Radio Free Chicago

Get on the List: Jamie Lidell @ The Congress

Samantha Vincenty — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:37:27 -0500

Jamie Lidell might be best known for his smooth white chocolate hits "Multiply" and "A Little Bit More," but his performances often feature live-looped dancier reworkings of the album material, adding an element of unpredictability that builds on his strong voice and soulful songs. Now Lidell is bringing his piano, laptop, and cute Brit-by-way-of-Berlin face to Congress Theater on Saturday July 25th for a Wicker Park Fest afterparty, and we've got three pairs of tickets to give away!

E-mail radiofreechicago(at)gmail.com with the subject line "Jamie Lidell tix" and we'll pick three winners at random by next Wednesday the 22nd. Oh and it's a 17 and over show, so you whippersnappers are invited too.

Download: Jamie Lidell - Little Bit Of Feel Good (mr. Oizo Remix)

Mr. Oizo-space

Hello from Your Favorite New Contributor!

Samantha Vincenty — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:11:33 -0500

Hello, fellow Radio Free Chicagoans! My name is Amber. You might or might not know of me through my own music blog, The Hot Half Life of Amber Valentine, but now you'll get to know of me through my forthcoming contributions to Radio Free Chicago. From me, you can come to expect band interviews, the occasional concert write up, a record review or two... Mostly, however, I'm just here for the ambiance.

To me, it seems that summer in Chicago never truly starts until the kick off of the annual Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park. If you share those sentiments, Friday, July 17th brings good news for you! For $35 a ticket you really can't go wrong, even if you're only making an appearance at the festival to meet a cute member of the opposite sex with awesome taste in music. Of course, if you're there you might as well check out a few of the bands playing as each day has a number of standout acts, whether your tastes lean more toward introspective indie or foreign art rock.

As for me, I'm particularly looking forward to the presence of these five artists:

5 - The Walkmen. To be completely honest with you, I've been out of the loop so far as The Walkmen are concerned for quite some time. While I was aware of the release of last year's You & Me, I never bothered to actually give the record a listen despite being a fan of their first two releases. When I did finally listen to You & Me quite recently, I was surprised that the smoky classic rock sound I heard was coming from the same band that recorded the dreamy We've Been Had seven years ago. The Walkmen keep progressing and while it is, on occasion, hit or miss, the fact that they continue to grow is admirable nonetheless.

The Walkmen - Canadian Girl

4 - The Thermals. If indie kids made punk rock while retaining all their indie sensibilities, it would sound like The Thermals. Only the thing is, they aren't ironic at all as the above description might lead you to believe. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, The Thermals followed up their solid if repetitive debut this year with the melodic, poppier Now We Can See. Despite being released in early April, Now We Can See is a very summertime record to me, recalling the days when it was cool to like Weezer. Only with better lyrics.

The Thermals - How We Fade

3 - Frightened Rabbit. When someone mentions "Scottish" and "music" to me, two things come to mind: Twee and Franz Ferdinand. It ends up that Frightened Rabbit resemble neither. Producing raw, folksy, Americana by way of Scotland, their last appearance in Chicago sold out the Empty Bottle not once but twice. Despite flying largely under the radar in America as a whole, expectations are sure to be high in Chicago considering their January shows were so well received.

Frightened Rabit - I Feel Better

2 - Beirut. The lovely project of silky voiced Sante Fe Native Zach Condon, Beirut's knack for producing quirky, timeless music with a worldly sound transcends amazingly from album to live venue. Anyone with Saturday tickets to Pitchfork would be incredibly deprived if they missed them.

Beirut - Sunday Smile

1 - Built To Spill. For me, no summer is complete without the presence of Built To Spill. As a long standing fan, summer is the time that I find myself revisiting the band most often and no Amber-made Summer mix is complete without the inclusion of "Car," a beautiful, simple mid-nineties indie gem. While Built To Spill's six full-length albums offer plenty of material to choose from, one thing is certain — everyone's going to be just as excited to hear songs off of their forthcoming fall release as they will be to hear classics like "Girl" and "Carry the Zero."

Built To Spill - Girl

Editor's note: While 3-day passes are sold out, if you hustle you may be able to snap up one of the 300 individual day tickets released today.

Wednesday Roundup: JoGorLev, Pitchfork afterparties/hotel lobbies

Samantha Vincenty — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:31:20 -0500

A few years ago my circle of friends had a running joke/game where we'd offhandedly refer to celebrities with as short a nickname as possible, like we were close pals. Christian Bale = ChriBa. Heath Ledger, HeLed. Rae Dawn Chong was often brought up for no reason since it's so fun to say "RaDaCha." My favorite nickname, though, was for my imaginary boyfriend and star of two of my favorite movies Joseph Gordon Levitt. JoGorLev made a playlist of personal theme songs for characters he's played for the Guest DJ Project on KCRW. It sounds kind of gay, but it works because he's smart and also the dreamiest. My other fake boyfriend Elijah Wood (EWo) has better taste and his own record label but whatever. I don't want to pit you guys against each other when there's enough love to go around!

In further Pitchfork Fest news: Hood Internet, Bin Laden Blowin Up and the Life During Wartime DJs present "Dickfork" at Darkroom on Friday night. Free admission with your Pitchfork wristband or ticket stub or if you RSVP and get there before 11. Hood Internet is doing a week of all-Pitchfork artist mashups, kicking it off with Doom vs The Flaming Lips.

The first time I ever visited The Hideout was for Pitchfork 07, to see Brooklyn's human dance party Professor Murder. It was love at first sight for the Hideout and me, and now that I live here I'll probably bring it full circle and see The Dutchess & The Duke there on Saturday night if a day of festival doesn't turn me into a broken dolly.

It's Almost Pitchfork O'Clock

Samantha Vincenty — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:51:50 -0500

In just a few days Union Park is sure to be a sea of fedoras, oversized glasses, and rompers. Saturday and Sunday are sold out and while there are still some tickets available for Friday, I'd rather go to the Beyoncé concé instead. No I'm not kidding. That woman is a goddam national treasure.

Some songs from the acts I'm looking forward to the most — I know the first one is technically Madlib and Doom but this was pretty much my favorite Doom project ever. See you on Saturday!

Madvillain - Figaro (ST101 Mix)

The Dutchess & The Duke - Out of Time

Black Lips - Again & Again

Plants and Animals - Bye Bye Bye

Mew - Repeaterbeater

Weekend of 1,000 Awesome Things to Do

Samantha Vincenty — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:28:51 -0500

When I told Brad I would take care of Radio Free Chicago while he was gone* my only misgiving was about my lack of knowledge when it comes to the local music scene, as I'm an East Coast interloper. But since I'm neither deaf nor blind I've noticed that people seem crazy-banaynays excited about Chicago rock quartet Mannequin Men's Lose Your Illusion, Too which came out this week. Their record release party is at The Metro tonight, it's 18 and over and will probably be a great place to pick up a hipster in a (sadly appropo for this cold summer) tight black leather jacket.

Dipset Dipset Dipset Dipset: Harlem's Cam'ron and Yonker's Styles P are at The Congress tonight. I haven't thought about Cam'ron much in years; I bought Come Home With Me but regretted giving him money after realizing his whole "no homo" garbage was crossing a somewhat arbitrary line of offensiveness for me, as a feminist lady who listens to plenty of misogynistic rap. If Juelz Santana was sharing the bill I would probably go. There It Go (The Whistle Song) still gets me everytime.

JD Samson — DJ, former Le Tigre band member, calendar model — brings her dance-punky trio MEN to Berlin tonight.

If you hate scuzzy rock/hip hop/undulating with the gays, you're either not that much fun or you're resting up for Saturday. Fans of bikes and beer should check out Tour de Fat. Mucca Pazza plays West Fest on Saturday at 7. And if you want to worship at the hipster royalty altar, Dim Mak label head and heir to the Benihana restaurant chain Steve Aoki DJs alongside the Dark Wave Disco crew at Crobar.

On Sundays I repair indoors for Bible study, but you heathens should go see Magnolia Electric Company at The Hideout.

*RFC Update: Brad's woven bracelets and popcorn balls are selling out in the parking lots of Phish shows across the country. I hope he says hi to Trey for us when that restraining order is lifted and they let him back into the actual stadiums!