
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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

IT'S HERE! Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 starts TODAY! Who's excited? Of course, you'll probably be sweating yourself silly in Union Park this weekend, but there are some other shows worth checking out this weekend. This weekend we're highlighting Radar Eyes at Cal's , the Radar Brothers at Schubas , Sybris at Millennium Park, Black Arrow at the Mutiny and, of course, Dickfork! And before we go, we're going to have some really cool Pitchfork Music Festival coverage right here [...]

There are only a handful of Chicago street fests that really do a good job of booking music. This weekend's Do Division fest is one. There are two stages, one curated by Empty Bottle and other by House Call Entertainment, the guys who book Subterranean and Beat Kitchen. Headliners Saturday are Yacht and the Hood Internet. Sunday's closers are the Night Marchers and Jason Isbell (formerly of Drive-By Truckers). Other acts include Pelican, Headlights, Poison Arrows, Sybris and CoCoComa. [...]

Like Loud Loop Press, the Do-Division Street Fest and Sidewalk Sale likes to keep things local. From the food to the vendors, right down to the bands that play, the focus is directly on Chicago. This year's fest, held Saturday and Sunday, June 5th & 6th on Division between Ashland and Levitt, will have two stages booked by Empty Bottle Presents and Subterranean / House Call Entertainment chock full of great Chicago bands. Among those recruited to perform are heavy [...]

Tortoise Holy smokes! This might be the best weekend for live music in Chicago outside of Pitchfork Fest and Lollapalooza weekends. So many shows. So little time. Read on for previews of Evan Dando at the Double Door , Tortoise at Lincoln Hall , Scott Lucas and the Married Men at Schubas and that's just scratching the surface. But before we get to the shows, a reminder that Loud Loop Radio will be back on the air tomorrow, Saturday, February 20, at [...]

Chicago seems to want hundreds of music festivals. As if all the neighborhood fests, Pitchfork and Lollapalooza hadn't wiped us Chicagoans out (both physically and economically) enough already, let's throw in the Green Music Fest . Held in West Town's Eckhart Park, and with Art Brut topping the lineup, the new festival is a worthy addition to the rogues gallery of music ventures here in the Windy City. Unfortunately, the weather this past weekend wasn't all that cooperative. Arriving early Saturday afternoon, the heat hung oppressively, driving most of the crowd to the far-away shade, leaving a [...]

Confession: I only made it to one day of the first annual Green Music Fest. But it was pretty awesome! I hope they do it again next year. For just getting started, it seemed to be very well organized and it was a day of extremely wonderful music. Two groups stood out in my mind; I heard four but you know, not everyone wows you! And it was freakishly hot and humid so the whole thing was an endurance test. I felt like the whole thing was asking, "Just how indie are you?" even though the crowd was way less [...]
It is amazing to see some vocalists in action: I particularly like the ones who open their mouths up Charlie Brown style and play their vocal chords with the bellows that come out of their human-sized lungs. It is incredible to see! They just open up their mouths like big gaping holes to the universe and out come these pure and amazing notes. I got a chance to see the dude from Bad Veins ( Ben Davis ) do it earlier this week, then the lady from Sybris [...]

Earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune 's Greg Kot asked a few Chicago-area musicians about how they were fighting through the tough economy. Some formed cover bands (Led Zeppelin 2... ha!) and went out with stripped-down outfits on the road. Part of me is a little "yeah, duh" about musicians having second jobs, and in the story, Katie Tuten, co-owner of Chicago club the Hideout, notes: "People who play music are better able to handle whatever the economy throws at them because they're always on a tight budget." That is very true. We [...]

Earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune 's Greg Kot asked a few Chicago-area musicians about how they were fighting through the tough economy. Some formed cover bands (Led Zeppelin 2... ha!) and went out with stripped-down outfits on the road. Part of me is a little "yeah, duh" about musicians having second jobs, and in the story, Katie Tuten, co-owner of Chicago club the Hideout, notes: "People who play music are better able to handle whatever the economy throws at them because they're always on a tight budget." That is very true. We [...]
I liked this David Byrne and Brian Eno collaboration Everything That Happens Will Happen Today way more than I thought I would. I'm not sure why I thought that considering that I'm a fan of Byrne's work in Talking Heads and Eno's solo work as well as Roxy Music. The songs have been described by the duo as electronic Gospel music, but I think it sounds more like adult pop than anything else. It's an adventurous album that is radically listenable, but would you expect anything less from these two? [...]

Before packing our bags and heading back to the day-to-day grind that is real life, we were able to take in a couple more days of fun in the sun/overwhelming amounts of music/drunken record executives. Without further ado, the conclusion of our South by Southwest 2009 coverage: Friday, March 20th: It's hard to cover Friday without sounding self-aggrandizing, so bear with us. Truth be told, CoS had too much going on to really reach out to anything else. With our Brodown Hoedown party taking up the majority of [...]
Tomorrow night at Cicero's, sneaking onto a local bill, is the Chicago quartet Sybris. The band and its 2008 release Into the Trees (Absolutely Kosher) nods to the halcyon days of '90s indie-rock, whe... Continue reading "Tomorrow! Sybris at Cicero's" >

In case you missed last Friday's big news... Consequence of Sound is proud to announce our third and final South by Southwest 2009 event. This year, CoS has teamed up with UnScene , Pabst Brewing Company , and Chicago based bands Blueblood and Catfish Haven for the second annual Brodown Hoedown. If you remember, last year, the Brodown Hoedown proved to be one of the best parties of SXSW, offering the likes of Lucero, Wax Fang, and Drug Rug among others. In fact, it went so well that the [...]

Consequence of Sound is proud to announce our third and final South by Southwest 2009 event. This year, CoS has teamed up with UnScene , Pabst Brewing Company , and Chicago based bands Blueblood and Catfish Haven for the second annual Brodown Hoedown. If you remember, last year, the Brodown Hoedown proved to be one of the best parties of SXSW, offering the likes of Lucero, Wax Fang, and Drug Rug among others. In fact, it went so well that the Hoedown will return for another go around, and this time, it will [...]