We've been thinking lately about the importance of sharing the city of Cleveland with our readers. Our city is the home of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and the world renowned Cleveland Orchestra's beautiful concert venue, Severance Hall. But what do you really know about the city of Cleveland past our embarrassing sports teams? Maybe you're a Clevelander and you need some insight on the cool Mom & Pop places in town. Maybe you're from out of town and not really familiar with our city. Either way, we thought, who better to introduce [...]
Local psych-riffers Apteka are releasing their new LP, Gargoyle Days , at the Empty Bottle tonight, and we've got the epic debut single from the record available for your listening pleasure. Last month, Apteka opened at Jane's Addiction's two-night stint at the Metro, and it's easy to hear why based on this new single, "Striking Violet." After beginning with a cacophony of jet engine riffage, the drums lay down a heavy-but-bouncy groove over over a dark and spacey guitar line. The song eventually builds to a powerful arena-rock [...]
Absolutely Kosher Some sad news in the world of independent music. Absolutely Kosher , the label that brought you offerings from The Wrens, Pinback, The Mountain Goats, The Hidden Cameras, Sunset Rubdown and a host of other indie bands, is folding up the tent after one final release. Himalayan Bear 's Hard Times , will come out October 11, 2011 , and will be the final release on the Absolutely Kosher label. (I guess that mythical "next record" from The Wrens will come out out another [...]
Absolutely Kosher Records announced yesterday afternoon that, following the release of Himalayan Bear 's Hard Times , the label will stop putting out new albums. If you've followed the East Bay label over the years, then you know that this development is bad news. Over the course of almost 15 years, the label has released albums from some of indie's best, including a slew of personal favorites, like The Wrens' Meadowlands , The Mountain Goats' The Coroner's Gambit , Okay's Huggable Dust , and 60 Watt Kid's self-titled album. In its time, [...]
It's Labor Day weekend, y'all! It's time to celebrate our jobs by taking some time off from them to enjoy what little is left of summer. Because of the holiday there are festivals aplenty happening in the city. We've got North Coast Music Festival happening in the West Loop and Ravenswood Remix on the Northside. Plus shows by Save the Clocktower and Dark Fog . Let's get to it! FRIDAY [...]
The Jezabels - Endless Summer Why have I not hear The Jezabels? This song is awesome. I do have a thing about rock music with female vocals. Especially when it's really really good. Patti Smith , The Yeah Yeah Yeahs , Howling Bells , Sybris the list goes on (If you haven't heard of Sybris then go check them out ). When I first saw the press picture I thought this might be another folksy roots band who locked themselves away [...]
Sunken Ships And now three reasons to get out of this lovely weather and into a small, dark bar to hear some righteous music... 1. Sunken Ships are by no means new to the Chicago scene. It's the project from former Sybris drummer Eric Mahle, but also features members from My Cold Dead Hand, Quatre Tete and Muchacha. On the band's Myspace page, they site SST Records and The '90s in their influenced, and by golly, that sounds just about right. Their crooked, guitar-leaning sound is poppy [...]
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that this Saturday, April 16, is the fourth annual Record Store Day . Like the past three years, record stores around the country are offering exclusive releases, great deals, free goodies and even in-store performances for Saturday's celebration of independently owned record stores. The event is even better if you live in Chicago because there are many great record stores strewn across the city, but it's hard to keep count of which one is doing what. Therefore, once again , we've done the dirty work for you in this [...]
Chicago's Empty Bottle features free concerts every Monday night, which is usually an amazing way to check out local and up-and-coming talent without having to feel anxious about plunking down hard-earned cash on bands you're not super familiar with. This month's schedule included the NPR-name dropped Buke and Gass, the echo-heavy New Wave-iness of locals Golden Birthday, as well as the Chicago-based, dronetastic Sadhu Sadhu. The Monday show I most closely had my eye on, though, was this one. I've been excited about the material Sybris has put out for a couple of years now, and as news of a [...]
Sybris Three I'll-keep-this-brief-and-just- say-now-that-was-a-real-winter -storm-eh reasons to not be fooled by the clear blue skies and bundle up, chums, before heading to the Bottle tonight... 1. Drummerless? Probably not. Well, I hope not. None the less, Sybris are celebrating their seventh annual Sybmas tonight. Sure, why not? Seems they've been putting the finishing touches on a new LP with metal producer Sanford Parker tweaking the nobs, so maybe expect a heavier vibe from these already heavy-ish kids. Perhaps some of that there new material will even be on display this very evening. [...]
After spending all your holiday cash buying spa gift certificates and organic cotton neck ties, reward yourself with something that don't cost a damn thing. This Monday The Empty Bottle gives us two hometown bands for an insane bargain- FREE. I say insane because unless you've lived under a Chicago snow pile for the last few years, you'd know about local talents Sybris and Apteka. Epic rock brainchild Sybris has long won over fans with energetic fun wrapped in the warm, dirty embrace of rock. Captivating, toocool vocals combine with some serious guitar power to result in a [...]
Eric Mahle is out as drummer for local rockers Sybris . The band made the announce in a brief message posted to their Facebook page. It reads : Sybris and Eric Mahle have parted ways. This was a painful decision for all of us to make and was not taken lightly. We'll be continuing to write and work on our new record while we look for a new drummer. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours. Stay tuned for updates on the situation as [...]
Ragtones Three I-know-it's-far-from-over-but- I-still-owe-the-Rangers-an-apo logy-for-not-believing-in-them reasons to tidy up a bit and then head over to the Subterranean this evening... 1. Seems like Chicago's Ragtones are on their way. According to their fancy Myspace page , they started out as the backing band for a fashion show and in like a year's time have played the Metro and released their debut The Ragtones Time Travel Extravaganza . Not bad for this kind of roots-y rock collection of fine fellows. It's not hard to see why we've stood up and [...]
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Bon Iver's PISSED OFF frontman Justin Vernon LASHES OUT at HIPSTER RUNOFF over critical coverage
