May 3, 2016
Andrew Bird- Are You Serious [4/1]After a series of folk releases and experimental instrumentals, Are You Serious finds Andrew Bird going back to his older sound, but with a flare of accessibility that never existed prior. With a heavy emphasis on a percussion section of drums and bass within the production, the album strikes as...
Nov 17, 2015
Iron & Wines Sam Beam was the final contributor to 2015'sA.V. Club Undercover Series, where artists choose from a list of songs to cover live. As the year goes on, the choices become fewer, and songs typically get weirder.Needless to say, Beams take on the track strips the violent, visual-oriented song to a...
Aug 3, 2015
Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge- Twelve Reasons To Die II [7/10]Combining a fictitious action storyline, a spaghetti-western sound and Ghostfaces notoriously gruff delivery, Twelve Reasons To Die II exceeds the boundaries of modern hip-hop. Organs, bass and live drum sounds make up the majority of the beats with guitar, bells and other instruments coming in...
Mar 2, 2015
By: Alex WoodMurder By Death- Big Dark Love [2/3]Murder By Death have developed their strange brand of alternative-country throughout the years, combining gothic and western imagery with the gruff, snarling vocals of Adam Turla, all atop a romping, crashing, energetic musical backdrop. Big Dark Love continues to develop the bands sound, but with a bit...
Jan 9, 2014
We welcomed writer / photographer Alex Wood to the fold in 2013 and couldn't be happier with his contributions. Before his association with the site, it had been his yearly tradition to circulate a top albums list amongst his friends. We're excited to publish the 2013 edition here to kick off our 2013 year-in-review coverage.1. DAFT PUNK - RANDOM...
Apr 25, 2012
Thursday, April 26th, tickets go on sale for the Summer 2012 season of Ravinia Festival in Highland Park. Programmers there are usually pretty good about sprinkling in a handful of pop and rock shows to the classical heavy lineup and this year is no exception. No, it's not the best place for sitelines (unless you have...