Radio Free Chicago

RFC Interview: Justin Townes Earle

When we say Justin Townes Earle knows about the creative underbelly of Nashville (and Chicago, and the Ozarks, and...) we're not kidding around. Justin spent a majority of his teenage years nursing bluegrass, ragtime, alt-country and very bad habits including the abuse of alcohol, cocaine, and a cornucopia of other "weirdness". Finally, after getting the boot from his father Steve Earle's tour band, Justin Townes Earle went sober, came down, and released the jaw-dropping Yuma followed closely by The Good Life. His latest release, Midnight at the Movies, has been raking in rave reviews from Sound Opinions, Paste, Performing Songwriter, Pitchfork, and more. He's played SXSW and the Grand Ole Opry in the past year. Yesterday, I got to chat with Justin about hitting the ground running (or trotting, if he gets his way).

Matchitehew's Metalocalypse, Morrissey's Bon Mots

If you're a fan of "everything from traditional black metal to noise" — or what I ignorantly like to call "Devil Music" — you should make sure to get to the Matchitehew Assembly, a two day all-ages music festival going down in Bridgeport on Friday and Saturday. The Reader's got all the info on this not-for-profit festival of doom (like how Matchitehew's an Algonquin name that means “he has an evil heart”) in this article, which namechecks the headlining acts in an offhanded way I simply could not pull off. My own metal illiteracy aside, though, it sounds awesome.

NME posted their list of Morrissey's 50 most memorable quotes and they're pretty great, although it's annoying that you have to scroll through photos to see each one. Waste of e-paper, boo! I want the first one, "Age shouldn't effect you. You're either marvelous or you're boring, regardless of your age" needlepointed and framed on my wall. (via So This is What the Volume Knob's For)

Hello. Hi.

Hey there Internets, this is Samantha and I'll be running things here at RFC for a little while. I've typically covered dance music here, but would you believe I like ALL types of music!? It's true. I have proof. 

Why am I stepping in for a bit? Here's what I know: When I first visited Brad's apartment about a year ago, the first thing I noticed was this wall-sized poster with the word "BELIEVE" written in a frenzied scrawl across the front. I didn't think much of it until I eventually noticed how frequently he'd pepper conversations with obscure references to "Harry and the Hendersons." Then one day this winter I finally grasped the extent of his obsession when I dropped by unannounced and found him wearing this. So last week when he handed me the keys (they're made of solid gold, so heavy!) to Radio Free Chicago — sporting a backpack, a tranquilizer gun, and a light in his eyes I'd never seen before — I didn't have to ask where he was chasin' his dreams to. Good luck Brad! We'll see you soonish.

Speaking of the 2009 Sasquatch Festival, nine out of ten doctors say if you don't find this video of a man and his shorts starting a dance party to Santigold's performance you're dead on the inside. Watch to the end: 

via Videogum

Lightning Dust @ Schubas 5/23/09

It began with an eerie organ sound emanating from the keyboard of Joshua Wells accompanied by Amber Webber's floating vocals. The Black Mountain side project, Lightning Dust, has a sound that is a little esoteric and makes your hair stand on end.  At the same time, it's abstract and poetic.  Certainly, having Amber's sister Ashley there for backup female vocals also made it seem just a touch more on the feminine side. 

Gems from the Pitch Pile-- Clues

This week's pitch has been spoken of in whispers and half-truths throughout the interwebs since even before their debut at 2007's Pop Montreal. Clues-- the newest baby of Alden Penner (via the famous-post-split Unicorns) and Brendon Reed (Arcade Fire)-- has been burning the midnight oil to produce their much-awaited self-titled debut, which hit the airwaves last week on the 19th despite a long-slanted winter 2008 release date. Up until last week everything Clues-related has been shrouded in a veil of mystery that's somewhat to be expected from the ex-Unicorn: unadvertised shows in Montreal lofts, bootlegged recordings floating around message boards, no website, no MySpace, no PR. When I finally saw the pitch for the album in the RFC inbox, squealing was involved.