Earlier this week, Business Insider posted another in the internet's long line of "Hey, doesn't Detroit really suck" articles, in which they list a number of properties going for dirt cheap in the Motor City. Surprise! An economically depressed area with a withering population has damaged properties that are bank-owned that are basically worthless! Vice coined the phrase "ruin porn" last August. But is Detroit the only place where people can gawk at blight? Isn't there something closer to home? more ›

If you haven't been watching Beardo on Pitchfork.tv, you've been missing out. Chicagoan Fred Armisen makes an appearance in this latest episode of Tim Harrington's eccentric show, along with an all-star indie rock cast under the moniker USA for Affluence, singing an epic ode to consumerism. more ›

Hey kids, look! It's YET ANOTHER scuzzy, grungy, good times rock outfit out of Brooklyn, NY! While the preceding statement is 100% true, if you took it at face value and wrote Cheeseburger off as just another bunch of hipster wannabe trendsetters, you'd be missing one hell of a party. more ›

This month's VICE party at Hideout is going to be PACKED! Matt & Kim are the headliners, and we're beginning to think they might be more popular with the dance-rock kids in our fair city than anywhere else. They certainly get shown enough love for their simple keyboard and drum driven tunes whenever they play here. Perhaps it's because their songs are driven by a certain jubilant innocence that is currently so in vogue in Chicago's party scene today? Perhaps it's because even the most jaded and angry youth have a hard time listening to anything off the duo's self-titled debut without cracking a big ol' up-with-people style smile? Perhaps a clue can be found in shared bills with like-minded day-glo dance duo Flosstradamus? more ›

We finally saw the Heavy Metal in Baghdad documentary last night and walked away rather stunned. It follows the one and only metal band in Iraq, Acrassicauda, from just after Saddam's defeat through 2006 when they are seeking refugee status in Syria. (Currently the band is in Turkey.) more ›

Yesterday's consumption went something like this: 8:55 a.m.: large coffee; 12:30 p.m. Diet Coke; 3:30 p.m., one piece of dark chocolate; 5:30 p.m., large soy chai; 7 p.m., two Diet Cokes. And that was a light day. If our sad addiction is any indication of the habits of the city at large, we're not surprised that Chicago ranked highest in the nation in caffeine consumption. Although Seattle drank the most coffee, Chicago ranked tops overall,... more ›