Results tagged “mp3”

We really dug the free single, "In A Dream," Skybox released earlier this year. Really dug it. Back then we noted that we had been skeptical of the band in the past for some of its quirkier musical inclinations, but we recently heard their forthcoming album from start to finish and are pleased to announce that "In A Dream" was the definite mark of a new phase of clarity in the band's career. Nothing else on Morning After Cuts, which will be out in January 2010, is quite as poppy as "In A Dream" but the album as a whole is filled with remarkable songs that show a band maturing and finding its own voice.

The fact that we're even listening to The Sun's new album is a bit of a miracle, since the last time we heard from them was through a cryptic post declaring "New Record Shelved, Band Disbanded: The new record will not be coming out anytime soon." So while it appears as if the band itself isn't currently functioning, they have managed to finally release that album, Don't Let Your Baby Have All The Fun, as a free digital release on the Chicago based Rock Proper label.

We never thought we'd be writing this sentence, but The Black Heart Procession's "Rats" sees the brooding, creepily atmospheric band ... getting funky? O.K., maybe funky is too strong a word, but the staccato guitars of the chorus play against the gentle surge of the drums to create a milieu that at least encourages finger-tapping, if not an adventurous toe-tap or three. We keep finding ourselves migrating toward their latest, Six, to slowly allow ourselves to sink and submit to its dark charms. They've always been hard to label -- are they goth, indie, sludge, Leonard Cohen swagga? -- and this album's thirteen songs will do nothing to clarify the band's intent enough to slot them into one niche or another. And frankly, we wouldn't want that.

Where Did All My People Go is an apt title for the full length debut from The Prairie Cartel. The band -- Scott Lucas, Blake Smith, and Mike Willison -- is stocked with some of the survivors from the mid-'90s Chicago music scene that never stopped producing new music. The trio comes from a guitar heavy past but their mutual love of electronic music brought them together to synthesize their own take on motivating the denizens of the dance floor.

The Cool Kids and Hey Champ have teamed up to craft a track we really wish had come out a few months ago since it would have sounded great whilst strolling down the beach, stopping occasionally to make out with someone and let the surf lick our toes. We've long appreciated The Cool Kids without actually feeling engaged by their music, but this collaboration really hits the spot and merges the rock with the hip-hop in a way Judgment Night never could. Seamless and delicious, baby.

Chicago DJ duo Moneypenny -- née Rocktapussy -- have been expanding their sets to include more live based material, blurring the line between DJ and band. "Say No" is their first official 100% original offering, and they want you to give it a listen for free. Chess Hubbard and Jessica Gonyea attempt to channel '80s eletro-pop on the track, and we're curious to hear more. Hey Champ throws in a nice remix that might be better suited for the dance floor, so make sure you give that a listen.

That opener, "Crystal Visions," sets a strong template for the rest of the album including gauzy guitars, steady drums, dreamy vocals, and hints and wisps of melody. It's all pretty simple really. So why does the album feel like a strong contender in that inevitable listing of the best albums of 2009? Why would something that sounds so unsurprising keep popping up on our playlists when far more unique tunes get a couple listens before getting filed away in our mental vault.

We had kind of lost touch with the Minneapolis group The Idle Hands over the years. The last time we saw them we found them to be an O.K. group that was perhaps a tad too besotted with late '80s shoegaze and 120 Minutes re-runs. Not a bad thing, but not exactly the sort of music that demands our full attention.

Buzz has been heavy around 25 year old songstress Victoria Hesketh a.k.a. Little Boots, and while we've bemoaned the fact that her album has yet to be released Stateside, we're extremely excited that she's playing The Empty Bottle this Thursday. We've said she writes tunes that are electro-pop gems set to steam up clubs and compel rollerskate divas to rub up all over skinny tied boys, and that enough would get us into the club to see her.

Only Children -- local DJs/producers Chris Baronner, Dino Balocchi, Jesse Hozeny,and Mcrae Reed -- have released a remix of Tigercity's "Fake Gold." It's the first single off Tigercity's forthcoming debut Ancient Lover. We're still taking in that album, but we're digging the hell out of this remix. Like Only Children's first remix, this treatment centers on a loungey summer disco vibe.

In which we take a quick look at a few recent musical releases.

Sadly, most know Ben Lee as either arm candy to the starlets or a mediocre adult-alternative singer. But back in the day, when he was a wee kid fresh outta Australia, he could write a mean tune. He rose to fame after spending some time in Chicago and recording an album with Brad Wood featuring cameos by various local scenesters including a young lady by the name of Liz Phair. That was a fine solo disc, but we always really loved his previous work with the much messier yet ingratiatingly poppier band Noise Addict.

Again, the weather sucks today. So when the band names Electric Tickle Machine and SUNBEARS! dropped our way this afternoon we had to toss in some songs and give 'em a listen. And who if they ain't a 180 from the scene outside our window! Hell, we started playing them and daisies suddenly sprouted outta our water bottle! The tunes are all horns and sunshine and psychedelic smiles that on a bright day would be downright borderline creepy, but on a day like today their strangeness is a welcome rescue from the clouds and soggy concrete surrounding us.

Ah Pelican ... remember when they were at the forefront of that whole "skinny indie dudes playing tooth rattling stoner metal" movement? Well, now there are a zillion of those bands out there, but we still think the Chicago four-piece is one o0ff the ones that do it best. Their new disc What We All Come To Need doesn't come out until later this fall, but we just got this taster of what to expect.

Monotonix puts on one of the most wildly entertaining stage shows we've seen in recent years, with band member literally setting each other on fire and trying to make off with each other's instruments ... mid-song. They just released this taste from the debut full-length Where Were You When It Happened?, out September 8. It's a bit of a departure from their previous material in that it, um, actually seems somewhat thoughtfully constructed! Instead of a whirlwind of instruments threating to consume each other what we get instead is a pretty nnifty groove and the startling realization that lead vocalist Ami Shalev can actually sing!

We caught Emily Wells at this weeks Edible Audible Picnic primarily because she was a) playing directly across from our office and b) our significant other was very excited about the set. We admit we'd heard her cover of the Notorious B.I.G. song "Juicy" that had been making the rounds, but were unimpressed, and figured it was just another example of a female folkie going after some mainstream acclaim with a quirky cover.

We gave you our own history of local band Mr. Russia a while ago. And we enjoyed their debut they dropped waaaaay back ... earlier this year. Well, you certainly can't call them lazy (or stingy) because they've already released a follow up Training For The Gameshow Host EP (for free)! The new EP is populated by a darker and slightly more skewed vibe, and while the debut was no light affair, the group seems more menacing here. But it shows a band branching out from its more rudimentary inclinations. The EP also houses a wicked cover of Radiohead's "The National Anthem." Download your own free copy before the band comes back to it's sensed.

DOWNLOAD: Kid Sister "Right Hand Hi"

Hey Champ's "Cold Dust Girl" was our own official song of last summer, and it's looking to take that title for a second year in the row. The band is releasing a newly recorded version of the song in advance of their debut on Lupe Fiasco's st & 15th Entertainment record label.

Mark Hoppus just released a remix of Peter Bjorn & John's "Nothing To Worry About" he produced with the help of ex-Chicagoan Chris Holmes.

          

Mannequin Men's chaotic record release party at Metro last Friday carried all the trappings of a successful show: stage sing-alongs, furious tunes, much ribaldry, and broken guitars. We had a blast.

Guns 'N' Bombs -- the collaboration between Filip Nikolic and one-time Wicker Park enfant terrible Johnny Love -- is calling it quits. The duo announced their split via MySpace, along with the "parting gift" of one last free track. [Guns 'N' Bombs MySpace blog]

The Horse's Ha, centered around The Zincs Jim Elkington and Freakwater/Eleventh Dream Day's Janet Beveridge Bean, is one of those quiet affairs steeped in an intimate countrified folksiness. That's how we would describe it to an outsider at least. To everyone else familiar with either's work we'd say it sounds exactly like what one would expect were The Zincs' and Freakwater's songs to get together and make babies. Exactly like that. Their debut Of The Cathmawr Yards is filled with all kinds of fragile little gems just begging for your attention.

The Dirty Projectors' new album Bitte Orca is already popping up on "album of the year" lists, and while we find such evaluation to be criminally premature, the disc is certainly one of the most arresting listens we've recently encountered. Usually when one bandies about the "difficult to categorize" terminology in music reviews it means the reviewer thinks the tunes are simply weird but is afraid to make a judgment based on that for fear of looking out of touch. In the case of The Dirty Projectors, it's an excellent description though if you pressed us we'd describe it as ethereal indie funk.

Annabel Alpers is Bachelorette and she's crafted one of the most entrancing albums we've heard this year. We hear praise heaped upon her like minded contemporaries like Bat For Lashes and Polly Scattergood, but while they are producing gauzy half-baked stabs at art-pop, Alpers is creating inventive soundscapes to surround her bewitching vocals.

Jarvis Cocker's Further Complications was recorded right here in Chicago with favorite son and studio egghead Steve Albini engineering. It's a sexy beast of an album, one that trades in the gentler strokes of his solo debut for a rougher, raspy, well-fucked feel. Cocker brings together Mick Jagger's swagger with David Bowie's breadth and range and makes it all his own to create a white boy blues with swagger and stomp.

We chose this new video for Tortoise's "Prepare Your Coffin" because its monochromatic hues perfectly mirror day's weather, but the band's driving music crossed with the editing of the imagery helps helps infuse this day with new life. We're hoping you feel the same and this will be enough to spark you up and power through the rest of the day.

We can't believe it's already here, but TOMORROW is our anniversary party at The Whistler! Grammar and The Interiors have been putting in long hours at the practice space to kick out some outstanding musical sets, and Chicagoist DJs Pocket Taco, SuperBird, and Tankboy have been diligently working at holding one headphone over their ears while simultaneously bobbing their heads. Prepare yourself for terrific music all night long.

Skybox has been knocking around the local scene for a while, but we admit that we haven't really found ourselves gripped by anything we've heard out of them. There's certainly nothing wrong with their melting pot style -- it teeters back and forth between kitchen sink goofiness and splendid orchestral pop -- and plenty of folks can be found packing their shows, so we've always figured the disconnect was on our side and not really the band's fault. Hey, we can't feel a deep connection with every band, right?

Sub Pop has put up a nice little sampler available as a free download. While a lot of the tracks were already available for free through Amazon, this is the first time they've been bundled up all together and man, it makes a good argument that the label has regained its footing and sharpened its focus after its nearly disastrous post-Nirvana expansion.