Eleventh Dream Day, Dump and Sidi Toure
You have two more chances this month to see Eleventh Dream Day. The band is playing every Sunday in April at the …
Carsick Cars at the Burlington
Carsick Cars is one of China’s best-known indie rock bands, but they’d never played in Chicago until now. The Beijing trio finally …
ICE plays Alvin Lucier’s music at the MCA
You had to be there. An audio recording of the International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances last weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Art …
SXSW Day 5 Photos: Burgermania
On the final day of South By Southwest, March 15, 2014, I arrived at Hotel Vegas in late afternoon and stayed throughout …
SXSW Day 5 Photos: Day Parties, etc.
My photos from daytime shows during the fifth day of South By Southwest, March 15, 2014, including — click on these links …
Ex Hex at SXSW
Ex Hex is a new band on the Sub Pop label starring Mary Timony of Helium and Wild Flag, Fire Tapes bassist …
SXSW Day 4 Photos
My photos from the fourth night of South By Southwest, March 14, 2014, including — click on these links to jump ahead …
Bloodshot SXSW Party at Yard Dog
My photos from the Bloodshot Records party during South By Southwest, March 14, 2014, at the Yard Dog art gallery, including: the Deslondes, Robbie …
Lydia Loveless at Yard Dog
Country singer Lydia Loveless has a terrific new album out on Bloodshot Records called Somewhere Else, and she played a bunch of times last …
SXSW Day 3 Photos: Nighttime Showcases
My photos from the nighttime showcases on Day 3 of SXSW, March 13, 2014, including: Smacksoft, Arc Iris, Utopians, Laura Cantrell and Honeyblood. (I have separate galleries …
SXSW Day 3 Photos: Day Parties Etc.
My photos from the first half of Day 3 at South By Southwest 2014, including: Gary Numan, the “Warehouse: Songs and Stories” songwriting …
The Launderettes at SXSW
The Launderettes, an all-female rock band from Oslo, Norway, who have been together since 1999, played the final time slot of the night …
Dog Trumpet at SXSW
The Australian rock band Dog Trumpet has been together since 1990, and its two key members — brothers Peter O’Doherty and Reg …
SXSW Day 2 Photos
My photos from Day 2 of the South By Southwest festival, March 12, 2014, including LosPetitFellas, Jarvis Cocker, R. Ring, Birth of Joy, Señor Faraón, …
Mothercoat at SXSW
In 2007, I caught a SXSW set by the Japanese band Mothercoat, which sticks in my memory for being so frantic and …
Jambinai at SXSW
One of the best groups I saw at SXSW this year was a South Korean band called Jambinai, which uses some traditional …
Photos of St. Vincent at SXSW
My photos of St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) on March 12, 2014, at South By Southwest — including a couple shots of …
SXSW Day 1 Photos
My photos from Tuesday, March 11, the first day of South By Southwest, including: Neil Young, Shelby Earl, Mozes and the Firstborn, …
SXSW Recap
This was the year people died at South By Southwest. The sprawling, raucous, nebulous combination of a trade show, academic conference, rock …
SXSW, as told in tweets
Selections from my tweets at South By Southwest 2014. (Follow me at @robertloerzel.) TUESDAY, MARCH 11 2:37 p.m. Landed in Austin #sxsw 2:52 …
Neil Young at SXSW
I’m at the South By Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas — the first time I’ve gone since 2008. It’s good to …
Fred Frith at Constellation
Monday night at Constellation, Fred Frith shook and scraped and stroked and beat his guitar. He set a can on top of …
Precious Blood at the Hideout
Photos of Precious Blood on Feb. 25 at the Hideout, featuring Nora O’Connor, Danny Black and Kevin McDonough, a show that wrapped up O’Connor’s outstanding …
Pussycat Trio at the Hideout
Photos of the Pussycat Trio (Robbie Fulks, Robbie Gjersoe and Beau Sample) Feb. 24 at the Hideout.
Ed Holstein and Steve Dawson at the Hideout
A hundred-some people turned out at the Hideout on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 22, for a folk music concert organized by local music …
Best Films of 2013
Belatedly, here are my choices for the best films of 2013 — including movies that showed at film festivals and noncommercial venues …
The Flat Five at the Hideout
Nora O’Connor’s monthlong residency at the Hideout continued on Tuesday, Feb. 18, with a show by the band that Hideout owner Tim …
Steve Dawson at Simon’s
In addition to his recordings as Dolly Varden’s main singer-songwriter, Steve Dawson has released a couple of solo albums, and now he’s …
Ane Brun and Linnea Olsson at Schubas
Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun’s songs sounded delicate and intimate Saturday night, Feb. 15, at Schubas. As she explained to the audience at the …
People’s Temple, Radar Eyes and Outer Minds at the Bottom Lounge
Three bands that excel at trippy garage rock reminiscent of the 1960s played Feb. 6 in the Volcano Room, upstairs at the …
I started this thing 10 years ago…
Underground Bee is 10 years old today. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing when I started this website on Feb. …
Nora O’Connor’s February residency at the Hideout
One of Chicago’s best singers, Nora O’Connor, is performing every Tuesday night in February at the Hideout. Despite being a regular at …
Parker, Abrams, Block & Woods at Elastic Arts
Elastic Arts is one of those odd little Chicago venues where you walk up a flight of stairs and find yourself in …
Chris Mills at Schubas
Chris Mills smiles a lot when he sings, and it’s a big, beaming smile. His voice is big, too. As he was …
Cate Le Bon at Schubas
Welsh singer-songrwiter Cate Le Bon got stuck in a terrible traffic jam on her way to play on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the …
Yuck, Diarrhea and more at TNK
January’s Tomorrow Never Knows festival keeps getting bigger, featuring more shows at more venues in Chicago. I saw two shows in this …
Favorite concert photos of 2013
I’ve posted my favorites of the concert photos I took in 2013 on Flickr (just a few of which you can see below…)
Favorite concerts of 2013
These are my favorite musical performances of the past year, out of the 104 concerts I attended. (I’m counting each day of …
Favorite records of 2013
These are my favorite records of 2013, the ones I enjoyed the most. Betraying my personal tastes, the list is dominated by …
Bonnie “Prince” Billy in Madison
“I heard that Beyonce put out a record today,” singer-songwriter Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham) said during his concert Friday night, …
Midlake and Sarah Jaffe at Schubas
The Denton, Texas, band Midlake has pulled off a rare feat — losing its primary singer-songwriter (Tim Smith) and emerging with a …
Cuddlestock
There’s a tall guy named Pat with dark black hair and a dark black beard who shows up at a lot of …
Dave Davies at Evanston Space
In 2003, I saw a cool concert by Dave Davies of the Kinks at the Abbey Pub, but a year later, the news …
Diarrhea Planet at the Beat Kitchen
First off, it seems impossible to write about the band Diarrhea Planet without commenting on its name. These rockers from Nashville must’ve …
Neutral Milk Hotel at the Canopy Club
Until last year, concert audiences hadn’t heard from Jeff Mangum in years. Neutral Milk Hotel’s singer-songwriter finally emerged out of what seemed …
Bill Callahan at Alhambra Palace
Bill Callahan returned to Chicago on Monday for his second concert of the year in this city. Both of his 2013 Chicago …
Lee Ranaldo and the Dust
While Sonic Youth remains on indefinite hiatus, the group’s members have been quite busy with other projects. Lee Ranaldo, who played in …
Mark Lanegan and ‘Mack the Knife’
One of the highlights of Mark Lanegan’s enchanting concert tonight at the Old Town School of Folk Music was his performance of …
Ólafur Arnalds at Constellation
Constellation — Mike Reed’s music and arts venue in the old Viaduct Theatre space — has been hosting some interesting concerts since opening …