AV Legs

CAUTION: Iceland may cause you to jump for joy. My photo of Tom Windish taking a leap @ Þingvellir

Designer-types: There's still room to participate in this collaborative civic design event tomorrow in Chicago. Free lunch and beer, too! "Democracy" is the theme. Should be fun. Boston and New York events coming up in September.

Super bummed I'm going to miss Portishead in Chicago October 12th @ Aragon (boo). But hey, I'll be in Iceland for Iceland Airwaves (yay!). For those that might've missed it, here's a mixtape curated by Portishead and ATP.

NSFW: Yuck video for "Shook Down." Snakes, knives, nudity, what more do you need?

Florence Welch is the awesome.

My review of NKOTBSB at the United Center for Chicago Tribune: in short, cheez-whizzed fun.  

If I'm ever stuck at an airport overnight, these two would be a good pair to hang with. Not sure if it's real or not, but pretty good filming nonetheless.

Neat! Exclusive Arcade Fire vids from Sound Opinions, band interview airs this week.

My Chicago Tribune review from last night's Lauryn Hill/Mos Def show at Aragon in Chicago.

Meeting in the Kentucky punk rock scene in the early-'80s, Eleventh Dream Day's Rick Rizzo and Antietam's Tara Key forged a friendship that led to a collaboration quite a bit softer than their respective indie rock outfits. We chatted about their recent effort, Double Star, and how the project travels long distances and time (fun fact: our interview mirrored the way they make music). You can listen to/read their story with new music selections here. It aired on WBEZ's "Eight Forty-Eight" program this morning. They play Hideout in Chicago on Saturday; it's also the record release show for Antietam's Tenth Life.

If you haven't heard Anni Rossi yet, check her out. She's does a lot of interesting covers via her viola, like Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody," which you can download here, Radiohead's "Creep," and Rihanna's "Rude Boy." However, it's her own compositions that intrigue me the most. She has this quirky delivery, especially live. She gets a little more poppy on her sophomore effort, and she's now playing her viola like a guitar. Check out selections from her new album, "Heavy Meadow," as well as our interview about her process, which aired this morning on WBEZ's "Eight Forty-Eight." 

She is so my kind of female pop chanteuse. Lykke Li, Fever Ray and Robyn make me want to move to Sweden.

As a woman of my word, I'll have more current music musings for air/review next week. On tap: Lykke Li and Anni Rossi. #doublewoot

New FM Belfast video. I've seen them a few times in Iceland, and they're a total blast. Missed their show at SxSW this year, but heard they brought the same party energy to Austin.

Titus Andronicus live performance on Sound Opinions. A more perfect union, indeed.