photos by Josh Darr

James Blake

Animal Collective

The 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival took place this past weekend in Union Park.

A set of pictures from day one (Friday, 7/15) of the festival continue below..
Head to BrooklynVegan to check out even more pics.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest 2011 -- Day One in pics"

Yo La Tengo @ the Bell House in May (more by Winnie Cheung)

today in Chicago
* Taste of Chicago (Day 2)
* Green Music Fest (Day 1)
* Neko Case @ Poetry Foundation
* Yo La Tengo (DJ Set) @ Big Star
* Les Savy Fav, Big Science @ Subterranean
* Matt & Kim, The Thermals, and Autobot @ the Vic
* Puro Instinct, John Maus, Geneva Jacuzzi @ Empty Bottle
* Burning Love, Gaza, All Pigs Must Die @ Double Door (Free Show w/ RSVP)
* L'Orchestre Super Vitesse, Rabble Rabble, Thin Hymns @ IL Centennial Monument in Logan Square (Free Show)

What else?

Neko Case

Nick Cave

In a rather odd turn of events; Neko Case, and Nick Cave have teamed up to cover The Zombies track, "She's Not There" for HBO's True Blood.

KCRW DJ, and True Blood Musical Supervisor; Gary Calamar made the pairing:

The brainstorming began. I spread the word. I spoke with one of my friends CC Adcock, the great Louisiana musician and producer about it and he came up with a new arrangement for the song, more dark and sexy. We thought it would be great to make it a sly duet between a man and woman. I loved the idea. Many artists were thrown around in our conversations of who would be the ideal couple, Florence and the Machine, Irma Thomas, Dr. John, The Kills, etc etc etc but scheduling conflicts got in the way. Then, as strange as it may sound, I got a little help none other than The Cars. Yes, those 80′s synth pop new wavers, The Cars!

You see, The Cars have just released a new album, their big comeback. Recently I received the advance copy of their new album, checked it out, and filed it away in my CD collection. Using the tried and true alphabetical filing system I slipped it it it's proper place in the "C" section. Suddenly something magical happened. My eyes took a little trip further down the C section. NEKO CASE practically jumped into my arms and whispered "I'll do it, call me, let's talk about She's Not There for True Blood".

Yes Neko's beautiful voice and sexy twang would be perfect for True Blood. Then I decided to go with the magical flow and continued down the C section. Johnny Cash...mmm,, would be great but he's er...dead. Cat Power mmm, could be very interesting. I would love to watch Cat and Neko go at it, but NO we need a man for this collaboration. Then the second bolt of lightning hit me: NICK CAVE.

Head to KCRW to check out their version of "She's Not There."
In Neko-related news; she'll be playing a free show in Chicago this weekend.

Neko Case @ The Bell House in February (more by Amanda M. Hatfield)

The Poetry Foundation are launching their new performance space (61 West Superior Street), by offering a free concert from famed, singer-songwriter; Neko Case.

Case is a lover of poetry, who has been published in the foundation's own Poetry magazine. In the November 2007 issue, as part of the magazine's "View from Here" series, Case contributed an essay called "My Flaming Hamster Wheel of Panic about Publicly Discussing Poetry in This Respected Forum." Case's piece countered the misconception that poetry is for the elite.

Neko Case will take the stage on Saturday, June 25th at 8:30PM. No tickets will be sold for this event, instead the Poetry Foundation will give away 90-pairs of free tickets via a lottery.

The lottery pool will be open until 5PM tonight; you can enter to win tickets here.
You must be 18+ to attend, and the rest of the contest rules can be found here.

Winners will be notified by email on Wednesday, June 22nd.
Good luck everyone!

My Morning Jacket @ Terminal 5 in 2010 (more by David Andrako)

My Morning Jacket's new LP Circuital, hits stores today via ATO Records. The album was recorded in an old church-gymnasium in the group's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, and features the direction of super-producer/musician/composer Tucker Martine.

"The new record, Circuital, is named after the title song," explains Jim James, of My Morning Jacket's sixth studio album. "On that song I sing about ending up in the same place where you started out. And that makes a lot of sense for this album... I hate the phrase 'going back to our roots', but for this record we came home and made it in Kentucky. And it just felt a lot like it did when we were first starting out..."

Jim James on the Circuital recording sessions..

"There was no AC, no-one had their laptops. We recorded everything on tape. It was like, we're just who we are, with what we have with us at the moment, and that's all we have. It was a beautiful thing, and it really cemented what we all mean to each other, as people and as a band. We've learned, slowly over the years, how to function more healthily, I guess, so we don't all combust. Making this record, it felt like our friendship was only strengthened." [ATO Records]

My Morning Jacket will play the first show of their 2011 summer tour tonight; at home, at the Louisville Palace Theatre. American Express will be live streaming their performance as part of their 'Unstaged' series. Tune in here at 8PM CST to watch their set.

They'll hit Chicago on June 17th to play the Auditorium Theatre. Tickets are still available.

You can view the Circuital track listing, all 2011 tour dates, and more below...

Continue reading "My Morning Jacket to play the Auditorium Theatre, 'Circuital' in stores today +++ 2011 tour dates"

"As previously announced, the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival will be taking place on Friday, July 15th through Sunday, July 17th at Chicago's Union Park! Tickets went on sale on March 4th, and sold out in a record time of 24 hours! That being said, single-day passes can still be picked up at the rate of $45 per day.

Friday will see the addition of Guided By Voices and Neko Case; Saturday's lineup will feature No Age, Gang Gang Dance, G-Side, and Chrissy Murderbot; Sunday's stellar lineup now includes The Fresh & Onlys, Radio Dept., HEALTH, Shabazz Palaces, Baths, How To Dress Well, Kurt Vile, and Twin Sister. Stay tuned for more bands still to be announced in the coming weeks!"

Head below to view the full lineup by day...

Continue reading "2011 Pitchfork Festival expands initial lineup"