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Small Sins’ eponymous debut album of 2006 was ‘one pleasant surprise’, as Benom might say. I still go back to it frequently. It is groovy, an easy listen that is fun and enjoyable.
Which is why I’m disappointed by their 2007 release (officially launched in late September). The band still loves synthesizers, but their sophomore […]

Despite the title, I’m not going to write an album review per se. I don’t have the time in my life to review each song and get into a lengthy analysis. I’ll leave the (pretentious) reviews to Pitchfork, which, by the way, is probably the first site I visit each day simply because of the […]

On their newest album, Love Is Simple, Akron / Family succeeds because it is unafraid of failure. They lack pretension and this allows their ideas to pour forth without filtering them through preconceptions of what might be cool or new. As such, on this album you will find some of the most affecting songs […]

These four songs are fucking awesome. I’ve listened to them each 782 times, and today I left “Hit the Heartbrakes” on repeat all day long. What I hear is something close to the love child of Robert Smith, Adam Olenius and Win Butler, with a little bit of whiskey added to their bottle. And you […]

We don’t talk about hip hop very often here at RTP, so our first guest post should be a breath of fresh air at the very least. Below, RTP buddy and local hip hop mogul Mike Loekle reviews Monday night’s Atmosphere show at the Metro in Chicago. On behalf of Mike and the rest of […]

Kevin Drew’s ‘Spirit If…’
Let’s talk about some indie rock goodness. I was anxious for this one to be released. I’m always interested in what elements make my favorite band’s tick. Broken Social Scene has an essence, “spirit,” if you will, that seems to be Kevin Drew’s influence on the sound. Of […]

The folks over at Puddlegum have brought up the idea of a complementation between Radiohead’s OK Computer and the band’s recently released In Rainbows, claiming the two albums work together as binary components.
I’m always a bit skeptical about such theories without proof of origin, but nonetheless, it’s cool (in that music blog kind of way) […]

Benom: Frazer and I were lucky enough to see Morrissey perform at the Star Plaza Theater in Indiana on Saturday, and all I can say is that it was worth every second spent in the car driving to and from Chicago to Merrillville. Luckily, Frazer lives out there so we had a nice comfortable locale […]

If to wake with a start means to rise and shine alert, aware and prepared, as if your morning had already started without you, then today I woke with a finish. The combination of allergies and Chicago’s first truly autumnal weather got the best of me this morning. I must have hit the snooze button […]

No, it is not some siren songstress like St. Vincent or Feist, though God knows I do love them. It’s Vampire Weekend, and their new cleverly titled record “Vampire Weekend”. Equal parts Paul Simon, Post-ska punk and The Police, but somehow better because of the mash-up, Vampire Weekend does a phenomenal job of […]