MP3: Neil Halsted- Paint a Face from oh mighty engine (July 29th, Brushfire Records)
Dream stirrer extraordinaire, Neil Halsted of Mojave 3, has crafted his second solo record. His follow-up will be available through Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records. Calm, contemplative pop-folk.
MP3: William F. Gibbs- Operate from My Fellow Sophisticates (Out now, Old Man Records)
This Southerner […]

Wow, dudes…the annual Hideout Block Party is always a fitting wrap to the outdoor festival season here in Chicago, but this year’s first lineup announcement has me giggling like a school girl. Be sure to block off the weekend of September 20th & 21st, kids…
Neko Case
The New Pornographers
Plastic People of the Universe
Vieux Farka […]

Tuesday is the night in Chicago this week, with Clem Snide mastermind Eef Barzelay at Schubas, the incomperable piano pop of Shearwater at the Mansion, and the godmother of chick angst empowerment, Liz Phair, playing the entirety of Exile in Guyville. The rest of the week is a bit slim, but Nova Scotian power poppers […]

Twelve years ago today, the reign of proto-power pop kings of Chicago Material Issue came to an end with the suicide of frontman Jim Ellison. I didn’t live in Chicago during Ish’s heyday, but I hadn’t been in this city a week before I was intimately familiar with the music and the band’s mythic status […]

I was talking yesterday to my pal Amy, who is an accomplished music writer and always good for a little astute opining. I asked her if she thought that our generation (the late Xers-early Yers) would ever really be credible. I seem to encounter issues with asserting my own credibility in certain company when I […]