AltWeeklies Wire
Leaving Camp: Antony & the Johnsons 'The Crying Light'new
Antony Hegarty sings earnest torch songs for the natural world.
Chicago Reader |
Noah Berlatsky |
01-26-2009 |
Reviews
Pop White People Like: Andrew Bird's 'Noble Beast'new
Precious anachronisms, whistling, the approval of both NPR and the Gray Lady — what’s not to like about Andrew Bird?
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
01-26-2009 |
Reviews
David Lineal Reaches Out to Illinois' Beleaguered Governor in Songnew
The frontman of the local pysch-pop band Bird Names recorded For the Love of Rod, a bizarre song cycle celebrating the governor, in 2005. He gave CD-Rs to a few friends, but the music never saw a proper release. Within hours of Blagojevich's arrest, though, he'd posted it as a free download on the Bird Names site.
Chicago Reader |
Liam Warfield |
12-22-2008 |
Music
Whither the Album?new
Chuck Klosterman says Chinese Democracy is the format's last hurrah. Kanye proves him wrong.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
12-08-2008 |
Music
MC Zulu's Space Dancehallnew
Zulu works on Planet Lazer Bass, but he lives right here in Chicago.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
11-24-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Pianist Michiel Braam Drafts Chicagoans into His Long-Running 'Anti-Orchestra'new
On Friday his long-running large group, Bik Bent Braam will play music from its gloriously rambunctious new album, Extremen, but with one big twist: Braam will fill out the roster of 13 musicians with ten local improvisers -- the first time he's ever performed the band's repertoire with anyone but the musicians for whom he wrote it.
Chicago Reader |
Neil Tesser |
11-10-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
New Federal IP Act Will Criminalize Culturenew
The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 promises to do for music what Homeland Security did for air travel.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
10-27-2008 |
Music
How the Web is Changing Black Youth Culture, and Vice Versanew
Wayne Marshall, a writer, DJ, ethnomusicologist, and probably the only person on staff at Brandeis University who's been written up by the Fader talks Web 2.0 and black youth culture.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
10-20-2008 |
Music
Catfish Haven Moves Past Indie Rock to 1978new
If their early material was like a sensitive country boy who'd moved to the city, Devastator is like that boy's older brother back home, with his Camaro parked proudly in front of his double-wide.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
10-14-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Catfish Haven, Devastator
Soul Train's Chicago Rootsnew
The show that put black music on TVs across America got its start in Chicago -- and even after it moved to LA, Chicago kept its own version running daily for nearly a decade.
Chicago Reader |
Jake Austen |
10-06-2008 |
Music
Scott and Cara Flaster Release Punishing Music in Beautiful Packagesnew
Seventh Rule has become something of a sanctuary for Chicago bands whose music falls outside the sometimes rigid genre boundaries of mainstream metal, from Indian’s thunderous psychedelic doom to Plague Bringer’s industrial-tinged, drum machine-powered grind.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
10-06-2008 |
Music
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Synergizes Itselfnew
Marketing its music through its own label, the symphony adds value with a new kind of lecture series.
Chicago Reader |
Deanna Isaacs |
09-29-2008 |
Music
How Kid Rock's Rejection of iTunes Let Others Beat Him on the Charts with His Own Songnew
The Hit Masters' version of "All Summer Long" reached number five on the iTunes single-song sales chart. By the end of the week it had outstripped Kid Rock's version on Billboard's Hot 100, peaking at number 19 while the original was at number 25.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
09-22-2008 |
Music
How Sonny Rollins Defeated Heroinnew
In his six-decade career, the legendary saxophonist has claimed many a triumph. But his greatest may have come in the 1950s, during a quiet period in Chicago.
Chicago Reader |
Neil Tesser |
09-02-2008 |
Music
Jazz Trumpeter Amir ElSaffar Builds a Bridge to Iraqnew
ElSaffar's suite Two Rivers forges a singular fusion of jazz and Iraqi classical music -- and reconciles his roots in the process.
Chicago Reader |
Peter Margasak |
08-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
