We have been waiting for the debut from local duo Walter Meego for forever. Seriously. We've seen them on "next big thing" lists for at least the last two years -- and believe us, they belong on those lists -- but only now can folks who haven't seen them live finally get what the buzz is all about. Voyager is one hell of a first album. It's slinky, sexy guitar and synthesizer lines kiss......

We have fond memories of picking up cool Psychic TV albums at the old Wax Trax record store and then popping over to Demon Dogs for a hot dog afterwards while we lovingly pored over our purchases. We know Neo already does a fine job of representing the industrial scene on a nightly basis, but Liar's Club is hosting a special Wax Trax Records night this evening, including Chris Connelly reading from his new book......

Kill Hannah has put out a call for volunteers to appear in a video they're shooting for "Boys & Girls" this Sunday. They are looking for: talented Females and Males to perform on camera. 18-27, CHICAGO LOCALS ONLY PLEASE. You don't need to be a professional dancer, but you need to have moves. Come dressed to Kill. If you're interested in "an unforgettable time with Kill Hannah" send your headshots here. Of course there......

We were entranced by singer/songwriter Laura Veirs' shimmering, ethereal folk pop the first time we heard her 2005 record, Year of Meteors. Her intricate guitar parts and haunting voice didn't just get hooked into our brains; they burroughed there, refusing to leave. But she had been making her signature music long before we ever heard it. Her self-titled debut was released in 1999 via Raven Marching Band Records, who also put out her follow-up, The......

Well, that anti-promoter ordinance the City's kicking around sounds worse with every passing second. The vague language means it may limit live comedy in Chicago, too. You can hear Alderman Eugene Schulter try to defend the ordinance on 848 from this morning, but we'll warn you that it'll just make you grumpy. Call your alderman, or plan on going to the City Council meeting tomorrow at 10am. update: Some folks are trying to rally 100......

One thing that tends to get overlooked about Scott Lucas is his pure ambition. Local H's latest disc 12 Angry Months, released today, is the band's second concept album by our count, and deals with the intensely personal cycle of the demise of a major relationship and the year of fall-out that follows. It's not like break-ups are exactly unusual territory in pop music, but Lucas has the undeniable talent to take an individual experience......

Jim DeRogatis's sometimes-pugnacious demeanor is the subject of many a poorly-reviewed band's ire, but it does come in handy now and then. DeRo is taking the lead on figuring out what the hell our city officials are thinking in trying to pass the proposed promoter's ordinance, and he recently offered Alderman Gene Schulter the chance to respond to the Chicago music community's collective concerns. By pointing out the obvious holes in the ordinance's basic fabric,......

R. Kelly's long-awaited child pornography trial is officially underway. Jury selection started Friday, resumed this morning and should take about a week, with around 150 potential jurors being screened down to 16 (the standard 12 plus 4 alternates). The judge and lawyers from both sides are questioning potential jurors, asking about impartiality and how much they already know about the case. Also, being a little weird: [Judge] Gaughan also asked the first prospective juror to......

Coming on like Curtis Mayfield in a Mack truck, The Heavy are a UK-based fivesome that takes both their soul and their rock in equal doses. Frontman Swaby's vocals occupy that sweet spot between flawless falsetto and lascivious drawl. The band backs his sexy crooning with a melange of beats and instruments plucked from the '70s and shoved through a hip-hop shredder feeding directly into a tube-blown analog console. They can craft a suitably......

We weren’t aware that there were plans to make a fourth Terminator movie, but this is what we learned today: Terminator Salvation: the Future Begins is set to hit theaters in May 2009, and Chicago hip-hopper Common is set to play a character named Barnes, a freedom fighter for the human race. Currently, Common is preoccupied with his eighth album “Invincible Summer,” slated for release in mid-July. [S-T] Meanwhile, enjoy Common’s visual dialog with the......

Indie rock superstars My Morning Jacket have recently announced a spate of new tour dates ahead of the June 10 release of their new album, Evil Urges. And we're in luck: Jim James and crew are slated to wrap up the tour with two dates at The Chicago Theatre. You just have to be a little patient. While the tour starts in the summer, the Chicago dates don't happen until mid-October. So far, there is......

Lauri Apple of Gapers Block asked me a while ago if I'd be interested in representing Chicagoist in a DJ battle against her / Gapers Block at The Burlington tonight. Naturally I accepted the challenge without a second thought. I believe we'll be splitting the evening into five musical themes* with each of us allotted 30 minutes to outdo the other, or something like that. I'll have free stuff from Chicagoist and she'll have Gapers......

It's easy to get burned out on "blogger buzz" bands. For every Arcade Fire there are dozens of Clap Your Hands Say Blahs / Vampire Weekends. Every once in a while, the buzz factor gets it right though, and it's in this rare intersection of hype and talent that Black Kids is lucky enough to occupy. The band writes poppy ditties that do a good job recalling the heyday of MTV's 120 Minutes while......

We hate the Aragon Ballroom as a live amplifier-driven music venue. Hate, hate, hate. The acoustics are awful, the sight lines suck, and the place hasn't been worth stepping inside since they got rid of the buckets of beer after that Sonic Youth / Public Enemy show we were at that ended up in a riot. However, we might have to force ourselves to step into the concert hall from hell now that we hear......

The Black Hollies take the past so seriously it's hard to believe they exist in the present at all. The band is caught somewhere where it's perpetually 1967, The Marquee is still serving up maximum R-and-B, and scooters choke the streets and cause road hazards as forests of mirrors sprout out from the body of each bike. Sitars still count as "rawk" and even the most die-hard pill head isn't afraid of breaking into an......

Last week, we gushed about the State-side release (finally!) of Swedish pop star Robyn's self-titled record. A magnificent, intelligent slice of dance-pop heaven, the record has been garnering rave reviews, even three years after its release on her native continent of Europe. Now she's on a cross-country trek to continue her quest to capture our American hearts, minds, and ears. We caught up with her on the day after the record's release, as she......

Jesus Kee-rist, Trent Reznor is on a roll. Mere weeks after the release of the instrumental Nine Inch Nails quadruple album Ghosts I-IV, he's released the newest "pop" album by the band, The Slip. While Ghosts offered a tiered pricing plan, The Slip is available absolutely and completely free. Formats include MP3, FLAC, lossless M4A, and even WAV files. DRM-free. Creative Commons copyright. Super-fast download. And the songs ain't bad at all either! We're impressed.......

One of the most common exchanges we have when playing Joe Pug's Nation of Heat EP for a friend goes something like this: Friend: "Wow, this is intense. How old is this guy?" Chicagoist: "He's 24." Friend: "Hooo-lee shit." This scene has been repeated several times in the two weeks that we've had this little 7-songs wonder, and with good reason - Pug is the real deal. The kid’s got that weariness in his delivery......

We saw The Midnight Juggernauts open for Justice a few months ago and were surprised at how much enjoyed them more than we did the headliner that night. This Australian trio takes dance music, injects it with plenty of proggy Pink Floyd touches, a heavy dose of glammy disco, and then latches it all onto the back of a hard-charging muscle car powered by guitar churning rock and/or roll. On album this comes across as......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Ex-Pres Remember the good old days when Jimmy Carter was president? No, you probably don't, but believe us when we say it was kind of nice having someone honest in the Oval Office, even if things in this country weren't exactly going too terrifically. Carter is appearing at Border's tonight to support A Remarkable Mother,......

A friend of our described Yelle's show a bit ago in New York as "a bunch of kids jumping up and down with their hands in the air for an hour." They were pretty spot on with that image. Yelle played to a sweaty, steamy Logan Square Auditorium last night, and while we were amused by the spastic dancing of the attendees, we were impressed with the showmanship of the 25-year-old Frenchwoman on the stage.......

Three years ago the blogosphere criticeratti exploded over the import-only self-titled turn-around album by former pop-princess Robyn. If that opening sentence didn't make your head explode, read on. The disc that garnered so much attention was/is a smart collection of shiny pop, punk swagger, and intelligent beats. It overtook everything in its sonic path. It made Annie sound like a twiggy shadow. It could have been a monster smash. But it never got released here.......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Art Today is the last day for Artopolis at The Merchandise Mart. We, regrettably, haven't made it over there yet, but a number of our friends have and think it's definitely worth the trip, so maybe we can sneak out of the Chicagoist offices around lunch time, pop open our umbrellas, and scurry over there......

Well, Lou was already gonna be at The Pitchfork Music Festival (July 18-20) anyway since Dinosaur Jr is playing that Sunday, but now he'll be there opening night as well, leading Sebadoh through Bubble and Scrape! Other new additions are: The Hold Steady (squee!), Elf Power, Caribou, Icy Demons, Boban Markovic Orkestar, Titus Andronicus, Bon Iver, Times New Viking, HEALTH, High Places, and Mahjongg. Holy shit. Really, they just really outdid themselves this year. Getcher......

This summer-like weather we've been enjoying all week? It's going to disappear this weekend. But our brief respite from Spring won't get us down. We mentioned the upcoming Rock The Bells fest is coming to Chicago this year and that reminds us of one thing: summer music to look forward to. Hey, it's not always about Lollapalooza. While there will be no advanced ticket sales, The Cool Kids will be playing the Abbey Pub on......

Friday, April 25: Aggrolites at Beat Kitchen Cloud Cult w/ Mason Proper at Schubas - Eco warriors fight the good fight through haunting orchestration and deceptively simple songwriting. MP3: Cloud Cult - The Ghost Inside Our House The Acorn at the Empty Bottle - Sunshine + Earth + water = acorns. Throw a few tight harmonies into that recipe and you'll end up this namesake group. MP3: The Acorn - Blankets Ted Ansani Project w/......

Dark Meat comes to us from Athens, Georgia, but the first time we heard them we were pretty sure they actually clawed their way out of another dimension to spread their riveting gospel across the land. If we're gonna play the "they sound like" game, we'd have to say Dark Meat resembles The Polyphonic Spree ... if The Spree's dark undercurrent exploded, shredding robes and ears for miles around as it blotted out the......

Honestly, the last time The Lemonheads were in town they blew us away. Evan Dando carries an unfair reputation of putting on shambolic shows, and while that may have been true in the past, we've never seen that side of him. Sure, on-stage he can come across as a pleasantly buzzed good-time dude between songs, but once the music starts, he's locked into each and every song, injecting a ruggedness into his sweet pop tunes.......

The Teenagers have been steadily conquering the '80s-fixated dance rock crowd, first coming to our attention via remix efforts, notably the Yuksek "Homecoming remix and the "Fuck Nicole" SLUTTT Ketateen remix. While both those songs prepared us for the notion that The Teenagers had a wicked sense of humor based on dueling worldviews and less than rosy views on love, we weren't prepared for the simplicity, and directness, of the group's material sans remixers.......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. International Pop Overthrow Since this mini-festival takes it's name from Material Issue, the seminal power-pop group from Chicago, it makes sense that tonight's show is headlined by current Chicago power-pop maestros Frisbie. Double Door, 1572 N Milwaukee, 7:30 p.m., $10, 21+ Clubs Samantha Ronson spins at Crimson Lounge tonight. Her brother is Mark Ronson --......