Chicago's Steve Albini is probably best know as the man behind the velvet curtain for many in your face, rough and tumble rock albums that defined the '90s like PJ Harvey's "Rid of Me," The Pixies' "Sufer Rosa" or one of the ultimate classics of the decade, Nirvana's "In Utero." His well-known stature as a sonically charged recording engineer and massively loud and distorted guitarist for his down and dirty noise-punk band Shellac is only equaled by his reputation as difficult and sometimes controversial curmudgeon whose opinions have ruffled the feathers of of the likes of indie to mainstream heavy hitters Sonic Youth. We won't even get started on his stage banter which has ranged from friendly to completely fucking caustic, calling audience members names and generally just being kind psuedo-hard-ass trapped in the body of a flannel wrapped, skinny, horn-rimmed glasses wearing indie rocker. more ›

We don't really have much to say about this other than uh... well, it's just too weird to NOT share. [via] more ›

http://seattlest.com/2008/02/28/foo_fighters_da.php">announced his presidential bid.

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... more ›

As promised, this post will briefly explore (in first-person singular) life on the other side of the gate at Lollapalooza. Why? Because we know you're dying to read more things about that giant music festival that took place in Grant Park this past weekend. When The Polyphonic Spree recorded part of their newest album, The Fragile Army, at Steve Albini's studio Electrical Audio, they called up local tap dancer and Chicago Tap Theatre artistic director... more ›

Braless and wearing an oversized white T-shirt with a hand drawn peace sign and the word "Love" written underneath it, Patti Smith humbly began her set with an extra-Jamaican sounding "Redondo Beach," fumbling some of the lyrics and apologizing to the crowd for being too excited. more ›

This past Sunday marked the 25th birthday of Chicago’s most beloved (and sometimes bemoaned) rock club, the Cabaret Metro. Known to most simply as “The Metro,” the joint kicked off its venerable life with a performance by a then-little-known rock combo from Athens, GA called R.E.M. A quarter-century later, Metro is one of the last remaining major independent clubs in the country, with a rich history of offering many of rock’s most hallowed names their... more ›

The first day of the Pitchfork Music Festival showcased three classic acts, performing their classic albums. Slint re-created their seminal Spiderland, and while watching their set we realized that they are definitely one of those bands everyone name-checks, but almost no one has actually heard. Kind of like how dudes in the '90s would talk about how awesome Patti Smith's Horses was because that was just the sort of thing you were supposed to say.... more ›

It seems obvious now, but if you were an avid rock music fan in 1992 and someone told you that of the four standard bearers of the Seattle sound (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains whose current Phil Anselmo-William DuVall-fronted incarnation isn’t fooling anyone), Pearl Jam would be the one to survive over a decade later, you would have been forgiven for thinking they were high. Yet all the signs were there. Consider... more ›

Last night at the Double Door Chicagoist checked out The Stills along with a capacity crowd. The Stills will be coming back this summer to play the Intonation Music Fest and we thought this would be a good time to see what we can expect from that weekend of music. more ›

Back in August, Chicagoist ran a contest to give away tickets to an upcoming Brendan Benson show at Metro. Unfortunately, the show was postponed as was the contest. But time has been good to Benson and to Chicagoist readers as we've got even more prizes to give away. more ›

Last night Chicagoist headed over to the Double Door for a night of eclectic and cheap music. Not knowing what to expect, except that our friend The Rich Experience (look him up at myspace.com) would be playing a couple of his classics as an opener, we went in with an open mind to hear some of Chicago's lesser known bands. more ›

Thursday evening Chicagoist headed back to the Elbo Room to see Hoyne play. We've known lead singer Mike Rizzo (aka Mr. Hoyne) from seeing him solo at open mics at Inner Town Pub and Phyllis' Musical Inn over the last couple of years. more ›

In a cut scene from Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace tells Vincent Vega that there are “Beatles people and Elvis people.” And while some people can like both artists “nobody likes them equally.” Chicagoist isn’t sure if the same holds true for Nirvana people and U2 people but a pair of release parties for Nirvana’s With The Lights Out boxed set and U2’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb are making it seem like it’s 1991 all over again. Can a boxed set by C + C Music Factory be far behind? Lord, we hope so! more ›

Geektastic has an A+ roundup of current Illinois-based reality stars. We're using the term "stars" loosely here. It's probably more like cosmic dust, or the funk meteors crap out. But just ask Trista�being on TV makes you important. Brad, of the unimaginably boring Real World: San Diego, is probably the most recognizable of the list if only because MTV only has four shows, and they just rerun them all the time. Road Rules: Extreme Challenge's... more ›