News, Interviews, Reviews & More
Last week I had the opportunity to correspond via email with Erika Wennerstrom, chief songwriter and singer for Heartless Bastards, on the cusp of her band’s nationwide fall tour. Heartless Bastards’ music falls aptly into the 21st century “Americana flood,” a genre movement that blurs the line between folk and rock, but it’s Wennerstrom’s piercingly [...]
Jeff Klein, I think it’s fair to say, is a well travelled musician. Having worked with artists as diverse as Ani DiFranco and The Gutter Twins, he’s also enjoyed a long-running solo career and frequent touring. In 2009 he joined forces with Cully Symington, Ashley Dzerigian, Rick Nelson and Dave Rosser to form the band [...]
It was a cold and rainy Tuesday night in Chicago, but that didn’t stop the GLBT community from pitting fur coats and spandex against the elements in support of SSION (pronounced “shun”) at The Empty Bottle. “The Bottle,” as it’s affectionately called around these parts, is that classic kind of venue I remember as a [...]
Welcome to The Underground (or Notes from the Underground if you’re a Dostoyevsky nerd), a weekly segment in which I examine the very best in unsigned, undiscovered and underground music. It’s my goal to highlight and hopefully promote talented artists who have yet to receive the attention they deserve. If you know of (or are!) [...]
Most criticism surrounding The Vaccines usually revolves around the notion that their sound is business-as-usual for garage-influenced Brit pop, another band trying to fill the void left when The Libertines exited the scene. Their first record, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines, was ironically exactly what I expected from The Vaccines: a well-executed but less edgy version of [...]
This Tuesday, Lana Del Rey was named GQ’s Woman of the Year. She appeared on the cover of the magazine alongside Mad Men actor Johnn Slattery, James Corden, Robbie Williams and Tinie Tempah. The net is abuzz, however, over the apparent controversy that whereas the men were fully clothed, Del Rey appeared on the magazine [...]
Les Jupes are an awfully interesting bunch. Their first album, Modern Myths dropped Stateside in August and instantly turned heads. From the clandestine lyrics to lead singer Michael Falk’s commanding baritone, Modern Myths was a record that captured the imagination and demanded attention. We got in touch with Michael Falk to discuss the album, along [...]
Welcome to The Underground (or Notes from the Underground if you’re a Dostoyevsky nerd), a weekly segment in which I examine the very best in unsigned, undiscovered and underground music. It’s my goal to highlight and hopefully promote talented artists who have yet to receive the attention they deserve. If you know of (or are!) [...]
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