The lineup for the 32nd Annual Chicago Blues Festival has been announced and aims to commemorate some of the most iconic figures in the history of the Chicago blues.Taking place June 12-14 in Grant Park, the festival will close with two special collaborative sets highlighting the music of Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters, respectively,...

Last year, Andrew Bird covered The Fake Headlines from the New Pornographers Mass Romantic. The song is featured on Good People Rock, a compilation of cover songs from various artists recorded for charity organization Yellow Bird Project.A video was recently completed for the track, which features an elaborately-designed marionette plot, making for an extremely...

By: Alex WoodAfter reinventing himself as Father John Misty, songwriter Joshua Tillman has become a larger-than-life enigma in the music scene. From his legendary, drug-heavy back-story to his outrageously confident on-stage demeanor, the artist practically turned himself into a legend overnight.Father John Mistys sold-out performance at The Vic may have been a last chance...

Belle & Sebastian returned this year with Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance, debuting a new sound featuring longer songs and the influence of electronic dance music.Yet for their show at The Riviera, the band largely stuck to their back-catalogue, performing only a handful of tracks from the new album.Sandwiching Im A Cuckoo...

By: Alex WoodOf Montreal- Aureate Gloom [3/3]Of Montreals 13th studio album is perhaps amongst Kevin Barnes most sincere songwriting. His extensive vocabulary expresses the emotional strains of divorcing his wife, Nina, an overarching subject of the album. Musically, the album finds Barnes and his band straying from the electronic, Prince-esque style of past releases and...

Led Zeppelin recently released an expanded and remastered version of 1975s Physical Graffiti, including an alternative version of Trampled Under Foot re-titled Brandy & Coke.To promote the single, the band released an elaborate interactive video featuring a play on the original albums infamous cover. While the original record featured interchangeable sleeves to change the...

Musician biopics almost universally disappoint. But I have to say, that this NWA biopic actually looks *gulp* good.Produced by Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, this "red-band" trailer features an extended introduction featuring the original band members returning to Compton. The sequence is especially poignant given the mind-blowing success that each of these men have...

Sometimes the booking agents and talent buyers just get it right.Los Lobos at Fitzgeralds is slam dunk artist / venue pairing, that had me wondering... what took so long? I wasn't alone. The show sold out in minutes.Not to let a good thing go to waste. Los Lobos welcomed Chicago bluesman Ronnie Baker Brooks...

Greensky Bluegrass must have been floating on air after performing a Dead fueled-set with Phil Lesh in California. But after a cross-country road trip post-show, the band found themselves literally underground... but it didn't stop the GD hits from coming.The band performed at McMinnville, Tennessee's Cumberland Caverns on March 29th as part of the...

By: Alex WoodTheDecemberistsmade a triumphant return to Chicago on Friday, their Chicago Theatre performance marking their first tour in four years.Despite the prolonged hiatus, the band returned with a feverous energy in a set that flaunted their stylistically diverse discography.Opening, appropriately, with The SingerAddresses His Audience, frontman ColinMeloystepped on stage alone, addressing the...