Review: Sister City – Carbon Footprint (2011)
The Awkward White Boy’s Burden: Writing Poetry with Nothing to Say Adam Linder, songwriter for Sister City, is “that guy.” The guy at the party, who upon finding an acoustic guitar, sits in the kitchen with a PBR tall-boy asking for requests that invariably lead to covers of Ell
INTERVIEW: WHITE WIVES (PITTSBURGH)
HAPPENERS: MAKING THE BEST OF AN “INDIAN SUMMER” Minneapolis, MN7/2/115:02 PM A good musician is a master of time-management, filling a chronological continuum with effectively expressive sound (pretentious labels and alliteration are not required). S/he believes: It’s my time: I’m going to
REVIEW: IMADETHISMISTAKE – BOW AND QUIVER (2010)
Admittedly I gave Bow and Quiver an initial glancing listen, zoning out to Kylewilliam Campol’s unorthodox spoken-world presentation over jazzy sax by Jon Pagano. The recording is rough, the kind you’d find not in bedroom recordings, but in underground recording studios with walls bran
Review: Sundowner – We Chase the Waves (2010)
Chris McCaughan is the mainstay that has connected the masts of Chicago punk since before 1996. Emerging in Tricky Dick and post-Slapstick The Broadways, Chris found his songwriting stride with The Lawrence Arms. Always encapsulating Chicago winters and hardships with an urban optimis
Review: Johnny Foreigner – You Thought You Saw a Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears and That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With the Sky So Clear and Sea So Calm (2010)
Frankly, I don’t know what compelled me to do this EP more; the fact that Johnny Foreigner is the sole reason I would ever go to Birmingham (my Birmingham friends, I’m exaggerating), or the fact that the EP title is so long I fear Twitter, WordPress, or any other method of publishing a
A CHICAGO MUSIC ICON RETURNS…
High school: “Is it safe where you’re driving?” ‘Yes, mom. I’ve been there a bunch of times…it’s in a good neighborhood.’ Insert busted out car windows and our protagonist passes the threshold into a dingy, darkly lit building. Ceiling tiles are not crumbling, but punched out. Stains
REVIEW: ALKALINE TRIO – THIS ADDICTION (2010)
Seven has been associated with This Addiction, whether covering the CD itself to the earplugs the band uses during their tour. The integer itself denotes either dread or luck, depending on your viewpoint. The seventh album is as polarizing as the number; you’ll either love it or hate it. In f
On the Horizon: Lawrence Arms + Methadones = Noise By Numbers
Ah the coincidence! Sitting in my flat today after French courses, I was reminiscing over old Lawrence Arms (Ghost Stories). Coming back from Place Verte in the 11e arrondissement, I discovered that their drummer/Swiss army knife, Neil Hennessy, joined up with members of Screeching We
REVIEW: THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES – TAIL SWALLOWER AND DOVE (2008)
Lead Beater, the eighth track on Tail Swallower and Dove (Suicide Squeeze Records, 2008) lands with such a foreboding bass it’s difficult to distinguish whether speakers are trembling because of the music, or the sheer calculated viciousness These Arms Are Snakes’ approach on their lat