The forthcoming debut from Montreal-based Suuns (formerly Zeroes) is what you wish scores of less-impressive guitar-flecked electro music sounded like. Much like ‘70s bands Can and Suicide, the heartbeat of the Suuns’ music thumps out in pulses of electro-synth that rolled in the dirt with a few Fenders. It moves from dark, paranoid, droning that’s jolted awake with guitars on one track, only to melt into a repetitious loop of electronic effects that somehow sounds both hypnotic and urgent. more ›

Brooklyn-by-way-of-Chicago native David Vandervelde may not be "rockin'" our turntable so much this afternoon as making it dream of breaking free from the confines of the office and dozing off on a bed of poppies and clover. Both are equally appealing on a lovely summer day, so crank up the computer speakers and join us. more ›

The Swedes are really fucking rad, and the latest evidence comes in the form of Jens Lekman having the number one record there this week. Lekman is a pop music master in a time when the genre is struggling to identify a true star, and his presence on the can't-miss Secretly Canadian label should help to expand his appeal Stateside. It's the combination of pretty, bouncy instrumentation and Lekman's unmistakably drole vocal delivery that set... more ›

Richard Swift is feeling low. "But Chicagoist, he is a singer-songwriter on an indie label." Point taken, but the real story here isn’t Swift’s state of mind or how many pages of palpable insecurities he can fill in one of those black-and-white spotted composition books – it’s the style and grace with which he yanks a real showstopper out of a sound that could easily teeter on the brink of cliché. His 2007 release,... more ›

Hard though it may be to believe, occasionally we at Chicagoist carry differing viewpoints. These tend to manifest themselves most strongly when it comes to discussion of the arts, though we have learned that the way to resolve contrasting opinions need not be through a duel to the death. Anymore. So with that in mind, we decided to hand associate editor Scott Smith and music critic Tankboy each a copy of the new Catfish... more ›