Matteah Baim carries an extremely low profile. Little is known about her past aside from the tale of her buying a pawn shop guitar and a Doors record in the same week and pursuing music from there.
Music
Radio Birdman Conquers Chicago
Although most Americans have been distressingly underexposed to Australia’s greatest export since Heath Ledger (well, ok, they broke up before Heath was born, but still…), for those in the know, seeing Radio Birdman live at the Chicago’s Double Door is akin to seeing Iggy Pop and the Stooges in an intimate venue.
Dan Deacon Does DeKalb
Though he’s set to rock a much larger crowd this weekend at Pitchfork Music Festival, kooky dance guru Dan Deacon got down in a more intimate setting last week in the middle of a corn field.
A Lil Bit O’ Naughty: A Photoessay on San Francisco Cabaret, Vaudeville, and Burlesque
In a bar on the seedier side of town, a tattooed bartender makes a heavy drink for a couple in their 70s. Indie haircuts dot the club. Kitten on the Keys plays piano, tinkling keys and twinkling eyes. Decked out in a red and black corset, she belts out one of the many songs she’s written, “Grandma Sells My Panties on eBay.”
Dropkick Murphys Retain Roots on Meanest of Times
Two years after the release of The Warrior’s Code, the most successful album of their career, Dropkick Murphys are back this fall with their follow-up, The Meanest of Times.
Anti- Gives DeVotchKa’s How It Ends a European Beginning
Southwestern indie folk champions DeVotchKa have signed over the European rights to their successful 2004 concept album, How It Ends, to Anti- Records.
The Book of Knots Do NPR, Prepare for Live Debut
Given that melancholy musicians and doom rockers The Book of Knots will have entirely been a studio creation until the end of this week, it’s fitting that the four-piece outfit of avant-garde veterans will be featured on New York Public Radio program “Soundcheck” today at 2 pm ET.
Amy Franceschini: Art and Environmentalism Combine
Toppled buildings, charred memories and flattened dreams don’t exactly signal hope for a better future to most people. That being the case, in the aftermath of the horrific 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, few people looked at the devastated city and thought of a chance for something better. However, as Simon Winchester described in his book A Crack in the Edge of the World, there was at least one man who found hope amid the hulking piles of detritus. That man was Daniel Burnham, the eminent Chicago-based architect and civic planner. Burnham’s plan for a new San Francisco, ironically developed shortly before the great disaster, envisioned a city in which grand parks and waterways kept the Citizens by the Bay in harmony with their natural surroundings. Unfortunately, the prevailing politicians decided to build the city as quickly as possible in the same way it had been before—over nature rather than amid it.
The Dillinger Escape Plan Show Flashes of Ire Works
Champing at the bit for the forthcoming album from progressive tech-metal masters The Dillinger Escape Plan? Get a first-hand look at the group rocking material from Ire Works, which is tentatively slated for release on October 16, and introducing fans to new drummer Gil Sharone (Stolen Babies, Puscifer).
Radio Birdman Inducted into Australian Music Hall of Fame
After virtually forming the Sydney underground scene on their own and influencing bands for the next thirty years, garage rockers Radio Birdman are finally getting their due. This Wednesday, July 18, the previously under-appreciated Aussie punk outfit will be inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Hall of Fame.
Redmoon Theater
Spectacle — it’s the swagger, it’s the back-up singers in matching costumes, it’s when too much is never enough, it’s Las Vegas and its antithetical twin Burning Man, it’s gold and gold and more gold. It’s the Flaming Lips with their dancing aliens, Santa Clauses, and rock superstars floating through the crowd in big plastic bubbles. It’s what Redmoon Theater does.
Marnie Stern @ The Abbey Pub (Chicago)
The first thing that hits you is the awesome gravity of that guitar. Marnie Stern is probably the cutest, most effervescent noise rocker out there, but she is damn serious about her guitar.