On July 3, 1973, Ziggy Stardust announced to a sold-out crowd at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, “Not only is this the last show of the tour, but it’s the last show that we’ll ever do.” more ›

This event sold out so fast even we could barely make it in. If you didn't get a chance to attend (and get a first look at the finished Nellcote) take a look now. more ›

A round trip to "Madchester" can be had this Thursday night, as Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot bring Sound Opinions at the Movies back to the Music Box. more ›

It’s one thing to understand the sound of rock ‘n roll, but it’s another thing to understand the look of rock ‘n roll. Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz manages to capture both. more ›

Police have arrested a man for the murder of a 14-year-old girl in Indian Head Park. Details emerge that make the killing seem even more senseless. more ›

The Music Box's Summer Music Film Festival kicks off tonight. The Wednesday Midwest premiere of The Swell Season is undoubtedly the highlight of the festival. more ›

tUne-yArDs plays in about an hour and a half at Pitchfork but if you aren't heading there (or even if you are) there's a great interview with her on tonight's Sound Opinions. For a taste of what to expect, and a taste of just how she does that which she does sao well, here's a video of her performing "Powa" at the Sound Ops taping. more ›

First of all, our apologies for the headline, but really, we couldn't resist. When Arcade Fire was in town recently, between singing at a Cubs game, shopping in Bucktown, and playing three sold-out shows, they took a few minutes to sit down and chat with Sound Opinions' Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis. The interview's a good one, and punctures any preconception you might have that the group's members are a tortured pretentious lot. Between the friendly banter the band took time to play new arrangements of "Sprawl II" And "We Used To Wait." You can get a sneak peek at "Sprawl II" below and then tune in to Sound Opinions this weekend tonight at 8 p.m. or Saturday at 11 a.m. to hear the whole interview. more ›

When the first round of names for the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival were announced in March, tucked among more predictable acts like Fleet Foxes, Animal Collective and Destroyer was a band with the thorny-looking acronym OFWGKTA. Long-form the band is known as Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, a rap collective based out of Los Angeles led by a noodle-y looking 20 year-old named Tyler the Creator. Tyler (nèe Okonma) smiles a lot and geeks out about skating and bacon during interviews; onstage, he raps about gruesome decapitations and murdering pregnant women. more ›

The Sound Opinions at the Movies series is one of our favorites right now, happily perched at the very busy intersection of pop music and popular movies and hosted by two genuine fans who clearly love what they're doing. They've gone about as far back into the past as they can to pull their latest title, Jailhouse Rock. The King's star is rather dim these days, and it's good to give him some love, but can't help being disappointed they picked the third-best movie to do it. more ›

LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy sits down to talk with Grek Kot and Jim DeRogatis on this week's Sound Opinions. We got an advance listen to the show and while the interview isn't quite as wide-ranging as Murphy's Fresh Air appearance earlier this year, the Chicago rock critics do manage to pull out some heretofore unheard tasty nuggets in their discussion with Murphy. We're pleased to hear Murphy put to rest the notion that LCD Soundsystem is "retiring" since a misquote from early press for This Is Happening been blown completely out of context to turn into one of our biggest pet peeves of misinterpretation this year. however our favorite factoid that gets dropped has to do with Murphy's confusion of Seinfeld and The Garry Shandling Show and the resulting television sitcom writing career that never quite got off the ground due to a lack of motivation and general twenty-something laziness. more ›

Jim DeRogatis is nothing if not consistently tenacious on the issue of Lollapalooza, its promoters, C3 Presents, and how the two directly affect the city of Chicago. In the past, DeRog has blasted the festival he’s dubbed as “Walmart on the Lake” for its 300-mile radius clause, arguing that it inevitably harms the local music scene. Now, the “Sound Opinions” co-host is examining the deal that C3 has with Chicago, arguing that the city isn’t getting as much out of it financially as it could. more ›

Red hair? Check. White skinny's? Check. Bad-ass rock attitude? Check. Well, if this sounds like you then head over to Ukrainian Village's Empty Bottle on Saturday to audition for the newest video for Chicago's retro, garage-rock, red-headed brother-sister duo, White Mystery. new video for the song Power Glove. more ›

Pavement's Stephen Malkmus is often described as arch, almost the embodiment of the postmodern musician, but every time this writer has ever run into him Malkmus has always been unfailingly engaging and polite. So it's refreshing to hear him come across so comfortably and clearly in his interview with Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot on this week's Sound Opinions. He talks with the local music critics after Pavement's appearance at The Pitchfork Music Festival about his old band's entire career; from the earliest days of ex-drummer Gary Young's studio to Makmus apologizing for dropping names while mentioning it was on Thom Yorke's advice that they work with Nigel Godrich on their final album. He also discusses their "golden period" a.k.a. those albums upon which the critical tastes of almost an entire generation was formed saying: more ›

Dazed And Confused, Richard Linklater's big(ger) budget follow-up to his generational defining Slacker, always made us happier we were just a wee bit too young to have been the right age to fall prey to the hazing rituals displayed onscreen. more ›

After Chicago-based radio program Sound Opinions screens director Richard Linklater’s 1993 nostalgic classic Dazed and Confused in July at the Music Box Theatre, they’ll be tackling another beloved sleeper flick with a more modern setting. According to Sound Opinions producer Jason Saldanha’s Twitter feed, a special screening of the movie Once, the austere, naturalistic musical that famously won an Oscar for Best Song in 2007, at Lincoln Hall in August has been scheduled. more ›

As of this morning there are still a pair of tickets available for next Thursday's Sound Opinions "Eat to the Beat" dinner at Blackbird. Blackbird's Paul Kahan and Mindy Segal of Hot Chocolate will prepare a multi-course dinner from music selected by Sound Opinions hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot. more ›

The weekend's episode of Sound Opinions features one of the best in-studio interview and performance we've ever heard on the program. Rivers Cuomo left Weezer behind for this one and entered the studio with Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis to give an astonishingly open interview about his past and the band he leads. He literally takes the listener through his development through the years, from the big bang of the band's debut, to his intention to create Pinkerton under the influence of bands like The Flaming Lips in hopes the "cool kids" would embrace it, to debunking the myth that "Beverly Hills" was written as an attempt to pander to the band's stadium rock-sized audiences. They cover just about every burning question you might have about the band, except for just what the heck he was thinking when he wrote "Love IsThe Answer." What was up with that?! more ›

In honor of Valentine's Day the Sound Opinions crew tackles songs that will help set the romantic mood in this week's upcoming broadcast. Greg Kot's picks are solid if predictable, but Jim DeRogatis throws a couple of excellent curve balls (we'll listen to Los Lobos with new ears after one of his reccos). They also invite a few listeners to weigh in and -- we swear we're not picking on him but -- you'll get to hear Kot's follow-up question to a listener take things from romantically tinged to uncomfortably voyeuristic! more ›

Kid Sister appears on tonight's episode of Sound Opinions and man if she is not one of the most adorable interview subjects Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot have chatted with. She admits her musical theater nerdery, gracefully informs DeRo that she is now single and no longer with A-Trak, lays down vocals on a couple of her jams, and generally just kicks total ass. She even comes clean on why she pulled her first pass at what would become Ultraviolet and re-recorded an almost completely new album. What's most remarkable is how, despite the mountains of hype and buzz surrounding her right now, Kid Sister comes off so Midwestern down-to-earth you'd be hard pressed to guess this is a gal on the cusp of more mainstream stardom. more ›

Speaking of Sound Opinions, Chicagoist fave Kid Sister recently went into the studio to lay down some live tracks for an upcoming episode of the radio show and WBEZ was there to catch her in action. Below is a video of her performing her well-known hit "Pro Nails" and you can check out a few more videos here. more ›

Tankboy and Veronica's year-end lists not enough music for you? Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot have posted their best-of-the-decade mixtapes for you to check out over at the Sound Opinions website. more ›

Chicago Public Radio's Sound Opinions continues its occasional film series with a screening of the "rock opera" Jesus Christ Superstar at the Music Box on December 3. Hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot will be on hand to introduce the movie. Advance tickets are $9. more ›

Our friends over at WBEZ got creative and had a little fun. For a recent review from Sound Opinions - the new Fiery Furnaces album - the crew got Arthur Jones of Post-it Note Stories to animate Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis. Check out the WBEZ Blog for more information. It's a pretty entertaining twist for a program we quite enjoy. But animating music critics? It's been done! more ›

Sound Opinions’ co-hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot are presenting A Hard Day's Night at The Music Box tomorrow night. The first, and in our opinion best, Beatles film is required watching for any fan of either music or cinema. It's the kind of film you watch, jaw dropping as you realize just how many movies have ripped off its style, and just how fabulously and caustically witty the Beatles are. It's loopy story will reel you in, um, no pun intended, and we think it's swell there's a chance to see it on the big screen since we've only ever viewed on out telly. more ›

We know that Sound Opinions hosts Jim Derogatis and Greg Kot have some staunch viewpoints on popular music. But how would they fare if they veered out of their comfort zone? Say, at a dinner? more ›

Based on response to the cover alone, it's safe to assume Neko Case's new disc Middle Cyclone is going to be a critical juggernaut. Get a sneak peek into her own thoughts about the album and her approach to jumping over laser swords when she appears on Sound Opinions tonight at 8 p.m. or tomorrow at 11 a.m. (Oh hell, get a sneak peek and just download the podcast here if you can't wait.) more ›

Two Chicagoistas snuck in amongst the indie rock glitterati two weeks ago for a taping of an interview with Death Cab for Cutie on Sound Opinions. The crowd of only a couple hundred that gathered to bear witness was treated to a mini-concert by the band, interspersed with the off-the-cuff interview style of tag team show hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot. more ›

Pack an umbrella, bring your galoshes, and dress in layers. It's been that kind of week. Here are some events to brave any extreme in weather. more ›

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