Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been reading over the past couple of weeks. We are about to hit our 1-month anniversary!
We’ve changed the appearance of the blog, and added two more writers, Marcus Foster and Devan Perine!
With more changes coming over the next month, stay tuned and pass the site on to your friends.
Thanks,
AB
One of my odd jobs this summer involves booking artists to play at Columbia College for the Student Programming Board. Our goal is to find up-and-coming artists who are about to break into the mainstream market – before they do actually break, to show that Columbia College is on the cutting edge of the music industry.
As I have been researching different artists, I came across quite a few underground hip-hop artists like P.O.S., B.o.B., and Cage. These artists have all had noteworthy music careers over the years, and are now finally beginning to receive some credit for it.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Sxm6zx4e8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6]
I recently came across a music video by Cage called “I Never Knew You.” The song is soft and slower, but Cage’s haunting voice and passionate lyrics kept my attention, not to mention the list of stars that have cameo’s in the music video. Read more…
Green Go
As I get older I find myself more and more interested in artists from Canada. My favorite Canadians include Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Broken Social Scene, Billy Talent, and Malajube to name a few – but recently another Canadian band broke their way into my favorite list after seeing their live show at NXNE.
Green Go from Guelph, Onatario are a 5-piece electronic/disco house/punk band (genre taken directly from their myspace) that puts on an energetic live show to get you dancing after only a few short minutes. Most of the crowd at NXNE was not previously familiar with Green Go, but the 50 people in the room who were “shaking it” to the music didn’t care. Headed by a male and female powerful duo, Green Go rocks out on their instruments, and continues to show off their skills as a few of the members switch instruments through the set.
This is an act America should be ready for, they guarantee a dance party wherever they play.
-AB
It’s the time of year that every Chicago native either loves or hates. If you work downtown you avoid the buses and subways until the tourists have left, and if you are one of the thousands who brave the crowds, downtown Chicago is the place to be!
Taste of Chicago kicks off today, June 26 and runs until July 5 in Grant Park. Admission is free but if you are interested in “tasting” Chicago be prepared to spend some dough on expensive meal tickets. Be warned though – if crowds are not your thing stay far away from downtown Chicago until well after the 5th of July. Over 50,000 people come out to Taste of Chicago on a daily basis.
One of my favorite parts of the Taste is the free performances that coincide with the festival. Taste of Chicago regularly books bands that peaked in the 90s, and this year’s headliners at the Petrillo Music Shell include the Wallflowers, the Counting Crows, and the Barenaked Ladies. Local Chicago acts are given a chance to shine for the crowds too, and today AEMMP Record’s friends Kid, You’ll Move Mountains will be gracing the Illinois Lottery Stage at 2:30pm! The third and smallest stage at Taste is the Best Buy Stage, which will be home to performers of all genres throughout the week.
So head out today and support local music.
I’ll be hanging out at Kid, You’ll Move Mountains at 2:30pm at the Illinois Lottery Stage. Check out a great, up-and-coming artist right out of Chicago!
-AB
I spent most of my middle and high school years listening to punk-rock bands lead by female singers. They portrayed what I wanted to be “when I grew up.” The front women of these bands were strong, opinionated, and had a killer sense of style. The Distillers frontwoman, Brody Dalle encompassed everything I wanted to be – a strong front woman of a rockin’ punk band.
Although it has been years since the Distillers have broken up, lead singer Brody Dalle is back with her newest project, spinnerette. Spinerette creates killer, danceable rock tunes you could hear at any hipster club, but the songs are taken to the next level once Dalle’s distinguishable voice is placed into the mix. The popularity of the Distillers was centered on Dalle’s rough-feminine screaming, but with spinerette Dalle creates a new sound and capitalizes on her ability to sing with a dark, sultry voice that instantly grabs your attention. Classic Distillers fans don’t worry, there still are hints of her punk-rock roots in songs like “Ghetto Love” where the classic Dalle voice can be heard in the little chorus shouts.
Overall Dalle has not left me disappointed.
Check out their new single off their freshly released self-titled album:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae23oi9sxYg&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f]
-AB
Our final day in Toronto was rainy, cold, and gray. The weather made it the perfect day to swing by the NXNE film festival and catch some artistic, independent music films. Located just around the corner from the home base of North By Northeast, the NFB (National Film Board) of Toronto was one of the theaters hosting the screenings throughout the week.
The first film of the day was called – “The Briefs – The Greatest Story Ever Told.” The film walked us through the formation, career, and current placement of the Briefs and included personal interviews and live footage provided by the band. This film is great for people who are not familiar with the Briefs.
Catch the trailer here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQxGYLdsILI&hl=en&fs=1&]
Read more about Day 4 under the cut Read more…
Rothbury Music Festival in Rothbury, Michigan is a newer festival in its second year, but it has plenty of reasons to get familiar with it.
Reason number 1: String Cheese Incident. Rothbury is their only scheduled performance this year and with the band being broken up the chances of seeing String Cheese again will be slim to none.
The Dead is another great reason to check out Rothbury. Jerry of course won’t be there but I’m still looking forward to seeing such a legendary band. Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan will also be there. Willie was amazing at Summer Camp and people can say whatever they want about Dylan but I”m still excited.
Other kick ass shows … Read more…
Music Music Stages - Downtown Toronto
The whole week we’ve been in Toronto we have watched the city set up for the Music Music Awards, an awards show that is equivalent to our MTV Music Awards with outdoor stages and huge Canadian talent. The stages are extravagant, and today as we were walking around, one of the show’s performers was in the middle of a soundcheck. After stopping to check out the band (and being impressed by the quality of the live sound since it was outdoors,) I asked the kid next to me which band we were watching. When he rudely replied, “Uh, AlexisOnFire” and rolled his eyes, I realized this band must have the popularity of a Coldplay in Canada, and I apparently was moronic for even asking him.
Day 2 of our NXNE adventure comes on the back of a night with no sleep. How we managed to watch live music until 3am I still am not sure – maybe it was the coffee? Maybe it was the pure enjoyment of just being out in a foreign city enjoying fresh, new artists I have never seen before.
Downtown Toronto reminds me a of a mini-NYC with the jumbotrons and all the advertisements covering every inch of exposed building space. Right in the center at Younge & Dondas Square is the Myspace.com stage. This stage is free and open to the public, so it always seems to have the largest crowds stopping by to watch the live music. The Black Lips graced the stage at an early 9pm and instantly began rockin’ the show. I was not familiar with the band beforehand, so I was surprised when their live show channeled classic rock and punk-rock bands of the 1970s. The crowd was into their whole performance, and at one point a group of girls jumped onto the stage and were allowed to stay. The band then invited more people up on the stage – to securities dismay -and continued playing with the back-up dancers from the crowd.
Read more…
So I left Chicago last night at Midnight with my partner-in-crime Ayisha to begin out North By Northeast adventures. After reaching the United States/Canada border at 6am, talking to the border patrol about the festival, and then leaving without them taking one look at our passports, we entered Canada and began the final mileage to Toronto.
One thing to know about our trip is we did decide to go the cheap route for this festival. We raided the grocery store for enough snacks to last the full 5-days, and we purchased the $50 wristband that will only get us into any of the club showcases. We are missing out on the panels that required a $250 festival pass, which for a group of college students on a cheap budget just wasn’t possible for this trip.
Read more…
