Live Show Review: Chicago, IL – ∆ @ The Empty Bottle

It feels like 3 or 4 years since I originally discovered ∆ (aka Alt-J) last summer. I’ve been keeping a very close eye on their touring schedule over the past year, hoping/knowing they would eventually make their way to Chicago. Thankfully, Lollapalooza took place, and surprisingly, they were not playing the fest, but had an opening spot for Chairlift (I rejoiced). So last Sunday, myself, and my good friend / pro photographer Cory Dewald, made our way to the Empty Bottle to see Gwil (bass), Joe (guitar/vox), Gus (keys), and Thom (drums), and  ∆’s first ever Chicago appearance.   Tweet You may also enjoy…: New NEON HITCH Cover: What Starry Eyes Know (Two Door Cinema Club vs. Ellie Goulding)Feist: How… Read More →

Live Show Preview: Alt-J – Empty Bottle, Chicago

For us Chicagoans, we are blessed to live in a city that gives us a decent number of music festival options throughout the year, but I don’t feel anyone can argue that Lollapalooza is the winner in terms of sheer size/booking power. People come from all around the world to hang out in the blistering Chicago sun and listen to their favorite music of all genres, but I am not one of them. Personally, I have taken the route of the poor, yet honest Chicago music fan, and booked myself two pre/post Lolla shows. Fortunately for you all, one of them will be covered exclusively by Kick Kick Snare, and OF COURSE I’m talking about that indecipherable indie-dub-folk-psyche-rock quintet from… Read More →

Kick Kick Snare: February 2012 Mixtape

Ahhh February, when the weather is not consistent, children of love find more ways to spend money on each other and we at Kick Kick Snare show our lust for all of you, by throwing 20 songs on a digital mixtape (CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE). We here at KKS are extremely excited for February, why? Because we’ve got some monstrous, mind melting, disco ball-breaking stuff going on backstage, and we will soon be inviting you to the VIP room. In light of this exciting month in KKS history, I thought it would be interesting to expand our horizons with a bit of edutainment to go with the music. I have compiled a few interesting events in February history so… Read More →

Inspired And The Sleep: While We’re Young

“The name of the band was formed around the concept of feeling completely inspired to take hold of life and be the best person you can be the next day before going to bed,” says Greenhalgh, lead singer of Inspired and the Sleep (opposed to Caroline Smith & The Goodnight Sleeps). The Sleep are an psychadelic pop/organic-electronic/upbeat rock trio out of Cali that grabbed my attention while I was surfing through my Hypem feed. Now to be honest, if a track catches my ear, I don’t always have time to go through that artists SoundCloud library, but with these guys I made an exception and damn-glad I did so. “While We’re Young” has a wonderfully rhythmic, loopedfuntime, Local Natives meet… Read More →

∆ (Alt-J): Entire Demo

Once again I’m in my coffee shops spending countless hours on the resume grind, but thanks to the musicblogosphere I’ve been given a gift in the form of… well… a triangle: ∆.  The band goes by this particular symbol, or the keys it takes to create this on a keyboard: alt-j.  Honestly, I got next to nothing when it comes to information on this English trio, outside of their demo (every song is gold,) 2 pictures (neither of them photos,) two tour dates (one of them ironically in my hometown of Kent, UK,) and a video via a german site (I believe.)  Honestly I feel like they are Medeski Martin & Wood, meets slow Radiohead, meets some dynamic awesome speed… Read More →