Bon Iver gets lost in the static on first album in five years
Behind the veil of distorted vocals on Bon Iver's "22, A Million" (Jagjaguwar), Justin Vernon is still singing like a guy who never left the remote cabin in which he...
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Springsteen’s father looms large in ‘Born to Run’ autobiography
Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, "Born to Run," is more aptly titled than even diehards might realize. "Born to Run," of course, was also the title of the album that brought him...
Double Door considering move to Logan Square as legal appeal continues
Double Door co-owners said Monday they are considering moving the club to Logan Square even as they appeal a Cook County judge's decision that requires them to vacate their longtime...
Common pays tribute to hip-hop and community at Aahh! Fest
In a weekend dominated by hip-hop festivals in Chicago, Sunday was Common's turn. On the heels of Chance the Rapper's Magnificent Coloring Day at Sox Park in front of a...
Chance the Rapper turns Coloring Day magnificent
It took a 23-year-old South Side artist to bring a major festival to U.S. Cellular Field, and Chance the Rapper's Magnificent Coloring Day filled the ballpark Saturday with a stadium-record...
Warpaint gets sultry on the dance floor on ‘Heads Up’
Warpaint's unerring feel for gauzy hooks and slinky arrangements germinated over a decade and flourished on the quartet's excellent 2014 self-titled album. But the band has always nudged its arrangements...
Common still making sense in shaping hip-hop
Common may be a Hollywood actor, an activist, a philanthropist, author and businessman, but at heart he is a South Side kid who grew up loving hip-hop and then spent...
Riot Fest review: Misfits reunion not all that historic
'You're witnessing history," Glenn Danzig kept reminding tens of thousands of onlookers — a mix of the hardcore and the curious. The singer was presiding over a reunion of the...
Nick Cave’s ‘Skeleton Tree’: on living with death
Nick Cave has been singing about mortality for decades, and he's really good at it. Whether the narratives are biblical or pulpy, the victims innocents or death row convicts, the...
Teenage Fanclub plays it soft on ‘Here’
Back when it was signed to Creation Records in the U.K., Teenage Fanclub floated its three-part harmonies and unabashedly Big Star-like melodies atop guitars that closed the gap between "fuzz"...