The Smashing Pumpkins frontman stopped by Jones' Austin studios for an appearance on libertarian talk show host's "Infowars." more ›

In their weekly newsletter, Chicago/L.A. record store Permanent Records announced a two-day SXSW send-off fest called Sausage Fest. Two day passes for the March 10-11 affair are a measly $15, though individual tickets are also available. more ›

This is part of Chicagoist's coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival. more ›

Pop punk pioneer Ben Weasel hasn't exactly been known for his warm, cuddly demeanor -- Indeed, a confrontational spirit is somewhat essential if you're in a punk band -- but the Screeching Weasel frontman really outdid himself this past weekend at the South-By-Southwest music conference. Weasel reportedly socked a female heckler while performing at a showcase for the band's label, Fat Wreck Chords. The subsequent melee resulted in Weasel being thrown out of the venue where Screeching Weasel were playing, and the band's next show in San Antonio being canceled. more ›

A slew of Chicago musicians and music fans swarmed to Austin for SXSW last week, leaving the local music scene feeling a little deserted. There’s a whole lot of hype surrounding the massive music festival, now in its 25th year and hosting thousands of bands. But the people over at DIY venue The Orphanage ask, “What’s so special about Texas?” And for those of us who want to support local music locally, they offer an alternative (though much smaller) festival, the Chicago is Bigger Than Texas Fest. more ›

The "band to watch" story line is an admittedly tired one, worn out by many acts who may or may not have gone on to Apple product-selling fame while sharing any number of common defining characteristics. But to dismiss Freelance Whales, the Brooklyn pop outfit many predict will take to the "it band" throne, as overly derivative of other acts would be your loss. more ›

If you're one of the thousands of music fans heading south to Austin next month for the annual SXSW music party / conference / drunkfest, Transmission has done a really good job of rounding up where and when Chicago related bands and parties are taking place. more ›

The return of Monday means another entry into the Chicagoist Podcast Series - this week, in Stereo! This week: more ›

Hope we're not cramming too much BBQ-stained, Texas-sized coverage up your asses, but damn that was a good time. I tried to take in a little bit of everything -- day parties, night showcases, indie rock, electronica, etc. -- and in the end, I feel like I saw more than in any of my five previous SXSW trips. This is the one instance in which we all can praise the nasty economy - it kept the spring breakers away. more ›

[Ed. note: Lizz was our eyes and ears at this year's SXSW ... here's our last peek at what she saw.] more ›

[Ed. note: Lizz is our eyes and ears at this year's SXSW ... here's a peek at what she's seeing.] more ›

SXSW is more than just music. Granted, Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot [Ed. note: and, ahem, Lizz Kannenberg] are probably having the time of their lives traipsing across the 1,800 odd bands scattered amongst Austin, Texas, but you’ll have just as much fun reading NPR’s All Songs Considered twitter feeds, right? more ›

[Ed. note: Lizz is our eyes and ears at this year's SXSW ... here's a peek at what she's seeing.] more ›

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Time to lock and load this week's list of hometown shows, SXSW style. more ›

http://seattlest.com/2008/02/28/foo_fighters_da.php">announced his presidential bid.

It's a Bottle edition of Local Options to reduce, reuse, and recycle this week. more ›

SXSW just released their full band list and the number of Chicago bands is really encouraging as far as supporting the national impact of our little scene. It's also a good indicator of just how genre-less Chicago is, since the bands range from punk, hip-hop, pop, math-rock, metal, and good ol' fashioned "college rock." It could haave easily been predicted that bands like OFFICE, The Redwalls, Sybris, and The 1900s were in, but big ups to local metal crew Bible Of The Devil and the overlooked and uncategorizable Tub Ring for being selected. And Yakuza? They picked the punk-jazz-metal of Yakuza? Awesome.We're shocked but pleased to see see Naked Raygun will be making a trek down to Austin, but we're really surprised to see Joan Of Arc heading South. Who knew they were still active? more ›

The addition of soul crushing songwriter Bon Iver makes tomorrow's TNK show a must see for Chicagoist. more ›

All week, Chicagoist will be breaking down the Schubas Tomorrow Never Knows Festival by day to take a look at the sometimes raw, always promising talent that's creating some of most deafening buzz on the independent music horizon. more ›

Photo Credit: Malingering more ›

Girl Talk, aka one Greg Gillis, has been wowing audiences from the Empty Bottle to the Pitchfork Music Festival with his wildly popular brand of mash-up wizardry. Just try to hold a stoic cool-kid pose when Gillis brings his one-man jammin' train through town in January, with newly minted prince of the hipster dance party Dan Deacon in tow. Metro, January 26, 7:30 p.m. (all ages) and 11:30 p.m. (18+), $16. On sale Saturday.... more ›

Marnie Stern may look like a bookstore clerk or a Starbucks barista, but this Brooklyn guitar virtuoso has little else to do with lit or lattes. She's a metalhead through and through, having mastered such thrash-god techniques as finger-tapping, shuddering time-signature shifts, and balls-to-the-wall shredding that would make Eddie Van Halen blush. So what's this obvious shred-head doing on venerable punk rock shock shop Kill Rock Stars Records? She's carefully bridging the gap between the colorful, technical, and often posturing world of metal, and the guttural vocals, minimalist production, and eff you attitude that "punk" has come to inspire. It's a tenuous position, given that punk set out to destroy all the egotistical excess and arrogance of the metal scene, but maybe the old adage is right -- it just takes a woman's touch. more ›

Every year at SXSW, we check out at least one band based on their wacky name alone. In this manner, we've discovered some great acts (I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly) and some bizarre ones (Here Come Old Vodka Tits, My! Gay! Husband!). Locals Casiotone For The Painfully Alone fall far closer to the former category than the latter, and the vulnerable songcraft that has garnered them national attention this past year will be on display tonight at Schubas with Papercuts and Bowerbirds. more ›

We got the privilege of attending last weekend's Blogher conference, and in an ironic twist of fate, our two computers went on the fritz. However, it was an experience we still wanted to share with you. Blogher is a conference geared directly toward women bloggers. It was filled with lots of interesting and useful sessions aimed at helping women in the blogosphere. Whether you hadn't yet started a blog or you were looking to really... more ›

White Rabbits are doing something right, because the Brooklyn sextet has gone from a band we checked out at SXSW because they are friends with a friend of ours to one of the buzziest bands in the blogosphere. No surprise, really – these kids can bring the good times rocknroll, and an 8.1 album rating from Pitchfork didn’t hurt either. more ›

If we were one of the poor souls to pay a couple hundred bucks for a ticket to last night's Amy Winehouse show, we imagine we would be pretty fucking pissed off right now. It's never a good sign when a performer's pre-show prep includes stumbling in the street in search of non-existent paparazzi, dinner at Subway, and a trip to Walgreens for sweets (that you will later use to pad your set as giveaways... 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 ›

What Made Milwaukee Famous is the quirky kid with the dorky name in the back of the class whom no one notices until he gets his braces off, gets into MIT, and scores a summer internship with NASA. Kicking around the Austin scene since 2004, WMMF has put together a kind of indie-rock dream team: management through Fourth Floor, a division of powerhouse promoters Capitol Sports & Entertainment (Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits), booking through Monterey... more ›

Chicagoist has a nice variety of friends who provide myriad viewpoints on myriad subjects, including new music. Our college friends, for instance, hit us up for tickets to the Daughtry show at the Double Door a few weeks back, while our snobby (geeky?) hipster pals were trying hard not to get caught enjoying themselves at Lily Allen in Austin during SXSW. Chicagoist’s good-times party-gal sister likes anything with a “fun beat,” from commercial country to... more ›