review by Ali Weiss
photos by Karla Svatos
It was the perfect storm. First you’ve got charismatic soul outfit JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, easily one of Chicago’s top indie bands. And they’re just the opening act. For whom? How about two immensely popular underground hip hop / soul acts from the [...]
By KEXP | Published:
September 23, 2009
by Ali Weiss
This Friday night, 9/25, at darkroom bar, KEXP’s monthly Equalizer Chicago showcase packs soul bands, hip-hop artists and local DJs into an overall dance party line-up. Here’s a look at the players.
L.A.-based headliners Mayer Hawthorne & The County blend retro Motown with a modern, hip hop influence. Hawthorne hails from Ann [...]
By KEXP | Published:
August 31, 2009
by Ali Weiss
Friday night’s Equalizer featured an all-Chicago, heavily electronic line-up, with a mix of glam, post punk, techno beats and the Mario Brothers.
First, The Atari Ferrari spinned a DJ set consisting of, as their name would suggest, pimped-out remixes of the 8-bit video game sounds of yore. Jackie Sestak of the [...]
by Ali Weiss
photos by Karla Svatos
Local bands Elev8tor, ODE and The Grace Lincoln Project played the monthly KEXP Equalizer Chicago at darkroom on Friday. Headliners Elev8tor played a variety of their downtempo and breakbeat music, added a guest vocalist and threw in a cover of the Beastie Boys’ instrumental “Ricki’s Theme.”
For this re-cap, we [...]
It’s almost the final Friday of July, and Chicago music fans know what that means: another installment of KEXP Equalizer Chicago, the monthly indie music showcase at darkroom bar.
If you’re in Chicago this weekend, be sure to check out this month’s bands. Chicago-based breakbeat / dub trio Elev8tor headlines, joined by Ode and The [...]
By KEXP | Published:
July 1, 2009
by Ali Weiss
photos by Karla Svatos
Chicago music fans packed darkroom Friday night for the June installment of KEXP Equalizer. Local bands The Midnight Shows and Blane Fonda joined Robbers, on tour from Long Island, New York.
Robbers opened things up. In a sportsmanlike example of “the show must go on,” band members [...]
By KEXP | Published:
May 18, 2009
April’s Equalizer (check it out here) at Chicago’s darkroom bar paired punk-rock bands (The Whore Moans and Lasers and Fast and Shit) with experimental, instrumental acts ( El Ten Eleven and Metavari) for a night of variety, rock and mayhem.
It’s all wrapped up in this video of the event, featuring band interviews and [...]
By KEXP | Published:
April 28, 2009
photos by Karla Svatos
Greetings from the Windy City, where folks stream KEXP like suckling puppies and darkroom bar hosts the KEXP Equalizer Chicago indie rock showcase every month.
Sorry we’ve been out of touch lately. For one thing, our event host and blogger Mike “-y Dance Panther” Turner moved away, to Seattle in [...]
by Michael Turner
photos by Laura Gray
Hey there, music fans! Can I call ya Joe? Gosh jeepers, that’d be grrreat! Let’s get started then! Skip, sparkle, wink. And so it was that on the eve of the vice presidential debate last Thursday, October 2nd Equalizer brought fourth upon this continent a new line-up. [...]
by Mike Turner
photos by Jeremy Farmer
So, now that you are all back safely from your respective political conventions are you ready to hear about an event that doesn’t involve tear gas, “free speech zones,” teen pregnancy the words “hope” or “change” or any funny hats? Well, I hope so because none of those things were [...]
