Even before we moved to Chicago we were aware of Poi Dog Pondering, thanks to a splashy ad in Rolling Stone for their album Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea. Their song "Thanksgiving," from the aforementioned album, always pops into our playlist this time of year; and it was really cool to see them open for David Byrne a few years back at Navy Pier. However, their newest foray comes as something... more ›

When last year’s Pitchfork Music Festival rolled around, we were psyched to see most of the headliners, but Os Mutantes (“The Mutants”) threw us for a loop. While we’d long been interested in Cuban jazz, Brazilian Tropicalia was a new frontier for our musical palate. We weren’t disappointed in the reunion of the revolutionary band that had influenced such diverse Chicagoist favs as David Byrne and Kurt Cobain. It’s really no surprise that Tropicalia’s influence... more ›