AltWeeklies Wire
Velva's Multimedia Geekfest Bends More than Circuitsnew
Velva's work displays both a geek's love for technology and for tearing technology up and making something else out of it. That something in this case is songs that pile up glitchy beats, circuit-bent-toy sounds, eight-bit-video-game noises, and customized analog synth guitars (including the "space axe" and "guitari").
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
08-04-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
How Technology is Turning the Tables on the Westernization of Popnew
The exchange of musical ideas between the West and the rest of the world is evolving into a genuine conversation, and that can only be an improvement. The internet may be giving the music industry all kinds of fits, but it's pretty great for the health of music itself.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
07-28-2008 |
Music
The Man Who Makes the Pitchfork Music Festival Happennew
Mike Reed's best known as the guy who assembles indie rock's favorite festival, but in his spare time he performs miracles for the local jazz scene.
Chicago Reader |
Peter Margasak |
07-21-2008 |
Music
The Prairie Spies Put Fun Firstnew
The Chicago band makes music for the best possible reason -- and you can hear it on Surplus Enjoyment.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
07-21-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Running Out of Retronew
Enjoy the '90s revival while you can--the space-time continuum is about to collapse.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
07-14-2008 |
Music
Major Labels Could Learn a Thing or Two About File-Sharing from Lil Waynenew
Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, which came out June 10 on Universal subsidiary Cash Money, was one of the most anticipated albums of 2008, even though the sheer amount of material Wayne has already released in the past year -- including dozens of web-only tracks and several album-length mix tapes -- threatened to try his fans' patience as well as overload their hard drives.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
06-24-2008 |
Music
Ashanti Proves She's Out of Step on 'The Declaration'new
Hip-hop and R & B merged years ago, but Ashanti's still playing catch-up.
Chicago Reader |
Noah Berlatsky |
06-16-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ashanti, The Declaration
Could Alla be a Mexican Os Mutantes?new
After seven years and $40,000, the Ledezma brothers unveil a masterpiece of Mexican-American psych pop.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
06-16-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Why Jim DeRogatis Pleaded the Fifth in the R. Kelly Trialnew
What possible crime could the Chicago Sun-Times music critic have been concealing when he repeatedly -- 15 times in all -- answered questions put to him in court by invoking his constitutional protection against self-incrimination?
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
06-16-2008 |
Music
Tags: journalism, media, Chicago, law, courts, R. Kelly, Fifth Amendment, Jim DeRogatis, reporter's privilege
Chicago's 'Hipster Rap' Scene Attracts the Inevitable Backlashnew
Most criticism of hipster rap only goes clothes deep, and even for relatively philosophical haters like Unkut.com's Robbie Ettelson, the sight of a rapper in anything but baggy jeans and a hoodie seems to trigger homosexual panic.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
06-10-2008 |
Music
The Voyage of Walter Meegonew
Sure, they just moved to LA, but it's their new full-length debut that's really gonna take them places.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
06-02-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Voyager, Walter Meego
Columbia College's Student-Run Record Label is Actually Run by Studentsnew
The music industry has changed a lot since 1982, when Polygram chairman Irwin Steinberg and Down Beat publisher Chuck Suber started AEMMP Records, a student-run label at Columbia College that doubles as a music-business prep course.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
05-19-2008 |
Music
Psych Freaks Indian Jewelry Are Out Therenew
The band is a total aesthetic package, and I can see how a photo shoot would rank higher for them than an interview. Words are words and whatever, but dressing up like a militant cult member is performance art. And when they do it, at least, it's a show worth seeing.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
05-05-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Free Gold!, Indian Jewelry
Portishead is Back and More Depressing than Evernew
As a minimalist distillation of the emotional judo that's the band's specialty, Third is an undeniable coup. Beth Gibbons and company have graduated to a new sophistication, conveying with tiny gestures and rough stabs what used to take them long builds and whole songs.
Chicago Reader |
Brian Nemtusak |
05-05-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Third, Portishead
The Music Industry's Format Warsnew
CD sales are down, vinyl and download sales are up, and record labels are doing the math.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
04-28-2008 |
Music
