Music
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Music, Post No Bills 12 O'Clock Track: O Têrço, "Flauta"
Posted by Peter Margasak on Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Soul Week, Crickets, Music Minnie Riperton's "Reasons"
Posted by Miles Raymer on Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 8:00 AM
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Music This week's featured gig poster
Posted by Luca Cimarusti on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 3:43 PM
SHOW: Tortoise and Dent-de-Lion at Empty Bottle on 1/24
MORE ONLINE: dangrzeca.com
Crickets, Music 12 O'Clock Track: Beauty Pill, "Afrikaner Barista"
Posted by Leor Galil on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 12:00 PM
For most folks, Dischord will always be synonymous with the style of punk known as the "D.C. sound." In the 80s that meant hardcore, in the 90s it meant postpunk, and in the aughts things started getting weird—a lot of material Dischord put out challenged every notion of a local sound. Take Beauty Pill, an excellent experimental postrock act fronted by Chad Clark (formerly of Smart Went Crazy) that fuses punk, jazz, hip-hop, funk, and anything else that pops into an irresistible whole.
Soul Week, Music, Post No Bills Soul music: not just dusties
Posted by Peter Margasak on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 8:00 AM
The death of Don Cornelius last week has prompted a great deal of nostalgia for Soul Train and the wonderful performances that were a regular part of the show. But when it was actually on the air, the program had little time for nostalgia—it very much existed in the present. So rather than troll through great old clips, let’s celebrate the spirit of the show by looking at new soul music. We can ease into things by talking about some still-active artists who were scoring hits a decade and a half before Soul Train even went on the air: the seemingly eternal Isley Brothers, who appeared on the show many times.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Music, Performing Arts Tonight: CSO, Muti, and Mason Bates
Posted by Deanna Isaacs on Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 4:01 PM
Tonight's the last chance (this season, in Orchestra Hall) to hear Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra take on resident-composer and sometime-DJ Mason Bates's brand-new, electro-infused symphony, Alternative Energy, which includes sounds from Fermilab and junked auto parts, and was the hot item at CSO concerts last week. Word at midafternoon was that seats are available; $20 senior and $15 student rush tickets go on sale at the box office at 5 PM, the concert's at 7:30. Also on the program: Honegger and Franck.
Crickets, Music Q&A with Craig Finn
Posted by Miles Raymer on Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 3:43 PM
Through eight years and five albums the Hold Steady have earned themselves a reputation as the go-to act for big, broad rock anthems and life affirmation via power chords. Recently front man Craig Finn used some downtime between Hold Steady endeavors to record a solo album, Clear Hearts, Full Eyes (Vagrant), that's considerably more subdued and introspective than anything he's done with either the Hold Steady or his previous band, Lifter Puller. Finn's first solo tour comes to the Empty Bottle tonight. Last Thursday, the day after the first show of the tour, he and I talked on the phone. Hit the jump to see our conversation.
Soul Week, Music The five worst covers of "The Tracks of My Tears"
Posted by Tal Rosenberg on Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 2:32 PM
- Crimfants/Wikimedia Commons
In the process of being horrified by a song I previously thought to be infallible, I realized something important about the Motown sound: Everyone loves it. That means every no-talent bucket of contagious hate has to produce a rendition of a classic Motown song. As a result, the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have an inexorable soundtrack for their stay.
Here are the five worst covers of “The Tracks of My Tears.” Proceed with caution.
Music, Post No Bills Diego Amador opens this year's Chicago Flamenco Festival
Posted by Peter Margasak on Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 1:50 PM
On Thursday evening the Chicago Flamenco Festival kicks off with a performance by Diego Amador's trio at Instituto Cervantes. His group, which also includes drummer Israel Varela and bassist Julián Heredia, will play again at the same time and same venue on Friday night. He hails from Sevilla—he's part of a big flamenco family—and he started out playing the guitar. When he first began performing professionally, though, it was on the drums, as a member of Pata Negra, a popular flamenco-rock group and a key part of the nuevo flamenco movement during the 80s. Amador emerged as a solo artist in the mid-90s, by which time he'd moved out from behind the drums, playing mainly piano rather than guitar.
Crickets, Music 12 O'Clock Track: Po Po, "Let's Get Away"
Posted by Miles Raymer on Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 12:00 PM
