Results tagged “thechanges”

That Obama, he's a total hipster. First it's Wilco, Cool Kids, and The Changes...now it's Andrew Bird and Dianogah. Despite the slightly weird combination of baroque chamber pop maestro and underground instrumental rock band, we'll take any opportunity to 'rock for Barack.' Also, as an added bonus -- at this event only -- all the folks willing to shell out the minimum $100 donation to gain entry will receive a super ultra-rare insanely limited-edition hand-screened poster by Kathleen Judge.

It's the end of the line in our pre-coverage of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival, which can only mean one thing: you're well-prepared for the weekend rockness.

Anything snarky that we come up with regarding the use of music in the Democratic Presidential campaigns just pales in comparison to the cold, hard facts: Hillary Clinton's theme was a Celine Dion song and has recently been replaced by a Big Head Todd and the Monsters tune, and Barack Obama's fundraising events feature performances by some of the most relevant and buzzworthy artists out there. Tonight's Change Rocks concert at the Riv brings...

If you’re not totally familiar with The Hideout, you’re not alone. It’s not called “The Hideout” for no reason – it’s tucked away amidst warehouses and a U.S.P.S. processing center in the gritty industrial neighborhood just south of the North Branch of the Chicago River. A hand-painted “Hideout Block Party, an unpretentious celebration of local, national, and international talent that ends in a nice donation to charity, and this year’s lineup challenges Pitchfork for the...

May Or May Not are having a whole fucking lot of fun, and you’re invited to join in every Monday of this month as they tackle the make-or-break opportunity of a Schubas Practice Space residency. You probably missed the chance to shake it this week in a haze of day-off cookouts and outdoor drinking, but pencil in the next three Mondays for a dose of buoyant pop that goes down easy with the spoonful of...

There’s been a subtle shift in Chicago’s independent music scene over the past year. As bands like The Ponys, The Changes, and Bound Stems are out of town more often in accordance with their newfound national attention, other hardworking bands are stepping up to establish themselves as the foundation of the city’s new music community. One of the leaders of this pack is Cracklin Moth, who has built a following on the strength of a...

Dear LAist, When we read your mash note this morning, we were all set to go all Superboy-Prime on you. Such is the way we get when we read things that are critical of the City of Big Shoulders. Except that it wasn't really critical. Maybe it was the full night's rest we got last night, or the really strong latte. Or the cold pizza we had for breakfast. Or maybe it was the...

While we felt nationally the year was a little flabby when it came to music to get us excited, we found succor in Chicago’s constantly expanding scene that continues to grow in its influence. We had a hard time winnowing down our list to just a few stand-outs since so many great albums came out locally, but the following acts kept finding their way into our iPods and our DJ sets. And for those of...

Between resting from the family and finishing off the leftover turkey we figure you won’t have too much time for action this weekend. We are bringing you a special Thanksgiving weekend jaunts together for your viewing and doing pleasure. As always, feel free to add additional events in the comments section. As the ignoble comments your family made wear off, we suggest laughing at their expense. Second City presents the Dysfunctional Holiday Revue at the...

Last night’s Chicago Music Commission panel on "Promoting and Marketing Music - DIY Marketing to the Public" was a back-to-basics discussion on the smartest ways to promote your band in an era when you’re competing with a million other bands. Mark Roth of Centerstage Chicago moderated a panel with Jim Kopeny of Chicagoist/Tankboy Productions, Doug LeFrak of Feisty Management and Jay Prasad of Pure Entertainment, who spoke about the successes they’ve seen in the several...

If you’re a local musician and you’re not already taking advantage of the Musicians at Work forums offered through the Chicago Music Commission, Chicagoist recommends you start this Monday with “Marketing Music – Part I: DIY Reaching the Public.” And not just because one of our writers will be speaking there. Thanks to MySpace, podcasts and e-mail, it’s easier and less expensive than ever to market your band. Yet technology is only as good as...

Whilst we have gone on and on about how much we enjoy The Changes, suffice it to say that their CD release show last Friday went swimmingly. We admit we could have done without the disco dancing encore of "Twilight," especially since it followed a hipstertastic cover of Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight," but one misstep could not ruin an otherwise joyous affair. And by joyous we mean the band was tight and beaming, and...

Since we're so popular for spilling the beans about last night's Naked Raygun show at Cobra, we figured we'd go all "Oops, I did it again" on you. Tonight Urge Overkill are opening for Suffrajett. What? You don't care? Huh. Well, we don't either, really. We saw Urge over the summer and left us very "meh," even though the keyboardist was doing a pretty wicked Captain, from The Captain & Tennille, impression. We do...

Well, we’re halfway through Rocktober, and things show no sign of slowing down. Tonight’s much-hyped appearance by Lily Allen at Double Door is sold out, so if you don’t have tickets there’s no way you’re going to be able to weigh in with all the other bloggers tomorrow morning. Don’t worry, we’ll be there, and we’ll let you know how it went. If you didn’t get tickets for that, though, stop by Liar’s Club for...

We have no beef with The Chicago Tribune’s primary rock critic, Greg Kot. We’ve never accused him of exactly being cutting edge, but we do believe he writes insightful and honest critiques for the most part. Unfortunately, since Matt Lurie left the paper, the Trib had been pretty devoid of anything approaching decent music coverage. They’re consistently behind the trends and most of their freelancers would be better used to compose press releases instead of...

The Changes have been buzzed about, hyped up, and near omnipresent in the Chicago music scene over the past year. They’ve been touted as the next great hope to emerge from Chicago, much like The Redwalls or The M’s were in previous years. This is an interesting comparison since all of those bands had Chicago talent buyers or club owners handling their careers, and it wouldn’t be completely unfair to hint that much of the...

Chicagoist is, in fact, indier than thou. So obviously we lurve the radio that is independent. This is why we cried last week when we learned WOXY was finally giving up the good fight. However, we cheered ourselves up with the news that KEXP would be doing a remote broadcast from our fair city. KEXP is in town for the next few days and there live on-air schedule is filled with Chicago favorites like (and...

Chicagoist loves the live music. We love it even better when it's free. Columbia College Chicago is giving us these two great tastes in one great fest. They are putting on the Manifest Urban Arts Festival tomorrow to showcase the graduating students' work (before they are forced to give up their dreams, go out into the real world, and get a job). We are focusing on the music performances in this post, while the more...

Attention music snobs: if your parents have been after you to come out to the ‘burbs for a visit, may we suggest the third week of March? The final roster for South by Southwest’s music conference is out, and since most of your favorite bands will be out of town at that time, Chicagoist thinks it’ll be a good time to bring home some laundry. The full list of Chicago bands is here. We noticed...

We at Chicagoist pride ourselves on our contrarian attitude; there’s nothing in the world so loved that it can’t be mocked. And so we turn our smarmy attentions to New Year’s Eve (from the Latin phrase annus novus magnus pecunia et difficilis vestis, which, loosely translated, means “the same shit you’d do any other night only for more money and in less comfortable clothing.”) Seeing a band play out on New Year’s Eve is a...

There happen to be dueling reports of when the tickets actually go on sale for this – it’s either tonight at 9 pm or tomorrow at the same time. We thought we’d give advance warning either way. Bobby Bare Jr’s Young Criminal Starvation League will be shooting a video on Monday the 21st at The Hideout ($10, 9 pm). Finding the perfect hipster/non-hipster outfit for this should be an adventure. Chicagoist first stumbled upon...

The mainstream media has moved on to other issues but the effects of Hurricane Katrina are still being felt by people in the Gulf Coast region. Two upcoming shows will try and ease some of the burden for folks who weren’t lucky enough to hit it big at the slots. (Seriously, CNN: was “flooded” really the best verb for the job in that second graf?) The stylish and hip folks at Pistil Magazine will strut...

There are a lot of reasons to go to see live shows. Maybe you want to keep up with what’s happening in music. Or perhaps your favorite band is in town. Or you might be a crazy-ass groupie/stalker. Whatever your reason, tonight you can feed your jones and help out a sick little kid at the same time. Tonight at Double Door, several hot-shit Chicago bands will take the stage for the first of three...

Liam Davis, Frisbie

Interview: The Changes

Though it may have been Lollapalooza in name, it wasn’t exactly Lollapalooza in spirit as Chicago hosted what may become the next great destination rock festival after organizers work out some of the kinks in the festival's rebirth. If nothing else, Lollapalooza organizer Capital Sports Entertainment deserves credit for making the fest happen at all considering Chicago’s long-standing animosity to rock acts. But a lack of musical diversity and the tightly controlled atmosphere meant the...

Since we know that many of you won’t be able to make the Lollapalooza fest this summer due to insufficient funds, we’re going to try and keep you up to date on shows by some of the bands that’ll be rocking Grant Park this summer. One of the few Chicago bands on the bill is The Changes. Thanks to a spot at CMJ, lots of love notes in Time Out Chicago, and some choice opening...

The lineup for the new (but not necessarily improved) Lollapalooza on July 23rd and 24th in Grant Park was released this morning and well...it’s a mixed bag. We’re really excited about some of the bands on this list and unmoved by others. Many of the bands you’d expect to be in the lineup are: Arcade Fire, Death Cab For Cutie, The Bravery, The Walkmen, World Leader Pretend, Louis XIV, VHS or Beta, etc. Problem...