The folks at Gonzo Chicago put together this video recap of last night's Broken Social Scene show/Heineken ad. more ›

Broken Social Scene is playing a free show beneath a Heineken billboard at 1015 W. Addison tonight. more ›

We mentioned this weekend's Roommate show at Hideout already, but neglected to point out that Chicago's SHAPERS are also on the bill. The make-up of the band is shady (not really, they basically grew out of the now defunct May Or May Not with a decidedly more experimental bent) and their intentions remain a mystery (or not since they seem to really just enjoy playing with perceptions of musical genres as they poke into dark and not so dark corners of exploration). more ›

Saturday was a night where we were taken on a journey through musical extremes at the Riviera when The Sea and Cake's lackadaisical approach nicely juxtaposed alongside Canada's baroque-pop collective Broken Social Scene's energized and exuberant set. more ›

Ten years after meeting on the set of a student film, the filmmaking duo Anna Bolden and Ryan Fleck is on a roll. Their first feature, 2006's justly acclaimed debut Half Nelson, received the recognition it was due when star Ryan Gosling was nominated for an Academy Award. 2008's Sugar earned more plaudits for its portrayal of a young Dominican's pitcher's journey through Minor League Baseball. The latest from the co-directing and co-writing couple is It's Kind of a Funny Story, a light-hearted adaptation of a comedic young adult memoir about a suicidal teenager who checks himself into a mental health clinic, starring Keir Gilchrest, Emma Roberts and Zach Galifianakis. We sat down to talk about Galifianakis, John Hughes, brain maps, Broken Social Scene and the how you make the anti-Cuckoo's Nest. more ›

Day One of Pitchfork Music Fest 2010 was sunny and hot, many already sweating by the time they entered the grounds. It was a new early start to the first day, with the gates opening at 3 p.m., but that didn't seem to have much effect on numbers as a large crowd still came through the gates for the earliest acts that opened the fest. Of course, the story was, and will be all weekend, the heat. With highs expected to surge into the low-to-mid 90s today with a healthy dose of humidity, yesterday's drier albeit still warm conditions looked to be the best day of weather for the fest. Which is why an announcement was made during the afternoon that for the duration of the weekend, the price of bottles of water were cut from $2 to $1, a savvy move of good PR as well as general safety for the masses. Despite a few glitches (during Broken Social Scene) and the continued issue of sound bleed on the B Stage, the sound continues to improve, which bodes well for loose, electronic acts like Neon Indian, Washed Out and Sleigh Bells more ›

We take a look at new albums from Broken Social Scene and Canasta and, well, find ourselves kind of wowed. Do you agree with our viewpoint? more ›

Local rock critic and sometime-bass player / band member Jessica Hopper has released her first book The Girls' Guide To Rocking. It's a comprehensive and straightforward guide that covers everything you ever wanted to know about being in a band. more ›

The weather has been gorgeous all week and, if you're like us, you've been stuck inside, dreaming of a chance to get out and about. Lots of bands are announcing late summer/early fall tour dates for our fair city and lots of Lolla-related shows happening, so while you wait for the weekend, here are some shows you can utilize your Ticketmaster clicking finger on. more ›

DeRo has the lowdown on a bunch of other confirmed Lollapalooza acts. We already knew Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Rage Against The machine would be headlining, but now you can add Racontuers, Kanye West, and Wilco to that list. We'd bitch about the fact that three of the six headliners have already played Lolla, which in its current incarnation is still a neophyte, but fuck it, we love all the headliners so we'll keep our trap shut. more ›

Jason Collett, man … what a voice. It’s enthralling and hopeful, weary and possessed of a devil-may-care drawl that does everything to emphasize his captivating, unassumingly haunting songs. That the guy can be so removed from what he does with main outlet Broken Social Scene on his solo recordings and still be at the absolute top of this secondary, electro-folk-pop genre is so exciting for a music fan to see (hear?). Chicagoist had the good fortune to catch him last winter at the Double Door as he toured on the excellent Idols of Exile, which yielded one of our favorite tracks of 2006 in “Hangover Days.” more ›

One of the reasons I love to go to Lollapalooza is the fact that I can see bands that I love or know I'm going to love (e.g., The Fratellis; Rodrigo y Gabriela*, Peter, Bjorn and John; Paolo Nutini -- just to name a few), but another huge component is going to hear bands I've heard of but don't really know anything about. Last year, I was rewarded greatly by going to check out... more ›

Sanjaya’s coming! Sanjaya’s coming! Time to let your freak flag fly with some help from bobby pins, of course. And, a few more shows that aren’t so mainstream to pass the time until your favorite Idols come to town. Modern Finnish psychedelia - a genre that we have to admit has never crossed our minds - comes to town. Avarus’ sound has been mysteriously likened in several reviews to the feeling of being in the... more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

On Tuesday, the American -ists will be celebrating democracy and hitting the polls, letting politicians know what they really think. It just made us wonder: if it were up to the -ist-a-verse, what would we be voting for? Londonist votes for better skincare, alternative spaces for art, cute little birds and the men who keep them, and concrete. Lots of concrete. Shanghaiist votes for one of the Bee Gees and Air Supply (it's a double-ticket),... more ›

The defining moment for Pitchfork’s Intonation Music Festival came just after Toronto’s Broken Social Scene began their Saturday evening set. Taking advantage of a security force that was as laid-back as the attendees, a few concertgoers slipped into the press pit with the same hesitation and excitement you’d see if they were trying to stand next to the prettiest girl in school. At any other show, a struggle would have ensued between drunks rushing the... more ›

Pitchfork Media, that doyenne of indie rock criticism, kicks off the first Intonation Music Festival this Saturday with one of the most distinguished lineups of bands you’ve probably never heard of in your entire life. We know many of you have been losing your shit for weeks over the chance to see artists like A.C. Newman, The Go! Team, Broken Social Scene, and the Decemberists share the same bill and have also been giving the... more ›

As the organizers of Lollapalooza struggle to dot their I’s, cross their T’s, and leave the bags of money behind the correct trees, Pitchfork does them one better by announcing they’ll be “curating” the first Annual Intonation Music Festival on July 16th and 17th at Pulaski Park. (Curating? Huh. So that’s what pretension smells like). But let’s leave our own sarcasm aside for a moment because Pitchfork has done something really crazy and released a... more ›

Indie-rock haven Pitchfork is good for something besides their cynical reviews: they also break pertinent music information. And today, they revealed the most pertinent tidbit of them all � the track listing to the Wicker Park soundtrack. (How's that for sarcasm, Pitchforkers?) As dreamy as star Josh Hartnett is, Chicagoist isn't really looking forward to this film, which, as we pointed out a while back, sounded better when it was called Vertigo and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The trailer hasn't given us much more faith: it understandably played to laughs and jeers when Chicagoist saw it with a local audience before Anchorman. We just can't in good faith support any movie that misuses Chicago locations, let alone such Chicago locations. more ›

If you haven't seen the Reader this week, there's an interesting cover story about a local college student, University of Chicago�s Loren Wilson, and his creation of a database that analyzes that Internet bastion of indie-rock coolness, Pitchfork. A Chicago-based website, Pitchfork is something of a guilty pleasure for Chicagoist. The site's staffers are pretentious, high-brow barometers of underground hype � the Rolling Stone of the indie world. (And they're just as easy to mock: Check out Popdork, indie label Sub Pop's hilarious parody of Pitchfork.) But their ability to write snarky reviews and expose readers to great unheard bands � their tireless cheerleading helped The Wrens, The Unicorns, and Broken Social Scene all achieve semi-fame over the past year � definitely appeals to our sensibilities. more ›