Kidd Russell's "Pulaski Day" is pretty much the opposite of Sufjan Steven's "Casimir Pulaski Day" that every one else will be playing. more ›

Today, Chicago art rockers The Loneliest Monk released a new 7-inch single, “Hiding Places.” In the few years since forming, the cello and drum duo have been proving their knack for stunning, orchestral compositions with a stinging bite, and this new single is further proof. more ›

No matter how many generations of former mohawked individuals say the phrase “punk is dead,” there’s always someone to take their place. Wednesday night, young and old punks alike crowded Reggie’s in the south loop for veteran DIY punks the Subhumans and MDC, along with two fantastic local openers, Daylight Robbery and the Neutron Bombs. We also had a chance to sit down for an interview with Dick Lucas of the Subhumans. more ›

The first time we heard Kylesa was when they did a cover of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" for a metal Syd Barrett tribute record. We dug the heavy way they attacked the song but what really impressed us was the nuanced handling of the center psych-out section of the song. But it was just one song on a tribute record so we kind of forgot about them. more ›

We really like the sloppy Springsteen-punk of Titus Andronicus. Their debut, The Airing of Grievances, is chock-full of Springsteen-ian anthems fueled by snotty punk speed-freakery. Their self-titled anthem kicks off with drums that sound like Phil Spector manning a cell-phone recorder before exploding into a seriously distorted harmonica and finishing with the band injecting an optimistic fervor into the nihilistic refrain of "your life is over." more ›

Danielson's freaky folk-gospel music first caught our ear several years ago, when a friend included the bizarre but undeniably catchy "Did I Step On Your Trumpet" on a comp and left it in our car. Though the indie world had already filled our ears with weirdos - Devendra Banhart and Man Man come to mind as contemporaries - something about the celebratory nature of Danielson's freakiness stood out. more ›

The term 'grunge' always inspires a shudder of self-consciousness in Chicagoist...primarily because when you're a fourteen-year-old eldest child trying to find culture in the void of early-90s Midwestern suburbia, you jump at the first "counter-culture"-ish offering you see. For many it was the commercialized version of the heavy, chugging rock dirge that had been slowly seeping out of the Northwest since the mid-1980s. While pop "remixologist" producer Andy Wallace may have coated Nirvana's Nevermind in an impenetrable shellac of radio-friendly shimmer, many of the bands who made that record's explosion possible continued to toil just under the surface veneer of the grunge phenomenon. more ›

“See that’s what I love about playing in America,” said a smiling Chris Wall, lead singer of British rock band Air Traffic while on stage at Reggie’s Rock Club Sunday night. “You get that...’whoo!-whoo!’ sound. You just don’t get that in England.” more ›

Baby, it's cold outside ... but Chicago's brightest musical talent is on display at a cozy venue near you. Here are some solid bets for this week: more ›