We're mere hours away from starting the weekend, and with the season finale of football over, we'll actually have to go outside. Luckily, there are tons of great shows, and many fundraising for a good cause, over the next few days. Let's get to it. FRIDAY SOFT SPEAKER The Brit pop-inspired Chicago outfit come out swinging with plenty of lingering guitar licks, hazy psychedelic rhythms and even some [...]
Gordon Robertson's suffered for his art. He suffered a terrible breakup, which we have to thank for the creation of his band, The Damn Choir . Hell, he suffered through eating two (albeit tiny) onions for this interview. My point is, Robertson knows how to take a painful experience and cultivate something beautiful. (Jury's still out on if the interview was beautiful, but it was a lot of fun.) A Cleveland native turned Chicago transplant, Robertson is one of the founding members of The Damn Choir, alongside friend Katy Myers , whom he met [...]
Monday Afternoon Quick Fix runs every Monday afternoon to showcase the best of Chicago music news, views and stories from around the interwebs and blogosphere that we might have missed. • Happy 40, Chicago Reader! In celebration of this milestone, Miles Raymer digs deep through the Reader's music criticism archives . • Sun-Times' Thomas Conner has the full report from Smashing Pumpkins' Riviera Theatre performance last Friday, which included a bonus reunion of Chicago '90s shoegazer act, Catherine . • Gapers Block reviewed last week's much anticipated [...]
Dum Dum Girls Thank Urkel it's Friday, y'all. There are a lot of great options for this weekend's entertainment and, as we do every week, we're picking out our faves. We're talking Dum Dum Girls, Cave, Melt Banana and more. Treat yo self ! FRIDAY DUM DUM GIRLS Good news for all those Dum [...]
And now three reasons to get over your post-Bears loss hangover and get to Panchos this fine evening... 1. The Damn Choir bring folky pop to an arena-ready level. Through the use of guitars, cellos, keys, this Chicago outfit goes for the gusto with epic arrangements that start slow but build into skyscraper heights. "Road" features near-spoken word over sweeping strings, while "Stars On Strings" is a big, waltzy number that's maintains its warmness. 2. [...]
Chicago indie folk quintet The Damn Choir seem to have an issue with time in their new video for "Virginia" off their latest album You're My Secret Called Fire . The clip shows life speeding up around the band while they are stuck in a helpless slow down. There are some excellent black and white shots of the city, too, including the ever-busy Buckingham Fountain. Not only is the video impressive, but the track stands out for its melancholy-tinged melodies and its overall sense of wanting. The Damn Choir manages to be what [...]
"Sad bastard music." In my life I sometimes go through ebbs and flows of moods where I just want to listen to the most depressing music I can find all the time. Elliott Smith, Iron & Wine, Tom Waits. Now that I have some songs from local Chicago folksome-foursome The Damn Choir , I can add them to my rainy day Depressedtown, USA, listening. That's not a bad moniker to have. I'm not downgrading them by saying "sad bastard." It's something that they call themselves, and they definitely deliver. With lead singer Gordon Robertson's picked guitar and [...]
Mark McAdam Mark McAdam has been in the music making game for quite a while - since 7th grade to be exact - including a stint with Dermot Mulroney's band Cranky George during his years in LA. Now McAdam has settled in Brooklyn and into a new phases of solo music making. The start of his lastest effort coincided with beginning of development for his friend Keiran Mulroney's (Dermot's screen writing brother) movie Paper Man . Inspired by the quirky movie's characters and plot he began to create an [...]
The days have got longer, and the sun is starting to glisten through the trees making this perfect timing for the latest instalment of Summer days through the folkish haze (previously vols 1 and 2 ). As with all our mixtapes here on TBW, there are some bands you may know and others you wish you did - and all perfectly accompanied by a jug of Pimms... Big shout outs to the wonderful folk at Young & Lost , Song, by Toad , and For Folks Sake for pushing [...]
The Damn Choir, a folk foursome out of Chicago, recently released their first full-length album Faithful Fools . As if the album name doesn't already imply some fairly depressing music, the guys describe themselves as "sad-bastard" music (hey, we have a good friend who describes himself like that too ). Gordon Robertson heads up the bastards on guitar and vocals, with Katy Myers on cello, Chelsea Heck on backup vocals, and Miguel White on drums. The darker, more melancholic elements of The Damn Choir are complemented by overtones that are at [...]
loudloop
The Vinyl District
Consequence Of Sound
The World In A Paper Cup
The Blue Walrus
Knox Road
Sleigh Bells - Demons (Official Music Video)
The Rains of Castamere by The National
A-Trak & Dillon Francis - "Money Makin'" (Official Video)
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Nas - Daughters
Pictures Of Andre 3000 As Jimi Hendrix
Bobby Womack & Lana Del Rey
Video: Chromatics – “These Streets Will Never Look The Same”
