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 ›

The jaunts will be short this week as most of us get out and enjoy the sunshine. We were walking around this morning and people just seem happier. Which is all the more reason to get out tonight for some good music. We plan on getting intimate with Ambulette and Maura Davis' intensely mesmerizing voice at Schubas, 3159 N. Southport. Davis splits her time between Richmond and Charlotte and comes to Chicago to rehearse with... more ›

For those of us stuck in the Four Star City while all our great bands head to the Lone Star State, the Hideout has the perfect idea — a SXSW-style showcase before the event. It’s the perfect event to remind us of how much fun the Block Party was last year. It also lets us give a little back to those bands that many times travel down to Austin with nothing but hope in their... more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

When Chicagoist thinks of the bands that make define our local music scene, we usually think of The M’s, The Ponys, Healthy White Baby, Lying In States, Detholz!, and Chin Up Chin Up, (and Suffrajett, of course). But when you’re looking at something from close-up, you forget that it often looks different from far away. So if you page through Blender's 5th Anniversary issue this month, you’ll see a much different crowd representing Chicago. more ›

Chicago has had a fair number of “next big thing” bands lauded nationally in the last few years and, unfortunately, most of them either end up disappointing (hello Redwalls) or largely ignored (sorry OkGo). One group that has fallen in neither of the preceding categories is The M’s, although given the perilously long time that has elapsed between the release of their debut (which was basically three EPs cobbled into album format) and their sophomore effort Future Women, we began to fear that they would be the rare group to fall into both categories. On top of that, while we were fans of the band’s live show – and in fact it was their live show that converted us into fans in the first place – a lackluster set at last year’s Intonation Festival had us worrying that the boys didn’t have what it took to extend a career beyond the initial flash of recognition. more ›

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... more ›

As you travel to far-flung corners of the country for Turkey Tour 2005, a few Chicagoans are returning home to visit for the weekend. We’ve had a bit of fun at The Lovehammers’ expense here and there but they’ve got the last laugh with a sold out show tonight at Metro, an appearance at Q101’s sold-out Twisted show in December and a series of sold-out dates with INXS in the coming year. Start collecting those... more ›

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... more ›

The Intonation Interviews more ›

As the organizers of Lollapalooza struggle to dot their I’s, cross their T’s, and leave the bags of money behind the correct trees, Pitchfork does them one better by announcing they’ll be “curating” the first Annual Intonation Music Festival on July 16th and 17th at Pulaski Park. (Curating? Huh. So that’s what pretension smells like). But let’s leave our own sarcasm aside for a moment because Pitchfork has done something really crazy and released a... more ›

This was the year that the Sundance Film Festival definitively jumped the shark. When the big story coming out of Park City isn’t about the bidding war for some hot new film but rather how much swag DJ Qualls is pulling down then you know something’s amiss. And so the South by Southwest festivals stand alone in wearing the mantle of the true independent spirit of the arts. Despite growing in size and scope over... more ›

A wire story on Chicago-bred hip hop in this morning’s Red Streak runs with the idea that a high tide raises all boats. In this case, the motion of the ocean is courtesy of “recent” success of Kanye West and Twista. Members of Chicago’s hip-hop community interviewed for the article praise the underground scene, but note that Chicago’s also-ran status is due to a lack of management that can push local artists and, in turn, raise the profile of a city that’s had a thriving scene for years. In the early 1990s, Chicago became a flashpoint for the alternative rock scene thanks to bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and Screeching Weasel. Perhaps the “aughts” will be the time for Chicago’s hip-hop community to finally break wide. more ›

Since iPods are threatening to reach critical mass (thanks in part to the minis), it’s time for Apple to crank up the exclusivity factor again. And that means new features, a new paint job, and a ringing endorsement from the biggest band in the world right now. The big announcements out of Cupertino this week that Apple would be selling a U2 signature version of the iPod as well as iPod Photo only confirmed a rumor that quickly evolved into a foregone conclusion within the Apple community. Which is cool and all but Chicagoist is pissed we’ve got to wait until November for the iPod Socks (iSocks?) pictured above. more ›

Everyone says they're going to do charity work "when they have the time", but next Thursday you'll be able to do it just by going out for a few drinks. AIDSCare has organized BarAIDS, where participating bars and clubs donate a portion of the day's sales to help people living with HIV/AIDS in the greater Chicago area achieve a higher quality of life through housing, care and support services. Sponsors for the event include VOX Vodka, who will donate up to $10,000 for each VOX drink ordered, and Orbitz, which will give participating drunkards the opportunity to enter a drawing for two roundtrip airline tickets within the continental U.S. more ›

Chicagoist thinks it's interesting that our city seems to specialize in certain art forms - namely comics, improv comedy, and music. And the cover story of this week's New City offers a peek into that latter group, the great local music scene. In an article listing "Ten Bands on the Verge" � Chicagoist wonders on the verge of what, exactly? � music critic Dave Chamberlain calls out his favorite up-and-coming hometown acts. While sorting through the fray, he makes a few pithy, dead-on remarks about Chicago music, like "The rest of the world lumps Chicago's indie-rock bands together � and that's not necessarily a good thing" and "Chicago is strewn with with the corpses of bands that burned out and fractured before their star rose." more ›