Badu, MGMT, Arcade Fire and plenty more in our recap of Lollapalooza's final day. more ›

Lollapalooza announced its aftershow line-up through new local event site Do312 this morning and while there's nothing as mind-blowing as Them Crooked Vultures at Metro there are quite a few goodies. Phoenix, a band we say about this time last year playing Park West only to blow up into a festival headliner lickety-split, returns to the relatively smaller confines of The House of Blues on August 8. Black Keys, another band to blow up since last time they played a mid-day slot at Lolla a few years ago, will blow the Metro apart on August 7, playing on the back of the release of what we believe to be their strongest album yet, Brothers. On 6 MGMT plays the Dare2Dream benefit for the People's Music School and while we saw that group WAY too much over the past couple of years we've always enjoyed them more in smaller rooms, so this would be an excellent chance to check out their new material while aiding a good cause. more ›

MGMT’s entire career is built upon two songs they wrote more than five years ago when they were still a duo going to college. Since then the band has played countless live shows and reconfigured itself from a hipster dance act into something you’d be more at home listening to while soaking in a hot tub full of LSD in the middle of the forest. more ›

We've already gushed over Primal Scream's upcoming appearance at Metro this Sunday, and now you have NO reason to miss it. more ›

Yup, here it is, the inevitable "Best of 2008" music list (a later post centering on the top local offerings is forthcoming). In order to spare our readers the pain of reading through yet another list that tries too hard to impress with obscure releases or toe the party line on Stereogum / Pitchfork approved artists, we continue our personal decade-plus tradition of merely listing what we actually liked in 2008. That means that the albums below are the one we kept finding ourselves turning to when we wanted to kick back and enjoy some tunes. Sure, there was more artistically challenging stuff released this year than some of the selections below -- and we certainly do appreciate that sort of thing -- but our year end list reflects which music ultimately did for us what we think rock and/or roll is ultimately meant to do to any listener: it grabbed us by the heart and/or crotch and wouldn't let go. more ›

We heard that last Thursday's Beck show at Aragon was the pits, so we went into Friday's appearance in the same room with great trepidation. Well, whatever went wrong Thursday went incredibly right Friday since it was by far the strongest set we've ever seen the blonde lanky folkie / hip-hop / troubadour / experimentalist / punk / musical dumpster diver turn in. Yes, it was even better than that time we saw him backed by The Flaming Lips. Beck turned in a raw, energetic, cohesive set drawing largely from his more popular material and delivered it to a crowd that went from being merely appreciative to largely rabid. We had a blast. Hell, we had so much fun we forgot just how much we hate the acoustics of the Aragon! more ›

We rested, rehydrated, and recovered from Day 1 in preparation for the rest of the weekend. Luckily, Mother Nature decided to have pity on the festival-goers: while clouds were still completely absent from the sky on Saturday, the temperature and humidity were considerably lower than on Friday and the breeze off Lake Michigan made the weather downright pleasant to enjoy all the great music. There's no rest for the weary and with some big decisions looming in Sunday's line-up (i.e., the Gnarls-Girl Talk-National conundrum), we dove right in to Saturday's sets. 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 ›

MGMT comes to us via Brooklyn but heavily under the influence of electronic psychedelics and British pop. The duo of Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser create a sound that's a thumping, bumping mixture of call and response synths and rumbling bass tones owing much to latter day Flaming Lips and Super Furry Animals. (At times the resemblance between MGMT's debut and Gruff Rhys' forthcoming side-project Neon Neon are striking.) more ›