Three Men in One Week: Sam Roberts, Dan Auerbach, A.A. Bondy
Click here to view the complete Sam Roberts photo set
Continue reading "Three Men in One Week: Sam Roberts, Dan Auerbach, A.A. Bondy" »
Continue reading "Three Men in One Week: Sam Roberts, Dan Auerbach, A.A. Bondy" »
Chicagoans are crazy and, by "crazy", I mean awesome! Instead of having a regular canned food drive, we have to make it a party like Halloween in the daytime with a grand old costumed shopping cart race. Of course, we aren't the only city that has this race. Portland, Ann Arbor, Vancouver, NYC, San Francisco, Washington DC, and more have their own races but I'd like to think ours was more fun ;) Participants lined up with their own brand of creatively decorated shopping cart and were released from the beginning station on Ferdinand and Wolcott in groups every fifteen minutes with the accompanying sounds of the marching band, Environmental Encroachment, who at one point even covered Radiohead's "The National Anthem". From the Wizard of Oz to the zombies and the circus freaks, this was my first Chiditarod and I'll likely remember it forever.
Surprisingly, it has been over 2 years since Longwave came through Chicago, or anywhere for that matter. Taking the time to regroup, record and find a new label, they did anything but take it easy. Recording the whole of the album in their Brooklyn studio, they focused the melodies and the sound to a tight and beautiful package. By no means is the ethereal-ness gone. It’s just blended with driving bass lines and a couple of actual rock-guitar solos.
Download: Longwave - "No Direction"
If music is our primary obsession, photography most certainly runs a close second. Almost everyone at Radio Free Chicago loves taking pictures, and from the seasoned pro to the amateur shutterbug, we rarely leave for a gig without a camera in tow. With only a few hours remaining in 2008, let's take a look back at its photographic highlights before we start snapping more tomorrow. (Pictured above: Andrew Bird by Jeremy Farmer)
I don't often find myself clamoring for more past the token encore these days but then not many bands can turn a venue into a party quite like Cansei de Ser Sexy.
Download: CSS - "Left Behind"
Andrew Bird just finished up two ultra sold out, "secret", pre-album-release-new-music-introduction shows at the Hideout. I attended the first night (the 50 degree Sunday, not the 5 degree Monday).
While we have to wait until January for a proper copy of the new album, Noble Beast, Andrew and his band presented us with an evening of new tunes, plus a few old ones, like "Tables and Chairs" and "Plasticities", ending with the wondrous "Giant of Illinois".
If you missed this one, worry not. Andrew and Dosh and co will be playing in April at the Civic Opera House.
Continue reading "Live Pics: Andrew Bird @ Hideout 12/14/08" »
Live pics courtesy of Patti Farfan.
Continue reading "Live Pics: Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band 11/1/08" »
For those of you who have not had the chance to attend a concert at Epiphany Church yet, RFC's own Garin Pirnia has written an article for Time Out Chicago offering a little insight to the church turned concert venue. I will then shamelessly use that article as an excuse to post some long overdue photos from the inaugural show with Low from last month. If you missed that show, well then unfortunately you missed the best show that will occur at this venue until the next time Low is in town, but that is no reason not to attend another show because the venue really is quite beautiful. Read Garin's article here, click over to the jump for more pics.
Head on over to Jeremy's flickr page for live pics from Tuesday night's Okkervil River show at Metro.
Kirstie now has her first photos up from Hideout Block Party 2008, check out the set here.