Thursday, December 29, 2005

Your Best of 2005

Sam Hunt - The Windish Agency 1. Death Vessel - Stay Close (Northeast Indie) 2. Why? - Elephant Eyelash (Anticon) 3. Akron/Family / Angels of Light - Akron/Family / Angels of Light 4. VA - Yellow Pills: Prefill (Numero Group) 5. Oneida - The Wedding (Jagjaguwar) 6. Animal Collective - Feels (FatCat) 7. Edith Frost - It's A Game (Drag City) 8. Jose Gonzalez - Veneer (Hidden Agenda) 9. Lavender Diamond - The Cavalry of Light (self-released) 10. MIA - Arular (XL/Interscope) Ron Saemann - RFC reader Top 15 Albums of 2005 1) Lucksmiths-Warmer Corners 2) Shout Out Louds-Howl Howl Gaff Gaff 3) Go! Team-Thunder, Lightning, Strike 4) Clientele-Strange Geometry 5) Bloc Party-Silent Alarm 6) Wolf Parade-Apologies to Queen Mary 7) Gorillaz-Demon Days 8) New Pornagraphers-Twin Cinema 9) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 10) Sufjan Stevens-Illinoise 11) Acid House Kings-Sing Along with the Acid House Kings 12) Boy Least Likely To-The Best Party Ever 13) Teenage Fanclub-Man-made 14) Jose Gonzalez-Veneer 15) Feist-Let it Die Top 20 Singles of 2005 1) Gorillaz-Dare 2) Go!Team-Ladyflash 3) Bloc Party-Like Eating Glass 4) Feist-Mushaboom 5) Boy Least Likely To-Be Gentle with Me 6) M83-Teen Angst 7) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth 8) Architecture in Helsinki-Do the Whirlwind 9) Shout Out Louds-Very Loud 10) Jose Gonzalez-Heartbeats 11) LCD Soundsystem-Tribulations 12) Clientele- My Own Face Inside the TreesMy Own Face Inside The Trees 13) Wolf Parade-Shine a Light 14) Stars-Ageless Beauty 15) Architecture in Helsinki-Do the Whirlwind 16) Franz Ferdinand-Do You Want To 17) Moonbabies-War on Sound 18) New Pornographers-Bleeding Heart Show 19) Lucksmiths-Music Next Door 20) Nic Armstrong-She Changes Like the Weather Top 5 Concerts of 2005 1) Teenage Fanclub, Evan Dando & The Rosebuds @ Double Door on July 27th. 2) Lucksmiths @ Beat Kitchen on May 5th. 3) Luna @ Metro on Feb. 23. 4) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club@Metro on Sept. 27th. 5) HEM @ Schubas on Jan. 21st. Top 5 Old School Albums of the 2005 1) Jesus & Mary Chain-Darklands 2) Zombies-Odessey & Oracle 3) Kinks-Village Green Preservation Society 4) T-Rex-Electric Warrior 5) Love-Forever Changes dj popscum - RFC reader TOP TEN RECORDS 1) M.I.A. – Arular 2) Gorillaz – Demon Days 3) Edan – Beauty and the Beat 4) Lady Sovereign – Vertically Challenged 5) Annie – Anniemal 6) Bloc Party – Silent Alarm 7) V/A – Run the Road 8) Fiery Furnaces – EP 9) Atmosphere – You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having 10) Royksopp – The Understanding

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Your Best of 2005

Emerson Dameron - Dusted Magazine/WLUW radio 1. Sun City Girls - Uncle Jim's Superstars of Greenwich Meantime (Black Velvet Fuckere) 2. Akron/Family - Akron/Family (Young God) 3. Kallikak Family - May 23 2007 (Tell-All) 4. Smog - A River Ain't Too Much to Love (Drag City) 5. Sound Directions - The Funky Side of Life (Stones Throw) 6. Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice - Buck Dharma (5RC) 7. Arizona Amp and Alternator - Arizona Amp and Alternator (Thrill Jockey) 8. Scharpling & Wurster - Hippie Justice (Stereolaffs) 9. Old Time Relijun - 2012 (K) 10. Teotihuacan - s/t (?) Jake Austin - Roctober magazine/Chic-A-Go-Go! Thor "Thor Against The World" (Smog Veil) Quintron "Swamp Tech" (Rhinestone) "One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found" (Rhino Records) "Oprah Winfrey Show 20th Anniversary Collection" DVD Box Set (Harpo) Coq Roq "Bob Your Head" (BK) Ponderosa Stomp Music Festival (Knights of the Mau Mau) First few episodes of Rock Star: INXS (ABC) Oscar Brown Jr: Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress (Directed by donnie l. betts) R. Kelly "Trapped In A Closet 1-12" DVD (BMG) The Juan Maclean "less than human" (DFA) Bruce Adams - Kranky MY TOP 10 NON-KRANKY FAVORITES OF 2005 (in no particular order) 1. Pelican "The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw" (Hydrahead) 2. Murcof "Remembranza" (Leaf) 3. Signaldrift "Girl" (Audraglint) 4. Six Organs of Admittance "School of the Flower" (Drag City) 5. Sunn (((O "Black One" (Southern Lord) 6. Magic Arrows "Sweet Heavenly Angel of Death" (Wobblyhead) 7. Vertonen "Orchid Collider" (C.I.P.) 8. Christina Carter "Human as Guitar" CDR 9. Opeth "Ghost Reveries" (Roadrunner) 10. Nick Butcher "The Complicated Bicycle" (Hometapes)

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Your Best of 2005

Alexandre Mayakovsky - RFC reader 1. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl 2. Delia & Gavin - The Days of Mars 3. Oasis - Don't Believe the Truth 4. Antony & the Johnsons - I am a Bird Now 5. Dead Meadow - Feathers 6. Kanye West - Late Registration 7. M.I.A. - Arular 8. The Juan Maclean - Less Than Human 9. Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze 10. The Clientele - Strange Geometry Tyler Coates - RFC reader ALBUMS: 1. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois 2. Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now 3. The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir 4. Belle & Sebastian - Push Barman To Open Old Wounds 5. Broken Social Scene - [self-titled] 6. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow 7. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock and Roll 8. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema 9. Iron & Wine with Calexico - In The Reins 10. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan SONGS (Not on the previous albums): 1. LCD Soundsystem - "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" (from LCD Sounsystem) 2. Black Lipstick - "B.O.B. F.O.S.S.E." (from Sincerely, Black Lipstick) 3. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" (from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) 4. Animal Collective - "Grass" (from Feels) 5. Voxtrot - "The Start of Something" (from Raised By Wolves EP) 6. Iron & Wine - "Jezebel" (from Woman King EP) 7. Feist - "Mushaboom" (from Let It Die) 8. Elliott Smith - "Thirteen" (from Thumbsucker soundtrack) 9. Aimee Mann - "Video" (from The Forgotten Arm) 10. Magnolia Electic Co. - "Werewolves of London" (from Hard To Love A Man EP) SHOWS: 1. Liz Phair w/ Cary Brothers, The Birchmere (Alexandria, Virginia), August 4th. 2. Broken Social Scene w/ Feist, Metro, October 28th. 3. Art Brut w/ The Hot Machines, Schuba's, November 15th. 4. Sufjan Stevens w/ Laura Veirs, Metro, September 16th. 5. Feist w/ Great Lake Swimmers, Schuba's, September 8th. 6. Neko Case w/ The Sadies, Starr Hill (Charlottesville, Virginia), February 16th. 7. Magnolia Electric Co, MACRoCk (Harrisonburg, Virginia), April 2nd. 8. Le Tigre w/ Electrolane, The Vic, August 10th. 9. Black Mountain, MACRoCk (Harrisonburg, Virginia), April 1st. 10. Shout Out Louds w/ The Essex Green and The Sun, Double Door, November 9th.

Monday, December 26, 2005

Your Best of 2005

Bill V - Theft Liable to Prosecution Tier one: Bloc Party, Spoon, New Pornographers Tier two: Wolf Parade, Okkervil River, LCD Soundsystem, The Doves, The Stars, The Decemberists, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and My Morning Jacket. Top Shows: The Arcade Fire, Lollapalooza and The Riv, The Futureheads and The Kaiser Chiefs, both at Double Door. Top Singles: (not in any real order) Sister Jack by Spoon, Engine Driver by The Decemberists, One More Night by The Stars, Tribulations by LCD Soundsystem, Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts by Wolf Parade, Chicago by Sufjan Stevens, This Modern Love by Bloc Party, The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and For Real by Okkervil River. Brian J. (aka "Trintdog") - RFC reader 1. Wolf Parade- Apologies to the Queen Mary 2. New Pornographers- Twin Cinema 3. Greg Dulli- Amber Headlights 4. Supergrass- Road to Rouen 5. The Raveonettes- Pretty in Black 6. Of Montreal- The Sunlandic Twins 7. Broken Social Scene- Broken Social Scene 8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- Howl 9. Animal Collective- Feels 10. Madonna- Confessions On a Dance Floor

Thursday, December 22, 2005

All Natural Label Showcase

Friday night, local hip hop collective All Natural, Inc. will be presenting their 3rd annual label showcase at the HotHouse. The show will feature practically the entire All Natural, Inc. roster sans ringleaders Capital D and Tone B. Nimble. Scheduled to perform are Iomos Marad, Daily Plannet, The Pacifics, Primeridian, Eulorhythmics and Mr. Greenweedz. The HotHouse is located downtown in the South Loop at 21 E. Balbo. Show starts at 10pm, admission is $10. For more information on all things All Natural, check out www.allnaturalhiphop.com.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Jay Ryan Book Release Party

Tonight, The Hideout will be hosting a book release party for 100 Posters, 134 Squirrels: A Decade of Hot Dogs, Large Mammals, and Independent Rock: The Handcrafted Art of Jay Ryan. Even if you don't recognize the name, if you've been to any local rock venue within the last 10 years, I almost guarantee you know Ryan's work. If you need to refresh your memory, check out yesterday's extensive article about Ryan in the Sun-Times, or browse through his poster galleries at www.thebirdmachine.com. The book release party starts at 8pm and will also feature readings by Joe Meno and Todd Dills, plus live musical perfromances from Bottomless Pit and PAL. The Hideout is located at 1354 W. Wabansia, near the corner of North and Elston.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

We Want Your Top 10s

The new year is less than two weeks away! Keep those Top 10 lists coming in to rfceditor(at)hotmail.com...we'll start posting them here next Monday. ---------- Robyn has started to count down her "Seven Indie Favorites" of 2005, but RFC also wants to hear your favorites and like last year we'll be posting everyone's lists here at the end of the year. So start digging in your record crates and CD-R spindles to narrow down your 10 bests of 2005 and send them to rfceditor(at)hotmail.com by 12/23/05. Scroll through the RFC archives here and here to check out everyone's Top 10 of 2004

New Releases Tuesday (12/20)

Ryan Adams - 29 (Lost Highway) Third album of the year from the most prolific artist in alt country, if not all of music. 29 is a concept record of sorts, each song represents a different year of Adams' life in his twenties. The 'Fork gives it a 6.8, which is a big improvement from the lashing he got for his Rock n' Roll record that registered a paltry 2.9 on the Pitchfork scale.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Action Figure Party

Don't forget...tonight is also the grand unveiling party for the limited edition set of Coctails action figures. The event takes place at the Rotofugi toy store at 1953 W. Chicago Ave and even includes a rare live in-store performance from the band. Plus, if your very own Archer Prewitt action figure isn't enough collectible fun for you, Rotofugi is promising even more Coctails goodies at the party:

We'll have the new Coctails figure set from Presspop available for purchase along with the new Coctails 10" from Presspop entitled "Let's Enjoy." Other goodies available will be a fine silver and black Coctails tee, a beautiful little book by Presspop that collects a bunch of the Coctails imagery/posters/promo items over the years and a handy-dandy Coctails Totebag, also all made by Presspop. Come, hang out, listen to some music, and get the whole band to sign your new Coctails merch!

Indie Music Video Fest

Tonight, Locale Events will be presenting the Chicago leg of the Indie Music Video Festival at Subterranean. Boasting 40 music videos from around the world, the IMVF screening will be split into two parts during the night. From 7-9pm, videos will be screened in Subterranean’s first floor lounge. Part 2 will take place upstairs and will also feature live performances from 4 different bands. A few of the notable featured in the videos include The Decemberists, Album Leaf, Guitar Wolf and Xiu Xiu. Subterranean is located at 2011 W. North Ave., admission to the festival is $10

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

BAM! The 97 best of 2005

Today at 11am, WOXY.com kicks off their annual "97 Best Of" countdown of the top modern rock albums of the year. For added drama, this year's countdown will actually be spread out over two days; with the first half running today from 11a-3p and the second half concluding during the same time on Thursday. Also, for the first time this year, the countdown will be available on-demand via archived audio for two weeks after it airs. Place your wages and post your top 10 predictions in the comments section.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

New Releases Tuesday (12/13)

Various Artists - All Tomorrow's Parties 3.1 (ATP) Compilation featuring performers from the 2003 All Tomorrow's festival curated by Matt Groening. Of course, everyone knows Groening as the creator of The Simpsons, but before he hit animation gold he was a music critic for the L.A. Reader. Needless to say, Groening knows a thing or two about the history of rock and he compiled an excellent line-up of artists including Iggy and the Stooges, Sonic Youth, Spoon, Modest Mouse and Elliott Smith. No actual live performances from the festival here, but you do get Thurston Moore and Co. tearing through a hot rendition of The Simpsons theme. Beck - Guerolito (Interscope) Remixed version of Beck's 2005 release, Guero; features retooled tracks from the likes of Air, Boards of Canada, Diplo, El-P and "the king" Ad Rock. Isobell Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Ramblin' Man (V2) 4 song EP previewing the forthcoming full-length collaboration between the former Belle & Sebastian siren and the former lead singer of the Screaming Trees.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Live Pics - Lady Sovereign@Empty Bottle 12/6/05

Thanks to dj popscum for forwarding pics from last Tuesday's Lady Sovereign show at The Empty Bottle. Check out the complete set here in the RFC Live Photo Archive. I wasn't able to make the show myself, but word on the street was that the S-O-V was a bit off her game and didn't get the crowd moving nearly as much she did at her North American debut at Sonotheque this summer. Anybody else check out the show? Post your thoughts below.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Stream the Wizard

Chicago's only free form radio station, WZRD-FM (aka "The Wizard"), has boldly stepped into the 21st century with a live streaming simulcast on the Internet. If you're out of range of their mighty 100-watt signal at 88.3 FM, you can now tune in to the Wizard via your computer at: www.wzrdchicago.com As I've said here before, WZRD is probably the best keep secret in Chicago radio and their stauch no-frills and no-ego approach is a refreshing oasis on today's radio dial. If you've never been able to listen to WZRD before, definintely give it a listen on-line sometime. For the latest info from the Wizard, check out their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/wzrd

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Guerolito Listening Party

Tomorrow night(12/8), the Museum of Contemporary Photography will be presenting a listening party for the upcoming Beck remix album, Guerolito. Stop by to hear a sneak preview of sliced and diced Guero tracks from the likes of Air, Boards of Canada, Diplo, El-P and "the king" Ad Rock. While there have been reports of the record being delayed until January in the UK, it appears that domestic fans should still be able to pick it up Guerolito as originally planned next Tuesday, the 13th. The listening party lasts from 6-8pm, the Museum of Contemporary Photography is located at 600 S Michigan Ave. For more info, call 312-663-5554. (via flavorpill)

New Releases Tuesday (12/6)

Cocteau Twins - Lullabies To Violaine: Singles And Extended Plays 1982-1996 Limited Edition 4-CD box set collecting greatest hits and rarities from the Scottish dream pop group. New York Dolls - All Dolled Up [DVD] This feature length documentary captures the band during early performances in New York at Kenny's Castaways and Max's Kansas City, then follows the Dolls on their tour of the west coast, including footage from the Whisky A Go Go, the Real Don Steele Show, Rodney Bingenheimer's E Club and much more. -Amazon.com Sonic Youth - Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (SYR) The sixth edition of the SYR series is a live recording of the April 12, 2003 benefit concert held at and for The Anthology Film Archives, the international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of avant-garde and independent cinema. The event, which raised money for the Archives and celebrated the life and work of avant-garde film maker Stan Brakhage, featured Sonic Youth providing an improvised instrumental collaboration with silent Brakhage's films. The band performed with drummer/percussionist Tim Barnes (Essex Green, Jukeboxer, Silver Jews). Part of the proceeds of this CD will again benefit the Anthology Film Archives. -Amazon.com

Monday, December 05, 2005

We want your Top 10s

The new year is less than two weeks away! Keep those Top 10 lists coming in to rfceditor(at)hotmail.com...we'll start posting them here next Monday. ---------- Robyn has started to count down her "Seven Indie Favorites" of 2005, but RFC also wants to hear your favorites and like last year we'll be posting everyone's lists here at the end of the year. So start digging in your record crates and CD-R spindles to narrow down your 10 bests of 2005 and send them to rfceditor(at)hotmail.com by 12/23/05. Scroll through the RFC archives here and here to check out everyone's Top 10 of 2004

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Return of the Ox Cancelled!

After a hiatus that felt like ages, underground hip-hop heroes Vordul Megilah and Vast Aire recently announced they would be returning as Cannibal Ox and embarking on a short reunion tour. Now it looks like anxious Chicago fans are going to have to wait just a bit longer for the much heralded return of the Ox, as the Abbey Pub website reports that tomorrow night's show has been cancelled. A make-up date is supposed to be announced TBA. We'll keep you posted... In the meantime, check out highlights from their recently released live album, Return of the Ox, on their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/cannibalox.