FREE MUSIC INDUSTRY EVENT – The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs has some rad stuff coming up with co-sponsor Chicago Music Commission.  [They’re the fellers that put together Chicago Music City.]   It’s nice to know that the city is still keeping the arts alive with events like this.

This February they have their “At Work Forums” which is a series of well …forums that “brings artists and experts to discuss the best practices for Chicago’s creatives in music, dance, theater, visual art, and more.” [Thanks, Explore Chicago].

This shits good.  And best part – it’s FREE.

Yeah, panel discussions can get kind of dry at times.  But it’s free education and insight about what’s going on in your industry. Here’s one that you all should know about:

Musicians at Work Forum: Touring Tips for Finding and Booking Gigs

Date/Time:
February 22, 2010
Networking: 5:30pm-6:00pm
Panel: 6:00pm-7:30pm

Location: Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St., 5th Floor Washington Room
Chicago, IL 60605

Moderator:
Joanna Quargnali-Linsley – Misery Loves Co.

Check out the Panelists: Read more…

© Sebastian Mlynarski

Every once in awhile a band lands a gig in a major motion picture and is quickly forgotten after the movie-goer leaves the theater. In 2008 the major motion picture adaption of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is centered around the film’s two main stars, Michael Cera and Kat Dennings, searching for the band “Where’s Fluffy?” who just happens to be Brooklyn’s own Bishop Allen.

Bishop Allen began back in 2003 with Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, friends who met while attending Harvard University. Their name came from Bishop Allen Drive, the street where Rice and Rudder lived in Cambridge, MA while attending college. Rice and Rudder make up the core of Bishop Allen, but over the past seven years Rice and Rudder have been joined by various musicians to complete the Bishop Allen live lineup. Now, with three studio albums and 12 EPs under their belt, Bishop Allen’s live set could be endless. Read more…

Scared about getting a job after school?

Ch-ch-check this out.

For all you arts business kids – whether it’s music, performance art, visual art, literary art, or media art, this is a must-be-at event.

 

The SEA Conference [Self-Employment in the Arts], is held all over the U.S. hitting up Washington, Cali, Florida, Missouri, Minnesota, and Illinois.

They hold a conference every year around February in Lisle, IL.  The conference is over two days with panels, performances, speakers, workshops, etc.  It’s designed to cater to multiple arts and businesspersons and put together by the Coleman Foundation, Columbia College, North Central College, and a few other sponsors.  It’s designed for college kids studying to enter the arts industries.

My faculty advisor does a lot of work for the conference, and has been quite animate about getting me to go this year.  My marketing teacher also raved about it, too.  I looked in to the conference a bit more and asked some other people about and I did get some mixed reviews.  I guess it can be dry at times, but has overall been found beneficial.  Hey, it’s worth a shot. Read more…

About a week ago I took another adventure to visit The Wanton Looks, but this time to a safer neighborhood. The ladies were headlining the Girls Out Of The Garage showcase presented by NoVo Arts at Lincoln Hall. Having only seen them perform in their dimly lit practice space with some burnt out cables, and not quite to their full potential, I was excited to see them in all their glory.

© Gali Firstenberg

For those of you looking to break into the music business, the best advice I can give you is to intern, intern, intern. Yes, you are working for free. Yes, they may take advantage of you, force you to work long hours, and not even buy you coffee, BUT  every once in awhile you find an internship with perks. My last internship was at a PR company – the perk… a Starbucks machine. All the free hot chocolate I could ever drink in a day. My latest internship, one of my all-time favorite venues in the city of Chicago, Schubas. The perk? Lots of live music!

One of the bands that is playing the aforementioned venue this week is Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (SSLYBY). This band came highly recommended at last year’s CMJ Music Marathon, but unfortunately I was not lucky enough to catch a performance. I won’t make that same mistake this time around. Now with three studio albums under their belt, SSLYBY has captured my ears and made a new fan.

Although their Myspace gives you the ultimate discography of SSLYBY throughout the years, they are also nice enough to allow fans to stream all their albums for free online. On their latest 2008 release, Pershing, “Glue Girls” and “Modern Mystery,” have become two of my personal favorite tracks. Read more…

It has come to my attention that I have yet to actually write about a Chicago band on here, which has made be kind of feel out of touch with the local scene a bit. So, I guess it is just my luck that I’ve recently been turned onto Castevet, who were actually recommended to me by a fan of the site. After a few listens of their debut full length Summer Fences, I was hooked on their unique, interesting style. If Castevet’s sound was a cocktail, it’d be a pretty easy recipe to follow:

The Castevet
2 parts 90’s Emo (Cap’n Jazz, American Football)
1 part Beardcore vocals (Small Brown Bike, Hot Water Music)

Shake well. Served best in a crowded basement or art space.

Despite the simple ingredients, the four piece’s sound is complex as Summer Fences is quite instrumental based and all but one song exceeds the 5-minute mark. Their sonic dynamic was enough for Deckfight.com to called them “the balliest band in punk rock”.

Read more…

For those of you who, like me, shed a small but significant tear when you heard The Hush Sound was no longer making music, I have some good news. That angelic voice, those bouncy blond curls, the endearing stage presence… they’re back! Gretta Morgan is starting from scratch.

Photo: © Kevin Hayes

I could characterize Gold Motel‘s sound myself but Lauren Henry really put it best: “Gold Motel represents the evolution of a musical identity that hearkens back to pop’s crowning achievements: the dreamy energy of The Kinks, the quickwitted lyrical dexterity of Elvis Costello, the unassuming sophistication of a Beach Boys melody, light as air and deep as the Pacific. The youthful energy and sheer joy of Greta’s work is captured on the Gold Motel EP…”

Some of the songs exhibit a hint of the Hush Sound’s sound (hah) but overall this really is a departure. Not the she-shaved-her-head-and-bought-a-Harley kind of departure, but significant enough to make this a project entirely separate from the Hush Sound. To those looking for a female singer-songwriter ala Cat Power and Mirah (but with a more uplifting tone), I turn your heads towards Gold Motel.

Greta will be playing her first show as Gold Motel this Sunday (12/20) at Beat Kitchen, followed by 4 sold out shows at Schuba’s opening for Butch Walker.

If you’re a Chicagoan and geeked out when it comes Christmas time, I’ve got something for you to check out.

It snowed pretty hardcore this morning here in Chicago, and nothing gets me more in the Christmas mood more than snow, unless it’s Bing Crosby on the stereo.  Well if you’re one of those kids whose eyes gleam at the sight of gaudy Christmas trees and tacky Christmas light displays, and geek out over anything that reminds one of Christmas, make sure you leave this and next Friday evening open.

Millennium Park hosts Christmas has caroling at ‘The Bean’ from 6:00pm-6:50pm on Fridays.

[Random Fact: “The Bean” is actually called “The Cloud.”  The artist’s intention was for it to imitate a cloud.  ..which maybe he should have rethought that before making it in the shape of a lima bean.  But if you ever see anything published by the city calling it “The Cloud” – that’s why.]

Last weekend I joined a friend and checked out the Chicago Children’s Choir for their caroling performance at the bean.  I always knew Chicago held Christmas oriented events, but never actually went to one or knew when they were.
It was pretty rad.  Caribou gave out free hot cocoa, hot cider, and coffee, as well as free coupons [which I totally took advantage of last night working on crapola amounts of homework – boo finals and papers].  They had programs and gave out candles as well.

I froze my ass off, but it really got me in the Christmas mood.  And hey, it’s free. Nothing beats that.

There only two caroling concerts left – this Friday and next.

devanmarie

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…

Ever since their much hyped about debut Orchestra of Wolves, I have always enjoyed Gallows’ music, but I’d never been able to make it out to any of their shows. So, I was anxious to see how they sounded live compared to their records, and to find out whether or not they were as good live as I have been told they were. The fact that my first experience seeing the Watford, England-based act was at The Riveria was kind of a let down, though. I assumed going into the show that the venue might not be the best fit for Gallows’ breakneck hardcore sound, and I was right. This is not a band that is meant for 100 ft ceilings and huge auditorium acoustics.

Regardless, they made the most of the night. Led by the intense stage presence of singer Frank Carter, the group tore through their forty minute set with the kind of energy necessary to win over a crowd that probably wasn’t too familiar with their music. Playing mostly off their debut, I was pleased to hear a few tunes, such as “London Chicago Is The Reason” and “I Dread the Night”, off their latest album Grey Britain as well as a solid cover of Black Flag’s “Nervous Breakdown.”

Read more…