Hold onto your hats (your tiny biking hats) late 20-something Chicago raised indie rockers! Your favorite band, Hum is poised to reunite once again to send you all into a tizzy.

Remember how you all paid, I believe, upwards of $65 to see them on new years at the Double Door a few years back? Seemed a bit much, but this time around you may get to keep your wallet in your pocket because, according to Hum’s Web site, this reunion show will take place at Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park on Monday, May 31. That means free, right? More details to come.

In the meantime, pull out those old cd’s or buy them again (I’m sure you can find them in the cut-out bins), and remember what it was like to be in your teens. When local bands seemed like gods, and Radiohead hadn’t yet completely blown your minds.

By Ross Meyerson  \  3 comments

If your Monday evening stroll in downtown’s Millennium Park is interrupted by some raucous noise from the beautiful Jay Pritzker Pavilion, don’t be alarmed.

It’s only the new Downtown Sound: News Music Mondays series, which offers free Monday evening performances from up-and-coming national and local acts. Downtown Sound, a renamed and newly time-slotted version of last year’s Audible Architecture music series, joins Dusk Variations: A Chamber Series and Edible Audible picnic as one of three new music series at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion this summer. It’s the combination of local and national acts, low key Monday nights and early evening start time that makes Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays so appealing to many Chicago music fans.

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By Richard Giraldi  \  2 comments

Tonight’s Downtown Sound at Millennium Park’s beautiful Jay Pritzker Pavilion brings legendary New Jersey rock/punk act The Feelies back to Chicago for the first time since 1991.

Formed in 1976, The Feelies became known for their powerful layered guitar sounds that became major influences for early underground and indie rock bands such as R.E.M. The band never reached great heights in terms of popularity and disbanded in 1992 after releasing four albums including the critcally acclaimed Crazy Rhythms. They reunited for a tour last summer and are slated to perform Crazy Rhythms in it’s entirety at this September’s All Tomorrow’s Parties in New York City.

Chicago’s experimental-dub out fit Icy Demons will open.

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and runs until 9:30 p.m. tonight at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

By Richard Giraldi  \  4 comments

Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays returns this evening with free performances from The Sea And Cake and Dirty Projectors.

New Music Mondays opened its season June 8 with an incredible performance from St. Vincent. This week features more new and exciting sounds eminating from Millennium Park’s beautiful Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

Chicago’s own The Sea And Cake bring their heart-warming indie pop to the pavillion in support of their new album Car Alarm, which their Myspace page describes as “…bracing, like the surge of wasabe on sweet sushi, like the slap of cool water on a diving body, like the head-rush of a rollercoaster just leaving summit.”

Dirty Projectors are readying the release of their own new album Bitte Orca due to drop tomorrow. The Projectors’ punchy experimental-pop should work as a powerful contrast against the Chicago skyline-at-dusk backdrop.

The show runs from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. tonight at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. It’s free and open to the public, but get there early for a good seat.

Next week’s Downtown Sound performance features The Feelies and Icy Demons.

By Richard Giraldi  \  1 comment