Photos: Sleater-Kinney at Pitchfork
My photos of Sleater-Kinney performing July 18, 2015, at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, Chicago. (See my festival recap and more photos.)
Sleater-Kinney and the Ponys at Metro
OCT. 6, 2005 Metro, Chicago SEE MORE PHOTOS OF SLEATER-KINNEY.
Sleater-Kinney at the Riviera
JUNE 16, 2005 Sleater-Kinney at the Riveria One of the best shows of the year, from a band with one of the best albums of the year. They rocked with abandon, and Corin Tucker let loose some unbelievable banshee shrieks (all on-key… I think). “Jumpers,” that fabulous song from the new record, was a highlight, building …
Favorite albums of 2015
I could say this about almost any year: I heard a lot of great music in 2015 — and I surely missed even more. As I wrestled with the decision about what to include in this list, I kept thinking, Well, that album might have made my list if I’d listened to it a few …
2015 Pitchfork Fest recap
Sleater-Kinney and Courtney Barnett were the highlights of the 2015 Pitchfork Music Festival for me — no big surprise, considering how much I’ve liked their records and past live shows. Headlining on Saturday night, Sleater-Kinney once again showed that it’s one of the most powerful rock bands playing today. And when Barnett played on Sunday afternoon, …
Mid-February Concert Recap
Quick recaps of a few concerts (and other literary musical event) I’ve seen recently: OLIVIA CHANEY and MARK DVORAK: The English singer Olivia Chaney was enchanting as she made her Chicago debut as a solo artist on Feb. 12 at the Old Town School of Folk Music’s Szold Hall. She alternated between piano, guitar and …
Hideout Block Party & A.V. Fest
Two of the summer’s last big music festivals in Chicago vied for attention this past weekend: the Hideout Block Party, which is always one of the season’s most neighborly musical shindigs, and Riot Fest, which expanded beyond its usual indoor confines to become a truly major event in Humboldt Park. I was at the Hideout …
Wild Flag at Wicker Park Fest
A band with two members of the late, great Sleater-Kinney (Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss)? Plus Mary Timony of Helium and Rebecca Cole of Minders? Where do I sign up? This was definitely a band I wanted to hear, and it’s understandable why their forthcoming debut is one of the year’s most anticipated albums — …
Explode Into Colors
I was looking for something new and different to see Friday night, and I found it — an exciting all-female trio from Portland, Ore., called Explode Into Colors. This group doesn’t even have a proper album out yet, just a cassette and some singles, but it’s already making very lively, percussion-heavy rock. When I heard …
Favorite albums of the decade
I’ll keep this simple. Here are a dozen records from the past decade I’ve listened to and enjoyed more than anything else. I considered posting a longer list, but I found myself agonizing over which albums deserved to be in, say, a top 50 or top 100. There’s so much listening still to do, so …
Dead Meadow at Abbey Pub
It was a last-minute decision for me to see Dead Meadow last night (May 3). Good band. I’ve seen them once before, opening for Sleater-Kinney at the Riv, and I’ve been enjoying their recent album, Old Growth. Live, this trio delivers pretty much what you expect if you know their recordings: Drony, heavy, psychedelic rock, …
SXSW 2007, DAY ONE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14 How in the hell can you prepare for the overwhelming sensory overload that is South By Southwest? The first year I came to Austin for SXSW (2002), I pretty much winged it, looking at the music schedule each day and deciding who to see that night. I was only dimly aware of …
Pre-SXSW shows
It’s always nice to get into Austin a day before all of the real SXSW music fun starts. Nothing was happening last night of the magnitude of 2006’s Sleater-Kinney concert, but it was still a chance to catch a few bands before the beginning of the official festivities. I stopped into Beerland and enjoyed the …
2007 so far: CD reviews
These are the CDs I’ve reviewed so far in 2007 for Pioneer Press Newspapers. For the purposes of this site, though, I prefer to use a five-star rather than a four-star rating system (or, um five bees?) – there’s just a little more room for differentiation that way. ANTIBALAS / Security The template for this …
Best Concerts of 2006
As I mentioned in my post about the Waco Brothers, I ended up seeing 100 concerts and 305 musical performances (including festival shows and opening acts) in 2006. That’s a lot to sift through, and the vast majority of those shows were enjoyable to one extent or another.My favorites were:1. Sleater-Kinney, March 14 at Guerrero …
Favorite Concert Photos From 2006
I’ve put together a page of my favorite photos that I shot this year at concerts. Click here to visit the photo gallery… Or click here for a Flash slideshow with all of the photos. The page includes photos of: the 1900s, Acid Mothers Temple, Band of Horses, Brazilian Girls, Art Brut, Big Black, the …
Lollapalooza 2006
PRE-LOLLAPALOOZA PARTY AUGUST 3, 2006 GNARLS BARKLEY at the House of Blues — Thanks to an invite from someone at Spin magazine, I was lucky enough to get into this pre-Lollapalooza private gig by one of the festival’s most anticipated bands. Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere album is certainly one of the year’s best – and …
SXSW 2006
The big music festival didn’t officially start until Wednesday, but it unofficially started with a bang Tuesday night — as Sleater-Kinney entertained the crowd at the SXSW Film Festival’s closing-night party … at an unlikely venue, the Guerrero Produce Warehouse. It’s walking distance from Austin’s downtown, but it was definitely in a part of town …
Pazz & Jop 2005
The results of the Village Voice’s critics’ poll are out, and not surprisingly, Kanye West’s Late Registration finished at No. 1. Personally, I don’t think West’s music is all that great — I can hear some innovative musical layers on his record, and some of the songs are very strong, but as a whole, it just doesn’t …
Best Music of 2005
MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR: 1. Sleater-Kinney, The Woods 2. Amadou & Mariam, Dimanche a Bamako 3. Devin Davis, Lonely People of the World, Unite! 4. Sons and Daughters, The Repulsion Box 5. Andrew Bird, The Mysterious Production of Eggs 6. The Go! Team, Thunder Lightning Strike 7. M. Ward, Transistor Radio 8. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois 9. Brakes, Give Blood 10. Sharon Jones …
Concerts I Attended in 2005
Jan. 1: Guided By Voices (Metro… Technically, the concert began in 2004, but most of it was in 2005.) Jan. 14: Neko Case; The Sadies (Metro) Jan. 15: Constantines; Oakley Hall (Empty Bottle) Jan. 30: Rogue Wave; Two Gallants; the Saturday Nights (Schubas) Feb. 5: The Moaners (Subterranean) Feb. 11: Low; Pedro The Lion; Tim Rutuli (Metro) Feb. 12: Bettie Serveert (Abbey …