Chicagoland Beatles Fans: Here’s your chance to see one of the band’s best live performances in its entirety on the big screen, with fully remastered sound. more ›

Over the past ten years much has changed in the music scene. Garage came in and then went out, music goers started dancing and stopped shoe gazing, Vinyl came back in a big way and large scale chains like Tower Records closed their doors because people stopped buying CDs and and started downloading. The bands of the decade ushered in a return to guitars and simple hooks like The Strokes and The White Stripes. Sadly these and other popular rock acts that defined the decade had little to no longevity and either blew their load with one great recording or disbanded altogether. Really, there are few groups from the beginning of the decade that are still together and making recordings. In our opinion the '00s may be remembered as a time when bands came in and out of vogue as quickly as Bush went to war. more ›

The Strokes may have kept waiting everyone forever for their latest album Angles, but at least they delivered a disc that sounds exactly like what you'd expect from The Strokes. And what more could you ask for? In fact, the quartet from NYC would probably piss folks off if they deviated too far from their sound. Hell, they moved a smidge off target by attempting to open their sound on First Impressions of Earth and got eviscerated, which actually, the more we think about it makes no sense since they also caught flak for their sophomore album since it didn't change at all. For once we're beginning to realize that eternally bored look deadening the center of Julian Casablancas' eye may be more defense mechanism than affectation at this point. more ›

In case you missed our reminder last night, advance general admission Lollapalooza tickets are on sale now for $190. Once these are gone, you'll have to shell out $215 for your three-day pass. This year's edition of the festival is August 6th through 8th. more ›

We have long been vocal critics of The Redwalls, our primary gripe being that the group never really grew out of being the Beatles cover band they started out as. more ›

Chicago sure seems conducive to fostering public relationships between critically abrasive duos. We produced one of the most famous teams in movie criticism with Siskel and Ebert, and who can ever forget the headline-shattering team of Marin and Mancow? We think it’s time to add DeRogatis and Kot to that list as well. Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis head up Sound Opinions, what they claim to be the world’s only rock 'n' roll talk show.... more ›

Thirty-six years ago Vashti Bunyan released an album that was haunting and different than all the other folk musicians out there. She has been touted as creating "psych-folk" and then, like many musicians, the singer kind of forgot about her voice amidst lukewarm sales and everything that life throws at us. Now she's back with Lookaftering and is playing a pair of shows with Archer Prewitt. Monday/Tuesday, Lakeshore Theater, 7 p.m., $15 advanced/$20 door, All... more ›

Yes, The Strokes are playing a secret show in Chicago. Yes, all signs point to that show being January 3. No we don't know where it is and no we can't get you on the list so stop asking already! more ›

Everybody loves his mashup albums these days. There have been countless revolving around Jay-Z and his "farewell" The Black Album, from The Slack Album (Jay-Z meets Pavement) to The Black and Blue Album (Jay-Z meets Weezer, a.k.a. Rivers Gets a Cap in his Ass) to Danger Mouse's justly heralded Jay-Z meets the Beatles project The Grey Album. (Chicagoist thinks these albums come into being when the DJs behind them think up a clever album title.) There was even the Jay-Z-Metallica mashup The Black on Black Album. Jay-Z – we're getting real tired of typing "Jay-Z" – ever the brilliant marketer, made all this possible by making a-cappella versions of Black Album tracks readily available. more ›