War on Drugs takes it personally
While making the War on Drugs' third studio album, "Lost in the Dream" (Jajaguwar), Adam Granduciel was having one of those what-does-it-all-mean? moments. "When I started making this record, I...
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Garth Brooks launches comeback at Allstate Arena
"The competition's getting younger, tougher broncs, you know I can't recall," Garth Brooks sang Thursday at the Allstate Arena like a road-weary troubadour wary of all the changes that have...
Robert Plant’s wandering days aren’t done
Robert Plant could be making millions on a reunion tour with Led Zeppelin, but instead he's become the black sheep of the Zep family – roaming far-off hills in search...
Alex Wiley gets serious about becoming a great MC
In a city swarming with hip-hop talent, Alex Wiley knows that it's all about the individuality of the voice, and he's figuring out how to transition from a joke-teller to...
Arcade Fire throws United Center dance party
Even when Regine Chassagne was singing about "dead shopping malls" and punching clocks as a worker drone, balloons descended, streamers waved, and dancers twerked in skeleton suits.Arcade Fire is a...
Tom Petty at United Center: The stealth protest singer
Outside the circle of power in Washington, D.C., it's difficult not to wonder who those pontificating, posturing, name-calling politicians are going on about and who, exactly, do they work for?...
New Pornographers zero in on the upbeat on ‘Brill Bruisers’
"Brill Bruisers" evokes a gang you wouldn't want to mess with, and the New Pornographers are surely that. They've got an overabundance of idiosyncratic talents packed into one band, including...
Reigning Sound dials down volume, amplifies soul
Greg Cartwright spent a good part of last year testing the limits of amplifiers and eardrums with his reunited Memphis punk band, the Oblivians. A good time was had by...
Benjamin Booker arrives with a blast of chaos
The self-titled debut album by Benjamin Booker begins with an avalanche set in motion by a guitar riff. Tribal drums join the commotion, then a grainy voice. "Where I'm goin',...
Boogarins: From a basement in Brazil to living the dream
Boogarins' cofounder Benke Ferraz is answering his phone backstage after a concert in Cologne, Germany, sounding very much like the awestruck 20-year-old that he is. Last year, Ferraz and Fernando...