No other band on Earth presents music to their fans quite like Umphrey’s McGee. The progressive jam band recently announced its second annual UM Bowl in Chicago. The event is a one-of-a-kind concert in which fans, via live text-messaging, call the shots on song choices and special collaborations in four…
To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever correctly assigned blame for inspiring the squeaky-clean brand of second wave emo/pop-punk plied by bands like Fall Out Boy and Jimmy Eat World. I’ll start with FOB’s fellow Chicagoans The Smoking Popes. In the early ’90s, these lovesick suburbanites carried…
Let’s face it: Monday nights are downright dull. Not only are there four grueling days of work still ahead of, there’s also never anything good on the tube to help dull the pain. Thank heavens, then, for Tricky T, who’s helping turn Monday into a fun day again with his…
Title: Hard To Be HumanBasics: Billed as “the new project featuring members of Big Vinny and the Cattle Thieves, Digital Leather, Andrew Jackson Jihad, and The Half Empties,” The Plainfield Butchers have some impressive experience among their four members. Their debut record Hard To Be Human is a tight tour…
That includes upscale spot Primebar, which is where Club Candids visited this past weekend. Check out the pics from the experience in this week’s slideshow…
Want to hear the album but can’t wait an entire week? Well The Strokes have you covered — they are streaming Angles in its entirety via their website. The stream will continue right up until the album’s release, which is plainly visible via the website’s own countdown.Now you can finally hear…
“Fierce Creatures is a wonderful band from Fresno, California, and they’ve got a great ear for melody and good music,” said Ade Kassim, who designed the flier.Indie folk band Fierce Creatures will be joined by local talents Small Leaks Sink Ships and Kid Sampson.”Small Leaks Sink Ships and Kid Sampson…
Title: The Dalliance AlbumBasics: Underground Cities is described as being “formed by old high school friends in the summer of 2009 from the remnants of punk, indie, metal and rockabilly bands.” Thankfully, Underground Cities is not just one of these sounds — the band plays instrumental rock songs in the…
DeVotchKa is Russian for “girl.” Not sure what that has to do with anything, but I like when foreign words are so much longer than their English counterpart. DeVotchKa is also the name of a crazy-ass band from Denver that sounds like Fiddler on the Roof if many, many more…
California singer-songwriter Joey Cape is best known for his work in bands like Lagwagon and Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies. When he’s not working on records for those groups, Cape is building a pretty strong solo career for himself. Unlike the pop-punk sound Cape developed with his bands, his…
The grungy hard rock band 10 Years has had its share of ups and downs. Like most groups that last more than a hot minute, they’ve gone through personnel changes, management changes, and a few creative crises. In fact, the band wasn’t even certain that its most recent album, Feeding…
Let’s say you decide to start a solo project, eventually inviting some friends to play with you. It’s hardly serious — the newly formed band is just a way to see some friends you might not otherwise get to see on a regular basis. Why not give the band a…
San Francisco duo The Dodos’ bright, intricately rhythmic music quilts together influences ranging from Afro-pop and folk-psych to country-blues and po-mi (post-millennial) experimental pop. Since forming in 2005 around singer/songwriter Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber, The Dodos have released three increasingly polished and refined albums, with a fourth, No…
Mixtapes have been a staple of the hip-hop world, dating back to the old days when NYC selectas like Kool Herc were using the rhymes of artists like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa to help launch their careers. Another cat who rose to glory via his masterful mixtapes was DJ…
It’s become a cliché for music journalists to write “pity poor Ron Sexsmith” stories about how wonderful the Canadian singer-songwriter is and how it’s a crime that he doesn’t sell more records. It’s only a cliché because it’s true. With his eleventh studio album, Long Player Late Bloomer, in stores…
Casey Moore’s is the neighborhood bar of Tempe. Located just walking distance from the Mill Avenue bars, Casey’s is the perfect place to have a couple beers and still be able to talk to your friends without yelling. Jimmy Eat World even wrote a song about the place. The casual…
Title: For When It’s Sunny OutBasics: Phoenix foursome Snow Songs features the versatile Yolanda Bejarano as their lead singer, and it’s damn near impossible to not to mention Bejarano when discussing the band. She is one of the strongest presences I have come across in my time with YAFI and…
Boston punk rock band the Street Dogs have appropriately chosen to go with a Celtic theme on the flier for their upcoming gig at the Rogue Bar.Joining the band for awesome pre-St. Patrick’s Day festivities will be fellow Boston bands the Have Nots, Lenny Lashley Gango of One, and The…
Title: A Room Full of HatersBasics: Is there room for more haters? I don’t like to start things off like that, but I couldn’t help myself — especially given the title of the damn album. A title, I might add, that was not included on the CD itself and was…
The Sound Strike, the musical boycott of Arizona organized last year in the wake of a controversial immigration law, is crowing about its success. The boycott is lead by former Rage Against The Machine singer Zack de la Rocha. It persists even though SB 1070 — like an “eerily similar”…
There is a very good chance that at some point in your life, whether you’re too young to realize it or not, you’ve heard at least one song by Jackson Browne. It’s not just because the legendary singer-songwriter has been making music since the early ’70s, but it’s because his…
When Quiet Riot singer Kevin DuBrow passed away in 2007, many felt that his death would mark the end of the band. Among them was Quiet Riot drummer and figurehead Frank Banali, who issued a statement on the band’s official website declaring that, “Kevin was too important to go on…
