16 posts tagged “chicago”
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09/17/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL
09/18/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL 09/19/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL 09/20/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL 09/21/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL 10/04/08 Chattanooga Convention Center Chattanooga, TN |
Animated Objects are a hip-hop crew from Chicago, Illinois. Since 2005, they've won numerous regional awards for "Best Hip Hop" band, and having listened to their debut album, Riding In Fast Cars With Your Momma (released March 31th, 2007), I can see why.
At first, I thought this was a typical MCs/DJs crew, but Animated Objects consists of a true live band of keys, bass, drums, and guitars. And not to put a too fine a point on it, the band members looks like of Asian/Indian descent, much like the hip-hop Asian Dub Foundation (which incidentally have a new album out).
As the album name, Riding In Fast Cars With Your Momma, suggests these are songs that you can play to your parents and not feel absolutely embarrass about its subjects. Now, this is not to say that it's watered down rap/hip-hop, but more so that its subject matter is not about banging hundreds of chicks or bragging about killing somebody or glamorizing about gang lifestyle. All this is explained in the first song, "The Weight", a jazzy background music with a spoken dialogue.
I felt the the album seems to have a theme of a location and places. As if each songs were stops along a journey through urban America. For instance, "El Dorado" sounds a city you'd like to visit, but not stay ("let's leave it all behind"). This song was recently awarded Best Rap/Hip-Hop song on the 7th Annual Independent Music Award Winner. You can hear the song proudly displayed on their myspace.
The other song that stood out for me was their not-so-hidden bonus track, "The Battle Of Now". This is a powerful song about rape (at least that's what I'm interpreting it). The woman vocals are provided by Margaret Vagle, who I only wish sang on more Animated Objects songs.
My song of choice is "Beautiful", a song featuring guest falsetto of Charles Hammond Jr. This is unlike most hip-hop songs, as the usage of the violins would reveal.
What I really like about this album is that the music is all originally composed for each song. I couldn't detect any sampling (and if some were used, it's not so obvious).
According to their official website, you can own the 12 track album for a mere $5. This is a really cheap price for a full length, so I suggest you take advantage of it before someone change their mind. Look for them at the five-day Pygmalion Music Festival.
I actually have loads of music-related news for the last week of April, before venturing into May. All stories are from press.weheartmusic.com, click on the headline to read the full story.
Patti Smith and Kevin Shields Present: The Coral Sea
I'm very excited to mention that Patti Smith (pattismith.net) is teaming up with Kevin Shields (myspace.com/kkevinsshields), from My Bloody Valentine, to release a 2-disc set of their live performance of The Coral Sea on July 11th.
The recording are from sold-out performances and from my understanding, it includes guitars by Shields with Smith on spoken words, reading poetry.
It should be interesting to hear more of this, and I'll keep you updated as soon as I hear more.
The Time Of The Assassins Announce USA 'Awake In Slumberland' Tour
I have been playing Assassin's Creed on the PS3, so I thought it would be nice to mention Melbourne Australia's The Time Of The Assassins (thetimeoftheassassins.com)
who announced their US tour dates a few weeks ago. I don't actually any
of their music (too lazy/I have too much music to work to request
more), but they seem punk to me.
Judging from their tour dates, they are doing extreme west and east coast.
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Apr 30 - Que Sera - Long Beach, CA
May 01 - The Knitting Factory - Hollywood, CA
May 05 - Dipiazza - Long Beach, CA
May 15 - The Roxy Theatre - West Hollywood, CA
May 18 - Angels Road House - Yucaipa / Apple Valley, CA
May 25 - Luna Lounge - Brooklyn, NY
May 26 - Trash Bar - Brooklyn, NY
May 28 - Asbury Lanes - Asbury Park, NJ
May 29 - Rock Star Bar - Brooklyn, NY
May 30 - Lit Lounge - New York, NY
Joan Jett Refueled and Ready For Spring/Summer Tour
It's true, whenever you say Joan Jett (joanjett.com), you have to include "Rock Legend".
She announced a Greatest Hits CD/DVD combo coming out in September. That's a long way from now, so you might as well get your fix on her Summer tour dates. As a special bonus, some of these dates are going to be with Cyndi Lauper. Those girls, they just wanna have fun.
May 21 - Santa Fe, NM - Camel Rock Casino
June 7 - Fairfax, VA - Celebrate Fairfax
June 21 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion (True Colors Tour)
June 22 - Dallas, TX - Superpages.com Center (True Colors Tour)
June 25 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre (True Colors Tour)
June 27 - Alpine, CA - Viejas Casino (True Colors Tour)
June 28 - El Paso, TX - El Paso Downtown Street Festival
June 29 - Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
July 2 - San Rafael, CA - Marin County Fair
July 3 - Miami, FL - Miccosukee Resort
July 9 - Calgary, Alberta - Fort Calgary
July 12 - Beloit, WI - Beloit Riverfest
July 19 - Fond Du Lac, WI - Fond Du Lac County Fair
July 24 - London, Ontario - Rock The Park
July 25 - Oswego, NY - Harborfest
July 26 - Buffalo, NY - Gateway Park
Aug 16 - Louisville, KY - Kentucky State Fair
Aug 22 - Niagara Falls, NY - Seneca Niagara Casino
Aug 23 - Syracuse, NY - New York State Fair
Aug 28 - Milwaukee, WI - Miller Park
Aug 30 - Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest Harley Davidson 105th Anniversary
Sept 6 - Grand Junction, CO - Festival Grounds
Sep 22 - Bakersfield, CA Kern - County Fair
Walter Meego To Tour With Presets In Support Of New Album
Just quickly, I wanted to mention that Walter Meego (waltermeego.com) is going on tour in May, to promote their Voyager album out on May 27th.
I thought these guys are very good electronic/dance, you can read more about them on W♥M
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May 20, 2008 El Ray Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
May 21, 2008 Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA
May 22, 2008 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
May 24, 2008 Plaza Club, Vancouver, BC
May 26, 2008 Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
May 27, 2008 Larimer Lounge, Denver, CO
May 29, 2008 Triple Rock Club, Minneapolis, MN
May 30, 2008 The Abbey Pub, Chicago, IL
May 31, 2008 Anti, Toronto, ON
June 1, 2008 Cabaret Music Hall, Montreal, QC
June 2, 2008 Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
June 4, 2008 Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
June 5, 2008 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
June 6, 2008 Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA
That's it for this week. Keep your eyes out for an exciting announcement on W♥M in May!
04/30/2008 08:19:56
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
This week's review theme are debut albums! Be sure to click "read more" to check out more of the band, including additional videos, pictures, and tour information.
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Walter Meego Justin Sconza and Colin Yarck together are Walter Meego, a band based out of Chicago, Illinois. With already FOUR EPs (Walter Meego, Hollywood, Romantic, and Usually), their debut album, Voyager is set for release on May 27, 2008. I got an advance copy a few months ago, so please note that the final mix may in fact be different than the ones I have. Please also note that I did not receive an approved album artwork, so the mock-up artwork I've included here is not the final album artwork. I'm glad to see that Meego are not just about dance beats, but sings on many of their songs. The lyrics aren't "dum dum" either, they actually fit and sounds really great in accordance to the music. [ read more ] |
Josh Fix Free at Last is debut album by Josh Fix, a musician from San Francisco, California. I wanted to mention his current location, because apparently Fix was born in South Africa (!). According to his biography, he was first noticed by the SF Chronicle (front cover story) in 2005, when he was asked to open up for the legendary The Who. Although Fix's sound isn't so much rock, I'm almost certain his piano-driven songs would be well-received by The Who's audience. The track that really stood out will probably be "Rock And Roll Slut" with its very personal lyrics: [ read more ] |
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The Details I'm actually familiar with The Details before through some downloads of a 2007's Parliament of Trees sampler on Virb. The label's that's putting this out is based out of Winnipeg, Canada, and they have already released The Paperbacks's An Illusion Against Death and The Details' Draw a Distance. Draw a Border. Draw a Distance comes with a nice 16 lyric booklet inside a digipak packaging and I really generally like the minimalistic design and artwork by Lisa Friesen. There's a few good tracks off the new album, ranging from all out alternative rock to sensitive rock. [ read more ] |
Running Still Running Still are from Brooklyn, New York, and they have a self-titled debut album that was released sometime earlier this year. Their myspace lists that they're influenced by Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Radiohead, etc., and listening to their album, I can hear some of their influences in their song. Their songs seems to be about life and personal experiences, such as in "Fly" with the line "life is just like playing cards/sometime you lose". In "Ordinary", singer Asi Meskin, shows his doubt, stating what sounds like "I don't belong with, I'm ordinary." [ read more ] |
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Pleasureboaters From what I've read about Pleasureboaters, is that it seems that they've been together since 2005 and have steadily built up their fans through the Seattle, Washington, area. They finally have released a debut album called ¡Gross! on February 12, 2008. Not really sure how I would describe their music, it sounds to me that they're almost noise artists doing thrash metal... which needs to experience live to fully appreciate what they're trying to do. I may have to include a live video of them for example. [ read more ] |
Josiah Wordsworth I wanted to mention Josiah Wordsworth's debut album, Wordsworth!, was released March 18th. I found out that his name is actually Jordan Slominski and he's based in St Paul, Minnesota. I'll have to point out that I don't actually have his album or debut EP called Blue State, which was released in 2007, but based on the few songs I listened to, it sounds like a lot of jazz piano with a rock n roll sensibility. The two songs I've heard on Wordsworth! are instrumentals, so I am assuming the rest of the album have no lyrics. It's still enjoyable. [ read more ] |
03/23/2008 14:35:16 vu my♥posts www.weheartmusic.com
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This is the weekly news round up for the week of 3/16. I usually try and get these out on Sunday, but obviously that doesn't always happen. Also, sometime the weekly news isn't all that interesting (at least to me), so it's hard to to compile at least three items to talk about.
Thankfully, we got some great items to talk about. As usual, all these stories can be accessed via press.weheartmusic.com. If you have news announcements (and especially if we've already mention your band), please send them to info@weheartmusic.com.
80s prog rockers YES have returned with a 26 date tour. Below is an excerpt from the press release, for further information (including all the dates) head over to YES Returns For 40th Anniversary North American Tour:
With a remarkable 40 year career that has time and again redefined the boundaries of rock, musical pioneers YES have announced 2008 tour dates to take place this summer. Marking the first national tour for the band in over five years, the 26 date jaunt will bring the iconic band’s virtuosic musicianship and exhilarating live shows to amphitheatres and arenas across North America. The tour will kick off July 12th in Quebec City and wrap-up on August 22nd in Los Angeles.
I wanted to add that YES, The Police, Mister Mister, The Eagles, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins/Genesis, and U2, were basically what I grew up on :)
I just can't believe the band's been together for 40 years!
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Tour Dates
03/21 Tampa, FL @ Crowbar
03/22 Jacksonville, FL @ TSI 03/24 Atlanta, GA @ Earl 03/25 Washington, DC @ DC 9 03/26 Philadelphia, PA @ Northstar Bar 03/27 Toronto, ON @ TBD 03/28 Montreal, PQ @ Zoobizare 03/29 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 03/30 New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom 04/02 Leeds, UK @ Josephs Well 04/03 Manchester, UK @ Roadhouse 04/04 Birmingham, UK @ Rainbow 04/05 Liverpool, UK @ Evol 04/07 Brighton, UK @ Hector's House 04/08 London, UK @ Buffalo Bar 04/26 Wellington, UK @ New Zealand Bush Buds Festival |
I wanted to mention that New Zealand's Die! Die! Die! are currently on tour. We have the album for review, it's just I've been very busy (currently reviewing debut albums over at ♫ew music), so I wanted to at least mention their tour dates before their last date in America (3/20).
These rock n roller lads are said to have the spirit of Black Flag and the Pixies on their stage pressence, so be sure to check them. I'm going to request to have Ryan review them on one of the UK date, so cross your fingers.
Of the song titles that I scanned, I thought "Sideways, Here We Come" might be a nod to The Smiths' Strangeways, Here We Come (which in turn was a nod to Billy Liar's "Borstal, here we come" quote).
Listening to the song, I didn't detect any Morrisseyness :( - but that may not be a bad thing.
See Die! Die! Die! is on tour for more details.
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Lair of the Minotaur adds even more detail of destruction!
Live4Metal said:
Storming out of the gates with a dirty combination of thrash laden doom similar to that of High On Fire, and old school death metal reminiscent of Bolt Thrower, but with considerably less polish, War Metal Battle Master is a ferocious album from start to finish.
They're starting out on tour in the midwest, then to the East Coast with The Ocean, Kylesa, and Withered (in May), and by June, they'll be making their way to California with The Ocean and Intronaut:
06/12/2008 Clubhouse - Tempe, AZ
06/13/2008 Audie’s Olympic - Fresno, CA
06/14/2008 Annie’s Social Club - San Francisco, CA
06/15/2008 Jumping Turtle - San Marcos, CA
06/16/2008 Downtown Brew - San Luis Obispo, CA
06/17/2008 Knitting Factory - Hollywood, CA
For the full tour dates, check out LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR.... coming to your town to burn it to the ground - and also be sure to read Soup's Lair of the Minotaur's Review.
03/21/2008 00:03:34
vu
my♥posts
weheartmusic.com
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03/18/08 Kuma’s Corner Chicago, IL
03/28/08 The Ritz Warren, Michigan[1] 03/29/08 Ravari Room Columbus, OH[1] 03/30/08 Peabody’s Pirate Cleveland, OH[1] 03/31/08 Melody Inn Indianapolis, IN[1] 04/01/08 The Note Chicago, Illinois[1] 04/03/08 Mojo’s Columbia, Missouri[1] 04/04/08 Cactus Club Milwaukee, WI[1] 04/05/08 Triple Rock Minneapolis, MN[1] 04/06/08 Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, IA[1] [1] w/ Today Is The Day, Mouth of the Architect and Complete Failure |
So here's one for the headbangers among us. Chicago's Lair of the Minotaur are dropping their new album, War Metal Battle Master on March 25th. Described as “a concept album about solving conflicts with a big fucking axe,” each of its eight tracks have been carefully engineered to split your skull with brutal thrash!
“Horde of Undead Vengeance” starts off the album in fine form. Fast, thrashy, with some definite death metal influence on the guitars, held together with surprisingly technical drumming, sludgy bass, and a good range of high and low vocals.
The obvious first single (for which the video is being premiered at a listening party in Chicago on March 8th) comes next. “War Metal Battle Master” starts off fast and never lets up. The guitar riffs are reminiscent of a slightly rawer Mastodon, and the vocals go back and forth between lows and highs in a sort of call and response with themselves. Even at three and a half minutes, this track feels incredibly epic.
“When the Ice Giants Slayed All” recalls Master of Puppets era Metallica. Slightly (but only slightly) slower than the first two tracks, but just as heavy, with plenty of sludge to give weight to the track's three minutes.
The vocals really shine on “Slaughter the Bestial Legion” with more call and response between the lows and the highs. This is also the longest track on the album so far at a little over five minutes. The little bit of extra time goes a long way toward giving the track that epic feel that this band creates so well. The head-crushing breakdown at the end is pretty wicked.
This is followed up by a shorter track, “Black Viper Barbarian Clan,” highlighted, appropriately, by serpentine guitar lines and spastic drumming that almost sounds punk rock in places. Throw in a few time changes, and some of the best vocals on the record, and more of that sludgy-ass bass, and you've got one a stand-out track.
Next is “Assassins of the Cursed Mist,” which is just slightly longer than “Slaughter the Bestial Legion.” Most of the track kinda sticks to mid-tempo, catchy riffing, and more sludge, occasionally breaking down to a bass and guitar drone to catch its breath. The last minute makes this song for me, with the guitar highlighting a slight tunefulness in the vocals.
Next is the album's centerpiece. “Doomtrooper” is an almost ten minute, sludgy, doom epic, starting out with an atmospheric keyboard (at least, I think it's a keyboard) before the band comes in, slower and sludgier than anywhere else on the album. The pinch harmonics on the guitar, while pretty common on every other track here, really get the spotlight here, as does the lower end of the vocals, and the actual skill of the drummer, and that awesome punchy bass sound. Six minutes in, it breaks down to just a guitar, joined by another guitar, followed by the rest of the band, and a more aggressive couple verses. Then they bring it back around, break it down, and end the song with the same sludge that started it. This is definitely my favorite track on here.
It leads directly into “Hades Unleashed,” which opens with a guitar line reminiscent of Iron Maiden, and then it's out the gates with a Slayer-like aggression on the vocals and guitars, interspersed with sludgy riffing and lyrics about the apocalypse! A fitting end. Almost every song on this album is a miniature epic on its own, and even at a svelte forty minutes, the sheer sludge gives it the weight of an album twice as long.
This album comes out on Southern Lord on March 25th, three days before the band heads out on a US tour with Today is the Day, Mouth of the Architect, and Complete Failure, followed by a European tour. There's a listening party at Kuma's Corner in Chicago on March 8th, at 10 PM.
They'll be premiering the uncensored video for the first single there, and the limited edition version of the CD will be available for purchase. The CD will feature illustrations by Jeremy Mohler and a 20 page booklet with illustrations for each song (and hopefully lyrics, because they sound pretty cool, despite the fact that I don't have them in front of me as I'm writing this). This is a damn solid metal release, and I'd definitely say it's worth picking up, especially if thrashy death and doom influenced metal sounds like something you'd like.
02/27/2008 08:57:18
soup
my♥posts
lairoftheminotaur.com
myspace
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Kuwahara is playing tonight in Champaign, Illinois (Feb 2nd). I had a task "to do" for their writeup yesterday evening, but I fell asleep early - hey it's been a very busy and cold week for me.
It looks like the band got their name from their guitarist and singer, Mike McKuwahara. I believe this is a stage name, the actual singer's name is Mike Mc(something).
According to their record label, Sub Space Platform, Kuwahara's debut album, Roam Arrow, was released August 2007.
The album open up with "Moneterey", a kinetic song that sounds like there are four fuzzy guitars playing at the same time. This is easily the best song off the album.
Unfortunately, they're all followed by great songs! So choosing just one good song to use is tough. You can always head over to their myspace and download some free tunes.
I liked both free songs off their myspace: "Black Light Fashion" is like and old 70s tune, while "Down to the Motor City in Muscle Cars" shows their modern/experimental side. The later song has no lyrics, instead it's a looping of a recording of some announcer saying, "down in the Motor City in muscle cars".
Since they didn't have "High Neeled Hurricane", I thought I'd showcase this song. Listen closely and you can hear a little bit of maybe Jonny Greenwood's guitar trick? I just love how the song sounds like some rock and roll surf music and doesn't feel at all like it's from 2007. It's also very Redd Kross-esque.
Kuwahara are currently playing a few dates, here and there:
02/02/08 Great Western Recs Champaign,IL
02/15/08 East of Peoria, IL
03/01/08 Peoria Pizza Works Peoria Hts, IL
Their album, Roam Arrow is out now. I tried looking for an easy link to let people know where to buy it, but unfortunately, as of this writing, there's no details on how to obtain a copy.
02/02/2008 10:54:53
vu
my♥posts
myspace.com/kuwaharasongs
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I was really inspired by this Journey cover "Don't Stop Believin'" by Petra Haden from purplepez.vox.com, that it had me digging up some other covers of their most famous songs.
I briefly mentioned that Journey had a new Filipino singer called Arnel Pineda (who they discovered him on youtube) on the Terrordactyls article - ONLY because the Terrordactyls last release was on Don't Stop Believin' Records (who's owner is an obvious Journey fan).
You must think I'm hip to this music called rock and roll, but to be honest, my ears and eyes aren't everywhere. I didn't know Petra Haden's name, but I have always loved that dog., The Rentals[W♥M], and The Decemberists[W♥M] (most of these bands were featured on W♥M).
What cracked me up about this "Don't Stop Believin'" cover is that Haden exposed herself as being a huge fan of pop music. Towards the end of the song, she started singing Wilson Phillips' "Hold On" (oh don't you worry: I've gots the Wilson Phillips post coming up♥♥♥).
Rise Against's "Any Way You Want It" cover appeared on their Revolutions Per Minute (2003) album as a hidden track.
If you've never heard of Rise Against, they are a hardcore punk band based out of Chicago. My brother's a big fan of them, as well as their previous incarnation, 88 Fingers Louie... so they're obviously famous.
True to punk, the song is made shorter, but much harder and faster than the original and... But still, for some reason, I don't know, I have this craving for Burger King (the fast food industry have tainted this song forever!)
Randy Crawford brought a different interpretation to Journey's "Who's Crying Now". I get the impression that she's singing as if she's vengeful or something as she's singing "I wonder who's crying now?"
This song appears on her Through The Eyes Of Love (1992), but beyond that I don't really know much about this jazz/R&B singer.
The most interesting thing I've read about her is that she had a smash hit song called "Street Life" with The Crusaders in 1979 (the song stayed on the jazz charts for 20 weeks).
I have her greatest hits and the majority of the hits are actually cover songs. There's an interesting interpretation of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". It definitely didn't sound like Dylan ever wrote the song after you've heard Crawford jazz and soul version.
Lorrie Morgan brought a country feel to "Faithfully", I believe this song featured her husband, Keith Whitley, on pianos.
Apparently there was a bit of a controversy revolving around Whitley, who was a renowned alcoholic. After a long weekend of drinking with friends, he was discovered dead at the age of 34 from alcohol poisoning. According to wikipedia, the coroner report stated his blood alcohol level was .477.
Ironically, a film project entitled Forever Yours, Faithfully is being developed. It's about Lorrie Morgan and Whitley's battle with alcoholism.
Anyway, back to Morgan, "Faithfully" appears on her best-selling album, Something in Red (1990).
"Open Arms" cover song was a huge success for Mariah Carey, which went to #2 on Billboard's Pop Singles Chart.
Her version is definitely R&B... in some way very drastically different than Journey's origin. I hate to say it, but doesn't she sound like she's struggling or something ?
This single was taken from her album Daydream (1995). The reason why she ended up doing this cover was because she had employed Journey's drummer, Steve Smith and bassist Randy Jackson to play on some of her earlier recordings.
I would have to admit, I LOVE André Matos metal version of "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)". Check out that shredding!!! It sounds very retro/70s sounding. I love it.
Anyway, the other thing you must know is that Matos is from São Paulo, Brazil, which makes this cover even more incredible.
He was very excited to announced that he's signed to major label Universal in 2007 for Time To Be Free which was released last October. His music is now distributed to Europe, Russia and Japan... so expect to