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The CHIRP Blog
William Lennon writesPitchfork 2016 Is Almost Here!
So far, it’s been a rough year for these great United States. Without delving too deeply into the darkness that’s enveloping us all anyway, suffice to say that a big beautiful summer festival is just what we need to take our minds off things. So, let us salute the three (hopefully) sun-soaked days of Pitchforkfest coming to Chicago in July.
On the first day of the festival (Friday, July 15th), native Chicagoans Twin Peaks will serenade us with their signature brand of jangly throwback rock. In case you’re not familiar, Twin Peaks are a gang of babyfaced stoners that play like The Rolling Stones would if they had been conceived in a post-REM world. Performing clearly isn’t work for these guys, at least not yet, and it’s hard to imagine a better band to day-drink to.
On the same day, Beach House will temper our escapist headbuzz with some meditations on life, the universe and the merciless drone of time, delivered as usual in a series of luscious, 5 minute pop songs. As far as we know, Eric Wareheim isn’t directing their stage show, but considering what he did with the video for "Wishes" we sort of wish he was. (Still, it’s Beach House. It’ll be great. I mean, have you listened to Depression Cherry?)
SKaiser writesWhat’s Happening at CHIRP Radio (Week of July 11)
UPCOMING EVENTS
- CHIRP Radio Fair at Pitchfork Music Festival 2016 | July 15 at 3:00 PM | July 16 at 12:00 PM | July 17 at 12:00 PM
- CHIRP Welcomes an Official Pitchfork After Party with Kamasi Washington at Bottom Lounge on July 17 at 10:30 PM
NEW MEDIA
- Friday mp3 Shuffle: Happy Birthday Louis Jordan Edition
- First Time: First Deal with Avery R. Young
- Melanie Kruvelis interviews Cate Le Bon
- CHIRP Radio Movie Collection: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Sondra Morin writes why you should Give Up Your Car for New Belgium!
- CHIRP Photos: Independence Day Salute
- Greg Kantowicz illustrates CHIRP Radio in July
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesFriday MP3 Shuffle: Happy Birthday Louis Jordan Edition
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Today is the birthday of Louis Jordan, the singer, sax player and one of the most successful bandleaders of the 1940s and 1950s. At a time when big bands were beginning a downward trend in popularity and musicians like Charlie Parker and Miles Davis were taking Jazz into bold new directions, Jordan kept the faith with the crowds who still wanted to dance. With his band the tympany Five, Jordan enjoyed a huge amount of success with segregated Black and White audiences, writing and performing arrangements for smaller groups that would serve as the fundamental building blocks of what would become R&B and Rock ‘n’ Roll. In addition to being a fantastic performer, he never let the crowd forget that music is fun.
Help celebrate Mr. Jordan’s birthday by take your MP3 player, pressing the "shuffle" button, and sharing the first 10 songs that play:
Greg Kantowicz writesCHIRP In July
William Lennon writesCHIRP Radio Movie Collection: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
[The CHIRP Radio Movie Collection documents great movies that feature musicians or the use of music in storytelling.]
The Plot: In the cosmic depths of the Marvel Universe, a human scrapper assembles a team of thieves and bounty hunters to recover a weapon capable of destroying the galaxy.
[VERY MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD]
Look at it in the right light and Guardians of the Galaxy is a movie about the dark side of wish fulfillment. After all, what red-blooded American twelve-year-old doesn’t dream of taking to the stars and becoming a Flash Gordon-by-way-of-Han Solo style vagabond?
That’s just what happens to Peter Quill (who takes the name Star Lord to celebrate his transition from middle-schooler to space pirate) and, while he seems to enjoy gallivanting across the cosmos, he never manages to sever the connection between himself and what made the earth special to him: his family.
Guardians is a movie with two MacGuffins. First, there’s The Orb, known as the Power Stone to the greater Marvel Universe, a standard sci-fi plot device described as being able to “mow down entire civilizations like wheat in a field.” It does a fine job of moving the story forward and it makes some seriously cool purple sparks when it’s activated, but beyond that The Orb is not all that interesting. Swap it out with, say, The Tesseract from Guardians’ sister film The Avengers and nothing really changes. Quill even breaks the fourth wall a bit mid-movie, mentioning that The Orb has a “Maltese Falcon, Arc of the Covenant vibe.” See also: The Holy Grail, the Death Star Plans, the One Ring.