off Friday evening with a panel discussion…
Everyone’s a critic, and yet no one seems to know what a critic’s good for. Or at least this is how New York Times film critic A. O. Scott started off his recent book, Better Living Through Criticism: How to…
The veteran rocker Ian Vanek places a small drum kit at the front of the stage: bass drum, snare, ride cymbal, floor tom, and another tom. Though a minimal kit, he prepares for maximum energy and sweat. He rubs his…
Ian Vanek started Howardian with his brother in 1993. He was 12 years old. Still, his early experiences seeing Nirvana perform and having the members of Mudhoney talk to him after he played at a bar helped Vanek become a…
The Gene Siskel Film Center will be holding the 19th European Union Film Fest from the first Friday of March until the last night of the month. The festival, which even predates the official founding of the EU, will be North…
Before the age of 10, Andrew St. James sang and toured for the San Francisco Opera. It was his first job, but it couldn’t last forever. “My voice dropped, and they fired me,” he said. By the age of 10,…
You can’t find a music festival during the winter in just any city. But, thanks to Schubas and Lincoln Hall, Chicago can warm up amid the winter with the Tomorrow Never Knows concert series. The five-day indoor music festival begins…
Chicago may be mocked as the second city, but one thing the city excels at is comedy — especially sketch and improv-based comedy. In fact, the Chicago Comedy Sketch Fest (“SketchFest”) is running its 15th installment during the next two weekends.…
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