The first time we heard about Peter Silberman's project The Antlers was when they released the lineup for the 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival. That year alone, we were inundated with releases from an army of fellow Brooklyn indie-hipster bands like Dirty Projectors, Real Estate and Bear In Heaven, and, really, we just had it up to our eyelids with that particular scene. When we had the opportunity to catch them at the Fest on that cold, rainy Saturday afternoon underneath that canopy of of tall, slender birch trees that dot the landscape of the C-Stage, we were taken a-back by the unadorned, yet complex beauty of their performance. The combination of Silberman's willowy falsetto and warm, glowing electric guitar and the rain falling ever-so-gently upon us seemed to transcend the hipster the electro-afro-beats that dominated that year's sound aesthetic. more ›

Ever pushing the boundaries creatively through both their ever-expanding catalog of experimental pop and their new and innovative marketing strategies, the British rock phenomenon that is Radiohead has set to release a newspaper of all things. This coming Tuesday, March 29, they will not only present the public with their newest LP The King of Limbs to be purchased in record stores on vinyl, compact disc and also via digital download, but will also release this newest innovative art and/or marketing ploy, a newspaper entitled The Universal Sigh. more ›

Just about every important music media outlet has already formulated opinions on Radiohead's latest album, The King Of Limbs. They had to. As Steven Hyden of A.V. Club pointed out, coverage for The King Of Limbs "played out like breaking news—by the end of the day Friday, after tens of thousands of people had already given their yays or nays on the record on Facebook and Twitter, reviews started appearing in major publications like Esquire and NME." The need to stay relevant and compete for the advertising dollar meant that one couldn't really reserve judgment on the biggest release of the year. Fortunately for us, we've been afforded some semblance of time to ruminate, pontificate and debate the quality of Radiohead's eighth studio album. Our verdict: one of their finest. more ›

Thom Yorke, you might know him from a little band named Radiohead, has announced a few warm-up dates prior to his big solo set at the Coachella Festival in April. He'll be visiting the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on April 10 and 11. Backing him will be Flea, Mauro Refosco, drummer extraordinaire Joey Waronker and man-about-town Nigel Godrich. Tickets go on sale March 3. more ›

If your calendar has an opening sometime between 8:00 p.m. Friday and 10:00 p.m. Saturday, check out the Music Marathon at Northwestern University's Regenstein Recital Hall, a 26-hour-long extravaganza packed to the gills with performances by the school's faculty, alumni, and students. more ›

Bitching and moaning about how terrible the Grammys are is just as tired as the awards show itself, so we'll do our best to avoid it. This year's show had its share of highs (the Radiohead/USC Marching band collab, the chance of MIA giving birth on stage and forcing Lil Wayne to deliver the baby) and lows (Queen Latifah calling the group of Kanye, Jay-Z, TI, and Lil Wayne "The Rap Pack") but we still had a reason to watch as some Chicago-based artists were up for some awards. more ›

We're getting on towards the end of the year and as we mark the things we're thankful for, one of them is Lollapalooza. Year after year it leaves us with some jaw-dropping performances that make it worth all the sweat and crowds and this year, there were several more that will enter the Lolla Hall of Fame, but we're going to focus on two for now. more ›

O.K., not really, but he did sort of join the band during their set in Grant Park last week. more ›

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Yesterday was Lollapalooza's first ever sell out (as is Saturday), cramming over 75,000 people into Grant Park, and it felt we were jostled by every single one during Radiohead's closing headline set. We bumped into fest curator Perry Farrell and spotted a few other celebs standing at the side of the stages. Also in attendance? The sun. One of the loudest cheers we heard all day was when the first cloud blessed us with its presence...around 5 p.m. Amongst the sun and beer cups was some fantastic music and some performances that left us wanting a little more. more ›

If you were holding off on picking up tickets to this year's Lollapalooza until you knew for sure when your favorite bands were playing, the day-by-day schedule just went up this morning. We still kind of wish Radiohead was closing out Sunday instead of playing Friday, forcing us to sprint a mile or so in 15-minutes so we can see The Raconteurs too. And I guess we'll be missing Wilco at Lolla for the second time, since Rage Against The machine is a must-see in our book Saturday night. Also, the head-to-head match between Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails on Sunday night is going to be super interesting. Wonder how that will play out? more ›

You still have some time to win some of the 2-CD Best Of Radiohead sets, or the Radiohead DVD video collections we're giving away. Unfortunately we had some technical problems with our entry form yesterday, so if you couldn't enter earlier yesterday you should be able to enter now. more ›

We are obviously stoked that Radiohead is coming into town to play Lollapalooza later this summer. To warm up for the big event we'll be poring over all their previous albums so we can knowingly drop all sorts of references and tidbits to our dates during the band's set. But if you don't already own all their albums, you can get a quick lesson through the 2-disc compilation that come out tomorrow containing much of their strongest work. more ›

Jesus Kee-rist, Trent Reznor is on a roll. Mere weeks after the release of the instrumental Nine Inch Nails quadruple album Ghosts I-IV, he's released the newest "pop" album by the band, The Slip. While Ghosts offered a tiered pricing plan, The Slip is available absolutely and completely free. Formats include MP3, FLAC, lossless M4A, and even WAV files. DRM-free. Creative Commons copyright. Super-fast download. And the songs ain't bad at all either! more ›

DeRo has the lowdown on a bunch of other confirmed Lollapalooza acts. We already knew Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Rage Against The machine would be headlining, but now you can add Racontuers, Kanye West, and Wilco to that list. We'd bitch about the fact that three of the six headliners have already played Lolla, which in its current incarnation is still a neophyte, but fuck it, we love all the headliners so we'll keep our trap shut. more ›

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Since they've just been outed as one of the headliners of this year's Lollapalooza, we figured it was a good time to revisit one of our favorite songs from Radiohead. more ›

Early-bird cheapie 3-day passes for Lollapalooza went on sale this morning and, unsurprisingly, sold-out almost immediately. Since the bill has yet to be announced, folks who got the tickets are putting their faith in the promoters to not screw them over with lame-o acts. We're still reasonably convinced Radiohead will be headlining one of the nights, so in our estimation the $60 would be worth that alone. more ›

Saul Williams went the Radiohead route with his last Trent Reznor produced disc, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. The "pay what you want" model didn't move as many units as Radiohead did, though it probably raised Williams profile much higher that it's ever been before. The disc itself is pretty mesmerizing. Reznor creates jarring soundscapes for Williams to lay his own brand of street poetry over, and it's one of the best collaborations we've heard, especially considering how unlikely the pairing seems. Reznor's industrial pop bumps and grinds under Williams throaty vocals, creating an effect both vivifying and chilling. more ›

It seems like it was just a few weeks ago we informed you Radiohead was coming to town. Now another alt-rock behemoth has announced they'll be making their way to our little hamlet this summer. Just today, R.E.M. announced dates for their upcoming tour in support of their new record, Accelerate, due out on Warner Bros. Records on April 1. more ›

Oh Steve. Steve, Steve, Steve. We had really hoped that with the new year you might finally catch up to current trends and we could put this column to rest. But, alas, your foot once again finds your mouth. more ›

All week, Chicagoist will be breaking down the Schubas Tomorrow Never Knows Festival by day to take a look at the sometimes raw, always promising talent that's creating some of most deafening buzz on the independent music horizon. more ›

Yeah, they're coming, but that's all we know. We got a cryptic email this morning, stating that since In Rainbows debuted at #1 on the charts this week, Thom Yorke and company have decided to grace the States with their first full tour in, well, just about forever. more ›

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... more ›

As it gets closer to Halloween for LAist, a contributer recollects her tale of staring down the serial killer, Richard Ramirez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker. Must think happy thoughts -- okay, free organic chocolate chip cookies for Los Angeles -- now that's a happy thought. Other happy Los Angeles thoughts include an interview with Jack Kehler of The Big Lebowski (he was the Dude's landlord), a beautiful and magical photographic moment in... more ›

Chicagoist still has the Mew sticker we were handed outside the Auditorium Theater after one of Radiohead’s epic sets there last June. Now, normally we’d greet this kind of obvious marketing machine swag with a swift hook shot into the nearest trash receptacle, but the stick figure drawings of cats were whimsical, and we were on a post-show high, so into the back pocket went the sticker. Turns out first impressions for rock bands are... more ›

Hm, mid-February means two things: it's starting to warm up a titch outside, and the city is beginning to simmer in expectation of all those gazillions of bands that will be sweeping through town leading into and out of this year's SXSW next month. This week has a few groups matching that migration pattern as well as some locals (and local labels) just releasing new material for public consumption. Honestly, we've always been slightly suspicious... more ›

Chicago sure seems conducive to fostering public relationships between critically abrasive duos. We produced one of the most famous teams in movie criticism with Siskel and Ebert, and who can ever forget the headline-shattering team of Marin and Mancow? We think it’s time to add DeRogatis and Kot to that list as well. Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis head up Sound Opinions, what they claim to be the world’s only rock 'n' roll talk show.... more ›

Even though we are to have remnants of a typhoon today, it looks pretty decent out. We know, since there is no Bears game you will be watching the Chicago Marathon online (we clicked on one of the video links, pretty boring stuff.) Those things will be winding down early enough in the day to catch some of these events. As always, feel free to add events in the comments section. more ›

Picture if you will a world without iPod or YouTube, a world where a superfast connection means 56K, and google is just another numeric term and not a verb. A world without Chicagoist. We know -- too terrible to imagine! That world was 1996, the year that RESFEST was inaugurated to celebrate the possibilities of film and digital media. In 1996 the first DV cameras and affordable desktop video-editing systems were just making their way... more ›