Sheffield Garden Walk and Wicker Park Fest are guaranteed to be crowded, but Celebrate Clark Street Fest is probably the sleeper of this weekend's bunch. more ›

Local sextet Dastardly released a new video for "Villain," from its May You Never EP, on Monday, and it's filled with all kinds of devious behavior and twirly mustaches. (But sadly, no shifty-eyed dogs). more ›

Wicker Park Fest is fairly well-known as an adequate alternative to Pitchfork or Lolla if you're broke, drunk and squint your eyes a lot. But kidding aside, this year's lineup is pretty tight. more ›

It's almost festival season and we're getting anxious to get back into the swing of All Things Summer. There were some good times at Wicker Park Fest 2010, so expect to see more of the same at the festival this year. The lineup at Wicker Park Fest 2011 so far includes Wild Flag, Wavves, Ana Sia, Joe Pug, Flosstradamus, California Wives, and Blitzen Trapper. If anything, surf pop favorite Wavves will probably draw a nice crowd, and the same for all-girl awesome band Wild Flag. The festival also continues its tradition of bringing in solid DJ acts in addition to bands. more ›

Well, summer is still here and we are slowly yet surely approaching another weekend, so yes, there is another festival to speak of in Chicago. As the end of summer is, sadly, approaching, we want to soak up as much outdoor fest goodness as possible. more ›

It's been years since Wicker Park was actually ground zero for good music (though kudos to Double Door and Subterranean for continuing the good fight) as yupster dollars fill the coffers of the new sports bars, so color us shocked by the solid music line-up for this year's Wicker Park Fest. Chicagoist faves fun. finally make a return visit to our city on a bill that doesn't include a half-rate emo mall-punk act, and the anchors for each evening -- Local H and Holy Fuck -- should do a fine job of aurally polluting the ears of baby carriage pushing jorts wearers while making us break out in great, wide grins. Add in proto-actual-emo-ers Cap 'N Jazz, sexy synth popper Van She heavy hitters Baroness and Torche, and angular indie skronks Plants & Animals and we're cooking with Crisco! In fact there are so many great bands and DJs lined up we'll even forgive the organizers for booking the absolutely atrocious Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. C'est la vie. more ›

Grand Duchy is Frank Black's electro-pop rock side project he's got going with his wife, Violet Clark. Actually, maybe it's not a side project. Black seems to like to keep incredibly so maybe all his bands are main projects? Semantics. What is clear is that Grand Duchy is a delightful listen, and Clark and Black act as excellent foils to each other, teasing out gentle melodies and crafting delicate and ingratiating tunes that linger on long after the stylus has hit the label. more ›

In spite of the chilly weather, the first round of street fests are approaching. While Pitchfork and Lollapalooza dominate the headlines, our fair city's many street fests often boast some pretty decent bands. Many fests are just beginning to announce their lineups and there are some great bands already listed with more to be added, so this promises to be a pretty awesome summer of sun and music. You can scope out our comprehensive list of festival dates and keep tabs on developments at the city's Neighborhood Fest website. Here's a small sampling of some current lineups. As usual, most, if not all, fests require a small donation ($5ish). more ›