WBEZ Music

We’re hoping that Morrissey has a happy birthday, but...

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:10:50 -0400

We’re hoping that Morrissey has a happy birthday, but something tells us he probably won’t.

soundopinions: Quite a few Sound Opinions alums up here helping...

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:34:14 -0400

soundopinions:

Quite a few Sound Opinions alums up here helping Ian Rubbish bid farewell to SNL.

Say it ain’t so, Fred!

nprmusic: So this is great: Twin sisters Katie (Waxahatchee)...

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:50:49 -0400

nprmusic:

So this is great: Twin sisters Katie (Waxahatchee) and Allison (Swearin’) Crutchfield cover Grimes’ “Oblivion” for Rookie Mag.

nprfreshair: Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist for The Doors, has...

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:04:01 -0400

nprfreshair:

Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist for The Doors, has died.

Here is an interview we did with him in 2006.

chicagopubliclibrary: Chance The Rapper At Columbia College...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:26:13 -0400

chicagopubliclibrary:

Chance The Rapper At Columbia College Manifest

Friend of the Chicago Public Library, Mr YOUmedia himself, Chance The Rapper performs on the main stage at Columbia College Manifest.

wbez: Mayor Emanuel wants to spend $110 million on renovating...

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:27:16 -0400

Bass, violin and juggling- a classic combination.

What did this guy order from McDonalds to be so disappointed?

What are they looking at?

Is that kid carrying a giant popsicle?

Who is this guy playing guitar?

Is feeding seagulls Cheetos going to be OK on the renovated Navy Pier?

Why is there a ghost kid inside this guy?

wbez:

Mayor Emanuel wants to spend $110 million on renovating Navy Pier. We just want to know what’s up with these people from the renderings.

We’re looking forward to hearing that bass/electric violin band.

rollingstone: Watch Smith Westerns perform “Varsity” at Lincoln...

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:11:16 -0400

rollingstone:

Watch Smith Westerns perform “Varsity” at Lincoln Hall in Chicago. The track appears on their forthcoming LP, Soft Will, due June 11th.

"Chicago doesn’t need to have a Music Office just to have a Music Office. It needs to have a Music..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:56:50 -0400

“Chicago doesn’t need to have a Music Office just to have a Music Office. It needs to have a Music Office to work as the liaison between the real local music businesses—record stores and recording studios as well as clubs and promoters—and city government, to look out for their interests not only in the bureaucracy, but in the brutal competition with those giant out-of-town festivals and mega-corporate promoters that Emanuel favors but which are squeezing the little guy out of business.”

- Jim DeRogatis on why Mayor Emanuel’s calling Chicago the “City of Festivals” doesn’t excuse not having a music office.

"On Wednesday, former Destiny’s Child member and solo artist Kelly Rowland released..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:42:12 -0400

“

On Wednesday, former Destiny’s Child member and solo artist Kelly Rowland released “Dirty Laundry,” a highly emotional, personal, and startlingly blunt song about her career and personal life. Production-wise, “Dirty Laundry” is as clear and straightforward as the lyrics. Structured with steady, yet ominous piano chords and a static drumbeat, “Dirty Laundry” plays like some of the best confessional r&b songs. Rowland sings:

Started to call them people on him/I was battered/He hit the window like it was me/Until it shattered/He pulled me out and said ‘Don’t nobody love you but me/Not your mama not your daddy and especially not B’

In the song, Rowland talks about her feelings in the industry and a violent relationship with an ex, but her situation is applicable and relevant to the circumstances of her listeners. According to a study from the U.S. Department of Justice in a compilation of statistics from the American Bar Association’s Commission of Domestic Violence, “Black females experienced intimate partner violence at a rate 35% higher than that of white females, and about 22 times the rate of women of other races.” As a singer in the r&b genre with audiences largely both black and female, Rowland’s release can act as a call for action and a means of shedding light on an issue that still receives little attention.

”

- Britt Julious calls Kelly Rowland’s “Dirty Laundry” one of the most important songs of 2013.

chirpradio: neil-gaiman: butcherbilly: The Post-Punk / New...

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:39:38 -0400

chirpradio:

neil-gaiman:

butcherbilly:

The Post-Punk / New Wave Super Friends by Butcher Billy

Who are your heroes?

Reblogged purely to make Amanda smile.

!!!!!!!!!

LOVE

The Best.

rollingstone: With its vivid orchestration, lyrical ambition,...

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:33:46 -0400

rollingstone:

With its vivid orchestration, lyrical ambition, elegant pacing and thematic coherence, Pet Sounds invented – and in some sense perfected – the idea that an album could be more than the sum of its parts. When Brian Wilson sang, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?” on the magnificent opener, he wasn’t just imagining a love that could evolve past high school; he was suggesting a new grown-up identity for rock & roll music itself.

The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds was released 47 years ago today.

"For his talent, for his courage, for the breadth of his vision, and for a worldview that refuses to..."

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:20:33 -0400

“

For his talent, for his courage, for the breadth of his vision, and for a worldview that refuses to be bludgeoned into nihilism, Chance is a thousand times the artist Keef is… though venturing to say so will no doubt stir up this critic’s critics, the wisenheimers who maintain that I don’t know sh*t about hip-hop because I prefer mine free of hate and clichéd posing. Witness this recent Tweet:

“Everyone, enjoy listening to this Chance the Rapper tape, now, while you can, before @JimDeRogatis’s cosign makes liking it impossible”

Gee, it sure would have been nice to pan this disc, if only to prove my friend above wrong. But I can’t do it. Acid Rap is a masterpiece, and it’s your loss if you let me keep you from allowing it to enrich your life.

”

- Jim DeRogatis on Chance The Rapper’s newest mixtape Acid Rap.

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound turned our High Fidelity Music...

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:00:19 -0400

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound turned our High Fidelity Music Series into a dance party a few months back. Check out this performance of their song “Baaadnews” (and if you like it, subscribe to our Live Music Thursday video podcast)

Back in March, Chicago musician David Safran and his band joined...

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:24:00 -0400

Back in March, Chicago musician David Safran and his band joined The Morning Shift to talk about his career, and play some songs from his forthcoming release, Delicate Parts. The album, which has been several years in the making, is finally nearing the finish line. Safran says the album is recorded, and is planning on a release date for later on this year.

After their WBEZ on-air interview and performance, the band was kind enough to record a bonus track, and Safran stuck around to talk a little more about his process, his insecurities, his brush with the advertising world and about the bonus song they performed for us, “The Ugliness of Others.”

There will be a Delicate Parts listening party this Thursday night at Madame ZuZu’s in Highland Park, where Safran and his band will also perform live.

"What I hear is anger, disgust, and contempt for much of the modern condition, and here, I have my..."

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:03:29 -0400

“

What I hear is anger, disgust, and contempt for much of the modern condition, and here, I have my specific gripes, you have yours, and Savages have theirs (including that stuff about cell phones). But I also hear optimism—in the form of the power of uncompromising sounds to make a world of crap more bearable, and via the belief that refusing to treat people as idiots will be rewarded, at least via a connection with those people who are not idiots.

Which is to say, if you listen to this music and don’t feel something, I doubt that you’re really alive. And I don’t think I care to know you.

”

- Jim DeRogatis on Savages debut album Silence Yourself

It doesn’t get much better than Billy Bragg performing...

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:10:12 -0400

It doesn’t get much better than Billy Bragg performing “Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key” live on the radio.

perpetua: I had a long conversation with Stuart Murdoch about...

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:45:21 -0400

perpetua:

I had a long conversation with Stuart Murdoch about his first movie – eight years in the making! – and the past and future of Belle & Sebastian, and now it’s up as a feature length Q&A. Stuart was very high up on my wish list of people I’ve been wanting to interview, so this was quite a thrill for me. I hope you like it too - we get pretty deep into some stuff.

buzzfeedmusic: This is music store is doing bike racks the...

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:43:22 -0400

buzzfeedmusic:

This is music store is doing bike racks the right way.

If you weren’t on Navy Pier last Friday morning, you...

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:49:53 -0400

If you weren’t on Navy Pier last Friday morning, you missed Mucca Pazza performing in our first floor studio. Fortunately we had some video cameras there.

britticisms: I had a different Spring playlist in mind, but...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:40:07 -0400

britticisms:

I had a different Spring playlist in mind, but much like the weather, it was out of place and not right for right now. I began thinking about what is new, fresh, and interesting, and thus, this mix was born. There are a handful of older tracks thrown in, but consider this my version of TRL’s “Brand Spanking New” week.

CLEAN-UP, a Mixicisms

STREAM (or stream it below) or DOWNLOAD (1 or 2)

“NOTHING MORE TO SAY/EEEHHH” by SOPHIE
“Heartless” by A*M*E (MNEK Remix)
“You & Me” by Disclosure
“Recloose” by Dust (featuring Joe Dukie)
“Get Lucky” by Daft Punk (Radio Edit)
“Invitation” by Tropics
“Imagine It Was Us” by Jessie Ware
“So Here I Come” by Neneh Cherry
“Never Told You” by Oscar
“Pizza Guy” by Touch Sensitive
“Blackout” by Wretch 32 (featuring Shakka)
“Bank Head” by Kingdom
“I Heard” by Young Fathers
“Left Alone” by Flume (featuring Chet Faker (Ta-Ku Remix))
“Entertained” by Last Night In Paris (featuring JaJa)
“Bourgeois” by Phoenix
“Looks Good With Trouble” by Solange
“Dreams-Come-True-Girl” by Cass McCombs (featuring Karen Black)
“Hat Trick ” by Empress Of
“Ladders” by Valentina
“Fire” by Bipolar Sunshine
“Pegasus” by GEMS

(FYI: The stream is missing a couple of tracks as they were not available on Soundcloud.)

STREAM or DOWNLOAD (1 or 2)