As The Disco Biscuits step on stage for their fifth and final set of the weekend, bassist Marc Brownstein jokingly states, “It wouldn’t be Camp Bisco if it wasn’t Camp Bisco. You know what I mean? I know at least some of you know what I mean.”

On the surface it seems like he is just a little spun, but for regular attendees of the upstate New York festival Brownie is speaking truth. Simply put, it just wouldn’t Camp Bisco witho…

If there is one thing everyone can agree upon about The Heartless Bastards show at Chicago’s Bottom Lounge, it is that it was a thoroughly sultry experience. Even with the AC on and the fans at full RPM the ambiance was decidedly sweaty. It was a July evening that called for cold beer, an occasional cup of ice, and some rock n’ roll.

The last two times the Heartless Bastards played Chicago was when they opened for Wolf Mothe…

Excitement was the mood in Chicago’s relatively new – yet completely fun and well designed – Lincoln Hall; as the band Black Mountain was gearing to take the stage, smoke machines billowed and signaled the band’s imminent arrive. It wasn’t a sold out crowd, but not too far off, creating for that terrific balance of crowd-energy yet with a bit of precious personal space.

Black Mountain brings to the table a sort o…

The crowd had no problem waiting around until after 11pm on this Thursday evening to catch The Sleepy Sun playing Chicago’s venerable Double Door. Having work the next day is no proper thought when one has the opportunity to catch such skilled psychedelic rock n’ roll.

The Sleepy Sun are a six-piece band that plays a very interesting style of psychedelic blues-rock. It is entirely, and unabashedly, based on the funda…

Lincoln Hall warmed up by Quarter III. Even the beleaguered door guys who kept too many people from going outside to smoke showed a few smirks.

It’s always a boisterous bunch that attends a Chicago show by The Brian Jonestown Massacre. This last one at the Metro, on the Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend, was no exception. BJM plays to a niche audience indeed, but within that niche they can reach demigod-like status that surprises those unfamiliar with the group.

For the most part BJM brings to the table – and has for about 15 years – a brand of edgy, yet m…

Part I: Mash Up Anything

JaJunk funk, Tool & Jackson 5, Tribute to Lady Madonna, Bowie Here Comes the Mantis, Cemetery Walk This Way, Bathtub Gin & Juice, Jimmy Page Against the Machine, Ocean Billy Jean

The Stew Art, as well as Umphrey’s taste for live mash-ups since last year, seems to be a mutant maturing of their ADD style along with a Midwest-bred clusterfuck of influences, from Slayer and King Crimson to M…

The performance commenced with great style. It’s not often that lights and audio begin prior to a band’s appearance, but that’s how Metric took to the stage at Chicago’s Vic Theater. As blue lights pulsed and white ones danced the members of Metric took the slow building hallucinogenic sounds that were already being played and transitioned it into their song “twilight galaxy.” This was a solid show starter that was p…

By Benji Feldheim

What comes first, the audience or the band?

If a band hasn’t totally succumbed to mutant raging ego trips a’la The Black Crowes or Oasis, then chances are on some level they appreciate their fans. As they should, and yet how far do bands really go to show gratitude? More specifically, how much will a band and crew inconvenience themselves to say thanks?

The first UM Bowl was a fan appreciation dream wher…

Devastating earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, and Barber broke his wrist before spring tour!  Following the news in mid March of Disco Biscuits guitarist and front man Jon Gutwillig’s tour threatening injury it seemed as though the end was very nigh for spring plans of the faithful followers of the Philadelphia electro jam outfit the Disco Biscuits.  But fret not Chicken Little.  The sky is not falli…

I would say that my folk/alt country, or whatever you would like to call that genre, kick ended, for the most part, about a year or more ago. An acoustic guitar and a sad, dusty voice just didn’t do anything for me anymore. Theordore, a group from St. Louis and personal friends of mine, is a band whose music is so uniquely Midwest and impressively deep in tones and lyrical content. Their first release, “Songs…