Results tagged “indierock”

Lykke Li sells out every Chicago show she books and Peter, Bjorn and John are rumored to return to Lollapalooza this August, so it appears Swedish pop is quickly becoming the new Brit pop.

At the beginning of 2008, San Francisco's Birdmonster hadn't yet decided if they were a blog band or not. On 2006's No Midnight, the foursome walked a perfect domestic indie rock line of Americana bar band swagger and sweet California pop sing-alongs. The harmonies flowed, but their riverbed was gritty enough that the band's frantic energy seemed fresh-faced and earnest - like any hiccups were a result of their unbridled drive to get the music out of their heads and hearts and into your hands.

Chicago-based Pitchfork, ye olde guardian of all things indie rock and general critical force to be reckoned with, is launching Pitchfork.tv on April 7. When we first saw the press release hit our inbox, we admit our initial reaction was one of great skeptical cynicism. Recently Pitchfork gave a rather naked endorsement to a video game that they just happened to choose the soundtrack for, so the move in to territory dangerously similar to MTV-land seemed like another step towards the ramp at the edge of the shark tank.

Raleigh, NC's Bowerbirds have had some heavy expectations to live up to since the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle called the folk-pop trio one of his favorite new bands. Since then, they've brought interesting instrumentation, plaintive male-female vocal harmonies, and varying arrangements to cozy music rooms across America and signed to the freak-folk hotbed Dead Oceans label. Chicagoist caught Bowerbirds last August at Schubas, on tour in support of the critically acclaimed, self-released, Hymns For a Dark Horse EP. Chief songwriter Phil Moore weaved fantastical tales over an acoustic guitar and a hi-hat / tambourine contraption, while the supporting cast of Beth Tacular and Marc Paulson shifted easily between a marching band bass drum, violin, and accordion. The result was nothing short of mesmerizing, with Moore's tunes taking on a rambling dimension that would be just as at home in an Eastern European gypsy encampment as they’d be on some rogue, restless pirate ship.

Ah, late February in Chicago. Cubs tickets go on sale today, there's a forecast for a high temperature above 35 degrees next week, and thousands of indie rock kids around Chicago will soon be shedding their parkas for high-priced hoodies bought from Wicker Park boutiques (tip: ours cost us $12 at Target!) for several worthwhile shows around the Chicago area. Lots of tickets go on sale this weekend. So, despite this crappy weather, there is, in the words of Spoon, "something to look forward to."

It's the end of the line in our pre-coverage of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival, which can only mean one thing: you're well-prepared for the weekend rockness.

Next Thursday's second day of the Tomorrow Never Knows weekend may be its most eclectic, which is an enticing departure from the usual blog-approved buzz acts.

The Von Bondies play the Abbey Pub tomorrow night with SSM and Freer, 9:00 p.m., $12 advance/$15 day of.

Besides free booze at office parties, too much rich food, and the stress of gift buying, the holiday season also brings a couple of music-centric certainties: "Best Of" lists and benefit concerts. Keep an eye on Chicagoist for the former, and break out your taste for lutefisk tonight for the latter. Schubas will play host to a show benefiting the Swedish Covenant Hospital and featuring a lineup ripe with Chicagoist faves, playing both original music and covers of Swedish artists. The idea s to raise some dough for the Northwest Side hospital that is trying to advance a holistic approach to medicine in Chicago, and we kinda dig that, so check it out.

It may be too cold for 70's gym shorts (a la the Pitchfork Music Festival), but you can bet that tonight's Vampire Weekend show at Schubas will double as a winter fashion show/breeding ground for Chicago's hipsterati. The NYC quartet's kinda creepy, kinda awesome take on indie rock "world music" has earned them plenty of blog love, packed houses, and a contract for their first full length release with powerhouse XL Recordings.

We'd just like to point out that for the price of one Hannah Montana ticket, you could feed a starving indie rock band for a year. For reals. Conrad Black got a 6 1/2 year sentence today. Oddly enough, we're not feeling sorry for him. Cheryl Lavin continues to dispense awesome advice. In this case she tells a woman who is upset at only having sex 4 times a week to tell her boyfriend...

Anything snarky that we come up with regarding the use of music in the Democratic Presidential campaigns just pales in comparison to the cold, hard facts: Hillary Clinton's theme was a Celine Dion song and has recently been replaced by a Big Head Todd and the Monsters tune, and Barack Obama's fundraising events feature performances by some of the most relevant and buzzworthy artists out there. Tonight's Change Rocks concert at the Riv brings...

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did...

What's coming up? Let's see. 2007 has been quite a year for the Cold War Kids, whose twangy indie rock has worked its way into the hearts of festival attendees across the world, playing everywhere from Lollapallooza to the Glastonbury Festival. If you’d rather see them up close and personal instead of surrounded by shirtless dudes holding plastic cups of beer, now’s your chance. Metro, Dec. 7, 6:30 p.m., $15, all ages. On sale at...

Jesse Thorn, Host of The Sound of Young America

Ask any dirty record-store clerk who's worth his weight in vinyl who the most influential bands in "indie rock" are, and Yo La Tengo will be near or at the top of their list. The Freewheelin' Yo La Tengo is the ballsy moniker of the New Jersey band's current tour, and it's said to be part Storytellers, part Unplugged.

Intonation is back! And they’ve partnered with the MCA to put on a big ‘ole party as part of the museum’s 40-year celebration. Even better? The whole show is as free as air. Intonation’s Rock/Art kicks off on tomorrow at 1 p.m. with a whole slew of local bands, representing some of the most notable sounds to come out of Chicago in the recent past. When you get there, check out the new Sympathy...

O.K., given the coverage we've already lavished on the little indie fest that could, we're going to keep this brief. Overall we would rate the entire experience a good one, but we agreed with one of our colleagues when he said, "there was a sense ... that the fest was starting to experience growing pains." We don't know if this is because indie rock has become so fully integrated into the mainstream that this third festival curated by Pitchfork seemed different than the first two, or if it's just that the natural progression of things is to grow larger each year. Either way we admit to being a little confused since last year's fest was also sold out, yet none of the things that created hitches last weekend (well, almost none) were a problem before.

Day three of the Pitchfork Music Festival got off to a slow start, with a smaller crowd, but we chalk that up to stronger headliners and more folks electing to arrive later in the day. Since one of our other writers was already covering the earlier bands, we elected to begin our coverage with Stephen Malkmus' main stage appearance. Malkmus' set was one of the ones with the most buzz, since it could be argued...

Chicagoist had the foresight to divide the days of the Pitchfork Music Festival amongst ourselves, so as to offer you, the reader, consistent, non-sunburned coverage of as much of the weekend as possible. Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the breakfast-slot hits and misses from the past two days: SATURDAY Voxtrot surprised with a buoyant set of danceable candy on Saturday afternoon. On record their synth-pop is passable but not extraordinary,...

We entered the Pitchfork Music Festival grounds a little late Saturday, since the CTA saw fit to make sure all the buses we needed to take were running extra slow, while suspending Blue Line service between Western and Clark/State. They picked a bang-up weekend to make sure they removed the primary vein of public travel right from the heart of the hipster corridor. As we arrived though, we were dually serenaded by the noise of...

In the “reality TV”-obsessed era of “So You Think You’re the Next Bachelor Genius Idol” cultural saturation, there comes a time when every sensible man and woman must turn off the television and venture out into “reality life.” Luckily, the transition is eased by events like tonight’s regional finals of the U.S. Air Guitar Championships at Metro — ambitious folks with limited talent in a ridiculous “discipline?” Check! Less ambitious, more voyeuristic folks willing to pay to observe the first group perform feats of absurdity within said discipline? Check! One of the most storied rock venues in America to host this circus? Check!

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.

For the past 14 years, The Sea and Cake has been increasing Chicago's indie rock cred with every album release. For the past four years, however, the band as a whole has been silent, while lead vocalist/guitarist Sam Prekop performed and recorded as a solo artist. This is why tonight's show at the Empty Bottle, which serves as an album release party for The Sea and Cake's latest release Everybody, has been highly anticipated. The...

If Monday’s holiday has you cramming five days of work into a four-day week and the headlines are only aggravating you further, you need to put the laptop away and get yourself to a comedy show this weekend. The Blerds, a cabal of mostly Chicago-based comics and a film producer, are celebrating their Paper Anniversary Saturday night at The Spot. Drink specials have been promised. The good people at The Bastion are totally crushing on...

We couldn't help but notice that The Hood Internet boys just continue to collect accolades tumbling their way. Pitchfork loves them. Very Short List digs 'em. USA Today grooves to them. Heck, even the CBC is singing their praises! The art of the mash-up has been largely on the wane over the past year or so, but these wild upstarts from the mean streets of Chicago have injected brand new life into the art form...

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...

The talk of the "indie rock diet" that's been tossed around the blogosphere this week is ripe with irony; any of us who have hung out with a band for even a night know that the stereotypical indie rocker replaces food with alcohol whenever given the chance. And when on tour, anything goes. A friend of ours, who happens to drum in a band coming to Chicago next week, once told us about how the...

Sometimes we worry whether a “big break” will be too much for someone, if they can live up to the expectations and scrutiny of the many more people that will be watching their every move. Well, we needn’t have worried about Andrew Bird. He nailed his debut at The Riviera on Friday night. The stage was set with a rotating phonograph that, from afar, looked like spinning legs, alongside another zebra-striped phonograph (at least that’s...