Chalk it up to Midwestern modesty; on its website, Like Pioneers explain the story of their debut album, Piecemeal, in humble terms. The band’s name is born out of a “self-deprecating joke,” the record is one that “with the help of many” and the group themselves are “a bit surprised” to present Piecemeal at all. Perhaps Like Pioneers is an unlikely indie-rock phoenix as any in the Chicago music scene. Consisting of members from dearly departed local bands, including Bound Stems, The Narrator, and Chin Up Chin Up, Like Pioneers appear to be hedging their musical bets--or at least are making new music cautiously. more ›

Bobby Burg is a pretty young guy, but he's already a local indie veteran. His music career includes a long list of indie bands, including Chin Up Chin Up, Make Believe, Vacations and Beauty Pageant, and he’s been a member of local collective Joan of Arc for nearly seven years. He started Love of Everything as a solo act back in ’99 when he recorded the first of his 11 albums, which he released on his own record label aptly titled Record Label. more ›

Chin Up Chin Up -- a long time favorite local groups of ours -- has announced they are breaking up and will play their final show at The Empty Bottle on May 15. In a press release sent out today, singer Jeremy Bolen said, "I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we really had intentions to keep making music together for an infinite amount of time, but just as this band began in a natural way it is naturally coming to an end. Thank you to the hundreds of people who have helped us along the way, we have been truly lucky, and as cliché as it may sound, we could not have done any of this without you." more ›

The early 90's Riot Grrrl movement in Los Angeles and Minneapolis proved concretely that even though we like to paint our nails and smell nice, sometimes a girl just needs to rock. Girls Rock! Chicago camps are a non-profit organization offering area young ladies the opportunity explore self-expression through traditionally rock-oriented instruments and arrangements. It's a killer concept and one we wish had existed in suburban Wisconsin when we were slogging through our formative years. more ›

We HATE the term Black Wednesday. more ›

The Thermals have always sounded kind of like Superchunck to us, only tighter and way more political. In our opinion, those are all good things.Their appearance at this year's Wicker Park Summerfest was a highlight amongst the live acts performing, and last year's The Body, The Blood, The Machine remains a pretty electrifying punk rock diatribe. Opening the show is Chicago's Chin Up Chin Up. We've written about them in the past, and we're always... more ›

So, is everyone getting excited to once again “taste the flavor of Northcenter” on June 9th and 10th? Area marketing firm Big Buzz Idea Group released their annual Ribfest lineup this morning, and it’s a typical street fest mix of solid local acts and some curious headlining choices. Let’s take a gander at Saturday’s alt-country-heavy plate for a quick and dirty example. You’ve got your full on honky-tonk (Fulton County Line), your country punkers (Dollar... more ›

The Onion's A.V. Club has leaked the line-up for Lollapalooza one day early, and you can read it here. If it's legit, Chicagoist is one happy camper! Many of the bands were already suspected, but a couple surprises do pop up. (Juliette and the Licks? Fuck yeah! Silverchair? Well, considering that their latest is actually good, we're even looking forward to seeing them too!) Chicago represents with acts like Rhymefest, Lupe Fiasco, Chin Up Chin... more ›

After speculation over who will be the "special guest" at the Robbins Family benefit we posted about last week, organizer Jessica Hopper announced today that local legends Eleventh Dream Day will headline the event at Empty Bottle on January 27 at 8:00 p.m. Also appearing that evening are Chin Up Chin Up, Bobby Conn, Life & Times, and Red-Eyed Legends. Plus, they'll be raffling off lots of goodies. Here's the list so far: * VIP... more ›

We swore My Chemical Romance just left town in a haze of mascara and Queenesque choruses, but the inclusion of MCR on so many year-end, best-of lists means there’s money to be made. So the black parade marches again with local heroes Rise Against who seem to be cast in the unfortunate role of second to bands for whom they’ve paved the way. Allstate Arena, March 1, 7:30 p.m., $30, all-ages. On sale tomorrow at... more ›

Remember when Modest Mouse rocked? Oh wait, that never happened. Well then, remember when they were interesting and you would think, “Wow, do I wish Modest Mouse would just rock the fuck out?” We do. In the years since we’ve gotten many promo packages from bands promising to bridge that mythical gap, but it wasn’t until a friend of ours turned us on to Oxford Collapse that we believed it was possible. more ›

Chin Up Chin Up more ›

Approximately 17,000 indie rock fans now have tans thanks to the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. With temps in the 90s all day long and plenty of humidity radiating off the bodies of a sold-out crowd, Day One was a sweat-filled celebration of some of the best indie rock has to offer, including Chicago groups like Hot Machines and Chin Up Chin Up. Many attendees lined up to enter the park as... more ›

When Chicagoist thinks of the bands that make define our local music scene, we usually think of The M’s, The Ponys, Healthy White Baby, Lying In States, Detholz!, and Chin Up Chin Up, (and Suffrajett, of course). But when you’re looking at something from close-up, you forget that it often looks different from far away. So if you page through Blender's 5th Anniversary issue this month, you’ll see a much different crowd representing Chicago. more ›

Chicagoist has been told our entire lives that time is money, and today we learn that the price of procrastination is $10. In order to get Lollapalooza three-day passes at $130, we have to act now. Perry Farrell is announcing more acts tomorrow morning, and after that...all bets are off, and we have to shell out the bigger bucks. more ›

With a music scene as robust as Chicago’s, it’s rare that we’re at a loss for things to write about (with the notable exception of the entire month of February). No, our problem is we’re so easily distracted. When faced with the choice between making words form sentences or reading a few good websites, we usually end up taking the road most easily traveled. Give us a decent blogroll and we’re like a little kid... more ›

Attention music snobs: if your parents have been after you to come out to the ‘burbs for a visit, may we suggest the third week of March? The final roster for South by Southwest’s music conference is out, and since most of your favorite bands will be out of town at that time, Chicagoist thinks it’ll be a good time to bring home some laundry. The full list of Chicago bands is here. We noticed... more ›

Apparently, size doesn’t matter…when it comes to music and movies. Though Oscar nominations won’t be announced until the end of the month, the Tribune’s Mark Caro is already proclaiming this the biggest year for indie films “since four of the five 1996 best picture nominees were non-studio offerings.” But what is indie anymore? The examples cited by Caro include Brokeback Mountain, Good Night and Good Luck, and Capote, which are all films that come from... more ›

While many say Intonation Fest was a victory for the local music scene, it can't quite make up for the loss suffered last week with the murder of three local musicians. Michael Dahlquist from Silkworm, John Glick from The Returnables and Doug Meis from The Dials and Exo were killed in a car accident on Thursday afternoon. Police say Jeanette Sliwinski tried to kill herself by intentionally crashing her car into the vehicle occupied by the three men. Prosecutors say she may face the death penalty. A statement released by her lawyer on Saturday said she was sorry and asked for forgiveness. Well, fuck you Jeanette. more ›