North Coast Music Festival 2017: Day Three in Review
[soliloquy id=”17892″] Finally the North Coast Music Festival schedules aligned and gates opened 15 minutes before any of the performers began their sets. It doesn’t seem like much but after […]
Cloakroom Summoned a Magical Mood at Schubas
There’s a particularly strange mood that accompanies the transition from summer to autumn. Life becomes paradoxically darker and heavier yet beautiful. Crisp nights come earlier and earlier along with an […]
North Coast Music Festival 2017: Day Two in Review
[soliloquy id=”17723″] A nice and sunny day greeted North Coast Music Festival attendees to very local-music-friendly start to the day while a late night rainstorm sent the crowds off […]
North Coast Music Festival 2017: Day One in Review
North Coast Music Festival: Summer’s Last Stand has finally arrived! The eclectic festival started out their Labor Day weekend stay at Union Park with a nice mix of EDM, funk, […]
Mellencamp’s Melodic Mélange in Sad Clowns and Hillbillies
Bloomington, Indiana’s most famous son shakes the snow globe of American music to mix up a melodic mélange of Motown, 12-bar blues, country and heartland rock in the soulful, riveting […]
The Funs Is A Cult: Six New Songs of Fuzzed-Out Shoegaze
New Douglas, Illinois, doesn’t sound like a place where a lot of noise is made. It sounds like the setting out of a John Hughes film. The town’s population in […]
Jorja Smith Put on a Stunning Performance at Schubas
Before the show even started, the atmosphere at Schubas felt different. A pretty large contingent of fans had arrived early; squeezed up tightly against the stage and each other, occupying […]
Parent Resurrects Lush ’70s Songwriting with Hoops’ Kevin Krauter at the Hideout
When songwriter Trey Gruber walked to the upright piano in the corner of the Hideout’s stage, we stepped back a few decades. His band Parent, one of Chicago’s most promising new […]
The Lemon Twigs: Slightly Older, Much More Confident
Chicago has a tax that we all pay. No, not the new soda tax. I’m talking about the dues we pay at the beginning of each August: the days before, […]
Nothing Says ‘Punk’ Like Rancid and Dropkick Murphys
Last week, thousands of punk fans gathered at Northerly Island to see two of the greatest bands to ever grace the genre: Rancid and Dropkick Murphys. Both bands have been […]
Marika Hackman and The Big Moon Were a Perfect Match at Schubas
[soliloquy id=”16591″] When I was first introduced to Marika Hackman, she was gently strumming an acoustic guitar in the middle of the Lincoln Hall stage, performing a beautiful opening […]
Gramatik Lights Up the MID post Lolla
Walking into The MID, I felt like I was back in college, just down the street from my old stomping grounds, University of Illinois at Chicago. I once enjoyed night […]