Results tagged “bottomlounge”

We never thought we'd be writing this sentence, but The Black Heart Procession's "Rats" sees the brooding, creepily atmospheric band ... getting funky? O.K., maybe funky is too strong a word, but the staccato guitars of the chorus play against the gentle surge of the drums to create a milieu that at least encourages finger-tapping, if not an adventurous toe-tap or three. We keep finding ourselves migrating toward their latest, Six, to slowly allow ourselves to sink and submit to its dark charms. They've always been hard to label -- are they goth, indie, sludge, Leonard Cohen swagga? -- and this album's thirteen songs will do nothing to clarify the band's intent enough to slot them into one niche or another. And frankly, we wouldn't want that.

Halloween is quickly approaching and next week brings a host of musicians through the city to get your ghoulish weekend kick-started days in advance.

Every great movie eventually leads to two responses: "Gee, I really ought to see that," and "Gee, I really ought to see that again." The summer is winding down, so seize the moment:

Lykke Li has been on our radar a long time, and we've been vocal in our appreciation of her talents. We're hoping Lykke Li's appearance at Lollapalooza helps her break through to a much larger audience this year so more folks can appreciate her minimal electronic pop. It's the sort of thing that whispers in your ear oh so subtly and hypnotizes you with its charms so deeply you don't even notice you're already in its throes as you dance with abandon.

Have the Starlight Mints really been around for over a decade? Hailing from Norman, Oklahoma in the late '90s, the group drew a fair number of comparisons to fellow Okies The Flaming Lips. We always thought this was a lazy description since The Lips were on their way to creating futuristic symphonies at the time, and the Mints were firmly entrenched in their own little brand of weirdo orch-pop. Not really the same thing at all.

  

We attended Bottom Lounge's second annual Rum Fest Saturday, which owner Mike Miller hosts in conjunction with Edward Hamilton of the Ministry of Rum. We avoided the Malibu, Bacardi and Tommy Bahama tables, since they're the devils we know, in favor of rooting out some odder notions.

Black Moth Super Rainbow follows the proud tradition of bands that sound as if they've grown up with nothing but latter period Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev records living on the tape deck of their tour van. Their latest album, Eating Us, is produced by loooongtime Lips / Rev producer Dave Fridmann so we feel it's safe to assume the band has zero problem with anyone drawing a sonic comparison between them and their obvious predecessors.

Now We Can See, the most recent release by Portland's The Thermals, bursts with optimistic energy even as its lyrics burn a caustic path. The band works a rather simple musical attack, opting for chunky hummable chords crossed with sing-song lyrics only a handful of steps off the playground. Bitterness rarely plays this satisfyingly or this toe-tappingly. We disagree with critics who seem to think it's a step backward from 2006's The Body, The Blood, The Machine, but do the album makes no great artistic leaps forward from that point.

             

Whoa. We don't know what got into The Riverboat Gamblers last Saturday at Bottom Lounge, but they tore out an epic length punk rock and/or roll set that far exceeded even our expectations.

Well, it had to happen eventually. Underneath The Owl, the fourth album from Denton, TX quintet The Riverboat Gamblers, is not a perfect album. 2006's To The Confusion Of Our Enemies was gonna be a tough act to beat, since it distilled the band's earlier punk furies and condensed that chaos into molten drops of surprisingly sing-alongable manic rock. Underneath The Owl finds the band refining that process successfully, but the pop interjections are no longer surprising and unexpected.

There is so much great music coming through town right now -- and we suppose we have bands structuring their touring schedules around SXSW to partially thank for that -- it's easy to miss that act is hitting town until too late. Glasgow's Glasvegas is yet another in the endless list of "The Best New Band in Britain" according to NME. Unlike the majority of other folks on that list it's possible Glasvegas may grow into that title.

We need to post some corrections to tomorrow's Dogfloydapalooza event at Bottom Lounge. Both Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione and Nick Floyd of Three Floyds will be on hand tomorrow night. Their collaborative ale, Popskull, however, will not.

Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Three Floyds' Nick Floyd are two of the more extreme brewmasters working today. So when the two of them decided to collaborate on an experimental ale, the mind boggles at what they could create.

Jay Reatard at The Empty Bottle

When the inevitable chill finally hits the air each fall, some people relish the process of pulling sweaters out of mothball storage, mulling some spiced cider to enjoy in front of a roaring fire.

We're sure you've heard that Chairlift tune in the recent iPod commercials, right? Well, the rest of the album doesn't disappoint either, building pretty little pop bubbles that are nearly bursting earnest and imploring tunes. Yes they traffic in a style very similar to that employed by Postal Service -- and since ripped off by about a bajillion bands -- but their mixture of sunny boy / girl vox isn't afraid to dip into bewitching Lee Hazelwood / Nancy Sinatra territory either. Or borderline disco shuffle. Or whatever else strikes their fancy. We have no clue if these kids will be around in 6 months or if they're just another blog band that'll go bust in the night, but we're rather enjoying what we're hearing right now.

Brrrrr...can you feel winter in the air? Gone are the street festivals and summer nights spent on the patio at Happy Village, but the crisp air and transition from peep toes to boots ushers in one of my favorite time of year. What's more cozy that coming in out of the cold to a warm bar and good, Chicago-made music?

The Laureates tell us there are no more gentlemen, least of all themselves. So why does their music make us feel like we’re headed to the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance and they'll keep their damn hands off us? With tunes that make us snap along, this foursome puts audiences in a time machine with an early 60s-inspired sometimes punky, sometimes toe-tapping poppy, indie rock sound. Their album interweaves old school harmonized backup vocals and the practically forgotten end-of-song fadeaway, but like recycled fashion, these retro elements are made new again when paired with a bit of hard-edged modern grit.

For a while it seemed like Pegboy only played one show every two years, but recently the band has made a welcome return to regular appearances, at least in our area. We think it's fair to say they're the epitome of Chicago punk rock, especially since John Haggerty's buzz-saw guitars created the template from which a million other bands took their cues.

                   

Ah, the rain. In previous years we've always half jokingly call the Pitchfork Music Festival "Sweatfork" due to the usually oppressive heat, but this year the afternoon storms brought about "Mudfork" and the attendant rise of the mud people. Saturday is usually the most crowded day of the festival and this year was no different, although we must admit we're seeing less and less of the ironic gym suited American Apparel crowd and more and more of, well, normal folks.

Until Bottom Lounge (re-)opened, in order to find a good tiki lounge one had to travel to the suburbs. Within the city limits Trader Vic's closed last year, paving the way for the overpriced and subpar Lockwood restaurant. Trader Vic's was the lone standout for years after Ciral's House of Tiki in Hyde Park put up the shutters in 2000.

We admit that we stopped even running articles on the new Bottom Lounge's opening dates since they always got pushed backward. Heck, wasn't the room supposed to open last year? Or the year before?

Light FM returns to town this weekend to bid adieu to the current incarnation of The Bottom Lounge before they close down on Sunday. A few months ago Josiah Mazzaschi moved to California. This in itself wasn’t all that odd. As a local musician with a fair amount of critical praise under his belt from stints leading the dearly departed mid-90’s indie darlings Motorhome and the new millennial fuzz-pop of his current group Light FM,...

One of the best weeks for live music in the city wraps up this weekend with two fests: Adventures in Modern Music at Empty Bottle and Estrojam 2005.

Tonight is your best chance to see a Big Ass Rock Star kicking around town.

Attention, lovers of live music! We’re not really sure how to put this delicately so we won’t: if you end up staying home this weekend, you’re a fucking poseur. We say this not because we are looking down from our hipper-than-thou mountain and proclaiming that WE are true music fans and YOU are not. Nay, it is the eclecticism in this weekend’s offerings that demand you get your homework done, dip into your savings, bring...

Don't even remind us that summer is coming to an end, we just want to continue having fun in the sun. With that in mind, here are a few of the shows going on around the city this weekend. Friday and Saturday there is the Riverview Music Festival benefiting NGBC at DeVry University's campus. Bands slated include: Liquid Soul, Nicholas Tremulis Band, and Poi Dog Pondering (Friday) and Cathy Richardson Band, The Freddy Jones...

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Hate festivals, but want to see some of the bands anyway? A few of the bands playing Intonation Festival this weekend will also be playing at other venues around town. So click around and see if anything is of interest. First up, Four Tet will be doing an in-store at Reckless Records at 3161 N. Broadway on Friday at 5:30 pm. Free. The Go! Team will be at the Double Door on Friday night with...