photos by James Richards IV

Foals at the Vic on 5.18.2013

Foals brought their North American tour with Surfer Blood and Blondfire through Chicago on Saturday night (5/18) for a sold-out show at the Vic Theatre. The band are on the road in support of this year's great Holy Fire, and delivered an extremely energetic headlining set. Frontman Yannis Philippakis, who often spends more time in the crowd than on stage, really went all-out at the Vic by climbing up the stage left opera box with his guitar on his back. While Yannis' antics were a lot of fun, they thankfully didn't take away from the group's excellent set, and only served to rile up the audience. (It worked.) Were you there? If so, what did you think? We've got pictures from the 5/18 show, and video footage of "Electric Bloom" in this post. More below...

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photos by Jeff Ryan

Futurebirds // Diarrhea Planet at Schubas on 5.17.2013

On Friday night (5/17), Athens, GA's Futurebirds brought their tour with Diarrhea Planet through Chicago for a performance at Schubas. The band are currently on the road in support of their Fat Possum debut Baba Yaga, and delivered a very solid headlining set. Pictures from their Schubas show are in this post.

Openers Diarrhea Planet have been touring like crazy this spring, and have a new LP, called I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams, coming out this summer via Infinity Cat. Earlier this week, they revealed the album's lead single "Separations." It's a great Pinkerton-like rocker, and you can check it out via Pitchfork.

More pictures from the 4/17 show at Schubas are below...

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photos by James Richards IV

Of Montreal at Lincoln Hall on 5.17.2013

On Friday night (5/17), Of Montreal brought their North American tour with Wild Moccasins through Chicago for a performance at Lincoln Hall. Their headlining set was heavy on material from 2008's Skeletal Lamping, but they also reached back to the fan-favorite Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? for a handful of songs. Were you there? If so, what did you think? Pictures and their full setlist from the 5/17 Lincoln Hall show are in this post.

More below...

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photos by Jeff Ryan

Telekinesis at Lincoln Hall on 5.15.2013

On Wednesday night (5/15), Telekinesis (aka the project of Michael Learner) brought his tour with Deep Sea Diver through Chicago for a performance at Lincoln Hall. The band, which now features Rebecca Cole (Wild Flag, The Minders), ran through most of this year's Dormarion, and of course played some older songs too. Were you there? If so, what did you think? We've got pictures from the 5/15 show at Lincoln Hall in this post. More below...

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photos by James Richards IV

White Mystery // A Giant Dog at the Hideout on 5.10.2013

On Friday night (5/10), White Mystery played a record release show for Telepathic at the intimate Hideout with support from Psalm One and Austin's A Giant Dog. From what we've heard, all three female-fronted acts put on a great show. Were you there? If so, what did you think? Pictures from the 5/10 show are the Hideout are in this post. More below...

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by Mark Cheskin

Black Moth Super Rainbow at Metro on 5.11.2013

Black Moth Super Rainbow visited Chicago this past Saturday (5/11) for a performance at Metro as part of a short spring tour. Accompanying them for the whole run are Chicago locals Oscillator Bug and The Hood Internet.

Osiclator Bug started things off with a swirl of dizzying analogue synths, that had him screaming into his mic and pounding away on his keys like a madman. Throughout the set he occasionally hung his mic around his neck in order to manually tweak his synths and drum machine on the fly. It was impressive what he could do with his analog-setup, which he made operating seem like a cakewalk.

Next up, DJ party duo The Hood Internet temporarily turned Metro into a dance club. They seamlessly threw together everything from Cyndi Lauper "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" to R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)," which not only got the crowd dancing but singing as well.

Pittsburgh natives Black Moth Super Rainbow took the stage soon after looking fairly casual, except for the band's drummer who donned a slightly unsettling ski mask. Tobacco, wearing shorts, a baseball cap, and a hoodie, made a not-so-secret grin while walking towards his gear. Without saying a word he anchored himself to his prized synth vocoder and gripped the mic like a baseball bat. Black Moth played a bunch of new songs from their excellent Cobra Juicy album, as well as a few classics like "Sun Lips" while a projector provided a backdrop with some of the band's videos. Taking a whiff of the air you could smell that a few fans had secretly lit up while the band played some of their more subdued songs. Amongst the crowd, a few fans could be seen sporting their creepy Black Moth Super Rainbow masks, which were given to fans that helped crowdsource their latest album on Kickstarter. BMSR played a small encore before giving a small wave to screaming fans, leaving as quietly as they had entered.

Unfortunately, later on tour in St. Louis, someone(s) broke into their van and stole Tobacco's vocoder. The frontman then took to Twitter to say the setup "isn't too replaceable," but that he'll try. He also joked, "...if anyone finds who did it, I'll pay you to bring them to me. All in good fun."

Pictures of all three acts from the 5/11 show at Metro are below...

Continue reading "Black Moth Super Rainbow played Metro w/ The Hood Internet & Oscillator Bug (pics), got their van broken into in St. Louis"

photos by James Richards IV

METZ at Lincoln Hall on 05.12.2013

On Sunday night (5/12), Toronto-based abrasive punks METZ toured through Chicago to play their largest headlining show here yet at Lincoln Hall with No Joy and TV Ghost. As per usual, feedback reigned supreme throughout the performance, and all three members were drenched in sweat by the time it was said and done. Were you there? If so, what did you think? Pictures and a few videos from the Lincoln Hall show are in this post.

Between their non-stop touring schedule, METZ somehow managed to make it into the studio to begin working on their second album. Guitarist Alex Edkins told Exclaim!, "We did manage to find some time after the European tour to get into the studio, and we recorded a new track that will probably see the light of day in a month or two on the internet," he explains. "But it is tough to find the time to focus on new material when you're going from club to club. We're hoping come September, when our touring schedule is all finished, we can focus on the new record." As discussed, you can also catch METZ at the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival in July and at Pygmalion 2013 in September.

More pictures and some videos from their 5/12 Lincoln Hall show are below...

Continue reading "METZ played Lincoln Hall with No Joy & TV Ghost (pics, video), working on new LP"

Night 1 Photos by James Richards IV, Night 2 Photos by Sara Pieper

Deer Tick at City Winery Chicago on 5.07.2013

Last week, Deer Tick came through Chicago for a two-night stand at the fancy City Winery Chicago. They were joined by extremely fitting local openers on both nights: Shiloh on Tuesday, May 7 and Twin Peaks on Wednesday, May 8. The band may have been sans drummer Dennis Ryan due to the passing of a relative of his, but they still managed to put on a pair of raucous performances. Were you there? If so, what did you think? Pictures and Deer Tick's setlists from both nights are in this post. More below...

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Goat @ the Empty Bottle on 5/02/2013 (more by Carmelo Espanola)

Swedish outfit Goat invaded the Empty Bottle on May 2, joined by Holy Wave. The show was one of the last they played on their tour of the US, after hitting Austin Psych Fest and NYC in late April. Check out more photos and a review of the 5/2 Empty Bottle show over at Invisible Oranges.

photos by Milos Markicevic

Butterclock at Reggie's on 4.16.2013

Butterclock released the digital version of her EP last month (4/15), which included the Grimes-esque track, "Holograms," which didn't appear on the physical version. Last week, she dropped the video for that track, and you can watch that below.

The day after the digital release of her EP, Butterclock brought her tour through Chicago for a show at Reggie's with Teen Witch, Magicks, Shuteye, and Moon River. A set of pictures from that show are in this post.

More pictures and the new video below...

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