SmilePolitely.com / Caitlin Cremer

Album Review: Girl Talk, Feed the Animals

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:00:00 -0600

As of June 19, another musician joined the pay-what-you-will, or rather free-for-all, reputation Radiohead glamorized with their latest album, In Rainbows. Gregg Gillis, also known as Girl Talk, claimed in an interview with MetroWize (based out of San Francisco) that he released the album, Feed the Animals, to give people a better chance at reaching out to music. Gillis also said that he is simply acknowledging the fact that it will leak, and people will somehow get it for free anyway.

Shipwreck Returns to the Stage

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:00:00 -0600

A Midwestern band at its core, Shipwreck has invested the past four years into bringing forth classic Champaign-sound rock to a very flat Champaign County. The band is known to sway audiences from a relaxed enjoyable show to a revved up crowd through stronger guitar harmonies — transforming from just a Midwestern band with a coastline name to a Champaign-Urbana staple.

Lovers in Arms Performs at Mike 'N Molly's Tomorrow Night

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:00:00 -0600

Originally under the name of Frequency Below, Armando Perez and Caroline Yohanan progressed towards an expressively creative outlet soon to be dubbed Lovers in Arms. Pulling in new members, Ryan Schoen (bass), Dan Lieber (drums) and Juan Lugo (percussion), Lovers in Arms submerged themselves in Chicago’s grassroots of soul and funk while also pulling in strings of electronica. The product: Lovers in Arms’ first, full length album, Belmont Electric, in 2007.

Belmont Electric demonstrates Lovers in Arms’ distinct entitlement to the electronic genre while the past influences of Frequency Below’s trip-hop and Chicago’s impregnable jazz accomplishes the band’s creative instrumentalism.

Artist to Watch: The Ting Tings

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:00:20 -0600

Some artists are just going to become popular, simple fact, and The Ting Tings are going to experience a rush — right about now, actually — especially after the push forward from their latest iPod commercial debut. Their full album, We Started Nothing, is scheduled to come out on May 18, but they have three singles out in the U.S. including Great DJ, Shut Up and Let Me Go and today’s That’s Not My Name:

Mit'n: The IMC (05/04/08)

Mon, 05 May 2008 14:15:00 -0600

With effort, the two-member set of Mit'n have furthered their experimentation with bizarre musical compositions since I saw them last at the Man Man concert at the Courtyard Cafe. I don't remember much of a line-up description of each of their songs, but fortunately I did receive some explanations last night at the IMC. I say fortunately because while listening to the songs, it is difficult to pull out the lyrics and understand them enough to correlate them into a consecutive story or emotion.