Here's just a smattering of great Black Friday-titled tunes for today. more ›

It’s been quite awhile since Metronomy crossed the pond from their native England to America, and it’s been even longer since they have made a stop in Chicago. more ›

Since Kanye West's hotly anticipated new disc, Graduation, has slipped its way onto the internets we figured it was time to break out our review copy and share a few of our thoughts earlier than we had planned. While we enjoyed his last two discs, we felt that, for the most part, the man could do with a bit of editing. The new one arrives leaner and more focused than previous efforts, and while West's... more ›

Recently, music geeks and fans of funny shit on the Internet were saddened to hear that Channel 101’s Yacht Rock series had come to an end. Over the past year, the show quasi-fictionally chronicled the lives of artists like Michael McDonald, Hall and Oates, Toto and Christopher Cross. They ruled the FM airwaves in the 70s and 80s with an iron fist, wrapped in a velvet glove. more ›

Is there a bigger double-edged sword in any live music scene than the cover band and its fraternal twin, the tribute band? You could decide to form Safety Dancers: A Tribute To Men Without Hats and though you’d still have a built-in audience most clubs (at least the ones that don’t feature a “quarter draft night”) would be reluctant to book you because no matter how hard you work you’ll still be derisively referred to as “just a cover band.” With live band karaoke now the rage, most bands are finding that they have to bring a unique spin to the artists they cover in order to separate themselves from the pack. more ›