
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Photo © MCA Chicago, 2009. Photo by Dan Baldwin. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is once again highlighting some of the windy city's most exciting music with another round of performances for "Face the Strange: New Music Chicago and Beyond." The concert series kicks off on October 25, and runs every fourth Tuesday of the month until April 24 and features the acts performing, "one-hour sets of new music you may not have heard but should." "Face The Strange" kicks off [...]

Magic Key Three reasons to get your drink on and listen to some fine tunage at the Whistler tonight... 1. Magic is definitely in the air. Local pop songstress Aleks Tomaszewska (formerly of Aleks and the Drummer) will take the Whistler by storm with her dulcet, yet powerful vocals, and edgy-circus music-producing Russian synthesizer under the name of her new outfit Magic Key . Tomaszewska's art is rhythmically haunting and simultaneously beautiful. Magic Key is dance music at its finest and darkest. [...]

[caption id="attachment_13252" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Charlie Deets"] [/caption]Three congratulations-workers-you-ge t-one-day-of-recognition-befor e-going-back-to-toiling-long-a nd-hard reasons to brave the wind and hit up the Empty Bottle tonight... 1. It's labor day. Take the day off, I say. Oh, you already have it off? Well, then head over to the Bottle tonight. After last week's unexpected $15 show, you can once again save your hard earned money for things like beer because tonight is free. There's music, too. Chicago's own Charlie Deets for one. His is electronic filled but with a pop flair. Underneath those bleeps is a [...]

Ann Arbor, Michigan's Ghostly International has long been a favorite independent label of mine. Label head, Sam Valenti, has a knack for culling a roster of some of the most interesting music out there. Unlike many independent labels who adhere strictly to a single genre, Valenti's signings run the musical gamut from electronic producer and DJ Matthew Dear to the dreamy shoegaze band School of Seven Bells . Aside from an engaging music roster, Ghostly International has always felt like a fully curated aesthetic experience, with artists like Deanne Cheuk contributing their [...]
Low Cost Show, High Energy Sounds If you were making decisions on what show to go see this Friday based on best value Telepathe, Teengirl Fantasy, and Aleks And The Drummer at Empty Bottle would be it. But beyond economic...

Another Friday, another chance to beat the crap out of the workday. What better way to do so than check out these soon-to-be-big (if not already) hometown acts: Russian Circles Russian Circles offer powerful, deft instrumental rock. Brings to mind fellow instrumentalists (and Chicagoans), Pelican. With Plague Bringer (industrial/grindcore insanity/awesomeness) and Lichens. Friday, 5/1 at Bottom Lounge . $12/14 OFFICE OFFICE = lively pop collective [...]

Avec le froid sibérien annoncé pour demain, il pourrait être facile de perdre toute inspiration pour ma chronique, accablée par l'idée de finir congelée. Heureusement, j'ai quelque chose pour me faire oublier tout désagrément, et même, pour favoriser ma créativité : ma toute nouvelle pochette Louis Vuitton ! Je reprends donc le concept de chaîne magique imaginé par LaVoix il y a quelques mois: comment passer de Louis Vuitton, à Stephen Sprouse , à Debbie Harry et enfin à Blondie . Faut bien que je combine my passion for fashion et ma passion pour la musique... [...]
Aleks And The Drummer Throw It Back One of our fav local acts has a redo of Blondie's Fade Away and Radiate up for Buffet Libre. Other acts in this volume include Ruby Suns, Au Revoir Simone (ELO), Star Fucker...

Those rad mamma jamma's , Buffetlibre DJ's , have finally released their rewind project part two. If you haven't been in the know of what these guys have put together, well...they've rounded up some of the hottest artists on the blogosphere and parts unknown to create covers and remixes of 70's, 80's, and 90's tunes. It's a pretty sweet concoction and I am happy to begin the year with some sweet nostalgia. These aren't all the tunes. I've just handpicked some of the better ones. Pick your poison [...]
Aleks Tomaszewska is shy with a slight accent curling her words. But come nightfall, she slips into her shiniest, most rainbowiest gear, adds a little Jackson Pollock facepaint under her eyelids, and chopsticks her Farfisa organ. With an unwavering siren's trill (if sirens existed in Douglas Adams novels), Tomaszewska debuts with her band Aleks and the Drummer . After fiddling with a few bands and her sister's grand piano, the self-trained Tomaszewska--or Tomasczhewvshschszski as she keyboard-mashes on the band's MySpace page, to the amusement of mispronunciation victims--started the band with [...]
Between the endless neighborhood streetfests, Pitchfork, Rock the Bells and now this weekend's Lollapalooza , Chicago can't get enough of summer. Frankly, I'm exhausted. But I'm not a pussy, so with my best bitch from Denver in tow and some random out of town bloggers I met on the internet, CreamTeam is set to destroy all the Lollapalooza festivities and afterparties. I've been stressing all week about what sets to bootleg from the weekend. This morning though I decided to say fuck it and relax and enjoy myself for once. A chaotic day job and [...]
- Kanye West ft. T-Pain, Lil X, Carl Thomas, John Monopoly, Malice, Chuck Inglish, Phil Robinson, Big Pooh, Jack Davey, Roxy Cottontail, Hollywood Holt, - Good Life (Mo.Billionaire & Todd Kane Birthday Refix)
Wicker Park Fest has been like a mini-Pitchfork for the last 3 years at a tenth of the price, with easy in/out access and in general the same crowd. (plus a few more Wicker NPR couples) We got an up...
Listen to Tuesday's music news with stories on Wicker Park Fest, Ne-Yo, Wrigley, Les Claypool and Nintendo.

We all like new things, don't we. A bit of new. A new thing. Nice bit of something new. A lovely slice of new. A visit to Newington. A trip to New World. Two tickets to New please. Have you seen New lately? Tell him I'm looking for him. I've just booked an appointment with Dr. New. I'd love to see your new. Gone on, show us your new. Oh, okay then. The name's War. Gary War . Which is the best name I've heard for about three days. But then, it's been a [...]

Tomorrow night, the inimitable local musical duo of Aleks & The Drummer will be rocking Bridgeport at the closing night party for this year's installment of Version Fest . The farfisa has been somewhat quiet so far in 2008, so RFC recently checked in with the band to see what they've been up to lately and if we'll finally be able to get our hands on some recorded material. Download: Aleks and the Drummer - "scsz" [...]

We all like new things, don't we. A bit of new. A new thing. Nice bit of something new. A lovely slice of new. A visit to Newington. A trip to New World. Two tickets to New please. Have you seen New lately? Tell him I'm looking for him. I've just booked an appointment with Dr. New. I'd love to see your new. Gone on, show us your new. Oh, okay then. The name's War. Gary War . Which is the best name I've heard for about three days. But then, it's been a [...]

Download : Hey There Cowboy - "Beholden Foresaken" Download : Hey There Cowboy - "XOXOXO" (Minneapolis pop-punk. Read the Star-Trib story about band member Kate McNulty here ) Download : Kitten Forever - "KITTEN FOREVER" Download : Kitten Forever - "Fat Crush" (Minneapolis Riot-Grrl act with loads of charm and sass gearing up to record a new record at Pachyderm Studio ) Download : Unicorn Basement - "Oh God!" [...]