Results tagged “cd”

Balthazar de Ley has been putting out consistently great music since starting up Menthol during his college days in downstate Illinois. His songwriting took root in the slab-like guitar college-rock that typified the Champaign-Urbana sound in the early '90s, but later in the decade we discovered his incredibly deft hand when it came to constructing a pop tune. Menthol's final album remains one of our favorite releases of all time, so when we heard de Ley had decided to soldier on with a different band, under the moniker La Scala, we were rather excited to hear the results.

If you're cramming for a test, need a post-dinner pick me up or want a Paul McCartney CD between the hours of 5:30 and 8:30 tonight, you'll have to go somewhere other than Starbucks. Nearly all of the coffee chain's locations will be closed for a company-wide education and training session for employees. Dunkin' Donuts just happens to have a promotion running today and will be giving away free lattes. Our favorite quote in the Trib's story comes courtesy of Frances Allen, Dunkin' Donuts' brand marketing officer: "We never want any customers to ever be denied access to their specialty drinks." You tell 'em, Ms. Allen. Let's draft a constitutional amendment guaranteeing Frappuncino availability.

Oh Steve. Steve, Steve, Steve. We had really hoped that with the new year you might finally catch up to current trends and we could put this column to rest. But, alas, your foot once again finds your mouth.

You know how you always feel a little guilty for downloading a record for free, if you actually like that band and wanted to (in theory, anyway) support their careers?

Lucky enough to get a few days off for the Chrismukkah holidays? Several Chicago area music entities have been kind enough to give you time-filling options.

Thrill Jockey Records turns 15 this year, and in order to celebrate they've decided to throw themselves a couple of big-ass parties, one of which already occurred in London earlier month. However, the label has called Chicago home for over a decade, so we're expecting the 2 days of shows happening at Logan Square Auditorium on December 14 and 15 to blow London's party apart at the seams.

Ah, it's like shootin' fish in a barrel over at Chicagoist EOYW headquarters. We know how passionate you guys can get about these things, so we'll cut right to the chase:

Have you always wanted to see Bon Jovi in concert but just haven’t been able to make the time in the past, oh, 20 years? Or have you already seen Bon Jovi and loved the experience so much that you want to be able to relive it over and over? Chances are you fall into one of those two camps, and as a result, consider this a PSA to you, lovely Chicagoist readers: THE BON JOVI CONCERT MOVIE COMES OUT NEXT WEEK!

Oh, pornography. It holds a strange power over people. It can cause priests to debate porn stars, the incarceration of R&B singers, and even become a code name in the biggest scandal in American history. Or it can cause a woman to kill her boyfriend. Wait, what? Kill her boyfriend? Jeanette Strowder, 58, had been dating her boyfriend, Jesse Martin, 54, for sixteen years. For the past two years they lived together in Fuller Park....

The Bon Mots' profile has long been on the rise, including a spot on last year's Lollapalooza bill, and it seems certain to only climb higher with the release of their sophomore effort Forty Days And Forty Nights With The Bon Mots.

The Hood Internet DJs STV SLV and ABX's band that plays actual instruments, May Or May Not, is releasing their second album tonight, and they've decided to post the whole thing online for a short period of time so everyone can check it out. We've heard it and would say it's well worth buying, so you'd be a fool not to grab it for free right now. May Or May Not spends a lot of...

Even though rapper 50 Cent proclaimed to the world earlier this month that he would quit music (and deprive the world of another "In Da Club") if Chicago native Kanye West's new album "Graduation" sold more copies than his new CD "Curtis," the two have reportedly ended their feud via the universal peace maker -- alcohol. The two are both dropping albums on Sept. 11 and have been debating in the press for the past...

This weekend’s music festival inspired us to check out some local indie talent with our kiddo this week. We’ve heard rumors that Mr. Singer (with or without his band the Sharp Cookies) was the best around: a talented guitarist whose folksy music set featured music you could bob your head to, a kids’ musician who was more Springsteen and less Old MacDonald. We were not disappointed. We arrived at the concert venue, the yellow barn...

In the mid 90's we were television addicts. From soaps to sitcoms, we soaked up nearly everything the tube could offer. Our collection of VHS tapes at the time was chock full of good stuff. But in some cases it was the commercials that we loved most. One of our favorites featured Judy Tenuta drinking Diet Dr. Pepper while "working out" at the gym. The moment she proclaiming "You can't get a body like mine...

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they...

Chicagoist loves getting free stuff. Whether it's Free Cone Day, burritos, or bags of useless trinkets, we revel in all things gained sans payment. But, when a goodie bag containing condoms, a racy catalogue from Lover's Lane, an explicit CD, coupons for sexual favors and suntan lotion packets with marijuana leaves on them is given to a 12-year-old girl, the buck stops there. As was the case last weekend when Pam Richard took her three...

A couple years ago we came across a local band named Wonderful Smith's promo pack. We pulled out the photo and immediately cringed, worrying that the group was going to be another slightly granola frat-friendly party band (not that there's anything intrinsically wrong with that, it's just not our thing). However, if there's one thing we do pride ourselves upon, it's that we give EVERYTHING that crosses our desk a listen. If someone can take the time to send us our music, the least we can do is give it an honest listen.

Time sure does fly when we don’t have to work on Mondays. We were sitting around minding our own business when we realized that it’s Wednesday already and that means the I-GO Audio Emissions contest is over and we’re supposed to be heading over to their show on Thursday night to see who garnered the most votes and rock out to some hometown musicians. We should probably say who won, huh?

We will never understand why Sloan is not the biggest band in the world right now. This group of Canadians consistently release strong albums, the weakest of which still put 98% of the world's rock and/or roll bands to shame. They've transitioned from a band of shoegazing popsters, into a '60s-tinged hit-machine until settling on their current trend of penning impeccable melodies influenced by equal parts '70s arena rock and timeless power-pop. The band's latest...

Modern bands that specialize in funk and soul tend to release pretty crappy studio albums. We suppose it has to do with the sterility of the studio, and the emphasis on "getting things just right," but for the most part a band that can get us sweating and dry-humping the stage in concert tends to leave us cold when we're reintroduced to them via personal listening system. Bumpus' last studio album, Stereoscope, bucked that trend...

Well, we've already tried to hip you to tonight's free show at The Bottle, put there are plenty of other concerts to spend your time (and money) at this week.

Flickr user josephp tagged a fun fisheye shot of a Chicago institution, Reckless Records. As residents of the neighborhood, we've been known to stroll in on a few occassions to check out the latest offerings. However, we honestly can't remember the last time we purchased a CD, save a few from obscure bands at their shows. Truly children of the digital age, we'll take most of our music from iTunes, thank you very much.

We've been fans of Quentin Tarantino's soundtracks ever since he thought to intersperse snippets of Steven Wright's radio monologues between tunes by the George Baker Selection and Stealer's Wheel. In college they were utilized to great effect at parties since back then most of the songs Tarantino picked had never been re-issued. (The glut of "one-hit wonder" albums hadn't hit yet since most songs hadn't been licensed for compilation use.)

We know that no one reads the Red Eye, so we’re not sure how this little bit of information caught our eye on the way to work this morning on the El. I-GO Car Sharing wants local musicians to submit songs for inclusion on a compilation that will be in every I-GO car. We see ourselves toodling down the expressway jamming to some of Chicago’s best. Don’t let us down!

She’s Your Sister was formed in Chicago, but after logging in a bunch of shows and pretty much getting nowhere, they decided to hightail it to California. We know, we thought that was weird too. Why would a reasonably decent band willingly plunge into the morass that is the Hollywood/L.A. music scene, right?

Well, it's a lighter than usual week for touring bands in Chicago, due to a certain festival down south. That doesn't mean we're hurting for music though! This is a week that famously gives lots of local acts prime spots they might otherwise not have available to them, so you have a good chance of catching a good band you might have never heard of before just by wandering into any of Chicago's music venues over the next few days. Here are a couple shows we're particularly looking forward to.

Chicagoist's experience mixing socially-defined inappropriateness and school was, like many people's, limited. About the only instance we can think of where sex, violence and/or swearing was sanctioned by authority figures was when we got to watch "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" in European History. The saying of "shit" in the classroom was met with many giggles. And there was much rejoicing. Some fourth- and fifth-graders out in Minooka, IL, have us beat by a...

Truth is stranger than fiction, and if you read The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubinstein, you know this cliché is right on. Ballad is the true story of Attila Ambrus, Hungarian hockey player, bank robber, pelt smuggler and political-activist-by-proxy. After smuggling himself out of Romania in 1988, Attila hooks up with the Hungarian hockey team. The team is a bunch of misfit players, and Attila is the King of the Misfits.

Valentine's Day is such a gut-wrencher. We hardly know anyone who likes it. The Just Broken-Up With are bitter and lonely, wishing that the whole coupled world would go to hell. Or The Sad And Desperate, bemoaning the fact that they'll never, ever find someone to love them ... ever. There's The Newly Dating, who are excited to be with someone, but are unsure what exactly to do ... is this gift too much? Is...

We’re busy hitting “refresh” over and over again on Reuters in hopes that they will finally announce that rumoured Police reunion tour, but until that confirmation comes through, here’s some shows to keep us busy this week. Tomorrow night, Local H's Scott Lucas is getting together with a bunch of his musician pals at Debonair Social Club to bang out a set of covers in a low-key environment. This should prove to be a fun-filled...