Death Cab For Cutie @ Metro in May (more by Josh Darr)

today in Chicago
* The Hold Steady, The Donkeys @ Metro
* Peter Bjorn and John, The 1900's @ Lincoln Hall
* Canon Blue, Snowblink, Darts, Arrows @ Hideout
* Death Cab For Cutie, Frightened Rabbit @ UIC Pavilion
* Tedeschi-Trucks Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band @ Chicago Theatre
* Sleepy Sun, Buffalo Killers, The Steepwater Band, Waterstreet @ Double Door
* Toxic Holocaust, Holy Grail, Krum Bums, I Decline, Armored Assault @ Reggie's

The Ettes have a new Tom Scharpling-directed video for their track "Excuse," starring Patton Oswalt. View it HERE.

Eleanor Friedberger played NPR's World Cafe. Stream the session HERE.

St. Vincent premiered a new video this morning for her track "Cruel." View it below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

Bachelorette @ Bowery Ballroom in May (more by Diana Wong)

Bachelorette (aka Annabel Alpers) has quite a busy September ahead of her. The New Zealand-based musician will come stateside for a string of dates, including a short run supporting Low, a performance at the 2011 Pygmalion Music Festival, and then a Chicago one-off at Empty Bottle.

Her third, and self-titled LP came out on May 16th via Drag City Records. Listen to a song:

Bachelorette - "Blanket"

Tickets for her Empty Bottle show with NewVillager on September 23rd are still available. You can view all 2011 tour dates below..

Continue reading "Bachelorette to play Pygmalion & Empty Bottle +++ touring w/ Low before both"

Brooklyn, NY's Chairlift released a 7" earlier this month (on August 16th) via Chris Taylor's Terrible Records. You can stream its A-side "Amanaemonesia," which will apparently be on their forthcoming 2011 LP (details TBA), below.

Chairlift - "Amanaemonesia"

Chairlift will open a number of dates on James Blake's 2011 fall tour, including his previously announced September 29th performance at Metro.

Head below to view all dates.

Continue reading "Chairlift released a 7" ++++++++ touring w/ James Blake (Metro included)"

Tinariwen @ Highline Ballroom in 2010 (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

As previously announced, Tinariwen are set to unveil their new LP Tassili on August 30th via Anti- Records. This morning we posted an updated list of fall tour dates, which includes a November 25th performance at Metro with Sophie Hunger. Tickets go on sale this Saturday (8/27), at noon CST.

You can visit NPR to stream Tassili in its entirety, up until it hits stores. The album features artistic contributions from Nels Cline, TV on the Radio, and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Before playing on Sunday (8/7) of Lollapalooza 2011, Chicago's Disappears opened for the Arctic Monkeys on Saturday (8/6) at the House of Blues.

Their friend Jeremy Lemos (of White/Light) recorded their set straight from the mixing board. Stream it directly below via the SoundCloud widget.

Disappears - House of Blues 8/6 soundboard recording

After wrapping their current tour with Obits, as mentioned, Disappears will play the A.V. Fest on Saturday, September 9th.

Disappears @ Lollapalooza 2011 (via)

Chicago psych-rockers Disappears recently played Lollapalooza, an aftershow at the House of Blues with the Arctic Monkeys, and now Daytrotter has posted a four-song session they did with the band.

No stranger to live sessions, the group chose to play two songs off of their most recent record (and my favorite) Guider, an unreleased track, plus a cut from 2010's Lux. Check out the session HERE.

Disappears are playing on Saturday (9/10) of the A.V. Fest.

tUnE-yArDs @ Pitchfork Fest 2011 (more by Josh Darr)

Cut Chemist @ CMJ

As announced,

tUnE-yArDs is releasing a 12" single for w h o k i l l's "Gangsta" on September 27 via 4AD. The 12" features the album version of the track, an Ad Rock (of Beastie Boys) remix, a Cut Chemist remix, the instrumental version, and an cappella version.

Cut Chemist has an upcoming Chicago gig at The Mid on October 7th, with Quantic.
tUnE-yArDs are playing both November 9th & 10th at Lincoln Hall with Pat Jordache.

Pre-order the 12" HERE, and stream/download Ad Rock's contribution below..

Continue reading "Cut Chemist remixed tUnE-yArDs, playing The Mid w/ Quantic"

We just recently have announced that The Rapture will be visiting Chicago shortly, and will be sporting a new LP by then.

Tonight, at 7:30PM CST via their label DFA's Ustream channel, the band will stream a vinyl test pressing of In the Grace of Your Love.

Speaking of DFA, their label mate Juan Maclean will play an upcoming DJ Set on September 14th, at Chicago's Crimson Lounge.

Holy Sons

Emil Amos, the drummer of both Grails, and Om (aka Holy Sons) will be opening up for Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks on their 2011 fall North American tour. His supporting duties will kick off on September 20th in Detroit, MI and carry through the first week of October, ending on the 8th of the month in Minneapolis, MN.

This includes the previously announced date at the Vic on October 6th.
Tickets are still available.

The Jicks' new, Beck-produced LP Mirror Traffic is currently streaming on NPR.
It hits stores on August 23rd via Matador Records.

All dates are below..

Continue reading "Holy Sons to open for Stephen Malkmus (the Vic included)"

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Muppets creator Jim Henson's death, some now-classic cuts from the program/feature-length films have been manifested in a covers LP.

Muppets: The Green Album, out August 23rd features prolific artists such as: Ok Go, Weezer, The Fray, Alkaline Trio, My Morning Jacket, Amy Lee, Sondre Lerche, The Airborne Toxic Event, Brandon Saller, Andrew Bird, Matt Nathanson, and Rachael Yamagata.

Stream the album in its entirety via NPR.

Weezer, Andrew Bird, and The Airborne Toxic Event all have upcoming Chicago shows too.

Weezer are headlining Riot Fest West (Chicago), Chicago-native Andrew Bird is headlining the Hideout Block Party, and The Airborne Toxic Event are playing the Riv.