We were in New York last weekend picking up some staples and paper clips from the mother office and happened to catch an intimate set with Tally Hall while in town. The band was just coming off tour with Chicago band Skybox and afterward Tally Hall drummer Ross Federman -- who also DJs under the moniker MR.F -- remarked how well Skybox's single In A Dream" would fit over OMC's "How Bizarre" and Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)." We thought he was joking. Then THIS showed up in our inbox yesterday. more ›

Recently Skybox shot a video for the lead single off their latest album Morning After Cuts, "In A Dream." It involves Ultraman, a crowd-surfing giraffe, a dancing chicken, and a seven-foot drag queen. And those are the more normal elements of the video. more ›

We really dug the free single, "In A Dream," Skybox released earlier this year. Really dug it. Back then we noted that we had been skeptical of the band in the past for some of its quirkier musical inclinations, but we recently heard their forthcoming album from start to finish and are pleased to announce that "In A Dream" was the definite mark of a new phase of clarity in the band's career. Nothing else on Morning After Cuts, which will be out in January 2010, is quite as poppy as "In A Dream" but the album as a whole is filled with remarkable songs that show a band maturing and finding its own voice. more ›

Skybox has been knocking around the local scene for a while, but we admit that we haven't really found ourselves gripped by anything we've heard out of them. There's certainly nothing wrong with their melting pot style -- it teeters back and forth between kitchen sink goofiness and splendid orchestral pop -- and plenty of folks can be found packing their shows, so we've always figured the disconnect was on our side and not really the band's fault. Hey, we can't feel a deep connection with every band, right? more ›

Lucky enough to get a few days off for the Chrismukkah holidays? Several Chicago area music entities have been kind enough to give you time-filling options. more ›