AltWeeklies Wire
Bound Stems Returns with 'The Family Afloat'new
In nearly direct opposition to its sprawling predecessor, the ten-song album is just a lightning flash instead of the whole damn thunderstorm, and, while the group still crafts songs filled with unexpected left turns, each song, as catchy as the next, boasts a newfound confidence.
Chicago Newcity |
Tom Lynch |
07-09-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Brazilian Wineries Finally Come of Agenew
Not too long ago, the words "Brazilian" and "wine" would hardly be put together without a stern warning against a horrible hangover. Not that decent wine did not exist there -- it simply had not been made available for the general public, and much less for export.
Chicago Newcity |
Ernest Barteldes |
07-09-2008 |
Food+Drink
Calling for Culinary Common Sense: Biting into Rock-Star Chefsnew
Chefs are the new rock stars, and as such, some of them have been honoring that heritage by acting like first-class liquored-up self-indulgent retards. I figured since this is the common-sense issue, I'd try and bring a little balance to all things silly and culinary.
Chicago Newcity |
Michael Nagrant |
07-02-2008 |
Food+Drink
Icy Demons Chills with Some 'Miami Ice'new
A psycho funk-jazz dance party warped together with a collection of keyboards, guitars, bass, energetic drums and elusive, sharply goofy vocals (the lyric "You better buy a breath mint with that last dime" makes an appearance), Icy Demons perplexes.
Chicago Newcity |
Tom Lynch |
07-02-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Icy Demons, Miami Ice
Stephanie Kuehnert on Her Debut Novel, 'I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone'new
Everyone wants to be a rock star. Kuehnert’s protagonist and narrator, Emily Black, is no different. Living in a tiny town in Wisconsin, left alone with her father as an infant when her mother hit the road following her own rock-star dreams, Emily's now your favorite teenager, much cooler than you were when you were there, the dark hair, the red lipstick and the witty asides and retorts all part of the angst-ridden fireball.
Chicago Newcity |
Tom Lynch |
07-02-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Celebrating 'Hancock,' Peter Berg's Latest Genre Mashupnew
Anticipation runs high for further blackening of Batman's soul in The Dark Knight, but the Fourth of July weekend belongs to Hancock, a handsomely haywire comic-tragic concoction that flies high, sideways, off course and straight up in the air.
Chicago Newcity |
Ray Pride |
07-02-2008 |
Reviews
The Lavish Imagination of Timur Bekmambetov's 'Wanted'new
Wanted is a tonally aggressive, wildly expressionistic, deeply satisfying film, a sleekly machined action powerhouse, words I hardly expected to type this summer.
Chicago Newcity |
Ray Pride |
06-25-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Timur Bekmambetov, Wanted
The Dials Toss More into the Petri Dishnew
Amoeba Amore not only builds on the band's previous work, but across-the-board boasts the band's best work, each song a fist, some of them featuring colossal crescendos of multiple vocal parts, thrilling moments that overwhelm with jarring conviction.
Chicago Newcity |
Tom Lynch |
06-25-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Amoeba Amore, The Dials
'Wall-E' is Pixar's Crusty Follow-Up to Tasty 'Ratatouille'new
A plush cousin to Idiocracy, the latest humbling eyeful from Pixar says that Americans are going to die for their consumption habits, except for a few fat fumblers shot out into space.
Chicago Newcity |
Ray Pride |
06-25-2008 |
Reviews
Defender Side Project Alla Releases Album in Spanishnew
It took four years to complete the band's debut, Es Tiempo, perhaps because Jorge Ledezma set his goals high when the band was born.
Chicago Newcity |
Tom Lynch |
06-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Ladytron is Burning Upnew
Once again on Velocifero, it's Ladytron's scathing lyrics that make the group so incendiary.
Chicago Newcity |
Garin Pirnia |
06-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Ladytron, Velocifero
Going to the 'Edge of Heaven' with Fatih Akinnew
Akin's latest film is a fierce, generous melodrama, the second of a trilogy about émigré culture patterned after Fassbinder's trilogy of movies about post-World War II German history that began with The Marriage of Maria Braun.
Chicago Newcity |
Ray Pride |
06-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Fatih Akin, The Edge of Heaven
Trekking Through 20 Years of House Musicnew
John Larner and Slater Hogan's secret to keeping their music relevant? Balance fresh cuts from the new school with classic sounds of Chicago and Detroit. Simmer high-octane bass with jazz, funk and fluidity and there’s good reason why history repeats itself.
Chicago Newcity |
Jenn Danko |
06-04-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Steve Conrad on Detailing Comedy in 'The Promotion'new
It's a gratifying surprise to find that Chicago-based screenwriter Steve Conrad's auspicious directorial debut, capturing the rivalry between two men, mild-mannered, levelheaded Doug (Sean William Scott) and eccentric Québécois transplant Richard (John C. Reilly), for a manager's job at a supermarket, is a likeable, often-tender, lovingly paced comedy of no small charm, a small miracle in an age of accelerated pacing and masticated punch lines.
Chicago Newcity |
Ray Pride |
06-04-2008 |
Reviews
M83 Looks to the 1980s for Inspirationnew
Saturdays=Youth finds Anthony Gonzalez venturing deeper into the pop realm, even stating openly that this collection of songs are a celebration of his teenage years.
Chicago Newcity |
Tom Lynch |
05-28-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: M83, Saturdays=Youth
