Our (fairly) regular roundup of Music & Arts related news from Chicago-based web media, featuring thoughts and insight from some of the city’s most dedicated writers.
- Remember the Rentals?
Most people who remember the Rentals—and it’s probably a small group that remembers them at all—know the project as one of many alternative-era one-hit-wonders, putting its own spin on the mid-’90s rediscovery of old analog synths via a catchy MTV and Modern Rock radio hit called “Friend of P.” But that single came from an album that auteur Matt Sharp released in between the two masterpieces from the band he co-founded—Weezer’s self-titled “Blue Album” (1994) and the enduring Pinkerton (1996)—and he deserves much more consideration than a mere nostalgic footnote, even if the Rentals have hardly been prolific in the last two decades.
A strong second album Seven More Minutes (1999) followed the ironically titled debut Return of the Rentals (1995), and then… silence, until Sharp put a new version of the Rentals together in the mid-2000s and undertook an intriguing multi-media project called Songs About Time toward the end of the decade. The songs on the band’s new, long-awaited third album all come from that endeavor, re-recorded with a group including hard-hitting Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney and enchanting backing vocalists Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig (filling the roles of that dog’s Rachel and Petra Haden in the old lineup).
The gloriously fat and glitchy drones of those Moogs still are part of the mix, but so are a wonderfully endearing and otherworldly future-past melancholy vibe (think Lost in Translation) and a bevy or memorable and infectious hooks that serve as reminders that Rivers Como wasn’t always the only pop genius in that other band. “Stardust,” “1000 Seasons,” “Thought of Sound,” “Seven Years…” heck, pretty much the whole album had me hooked from the first lesson, though I’ll confessed, it was a few weeks before I even started listening (the disc came out on Aug. 26).
“Does anybody even remember the Rentals?” I wondered. “Does anybody care?” Well, I can tell you now that the answer to that second question is, “You certainly should.”
The Rentals, Lost in Alphaville (Polyvinyl)
Rating on the four-star scale: 3.5 stars.
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@JimDeRogatis, join me on Facebook, and podcast Sound Opinions and Jim + Carmel’s TV + Dinner. - Why did Animal Kingdom have to die?
The fate of Avondale show house Animal Kingdom says a lot about the DIY music community’s struggle to coexist with the rest of Chicago.
by Leor Galil
On July 13 a shabby, 114-year-old house in Avondale, named Animal Kingdom by its tenants, hosted a concert in its backyard. Animal Kingdom had been an unlicensed DIY show space since summer 2012, and though this was far from its biggest event—that distinction belongs to an Independence Day bash in 2013, which featured 20 bands and a record fair and attracted hundreds of people—it would be the one that finally brought the house to the attention of 33rd Ward alderman Deb Mell.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ] - Kickstarter Project Believes That ‘Art Transcends Borders’
Painter, sculptor and designer Marek Hubáček and his childhood friend Martin Vitek aim to raise $3,450 via the popular crowdfunding platform to bring Czech art to the city. [ more › ]
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