The Dirty Nil are a trio out of Canada, but their noise is anything but polite. Most groups of this configuration mine the blues for source material—whatever you do, don’t call ’em a stereotypical power trio—but The Dirty Nil go…
HotLips Messiah is a Chicago quartet well known for their raucous live sets, led by their mesmerizing singer Traci Trouble. In a band where every member is careening around the stage, Trouble’s charisma and searing energy help keep things as…
Liz Phair‘s Riot Fest set a few weeks ago was a triumphant full band return to her hometown. It was preceded by a stripped down set at The Empty Bottle that proved she’s not only conquered her early career stage…
Tove Styrke is striking. Stadium act in waiting. Don’t miss out dummy. Tove Styrke is a Swedish singer songwriter creating some of the most interesting electropop in years. She is currently on tour in support of her latest album, Sway.
This year’s Riot Fest is a wealth of riches. Yup, that’s a cliché but it’s so true. When you’re done with your whining over this or that headliner going up against each other (what did you expect?!) here are the…
The last time Foo Fighters played Wrigley Field, Dave Grohl was confined to an oversized throne due to a broken leg. When the band returned July 29, Grohl was unfettered and all over the stage. The band tore through a…
How does one even write about Lollapalooza nowadays? I’ve been going to the festival since its inception in 1991, and have only missed a couple, during the fest’s darker years between 1996 and 2004. I’ve watched it grow from a…
O.K., I’ll admit upfront that headline is a bit histrionic. But The Phonographs don’t shy away from hyperbole. Anyone who drops Big Star and The Redwalls in their pitch to listen to their music is either delusional or really, really…
Craig Wedren made his name in the influential Shudder To Think, a band whose distinctive and sometimes knotty sound still sounds fresh and new today. Over the years, though, he proved to be a bit of a musical chameleon, especially…
Hoagie sent me the unmastered version of the album a few months ago, but the new Sonny Falls LP is finally officially coming out next month! I’ve written about the band a few times (most recently for The Reader, which…
Sloan is a band closing in on three decades of being together. In that time they’ve released 12 albums, flirted with stardom, and despite missing the industry-approved brass ring of massive mainstream success (at least in the U.S), have never…
It’s highly unusual for Gorillaz to put out two albums within a year of each other, but it’s unheard of for them to have tour stops in Chicago two years in a row. Luckily for us, the band has decided…
It’s gonna finally be warm outside today! So let’s break out some beach pop! I was digging through the bill VARSITY is playing on at The Empty Bottle for their record release show Friday, and decided to check out this…
The Darkness’ lead singer Justin Hawkins took a moment last Wednesday at Park West to share a bit of the band’s pre-show ritual with the crowd. He told us they all got together for a group has and he said,…
So, the secret no one talks about is that some music reviewers write most reviews ahead of time and MadLib the particulars. So here’s what me and my concert photographer friend came up with in advance. Slow treadmill. Good music…
Each song furious. Place was full of dudes with beards. Froberg was wasted. — Hot Snakes’ sound is a blast of furious strumming and galloping drumming that was just what I needed to hear. For a band who hasn’t hit…
Sleigh Bell‘s mixture of schoolyard sing-song chanting and metallic guitars chords engineered to smash anything in their path sounds like an odd mix, but it absolutely works. And live, the duo of Guitarist Derek Mille and singer Alexis Krauss has never failed…
Imagine a world where Weezer was two girls from Canada, and they never lost that gleam that made their early work so timeless. If you can capture that image in your head, you’d end up seeing Josée Caron and Lucy…
Last year, Chance the Rapper and Jeremih dropped a surprise holiday themed mixtape Merry Christmas L’il Mama. It was truly a joyous wonder, and brought some genuinely new holiday cheer into the world. This year, the duo dropped a second…
Over the latter half of this year, Chicago’s Twin Peaks has been releasing a single a month under the Sweet ’17 Singles moniker. Today the group released the final single of that series, “In the Meadow” backed with “We Will Not Make…
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