The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Burgers: While we are loathe to actually divulge this information, the Dunlay's location in Logan Square has fucking awesome hamburgers. Almost as good as Kuma's, we swear. So it's no wonder that on Wednesdays the place is jam-packed with folks stuffing their faces with the restaurant's ground beef since today if half-price burger night. If......

Man is there a lot going on tonight. Are you sure it's only Wednesday? Because it sure feels like the party is already kicking into high Friday mode. The last few weeks have been a tad lackluster, music-wise, but December is taking this year out with a bang! Here are just a few of tonight's options. Evan Dando resurrects The Lemonheads tonight at Double Door. We caught him last time he came through town and......

It's National Leftovers Weekend, and while the food you're downing may not be entirely fresh, the live music you check out can be if you're hitting up the Bottle on Sunday night for Tiger Surprise. Some of Chicago's finer players comprise this 5-piece ambient pop group, whose expansive song structures and pinpoint musicianship recall everything from Radiohead to Grizzly Bear to The Police. Flying a bit under the radar thus far, Chicagoist thinks that it's......

The Hood Internet DJs STV SLV and ABX's band that plays actual instruments, May Or May Not, is releasing their second album tonight, and they've decided to post the whole thing online for a short period of time so everyone can check it out. We've heard it and would say it's well worth buying, so you'd be a fool not to grab it for free right now. May Or May Not spends a lot of......

May Or May Not are having a whole fucking lot of fun, and you’re invited to join in every Monday of this month as they tackle the make-or-break opportunity of a Schubas Practice Space residency. You probably missed the chance to shake it this week in a haze of day-off cookouts and outdoor drinking, but pencil in the next three Mondays for a dose of buoyant pop that goes down easy with the spoonful of......

After we saw an anonymous tip on our sidebar saying that WLUW (88.7 FM) would no longer exist in its current form, we were filled with a sense of dread. How? Why? More importantly, was this really true? We called Shawn Campbell, Program Director, to see what was up. She confirmed that the gist of the tip was true, but told us that the information had been leaked to Feder before WLUW and WBEZ had......

It seems sort of cruel to make everyone get up so early tomorrow after a night rockin’ out to Spiderland, but we’re gonna give some reasons why it may be advisable to set that alarm and crawl out of bed for a few minutes to spend money. The Cure has been one of our favorites since we picked up that Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me album at the mall with our allowance money. We......

Interview: The Hood Internet...

Don’t forget that Chicagoist is sponsoring the show at Metro tonight, featuring headliners May Or May Not. May Or May Not’s orch-pop captured out hearts the first time we heard it, but the record certainly didn’t prepare us for the group’s energetic, and pretty rockin’, live show. Also on the bill are pals of the band: Dialogue, Sleep Out, and Rollo Tomasi. The Anglophiles in Dialogue craft spacious songs drenched in reverb. Tender touches of......

May Or May Not have long been friends with (and admired by) Chicagoist. They graced our first CTRL-ALT-ROCK with their uptempo pop and have been enrapturing packed rooms and growing crowds ever since. This Thursday we're proud to be sponsoring their show at Metro, where they'll be playing alongside three other solid local acts, Dialogue, Sleep Out, and Rollo Tomasi. We'll be saying more about the show itself on Thursday, but we wanted to give......

Acoustic folk-rock artist Martha Berner has a certain power. Her live shows are revelatory. An artist in the Machine Records stable, she managed to deliver a solid performance with her full band at the label’s holiday party at Schubas last December, despite a bout of laryngitis that harshed her otherwise gifted voice, which moves easily from dreamy falsetto to a pleading alto. (We imagine the hot toddies she was sipping helped a bit.) Berner’s next......

The advent of the New Year ought to bring with it joy and hope. But fans of live music know that January 1 often brings nothing but doldrums thanks to cold winter temps that discourage even the heartiest of bands from touring. So this week is as good as any to get caught up on some local “comfort food” that might get passed over in warmer weeks. Neither Lacona or Driftless Pony Club seems to......

Chicagoist has lots of friends (we pay them), but few of them are as able to turn our frowns upside down like former Ctrl-Alt-Rock popsters May or May Not, who put the wraps on a week of CD release shenanigans tomorrow night at Hideout. Chicagoist was a big fan of the band’s debut, and though we realize it sounds like an insult to say that MOMN provides more of the same on their Bike EP,......

After a robust week of posting and rocking here at the Chicagoist offices, the week seems like a blur. Was it really only a week ago that “Tank” Johnson was charged with assault and resisting arrest (incidentally, aren’t you glad you live in a city that has a guy named after an armored fighting vehicle on its football team?)? Of course, Mr. Johnson (if you’re nasty) wasn’t the only one causing trouble last week. Just......

Big thanks to everyone who came out to Schuba's last night and made our first big music event a huge success!! We were afraid the shit weather would make you want to sit home and watch a movie, but you guys are troopers! Awesome. We had such a great time. Alphabet, May or May Not and The Assembly played an awesome show. And, as always, we met a ton of new people. It's always......

We’ve been talking about it for weeks now and it’s finally here. Tonight is our first ever Ctrl-Alt-Rock show and we’re as excited as a puppy you’ve brought home from the pet store (though we’ve managed to not pee on the floor…so far). Three of our favorite bands will rock Schuba’s tonight: The Assembly, May Or May Not and Alphabet. To get you ready for tonight, we're posting a mix of tracks from each of......

Maybe it's your first time visiting Chicagoist. Maybe you've been asleep. Maybe you've been on a month long bender. But perhaps you haven't heard about this little thing we're doing called Ctrl-Alt-Rock. Really. Look to the left of your screen here. There's some information. It's happening this Thursday. At Schubas. We're excited. Well, one of the bands that is going to bring the music, May or May Not, has a variety of talents. Including whipping......

The Assembly...

When we interviewed the band May Or May Not last week, we were surprised at how talented all of them were; it’s not unusual to see them switching instruments several times during a show. But what we didn’t know is that they all had hidden talents. Apparently, some of their friends do too, which spurred them on to hold the 1st Annual Mrs. Meow's Talënza Bonanza Talent Show this February 10th at Phyllis’ Musical Inn......

Word’s starting to get around about Chicagoist’s Ctrl – Alt – Rock show. We even got picked up by a Todd Rundgren news blog. And why not? We’ve got a great bill together with The Assembly, May Or May Not and Alphabet. We’ve also got more giveaways to announce. The lovely people at addVice have dropped a quasi-Valentine’s Day package of CDs on us including Annie’s "Heartbeat" remix single, Death From Above’s Romance Bloody Romance......

May Or May Not, Ctrl-Alt-Rock band...

The details are falling into place for Chicagoist’s first live rock show, Ctrl – Alt – Rock. For those of you who will still be nursing broken hearts after Valentine’s Day, Chicagoist invites you to Schubas on February 16th for an evening with three of Chicago’s best local bands: The Assembly, May Or May Not, and Alphabet. They will warm both the cockles and sub-cockular regions of your cold, black heart. Just in case you......

Chicagoist spends a lot of time acting as observer, critic and theorizer on Chicago’s local music scene. But for a few months now, we’ve been thinking about spending less time posting and more time doing. Specifically, we wanted to put on a great live show with local bands that we love. And so in that spirit: Chicagoist presents: Ctrl – Alt – Rock With: The Assembly May Or May Not Alphabet When: Thursday, February 16th......

In addition to MOBFest, one of the other "big stories" in music this weekend might be the inaugural shows at Meig...er, Northerly Island. (That name still reminds us of when Gary Harbor was renamed Buffington Harbor before they put Trump’s gambling boat in the water over there). Chicago plays two shows on Friday and Saturday with Earth, Wind and Fire while Brian McKnight drops some Smoove B style on the lakefront this Sunday. Since the......