Fucked Up lose lawsuit against Rolling Stone

February 1st, 2010

Remember that lawsuit Fucked Up had against Rolling Stone / Camel cigarettes? Well, they lost. Read the rest of this entry »

Two songs available from Serena Maneesh: S-M 2: Abyss in B Minor

February 1st, 2010

“Ayisha Abyss”

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I Just Want To See Your Face” (available on their MySpace page). Read the rest of this entry »

Zine Scene: Wordplay with Katie Haegele

February 1st, 2010

Katie Haegele’s language-centric zines grew, quite appropriately, out of having something to say, but nowhere to say it. Read the rest of this entry »

Ten months later Big Business release music video

January 29th, 2010

A little late, but worth it, Big Business has released a video from Mind The Drift (Hydra Head) by Wesley Belak-Berger.

Big Business “The Drift” Music Video from Wesley Belak-Berger on Vimeo.

Gallery Spotlight: Quintron and Miss Pussycat at NOMA

January 27th, 2010

The New Orleans Museum of Art kicks off its 2010 Contemporary exhibition January 29 through May 2 with New Orleans artists Quintron and Miss Pussycat. Parallel Universe: Quintron and Miss Pussycat Live at City Park is designed to get audiences acquainted with the artists’ past work while exposing their new work.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sneak Peek: Brent Rollins artwork for Freeway’s The Stimulus Package

January 26th, 2010

We got a sneak peek at the artwork for Freeway & Jake One’s new album, The Stimulus Package (Feb. 16th, Rhymesayers) created by hip hop design star Brent Rollins.  Read the rest of this entry »

This Week’s Best Albums

January 26th, 2010

Guzheng virtuoso Bei Bei and prolific producer Shawn Lee team up to deliver what will be one of the year’s finest albums, a tour through funky down-tempo jams and Kung-Fu flavor that is driven by the tactile beauty of an ancient Chinese instrument.

With its third album, Algernon places greater emphasis on synthesizers and sprawling song structures, but at its core is the combination of accessibility and technicality that has defined bandleader Dave Miller’s style.

And in a great week for releases, the Chicago Underground Duo releases another dichotomy of avant-garde jazz, grooves, and programming, while electronic composer Noah Creshevsky crafts musical patchworks from samples of orchestras, vocalists, pop music, and much more. Read the rest of this entry »

Zine Scene: The Sociology of Aaron Lake Smith

January 25th, 2010

Like countless other works of art, Aaron Lake Smith’s zines were born out of boredom.  The author of Big Hands and Unemployment recalls how he got started in writing, in 2004: “I spent a summer living in a moldy garage behind an anarchist collective in Greensboro, North Carolina. All my friends were gone, and I had nothing else to do.” Read the rest of this entry »

Man or Astro-Man? to play SXSW

January 25th, 2010

Man or Astro-Man? are going to reform, again (they did it twice in 2006) at SXSW this year. They’ll also play a one-off show March 6th at the Bottletree in Birmingham. Read the rest of this entry »

Gallery Spotlight: Pop-Up Art Loop

January 20th, 2010

In the time of the recession, cities all over the world have started using empty storefronts as pop-up art galleries. Pop-Up Art Loop is the latest initiative put into place by the Chicago Loop Alliance and features four art galleries, creating partnerships between artists and property owners. Read the rest of this entry »

This Week’s Best Albums

January 19th, 2010

On Scenes From Hell, Japanese quintet Sigh delivers symphonic, epic metal that calls upon classical instrumentation to accent sinister melodies with fanciful themes.

Ambient improvisational duo Colorlist texturalizes sound by utilizing delayed, echoing loops, mounting tension, harmonic and dissonant layers, and germane percussion.

And producer RJD2 returns with something of a split release — a disc with more soulful jams as well as some pointed, inventive instrumentals. Read the rest of this entry »

Snapshot of Chicago’s Tomorrow Never Knows Festival

January 19th, 2010

Schubas’ Tomorrow Never Knows Festival aims to alleviate the mid-winter blight that typically hits Chicago’s live music scene in the winter. Read the rest of this entry »

Zine Scene: Independence and Creativity in Publishing

January 18th, 2010

Zine Scene is a new weekly column where you can learn about new and established zinesters, as well as other people from inside the scene as they talk about their experiences in the unique and fascinating world of independently published media. Read the rest of this entry »

Lonny Hurley Design: Test print No. 11 (Body Electric)

January 13th, 2010

Lonny Hurley Design: Test print No. 11 (Body Electric)Our pals over at Blue Collar Distro have this cool test print of a gig poster for William Elliot Whitmore on sale. The print is by Lonny Hurley.

This Week’s Best Albums

January 12th, 2010

With just his fourth full solo album, hip-hop producer Anthony “Blockhead” Simon documents his keen ear for melody, dynamics, and stylistic convergence.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis get together for another beautiful, melancholic, and tense film score centered on violin and piano, and the Rempis/Rosaly Duo drops a dose of alternately blistering and subdued free jazz that pays off with synchronizations that follows minutes of tension. Read the rest of this entry »