Author Archives: Monica Kendrick

JUNE OF 44 8/1, Fireside Bowl; 8/2, LOUNGE AX I love it when a band can go fluidly from moody and lovely to surreal to downright noisy, and on its […]

BIS 7/25, METRO On its second album, The New Transistor Heroes, the Scottish trio purveys a loud, high-energy new wave pop that at its best sounds like a cross between […]

BROTHER BROTHER 7/18, vic In spite of singer Matt Spiegel’s beautiful (if studied) soul croon, these Chicago Music Awards nominees seem doomed to the role of Miss Congeniality: their middling […]

Nashville Pussy 7/11, Lounge Ax The “Nashville” signifies only a bit of outdated hometown pride–this fledgling four-piece fronted by ex-Nine Pound Hammer guitarist Blaine Cartwright and his ax-wielding wife, Ruyder […]

C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band 7/4, Fitzgerald’s This second-generation zydeco star could have more trouble with his father’s ghost than Hamlet–if he were the sort to be […]

BLUE MEANIES 6/27, METRO Every once in a while a record comes along that blasts a tired genre wide open, and the Blue Meanies’ new Full Throttle (Thick) might just […]

FROGS 6/20, Tower on Clark; 6/21, METRO; 6/23, double door While these demented cheeseheads have generated some inspired moments of taboo-splattering gross-out, especially on last year’s My Daughter the Broad, […]

HANK SHIZZOE 6/13, FITZGERALD’S I was suckered in by the guitar-playing garden gnome on the cover of Swiss guitarist Hank Shizzoe’s Low Budget, but after repeated listening I have to […]

JOHN MAYALL 6/6, HOUSE OF BLUES Yeah, I could’ve sworn he was dead, too. But there’s a surprising amount of life–as aging British bluesmen understand the term–surging through his vaguely […]

LYDIA LUNCH & CYNTHIA PLASTER CASTER 5/30, Lounge Ax Lydia Lunch has never been given her due as a wit, and Cynthia Plaster Caster has never been given hers for […]

Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire 5/23, Lunar Cabaret It can’t be easy to be a singer-songwriter-fiddler–try belting out your soul while your vocal cords are stretched sideways and your jaw’s […]

BOBBY CONN 5/16, 6 odum; 5/20, POOP STUDIOs After glittering around the Chicago underground for almost a decade, serving as devil’s advocate and postcelebrity celebrity, at last Bobby Conn has […]