I’m not much a fan, and never really was a fan of Thrice when they were still kickin’ it, but Dustin Kensrue has some solo work out there and I have to say it’s not too shabby.
I got introduced to him from a friend of mine, who I was even hesitant to take a listen because I never got on the Thrice bandwagon, but I don’t regret it. For you folk/bluesy kids, you should check his music out. It’s nottthhiinnnggg like you would think it would be like, considering Dustin’s past musical work.
I got a listen to his two albums, Please Come Home, and This Good Night is Still Everywhere. One of my favorite is his song “Please Come Home.”
If you Google “Dustin Kensrue,” check out the first thing that comes up – you can click on it and listen to some of his mp3s for free. Google is pretty much boss.
Oh, he’s also got a crap ton of Christmas music on his myspace. Not sure how I feel about it. I like to stick to the classic Christmas songs when it comes to holiday music and getting in the Christmas mood. But check them out, if you’d like to add some music to your Christmas playlist.
I’ve been a fan of All Time Low’s since their 2006 tour opening for Amber Pacific. It was my first time hearing of the boys from Baltimore and they caught my attention with their high energy and catchy tunes. Since then, I’ve been to many more All Time Low concerts and enjoyed their Put Up or Shut Up EP and first full-length release, So Wrong It’s Right, on many occasions.
This summer the band promoted the release of their second full-length, Nothing Personal, by playing three cities across the country in one day. That was the first taste I got of their new songs live (or nibble, rather, as the set was only 45 minutes), but when the Glamour Kills tour passed through Chicago this past Monday and Tuesday I was able to get a better feel for how these new songs manifest themselves in a live setting, as well as a chance to see some bands I’d never seen before. Read more…
Sandwiched between the concert dates of more MTV accessible acts like Girls and Jens Lekman, Fuck Buttons took the Empty Bottle stage November 21st. I waited with a stamp on my wrist and a beer in my hand, standing on a step toward the back so I could see without bouncing up and down.
Fuck Buttons (Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power), appeared on stage without a word. They stood under dancing colored lights before keyboards, laptops, a drum, and broke the chatter with an unbelievably beautiful drone. It kept building, finally shattering into layers of pristine noise, electronic music, whatever you want to call it, splitting my ears but still hauntingly pretty.
Hung and Power are from a small village outside of Bristol, England. They developed a friendship in art school and began working together in 2004. They chose the name Fuck Buttons because they used a lot of cheap instruments and children’s toys to make their unique sound. “The “Fuck” symbolizes the abrasiveness. The “Buttons” indicates that not only were we seeking to push people’s buttons with our sound, but that our instruments had lots of buttons on them,” said Power in an interview. Read more…
If you have any interest in punk music, you should have heard of Dear Landlord by now. The band has been one of the most talked about acts within the scene this year, and it will be no surprised when their debut full length Dream Homes tops many of this year’s “best of” lists.
Comprised of members of the Copyrights and Rivethead, Dear Landlord perfectly blends the sounds of those two bands. It’s equal parts classic Minneapolis rough, raspy punk and quick, hyper-melodic pop punk from the Land of Lincoln. With two solid 7” releases under their belt, Dear Landlord released their first full length Dream Homes earlier this year, and, to put it plainly, it is one of the best pop punk albums I’ve heard in awhile. Read more…
Chicago’s music scene has a deep history. Whether you were born and raised in Chicago’s music scene or you are an immigrant, Chicago is always here to welcome musicians with its arms wide open. This was the sitation for So Many Ways, who were drawn to the city to receive a college education but gained much more than a lifetime’s worth of debt and a pile of textbooks that will never be opened again.
Can you give us all the important background information about how So Many Ways began in as few words as possible? Why yes we can. We all met here in Chicago, we all like pop punk and we’re all the coolest people you’ll ever meet.
As your line-up has increased and changed over the past year, you mentioned SMW has the “three singer attack.” Can you go into more detail about this sound and what each singer brings to the table? Our line-up has been shakier than we ever wanted it to be, but the band as it is now is stronger and more together than ever. We seem to really be writing some great songs that are more fun and serious than our previous ones at the same time. Our ex-members are some of our favorite people on this planet, and they had to leave for other reasons just to be clear . Concerning our singing situation, Colin Screams and sings, and Jason sings as well, and as it is now Chris and Murphy are on the manly back-up vocals.
This summer you relocated to Massachusetts to record your first demo, The Real Talk EP – how did you choose your recording studio in Massachusetts when Chicago seems to have a million solid recording studios located closer to home? The reasons behind the move to Massachusetts were actually pretty legit because Read more…
Finding your role in the music industry comes natural for some people. Daniel Traci found his calling in college when he first found an internship that quickly turned into a working position for Inland Empire Touring. Throughout college Daniel worked production at local rock clubs, and booked shows on his campus- accumulating enough experience to let him graduate and transition smoothly into the real world. Presently Daniel can be found at ICM where he recently took a moment in his busy schedule to answer a few questions about his college career, his role at ICM, and the life of an agent and artist manager.
Did you attend college? Which college and what was your degree? I graduated from NYU in 2002, majoring in music. I studied percussion and balanced my time between the same music curriculum as the other performance majors and the core business curriculum at the University’s Stern School of Business. Truthfully, I can’t say I have retained much of the lessons learned in corporate finance classes and such, but it was a good opportunity to diversify my class work in the way a general liberal arts major would. NYU also really pushed taking on internships throughout school, and I got turned on to the events coordinated by the University program board during orientation week, so throughout my 4 years I was booking concerts on campus, working production on the shows, and picking up shifts at night and off-days from class working at clubs in the city like Irving Plaza, Bowery Ballroom, and Mercury Lounge.
Are you where you thought you’d be when you were younger, what did you want to be when you “grew up”? I started playing in bands in high school, and was pretty into the idea of being a rockstar professionally. Over time I saw how much of a challenge it was to really “break through” as a performer, and found it just as fulfilling personally to help other artists achieve their professional goals, so I was lucky to have the opportunity to pursue that career with artists I really love and respect.
Can you give a brief description of ICM? International Creative Management (ICM) is one of the world’s largest talent and literary agencies, with office in Los Angeles, New York, and London. A cornerstone of the entertainment industry for more than three decades, ICM represents creative and technical talent in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, theater, and publishing.
Our roster has been a part of ICM for 6 months now, having operated independently as Inland Empire Touring for a decade before the merger in April of 2009. Read more…
The Jane Carrey Band’s sound cannot be described in one word. Their song “Carnival” makes me think of a sad mime while “Cry Cry Cry” reminds me of Sheryl Crow. “City Lights” has blues and funk influences and ”Wishing and Waiting” sounds like a lullaby that might kill you. Read more…
Devendra Banhart first found his way to my ears and wove himself into my heart with At The Hop on his 2004 release, Nino Rojo. I was a nerdy sophomore that spent much of my time swapping mixes and talking music with my friend Adam- a self proclaimed music snob. I have yet to meet someone that can top his mix making skills, which usually opened with one of his own spoken word projects and cleverly hid 3 tracks at the end of the 10 song mix with about 87 blank 3 second long tracks separating them from the rest. It was the last song on one of the said mixes that I found At The Hop waiting to be heard.
With the hooks in deep, I was pulled further into Devendra Banhart’s freaky folksy world with his previous releases, The Charles C. Leary, Oh Me Oh My… and Rejoicing in the Hands. Then in 2005, he further reassured my love for him with Cripple Crow. I am fond of all of it, his inherent playfulness and childish manner, his provoking lyrics, the electric mix instruments, the way he easily slips in and out of Spanish and the way he moves his scrawny body on stage, decorated with tattoos and adorned with necklaces.
As I began to submerge myself in the gritty and glitchy sounds of electronic thrash bands, long time favorites got pushed aside and I hardly noticed when Banhart’s 2007 Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon came out. But a few months ago he came back under my radar when I heard he was touring Chicago and coming to The Vic. On Monday night I happily ventured out to see him perform. I knew I was in the right place when I saw the large amount of hippie children wearing wooden beaded necklaces and feathered head dresses, long wool jackets and paisley shirts and skirts waiting in line. Read more…
A few major music magazines still have clout in the industry. Magazines like Rolling Stone, Spin, and Faderhave international audiences who await their every issue to find out who the next “best thing” is going to be. I tend to stray away from these magazines since normally 60% of the magazine is filled with advertisements and the other 40% is filled with crap.
About a month ago I broke this regiment of mine and picked up the latest edition of Spin to find out who they named “the best band of 2009!” To my surprise, it wasn’t a Lady Gaga or an Owl City, it was a lesser-know indie band out of San Francisco by the name of Girls. Once again spin did not disappoint as the major point of their article was about some crazy PR pitch about the singer, Christopher Owens, who grew up in a cult only to later become the man-servant to a billionaire. The article left me with a little idea of what Girls would sound like, except I assumed there may be some dark, eerie lyrics provided from Owen’s history.
On September 22 Girls released their first full-length album titled, Album. Recorded in numerous practice spaces and bedrooms the songwriter of the group, Owens, lead the way for the creation of 12 tracks that left me wondering where the “best” title would come into play. Album buds with the opening tracks, including the first track Girls ever wrote together, “Lust for Life,” and “Laura” that channeled the 60s-era British invasion sound played by the likes of the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, and maybe a hint of Beatlemania included.
This sound is far from original, but there is something behind song-writing that keeps Album in constant rotation on my iTunes. Owens’ vocals may belong in another era, but their current release makes for great background music in the office. It will be interesting to see where Girls ends up -after three months of touring Girls has already almost completely changed their lineup (including a new drummer and guitarist). Girls will be a band worth keeping an eye on to see what their career has in store.
On Monday editor James Gooden and I had the chance to take a break from our college papers and enjoy a night at Schubas to check out Freelance Whales and Fanfarlo. Rather than give you one writer’s point of view, we thought it may be fun to mix it up a bit and have two… so I give you the first ever edition of the “dueling reviews.”
Ashley:
If you can play up to four different instruments well, feel free to join London’s own Fanfarlo. The six-piece played to a sold-out Schubas on Monday night and wowed the crowd with skills on the guitar, bass, keys, drums, clarinet, melodica, mandolin, violin, trumpet, and even the saw!Fanfarlo began the performance on a soft note, with only the keys, guitar, and light drums, but quickly found their spark that lit the fire under their heavily jet-lagged members who stepped on the stage to complete the Fanfarlo line-up for the rest of the set.
Dressed in shirts and suspenders that mimicked the fashion of the late 1800s World’s Fair, carnival flags also hung across Farfarlo’s stage as a backdrop. Singer Simon Balthazar’s voice then led the way with barely audible lyrics, and a voice that mirrored Arcade Fire’s Win Butler. Fanfarlo’s exceptional performances came off their debut release, Reservoir, and included “Finish Line,” “Harold T. Wilkins, or How To Wait For A Very Long Time,” and “The Walls Are Coming Down.” Each song had its own unique sound as the various instruments wove in and out of the traditional guitar, bass, and drum lines. Fanfarlo’s set left me excited to go home and download (legally of course) their new album to see how the live show would compare.
I wasn’t familiar with Fanfarlo before Ashley suggested I come with her to check them out at their show with Freelance Whales at Schubas, but from the moment they began playing I realized I had been missing out and was glad to finally be clued in. Read more…
. Concerning our singing situation, Colin Screams and sings, and Jason sings as well, and as it is now Chris and Murphy are on the manly back-up vocals.
