Review: Julius Airwave – The City The Forest (or) every little bit helps
Imagine that you were hiking all day in the thickest of forests and the deepest of backwoods and, at dusk, you tiredly stumbled upon a clearing. You set up camp and gather some firewood. As you sit to rest and eat the freeze-dried food you’ve brought, the sky opens up and it stars to rain (Read more…)
Eat to the beat #1: May or May not
One of my favorite new (to me at least) bands is Chicago’s very own May Or May Not. They play infectious indie pop that is just makes me wanna get up and dance. The formula isn’t complicated but the band executes perfectly. Their latest release the Bike EP is full of breezy and catchy guitar (Read more…)
Pour some splenda on me
One of these is the original from Def Leppard’s 1987 classic Hysteria. I can even remember it having the #1 spot on the MTV top ten countdown way before TRL was even invented. The other is a markedly different reworking from modern day pop songstress Emm Gryner. And as fond of the original as I (Read more…)
Playlists and fridge magnets
Despite a majority of these tunes being all over the Internet already, this is what we’ve been listening to lately… MP3 | The Arcade Fire – Intervention MP3 | Regina Spektor – Fidelity MP3 | Maximo Park – Our Velocity MP3 | Klaxons – My Love (Justin Timberlake Cover) MP3 | Modest Mouse – Florida (Read more…)
Staying under the covers today
It is rare that I am this responsive. I got an email from a reader yesterday who kindly suggested that I check out the music of James Eric Laczkowski. So I did. He is a singer/songwriter from right here in Chicago that has received some attention for his cover songs, but his original material is (Read more…)
Review: Cale Parks – Illuminated Manuscript (or) strike down with furious restraint
Cale Parks is the shit. The shit. He is also the drummer and percussionist of the band Aloha. He also plays piano and vibraphone for the band and has (additionally) performed with Cex, Chin Up Chin Up, Joan of Arc, Love of Everything, Owen, and Pit Er Pat. If you’ve read this blog over the (Read more…)
A vague stab in the direction of
I’ll be the first person to admit that I don’t really know a lot about hip-hop and rap. Whatever. What I do know (however) is that former Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah’s 2006 album Fishscale is pretty damn phenomenal. If you haven’t had a chance to hear this album yet, do yourself a favor and listen. (Read more…)
Review: The Infamous Stringdusters – Fork In The road (or) dance with me Molly
How about some bluegrass y’all? The Infamous Stringdusters are a six-piece bluegrass band that now calls Nashville home. They can deftly tear up their instruments with warp speed pickin’ but can just as easily also slow it down get get all melodic on yer ass. I think the band actually shines brighter on the slower (Read more…)
Review: Kill Gordon – Kill Gordon (or) Guinevere and the albatross soar
Do you like rock and roll? You know, dirty garage rock that oozes raw combustibility. If that’s the case, you might like this band. Kill Gordon hails from the ATL and knows how to rock. It is also pretty obvious that frontman Kyle Gordon would probably name The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, and The Who (Read more…)
