Ludacris
Crescendo - Chicago, IL
November 9, 2008

Red Bull brought GRAMMY Award-winning rapper Ludacris (aka Chris Bridges) back to his hometown on Sunday night, so that the Chi could hear tracks from his upcoming album Theater of the Mind. His new record drops on Tuesday, November 25th. Ludacris is coming back to Chicago to perform live in concert this December - I am so there!

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By 10:00 Friday, the nearly sold-out, extremely satisfied Deerhoof crowd had already dispersed from outside the Metro and was on their way. Rocking along side the far better (at least live), Experimental Dental School and Flying, Deerhoof shared songs from their quality new disc, Offend Maggie, in a set filled with all the Deerhoof “hits.”

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Jars of Clay
Cricket Wireless Amphitheater - Chula Vista, CA
9/27/2008

Dan Haseltine - Vocals Stephen Mason - Lead Guitar
Matthew Odmark - Rhythm Guitar
Charlie Lowell - Piano J
Jeremy Lutito - Drums (Live Performer)
Gabe Ruschival - Bass ( Live Performer)

Jars of Clay kicked off the Music Build tour that stopped in San Diego on Saturday. The Music Builds Tour is a Christian Music tour that is traveling the country this summer through the fall. The tour has joined with The One Campaign to expose issues such as global poverty, hunger, and disease in efforts to fight such problems in the world’s poorest countries. They also teamed up to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. One dollar of every ticket sold goes to charity, so this tour literally helps build.

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The gender neutrality in Josh Jones’s vocals, frontman of the indie-rock four piece The Evangelicals, is perhaps their most endearing quality - maybe more so than being from Norman, Oklahoma. Despite scoring two 8.0+ ratings on Pitchfork for both of their albums to date (and rightfully so), the band hasn’t caught fame like the lesser, though often compared, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

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Esoterica hails from Warlingham UK, but was founded in Africa. They are a well established rock band in the UK and have already supported the likes of H.I.M., playing on the KERRANG! Tour, and having successful radio play with their debut The Fool.

Their sound is being compared to the likes of Tool and A Perfect Circle. They do separate themselves from the crowd of industrial rock with Tobias’s vocals. The entire album is filled with dark guitar melodies mixed with some violins and other stringed orchestral instruments.

My personal favorite off The Fool, and seems to be a car favorite, is “Watch this Drive.” This song starts off with a clip from one of George Bush’s speeches that begins, “We Must Stop the Terror..” Any song that starts off with George Bush is going to be a politically charged song just as Pornocracy’s Evile. The song then proceeds into the very melodic wall of guitars and somber voice of Tobias. This song on the cd is noted as a demo. I think its great the way it is. It’s somber, dark, and delivers a message.

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Howard Livingston & Mile Marker 24
Blarney Island - Antioch, IL
8/10/08

With songs like “The Smokin’ Song” and “Blame it on the Margaritas” you know you are in for a good time. Howard Livingston & Mile Marker 24 brought Key West to the Midwest for Blarney Island’s Parrot Head Weekend. The beautiful Sunday afternoon was filled with conch blowing, conga lines, and margaritas. This band doesn’t waste any time getting the party started. After the first song, the band brought out their very own homemade Outboard Motor Blender to make specialty Margaritas for everyone while covering Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville.” Their set was a variety of Trop Rock original music with some cover tunes from Van Morrison and Tom Petty. Their music instantly puts you in a beach party mood, even while partying it up in the middle of the Chain O’ Lakes. Their sound is a mixture of Tropical, Rock, and Country. The show was endlessly engaging with additional instruments being added to the mix including the tambourine, cowbell, and a washboard. Listening to Howard Livingston & Mile Marker 24 makes me want to Live on Key West Time.

Check out Howard Livingston & MM24 @ www.milemarker24.com or www.myspace.com/milemarker24

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Cypress Hill
House of Blues - Chicago, IL
7/25/08

The Dare 2 Dream show is a Benefit Concert & Silent Auction to raise awareness and funding for youth homelessness; Latino homelessness programs in Chicago.

I received a random call late Thursday night from a good friend of mine, Big Herc, asking if I was interested in going to the Cypress Hill show. Beknownst to me the night would be much more than just a show. When I finally reached the HOB Big Herc was having a drink over at the Crimson Lounge with none other than Sen Dog! There aren’t words to describe how cool it was to meet him. It was so laid back shooting the shit, talking about music, hearing about the days of Cypress Hill getting into the music scene. Being a kid growing up in the 90’s listening to Cypress Hill and here I am some 13 years later having a drink with Sen Dog, I can’t even explain the experience. Big Herc has recorded & toured with Cypress Hill in the past so business talk of “making it” in this industry came up and it all comes down to sacrifice. You have to do what you can to make it in this cut throat industry not only for yourself but for your family. It was humbling to hear about how Sen Dog & B’ Real would show up to clubs while a friend was spinning and try to get on the mic or how in the days of cassette tapes Julio would sample snippets of songs, hook up mics to a boom box and record onto tapes.

To hear about our fantabulous seats keep reading…

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Title: Feist

Location: Humphrey’s By the Bay

Description: Best Known for her 1,2,3,4 Song. She\’s also appearing on Sesame Street.

Date: 2008-07-22

The Switches
House of Blues - Chicago, IL
6/12/2008

The Switches are a Brit-pop band who’s U.S. debut album Lay Down the Law was released last March and are currently known for their single “Drama Queen”, which is also the theme song to MTV’s reality show “Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search For Elle Woods”. They’ve been around since 2006 but I can’t say that I’ve heard of them before a few weeks ago.

The Switches performed at the House of Blues on Thursday as a part of the Nylon Magazine Music Tour along with The Virgins, Be Your Own Pet and headliners She Wants Revenge.

They were the first openers of the night and went on pretty early at 6:00pm. They performed for a crowd of about 60 people, but they seemed excited nonetheless.

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I said I would review the album The Slip, so here it goes.

It sounds like the NIN sound that NIN fans are accustomed to. Nothing that reinvents NIN and nothing that strays to far from their core sound.

Any NIN fan should download it because it’s Trent Reznor and free, but for new fans there are better albums to check out.  You can see download options for The Slip here.

I feel like this album is more famous for being free than the music on the album.

By the way, this is not car music. There is quite a bit of mellow “acid trip” music on here. I was listening to it driving at night and had to turn it off because it really mellowed me out.