Results tagged “newmusic”

New-music group Fulcrum Point will play a concert tomorrow night to preview their November 12 show at the Harris Theater. While, yes, it is to a large degree "only" a preview concert, the fact is sometimes watching a trailer is pretty cool.

Here we go again ... The Police are coming back to town, playing Allstate Arena, with Elvis Costello opening. We enjoyed them immensely last time they came through town, but we'll probably pass on seeing them again, although Costello is a much more enticing opening act than Sting's son. But we reckon Costello was brought in to counter the fact that the immediate mix of nostalgia and excitement will probably make it harder to move tickets this time.

With the rise of new music media, and the ability to discover a new favorite band from Iceland in the comfort of your own bedroom, those instances of love for an unfamiliar artist at first sight leave more indelible impressions than ever.

With A Night at the Ritz, their first album on Scratchie/New Line Records, due out Sept. 25, everyone's favorite up-and-coming Chicago band OFFICE has got themselves a brand new music video for the single "Oh My." We know it looks like an (awesome) '80s porno, but we promise it's SFW. OFFICE hits the road right after the album's release, making a brief pit stop at Schubas on Oct. 3. Get your tickets now, because we...

You’ve got to hand it to the University of Chicago for releasing the findings of a study that calls out the City of Chicago for not nurturing its hometown music scene, right on the heels of the most lucrative 3 days on the city’s annual music calendar. The study examined the economic impact of the music industry on the 50 most populous metro areas of America, pulling together data like number of jobs related to...

The weekend is here, and for many that means packing up the available vehicle and getting out of the city. If camping or fishing or what have you aren’t your style, make a city-to-city musical jaunt up to Milwaukee. Kick it off with a mix of solid Mil-town artists like the Violent Femmes, The Promise Ring, and The Obsoletes for the 90 minute ride and get ready to discover that Milwaukee’s music scene proves that...

Music festivals are lots of things to lots of people: to the City, they represent quality of life and revenue draws from tourism; to music fans, they can be a great way to see many of your favorite bands all at once, while checking out new music; to some, they're like a vacation in your own town. But to activists and social movement groups, they're also an opportunity to reach out to people that might...

There’s been a subtle shift in Chicago’s independent music scene over the past year. As bands like The Ponys, The Changes, and Bound Stems are out of town more often in accordance with their newfound national attention, other hardworking bands are stepping up to establish themselves as the foundation of the city’s new music community. One of the leaders of this pack is Cracklin Moth, who has built a following on the strength of a...

The Comas have been at this shit for a while now. Originally formed in Chapel Hill, NC in 1998, their blistering brand of psychedelic-soaked garage rock has left a steady stream of sweaty, melted faces in its wake for nearly the past decade. They’ve collected some of the most desirable accolades an independent-spirited band can hope for, including contacts with North Carolina tastemakers Yep Roc and (currently) Vagrant Records, shoe shines from Pitchfork Media, Rolling...

Chicagoist has a nice variety of friends who provide myriad viewpoints on myriad subjects, including new music. Our college friends, for instance, hit us up for tickets to the Daughtry show at the Double Door a few weeks back, while our snobby (geeky?) hipster pals were trying hard not to get caught enjoying themselves at Lily Allen in Austin during SXSW. Chicagoist’s good-times party-gal sister likes anything with a “fun beat,” from commercial country to...

The main tickets going on sale are Cubs tickets, but for those of us who prefer our activities in smaller bars than Wrigley and usually during the night time so our precious flesh doesn’t burn, here are a few choices for dropping some Benjamins.

That sound you heard yesterday was the collective orgasm of gadget freaks, Mac nerds, and tech investors all over the world when Apple announced the new iPhone, the long-awaited convergence of the iPod with a cell phone and PDA. We'll spare you the technical details--chances are you heard one of the IT guys whooping it up at work yesterday, but let's just say that Steve Jobs has managed to package sex into a 3x5 piece of plastic and metal.

The advent of the New Year ought to bring with it joy and hope. But fans of live music know that January 1 often brings nothing but doldrums thanks to cold winter temps that discourage even the heartiest of bands from touring. So this week is as good as any to get caught up on some local “comfort food” that might get passed over in warmer weeks. Neither Lacona or Driftless Pony Club seems to...

Well that was quick.

Picture if you will a world without iPod or YouTube, a world where a superfast connection means 56K, and google is just another numeric term and not a verb. A world without Chicagoist. We know -- too terrible to imagine! That world was 1996, the year that RESFEST was inaugurated to celebrate the possibilities of film and digital media. In 1996 the first DV cameras and affordable desktop video-editing systems were just making their way...

We love getting our blocks knocked off by bands we’ve never heard of. We love getting CDs in the mail from unknowns that grab us by our lapels (fully staffed by various band buttons, of course) and shake us out of the stupor that usually attends the hours-long sessions when we wade through all of the week’s new music arrivals. We love bands that sound classic while still sounding like no one else.

It’s easy to knock Veruca Salt. Only one of the founding members remains in the band. The group has gone through more line-up changes than the touring production of Cats. Once fame and fortune hit, they headed for the coast to live up the rock and/or roll lifestyle. The band’s last disc faltered under the weight of general debauchery and vitriol, leading many to question Louise Post’s ability to become the focal point and singular frontwoman.

Not only was this weekend chock full of good music, but Chicagoist also got to knock back a few with some old friends and meet some folks whose work we’ve been admiring for a while now, specifically Abby from PunkPhoto, Scott and Amrit from Stereogum, Rachel from Scenestars, Dodge from My Old Kentucky Blog, Ryan from Muzzle Of Bees, and Whitney from USA Today’s Pop Candy. The next day as some of us were trying...

Last night Chicagoist took a break from our rock-n-roll lifestyle and turned on the television, mainly to watch Ultimate Fighting ‘cuz we have a slight case of the bloodlust, but came across a channel that we had never seen before on Comcast, Channel 197 (at least at our abode) – The Tube Music Network.

Wednesday night brought another opportunity to see local favorite Frisbie play out as a full electric ensemble. They were playing at the Abbey Pub as the opener to quite a conglomeration for connoisseurs of pop and/or rock. The Silos and the Minus 5 rounded out the bill.

Wednesdays at the Funky Buddha Lounge are for getting to know the urban artists who have recently signed to major labels. Chicago has become a hot bed for major labels seeking new talent because of the burgeoning South Side scene. This weekly series will feature some of the hottest new artists and will be live, unplugged and intimate from DJ Lil' John's VIP Lounge.

Since Chicagoist doesn't have a job right now, we didn't try to attend the sold out shows at the Vic this week by Chicago's very own Billy Corgan. It does look like that it may not have been so difficult a task to get tickets to the 2nd show, but by then we were well into our couch recovering from the 4th's festivities.

This week’s New City cover story “Music 45: Who Rocks Chicago” features 45 artists, talent bookers, and executives who rock Chicago. Though the awkward punctuation had us scratching our heads for a while, that was nothing compared with how we got our dander up over the list itself. Trust us: things get ugly when our dander is in the up position.