Music
Stop Forkin' Around
CHICAGO — Over the past several years, the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park has valiantly worked to separate itself from the usual crop of summer festivals, attracting attendees with an ear for interesting bands and a yearning for more comfortable, personal concert experiences.
Oh My Goddess
The sound that dominates today’s dance floor is a heady mixture of R&B and techno, whose building beats and naughty lyrics are best characterized by the likes of Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Ke$ha, the new divas of nightlife.
In the Flesh
In yet another summer of Gaga’s reign, it’s nearly impossible for any other female artist to avoid the dreaded comparison.
Fool's Gold
Let me preface this review by saying 3Oh!3 is not trying to be the next Coldplay. Their music isn’t for the reviewers or the critics.
Breakfast of Champ-ions
The best adults are the ones that retain some sense of youth on the inside. When they released their frenetic debut, A Lesson in Crime, Tokyo Police Club were kids.
What's the Prognosis?
Recovery, the title of Eminem’s seventh studio album is fitting in more ways than one. While alluding to rehabilitation from a prescription drug addiction, it also references a recovery of his lyrical prowess.
Attack of the Clones
Considering that Beyonce and the meteoric Lady Gaga currently dominate the pop music star-scape, the news that now-antiquated Christina Aguilera has released a new album, her first since 2006’s Back to Basics, may seem no cause for commotion.
Buffalo Style
The Shins on acid? The Shins if the Shins cared less about showcasing lead singer James Mercer? The Shins with MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden at the helm?
Infinite Similarity
Like their 2006 debut Everything All The Time, Band of Horses’ third release, Infinite Arms, opens with what is possibly its best song.
Blues Brothers
On a fundamental level, the two-man band is one of the most constraining paradigms in rock n’ roll.
Wise Fools or Wise Foals?
The much-hyped sophomore album has proven an enigma for most bands. More often than not, indie buzz bands release follow-up albums that are intentionally completely different from their first, if only to show that they don’t want to be the same as they were (even if they really are the same as they were). Lately, these sophomore albums have tended to disappoint early fans while at the same time pleasantly surprising many reviewers.
Bearing It All
Four-piece Seattle-based indie-prog band Minus the Bear recently released their fourth album, OMNI, three years after the critical and commerical success of their last LP.
One Track Mind
A song that is infectious, thoughtful and unpretentious — is it possible to achieve that holy trinity these days?
This Ain't Nothin' But A Summer Jam
Yes, yes, we know: Drake’s album is dropping this summer. Excited as we are, we’d also like to open your eyes to some other releases worth listening to.
Guilty Pleasure: Shania Twain, "Man, I feel Like A Woman!"
I don’t think a junior pairs figure-skating competition falls into any third grader’s definition of an ideal Friday afternoon.
No Forgiveness Necessary
Forgiveness Rock Record, Broken Social Scene’s fourth full-length, is an album without illusions.
Live And Kickin' It
On Friday night, Franklin Field gets gangsta. Snoop Dogg, Kid Cudi, and opening act Shwayze are hitting the stage to put Penn’s most start-studded Fling concert to date.
Gettin' Schwayze
You might know hip-pop duo Shwayze from their 2008 show Buzzin’. Or you might know their string of chill party hits like “Corona And Lime.” Regardless of how you know Shwayze, come Friday, you’ll know their concert antics firsthand.
Strange Love
Here Lies Love consists of new wave icon David Byrne and British beatmaker Fatboy Slim attempting to tell the story of the former First Lady of the Phillipines, Imelda Marcos, and her nanny, Estrella Cumpas, through 22 songs, two discs, and a whole bunch of guest singers.
