Music

Brace yourselves, campus dwellers. Ben Folds, the actually really great pop songsmith, returns to campus for the third time in the last eight years. Ben Lee opens the show, which will no doubt be more …

I might be the only twenty-something from the Western suburbs of Chicago who had never seen Lucky Boys Confusion live. They have a somewhat legendary reputation in my old neck of the woods, including with …

[Kimya Dawson, L’Orchidee D’Hawai and Angelo Spencer at the Independent Media Center on April 13] Angelo Spencer, the first opener of the evening, was quite the modern day troubadour. Taking ambidexterity to the limit, he …

This weekend promises variety when it comes to one of the finest new bands in town. Kristov’s Agenda has finally arrived. So, what makes this particular weekend so special? Why none other than not just …

Illini Union Courtyard Café, 4/10/08 William: The venue’s website said the show would start at 8 p.m. The DJ on WPGU said 7:30. The poster said 9:00. The guy at the Illini Union Box Office …

It was previously reported that the likeness of Ryan Groff, frontman for local band Elsinore, had appeared in an elderly woman’s morning breakfast. Now, another story regarding Groff has surfaced. Last week, our C-U Siz …

Upon the premiere of last year’s indie film sensation Juno, Kimya Dawson said, “I am excited for when the soundtrack comes out. But […] it’s all really scary for me. Some of those songs were …

There once was a moniker named Manitoba, and behind the mask was Dan Snaith — Ontarian musicmaster, purveyor of a style bred in isolation and unpredictable as such, a blender of styles as diverse as …

There are many notable things about Bon Iver. The first is that the band name is purposefully misspelled, according to the press kit, and is pronounced “bohn eevair;” I’m not sure this is the technical …

The Canopy Club, 4/7/08 Cursive: Opener Capgun Coup:

Call it a mash-up of the arts or a quick case of amnesia. Hollywood Video, a video rental store situated on the corner of Neil and Green streets, is not known for it’s reputation as …

Krannert Center, 4/3/08 William: For over 35 years, Kronos Quartet has performed and commissioned unusual works, sometimes receiving criticism from the general direction of the stodgy, black-tie classical music establishment. With their striking fashions and …

Bows up, eyes alert, as this Sunday, National Public Radio host Garrison Keillor conducts the Champaign-Urbana Symphony. Together with music director Steven Larsen, whose 11 years amidst C-U Symphony is sure to provide an exceptional …

Though not as heinous as the act of rape itself, blaming rape victims is an infuriating practice that, for reasons beyond this writer, has not yet died. (You might ask the Los Angeles Times or …

Aside from the occasional listen, I never really got in to the Wu Tang Clan or any of the 324 solo albums that spawned from the group. I always, however, appreciated and respected them in …

Stopping by the Canopy Club on a short spring jaunt through the northern Midwest and out to New York is Saddle Creek’s indie-rock veterans, Cursive. Expect a night of personal catharsis; a live musical exorcism …

In 2005, John Hoeffleur made the following soon-to-be-understatement: “I must confess I personally have a bad feeling about it.” Hoeffleur, the frontman for local group The Beauty Shop, was speaking (on the local music forum …

Axl Rose is the front man and sole remaining original member of Guns N’ Roses. GNR’s last new album of original material came out in 1991. Bob Higgins is a thirty-seven-year-old former bank teller from …

Before Attack and Release, The Black Keys had never recorded an album outside of their Akron, Ohio, basement. They had never worked with a producer and had always recorded and mixed all of their own …

John Kosmopoulos knows what it means to keep doing what you love. And despite the fact that he is older than you might expect, you’d never guess it from his boyish good looks and endless …

I discovered St. Louis rock quintet Ludo quite by accident a few years ago when I brought family and friends to see suburban darlings The Dog And Everything at the Metro in Chicago. I was …

Tonight at The Iron Post, local group The Brother Whys releases their debut album, I Wrote This With Our Bare Hands, to the self-proclaimed tune of Pixies and Built to Spill. If the songs available …

Local band Green Light Go may have dissolved in early 2006, but fans, take heart; the resurrection is at hand. Hot Cops, the current project of former GLG bassist/vocalist Mike Daab, debuts tonight as a …

After downtown bar and former venue Cowboy Monkey closed its doors to local music at the start of this year, rumors flew — were they tearing out the stage? Were they still hosting shows on …

There is always a certain amount of justifiable skepticism involved when approaching a record performed by an actor or actress. Sure, some of these folks are probably more extensively (and arguably better) trained than a …

Now that those years are said and done, it seems like Isberg has decided to shift focus for good, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Both of his electronica projects have delivered: The International …

John Isberg likes to wear a couple of different hats. It’s just part of his style. After performing with The Blackouts The Living Blue for a couple of months, Isberg paired up with The Firebird …

i:scintilla decided to relinquish their status as a “local band” earlier this year when they moved to Chicago. Generally speaking, I’d be the first to tell an indie band that this move is a bad …

It’s not every week that an act from overseas decides to stop in town, and tomorrow night the Canopy Club has Brighton England’s indie-rock post-punk revivalists British Sea Power. From their great frantic spazztastic debut …

What exactly is “Northern Rock”? I am not quite sure, but I can state without question that I want to hear more of it if bands like Great Lakes Myth Society are leading the movement. …

Since 2005, WPGU and Buzz have presented the Champaign-Urbana Local Music Awards, a festivity to celebrate excellence in the music scene. Nominees are selected and then voted on by the public in categories such as …

There are two major schools of thought when discussing bands in terms of their elements: one faction contends that there is infinite possibility in music — that each time a guitar is picked up, originality …

With their recently released sophomore album, Some Racing, Some Stopping, in their hot little hands, local indie-pop darlings Headlights head home from Virginia, now halfway through a North American tour. Guitarist and vocalist Tristan Wraight …

A long-time Crowes fan through the missteps that were the years 1998 through 2006, save a couple of damn decent solo records from frontman Chris Robinson and the 2000 collaboration/tour LP with Jimmy Page, Live …

I know exactly what’ll happen. I’ll sit down, play a few holiday songs, and then some drunk jerk will yell out, ”’Piano Man,’” and everybody will start clapping, and I’ll look like a real asshole …

I wanted to review Jane Boxall. I really did. I trudged to Aroma Café last week with all the best intentions: I would write up the show with Lynn O’Brien that she was playing at …

George Hunter moved to “Catfish Haven” when he was four years old. He only lived in the rural trailer park for three or so years, but that was enough time for the place to leave …

Stephen Ucherek and Joe Prokop know a little something about perseverance. Now in their 10th year as bandmates in one of Champaign’s most beloved psych-rock acts of all time, The Living Blue, the quartet (with …

Alright folks! Now’s your chance to do some sizzling of your own! Check out the picture below and comment on it. If your caption beats mine, I’ll let you have an autographed copy of the …

If Illinois is Renaissance Italy, Urbana’s Paul Kotheimer is the Leonardo Da Vinci of the home studio. Originally from Chicago, he’s been making his home in Urbana for nearly fifteen years. A little story about …

Of all the fresh-faced rock and roll upstarts who call Champaign-Urbana home, there are only a handful who have experienced the evasive place called fame. It’s the place where hard work and serendipity meet. Lucky …

Recently, Champaign-Urbana has been lucky to be on the receiving end of the influx of talent being developed 120 miles east of C-U in Indianapolis. The “biggest small town in the world” has developed some …

The Canopy Club, Feb. 28th, 2008 William: Opening with a vigorously plodding country number, Jessica Lea Mayfield’s opening set soon accumulated rock mass, with bowed upright bass and jagged electric guitar. The result is a …

After almost nine months of being MIA, college rock favorites Santa are returning to the stage to promote their debut extended player, My Bones. Each member spent their requisite semester abroad in the fall, and …

There was a day when I avoided big “rawk” shows like the plague. Now I don’t mind them all too much, but big bands like these generally bring big egos which bring lots of headaches …

Imagine: You’re in a suburban field in east Memphis in the middle of a sweltering summer afternoon. You’ve walked past a stand selling Pronto Pups, and one hawking Red Man spit-and-chew tobacco; behind the curtain …

With their recently released sophomore album, Some Racing, Some Stopping, in their hot little hands, local indie-pop darlings Headlights take to the half-pipes and highways on the first leg of their North American tour. Guitarist …

The scene last night at the Tryon Festival Theatre at Krannert Center was nothing like the small, smoky underground clubs from which the art form of jazz came. In fact, it was interesting to place …