The Laureates And now three holy-smokes-I'm-back-on-the-da ily-diversion-wagon to party like it's Saturday night and head on over to the Empty Bottle tonight... 1. Wednesday, Shmednesday. The week's half way over, and when you're a working stiff, that's reason enough to celebrate with booze and local music. Today, we point you in the direction for one of our favorites around these parts: The Empty Bottle. For Chicago indie rockers The Laureates take the stage tonight to not only entertain, but educate you in the ways of fun, clever guitar [...]
Three spring-winter-spring-winter-it -must-be-March reasons to dress warm or maybe not but bring an umbrella or that might be silly but no matter what hit up the Empty Bottle tonight... 1. As reported by our crack reporting-like team , the Bottle is unleashing a new series of monthly free concerts under the name "Music. Friendly. Dancing". See, it's for you the customers. The Bottle appreciates you, and, despite their many already free Monday night shows, the good folks there thought they'd up the ante as a way of saying thanks. How so? Welp, look at [...]
photo credit: Ebru Yildiz Heaven In Stereo mp3 Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers Teenage and Torture ..... pre-order it! Venus Shaver mp3 Shilpa Ray is back, with a new album coming out in January and I couldn't be more pleased to tell you about it! Did you catch her at CMJ this year? Remember when she came to Chicago in April, '09? We were thrilled to hear her. We were enthralled with her energy, her sort of devil-may-care, [...]
Alright my dears, get your calendars out! There's a load of shows coming your way and I'm just going to do a roundup of what I think you shouldn't miss. I'm totally inundated with emails about truly good bands touring and I really wish I had time and space to tell you about each one in its own post, but alas. These are the shows I'm honestly going to make, they're that good! September 17 - School of Seven Bells are playing Lincoln Hall and this is a must see show. I can not believe there [...]
Look Out! mp3 Peter Case Whig! ... buy it! The great Peter Case has belted out a new record, Wig! , and Chicago, he's bringing himself to FitzGeralds' in the Side Bar Music Room in Berwyn, on Sept. 18. Recorded in only three days, Whig! features dirty, electric blues, really sassy lyrics, the stuff that younger artists work hard to copy. If you don't already know who Peter Case is, get out there and do your homework. He's one of the best songwriters of our time, hugely [...]
So there's a few things on my mind and instead of saving it all up for a mega post, I'm just gonna tell you straight out: 1. If you're in Chicago you really should get out to the Empty Bottle tomorrow night and hear J. Tillman and Phosphorescent ! If you're not in Chicago then catch them on the end of this tour: 8/6 - Radio Radio - Indianapolis, IN * 8/7 - Grog Shop - Cleveland Heights, OH * 8/9 - Black Cat - Washington [...]
My Gold Mask is one of my favorite Chicago bands, a duo consisting of Jack and Gretta, wonderful folk. I just got this email last night and had to get it out to you! La Scala's Balthazar de Ley has recorded all of My Gold Mask's work and has been instrumental in getting them off the ground. This cover of Tu Farai is sung entirely in Italian by Gretta and is very special. The original is by Mina , a.k.a., Anna Maria Quaini, an immensely popular singer of the 60s and 70s in Italy. It's so [...]
Set Back mp3 The Constellations Southern Gothic .... pre-order here! photo credit: Jennifer Tzar This, my dear readers, is something else. It's a big, hot, mess of psychedelica, hiphop, and funk that I cannot wait to see happen live. We lucky folks here in Chicago will witness this Sunday night, June 13 at the Empty Bottle . They'll be fresh from Bonnaroo and pumped up for Lollapalooza so I think we'll get a pretty damn good show! [...]
photo by Romorosso http://www.flickr.com/photos/r omorosso/ Can't Stay Awake mp3 Turning On Cloud Nothings ..... buy it I stumbled into the Empty Bottle last Monday night to catch one of my favorite dastardly duos, My Gold Mask and I just got there early enough to catch this wonderful little band from Cleveland. I have to tell you, right from the first beat, I was completely mesmerized by their drummer. This guy's sticks were a blur but not because he drums so incredibly fast... [...]
What are you doing peeking over here on this silly site?! Get over to WOXY.com and hear The Waiting Room because there's a ton of great music including TWO lovely songs from Chicago folk who you should know or get to know. It's not every day that a radio show, blasted out from Austin, TX, to the entire world wide web, coming from the teensy corners of far away Cardiff, Wales, contains so much Chicago talent, ya know! (Did you follow that? Cardiff, Wales >>> Austin, TX >>> the WHOLE WORLD!) .... yeah I've no idea what that [...]
Chicago! Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers are playing tonight at the Empty Bottle and you really should come out. I've seen her four times now and each is completely wonderful and different each time. If you've not heard her sing, you've truly missed out on one of our greatest treasures in folk/rock music today. Her voice has been described as so many things from "gorgeously odd" to "haunting." I just think it's beautiful. This young woman has found a way to sing in a nuanced and folkish manner that is both charming and a bit unnerving and [...]
Still a bit breathless, I confess to having to wait a full 24 hours to begin to write this up for you. The evening was full of so much, so many highs, so few moments where I actually had a conscious self-reflective thought. I spent the bulk of it just wide-eyed and head nodding and body swaying to the incredible sounds that I had anticipated and was experiencing just as I imagined I would. Darlings, it is rare indeed to be so completely fulfilled in an evening in a club by three bands as I was this night. [...]
Chicago, we just do not get a moment's rest! And that's a lovely thing in October, because we are treated to so many good shows before the weather gets really nasty and we hole up in our apartments and refuse to go out at night. So get out while the gettin's good and honestly I can't recommend this show enough. Featuring the School of Seven Bells , Warpaint and Panda Riot , the Depreciation Guild returns to Chicago to wow us with this incredible lineup at The Empty Bottle tomorrow night. [...]
Tonight, Chicago, at The Empty Bottle , there will take place an epic show wherein three bands will play that are guaranteed to send this Tart into a real tizzy. I am seriously so full of pre-show jitters, even now, at 1:30 a.m. the night before, that I can hardly type this album review for you. But type it I will because I have recently become acquainted with the marvelous band Brakes (yes, they're called Brakes, Brakes, Brakes in the U.S. but their real name is just Brakes in their native home, Brighton, UK... it's some confusion [...]
Uh yeah, you knew I'd go for the corny title, didn't you? No? Oh... well listen to this track from The Subjects and it might come in a bit clearer. The harmonies and quirky, fast melodies of this band just scream out for irony and all-too obvious plays on words. Their little EP, New Soft Shoe , is three songs that come together to showcase a tight, seriously pop sound that doesn't take itself too seriously. With some great touring experience under their belt, The Subjects are hitting the road as double headliners with one of my [...]
Still Life Still sell themselves as a band of would-be brothers who've been playing together for 10 years and known each other since childhood. Listening to their EP, Pastel for days and days, I knew I was going to catch this band when they came through town. What I didn't know was that the songs off their newly released album, Girls Come Too , are as good or better than the three I had been soaking in. But honestly, I had no idea what to expect and so [...]
Have you heard O'death 's album, Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin ? It came out in October of last year and it's been on constant rotation at Chez Tart ever since. It's been characterized as "a giddy junkyard hoedown" that's part gospel, part punk, part Americana. I've heard the phrase "you've not really heard O'death until you've heard them live" and was hoping that it wasn't just talk. Well, my darling readers, let me tell you. It. Wasn't. Just. Talk. Oh no... this band was more than amazing on stage. My blog buddy, [...]
Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers came to Chicago Thursday night and blew the crowd away! We sat through two opening bands who successfully heated up the club, only to see this tiny little woman lug a huge piece of equipment up the stairs to the stage. That couldn't be THE Shilpa Ray, could it? I've heard her album. I've studied her MySpace page. I'd been seriously looking forward to this show for weeks now. This woman had a voice that was as big as New Jersey! I'd imagined her at least being 5 and [...]
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Love Shack, Baby
Out This Week 2/14
Diplo - "Climax" (MP3 Stream)
Listen: Diplo and Usher – “Climax”
Jackback Feat. David Guetta & Nicky Romero – Wild One Two
