Results tagged “darkroom”

Robin Thicke proved to surprised audiences that a white boy could have soul with his 2006 release, The Evolution of Robin Thicke. This year sees the soul revival in full swing with the addition of Kanye-touted British crooner, Mr. Hudson, and syrup sweet Stones Throw troubadour, Mayer Hawthorne. Hawthorne, and his accompanying band, The Country, play their first Chicago show Saturday night at the Darkroom and here's why we think you should be there.

After last night's Sounds and Hey Champ show -- photos to come on Monday -- we are in the mood to keep dancing on into the weekend. Luckily for us is Life During Wartime night at Darkroom with some of our favorite local DJs Bald Eagle and Mother Hubbard spinning the boogie.

Inchworm has been kicking around the Chicago club scene for a few years, honing their brand of comfortably free-form rock and pop and showing off the considerable chops among the band's five members.

Tonight Darkroom hosts Equalizer, the monthly concert series presented by KEXP.ORG, 312unes.com, and The Chicago Reader. Tonight's performers include Royal Pines, Macon Greyson, and Fetch. Check out a video of last month's installment featuring an interview with our very own Lizz Kannenberg.

Sure, there are the fireworks on the lakefront and the Taste of Chicago is still going strong, but if you're like us, you want to seek out something to do with your Fourth that's a little less crowded. So if milling around shoulder-to-shoulder with tens of thousands of strangers isn't your bag, here's a quick list of other things that might prove to be some good post-grilling entertainment for your America Day.

Assassins and MarvelKind are/were two bands waaaay ahead of their time. Both groups trafficked in an ultra-catchy electro-rock hybrid, and both groups seemed poised at the tipping point, ready to plummet into the cauldron of fame. Both bands even moved from Chicago to California in hopes that would ultimately help. Unless you're Prince, though, being ahead of your time is rarely a good thing.

Coming on like Curtis Mayfield in a Mack truck, The Heavy are a UK-based fivesome that takes both their soul and their rock in equal doses. Frontman Swaby's vocals occupy that sweet spot between flawless falsetto and lascivious drawl. The band backs his sexy crooning with a melange of beats and instruments plucked from the '70s and shoved through a hip-hop shredder feeding directly into a tube-blown analog console. They can craft a suitably quiet come-on like "Girl" that dampens pants while delivering an honestly solid dose of soul, and then just as easily construct a massive wall of horns, caterwauling guitars, and thundering drums to propel a neu-Blaxploitation theme like "That Kind Of Man." Clothes will be shed at this show.