The following ten groups released albums or EPs that we believe launched them far above the roiling masses making up the Chicago music scene. While these are our favorites it should be noted that this was an amazingly strong year for the local scene, and we could have easily made a top 50 list without much of a problem. In fact, just reviewing the bands while making this list we realized how thankful we are to be located in such a musically fertile city! more ›

Oh, Chicago...thank you for giving us two of America's most eye-catching and compelling political stories from 2008, one spectacular baseball playoff collapse, a glorious summer (met by an unusually nasty, early winter) and a cache of talented local artists to comb through. Without further ado: more ›

Yup, here it is, the inevitable "Best of 2008" music list (a later post centering on the top local offerings is forthcoming). In order to spare our readers the pain of reading through yet another list that tries too hard to impress with obscure releases or toe the party line on Stereogum / Pitchfork approved artists, we continue our personal decade-plus tradition of merely listing what we actually liked in 2008. That means that the albums below are the one we kept finding ourselves turning to when we wanted to kick back and enjoy some tunes. Sure, there was more artistically challenging stuff released this year than some of the selections below -- and we certainly do appreciate that sort of thing -- but our year end list reflects which music ultimately did for us what we think rock and/or roll is ultimately meant to do to any listener: it grabbed us by the heart and/or crotch and wouldn't let go. more ›